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Operating Systems

Quote

Without an operating system, the computer is an expensive piece of electronics.

Guides to install and configure operating systems to support software development, graphic design and video editing.

Linux Distributions

A Linux distribution is an assembly of software packaged to work together seemlessly (or atleast avoid conflicts).

There are a wide range of Linux distributions to choose from, although Practicalli recommends Ubuntu or Debian Linux distributions.

Arch Linux has solid community support should a more involved operating system experience be desirable.

Regolith Desktop Debian Linux Ubuntu Linux Arch Linux

Practicalli recommends Linux

Practicalli recommends using a Linux distribution to provide a stable and developer focused environment. Most Linux distributions are freely available and of high quality, thanks to many collaborators and users.

Linux has minimal hardware resource use and has widespread support for new and classic hardware.

MacOS

MacOS is a BSD based operating system with a similar command line experience. Coupled with Homebrew, a wide selection of developer focused packages are available.

MacOS is used by many commercial companies (especially FinTech) to control administration of the operting system, usually by a remote System Adminstration team.

Command Line Shell

Bash is the most common default shell provides by Linux/Unix operating systems.

Zsh is a more advanced shell and is commonly used by software engineers and operations staff.

Linux Desktop

  • i3 tiling window manager
  • Hyprland Wayland compositor and nwg-shell desktop for wayland and sway

Software development tools

  • Clojure CLI
  • node.js and npm
  • Python

Creative tools

  • Inkscape 2D vector graphics (SVG)
  • Blender 3D modelling, animation and video editing
  • Audacity sound editing
  • FFMpeg audio-video command line tools
  • Opus audio codec