How-To Geek - Linux

The post-CentOS world: How Linux became fragmented into competing free alternatives

David Delony — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 20:00:16 GMT

If you wanted to learn how to use Red Hat Enterprise Linux but didn't want to buy a license from Red Hat, CentOS was your distro. How did this affect the Linux ecosystem?

TrueNAS Scale vs Unraid: I ran both for a month, and the winner wasn't what I expected

Umair Khurshid — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 16:31:13 GMT

I went into my TrueNAS Scale versus Unraid test with a pretty strong assumption about how it would end. TrueNAS Scale had almost everything I normally look for in a homelab server. Unraid looked more convenient, but I expected that convenience to come with compromises I would eventually find annoying.

Linux containers now run natively on Windows via WSL

Viraj Gawde — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 16:12:14 GMT

Linux is an important part of modern development, and Windows users often rely on a separate app like Docker Desktop to get started. Now, Microsoft is making it easier to run Linux containers on its operating system through Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). The feature was first showcased at Build 2026 and entered public preview in June. Now, it’s available for everyone with the latest WSL update.

Stop treating your daily-driver Linux PC like a science experiment

Sydney Butler — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 13:30:15 GMT

Linux has a somewhat contradictory reputation. On the one hand, it's known as a rock-solid operating system that never goes wrong and offers countless hours of uptime. On the other hand, it's also known for being easy to break in the wrong hands when you start digging around under the hood.

4 Linux terminal tricks that make boring jobs weirdly satisfying

Zunaid Ali — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 20:00:13 GMT

You do some tasks in the Linux terminal so often that you never even bother to look for easier ways to do them. While looking for Linux tricks for time-saving and productivity, I found some hidden gems that I'm sure you'll find useful every day in your terminal sessions.

The 1990s predictions about Linux that aged surprisingly well

David Delony — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:30:14 GMT

Linux is such a part of the modern landscape that it's hard to remember a time when it was just starting out. Linux's road to world domination could be bumpy at times. Here's how some early predictions about Linux have held up.

Firefox just got a major redesign—here's what new

Jon Fingas — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 15:41:24 GMT

The main alternative to Chrome just got one of its largest overhauls in recent memory. Mozilla has released a redesigned Firefox web browser for desktop and mobile that it says is easier to navigate while bringing back a much-loved feature.

5 ways Linux breathed new life into my old gaming laptop

Umair Khurshid — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:00:14 GMT

I bought my Lenovo Legion Y520 in mid-2018, roughly a year after Lenovo released it. At the time, its specs made it a perfectly capable gaming laptop. It was never particularly light or refined, though, and the mediocre speakers and usual gaming-laptop quirks were always part of the package.

These 4 tiny Linux distros outperform Ubuntu on low-power hardware

Nick Lewis — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:00:14 GMT

Ubuntu's minimum system requirements—6GB of RAM and 25GB of storage space—are modest compared to Windows, but if you're working with an older PC, even that may be too much. If you've ever tried running the current release of Ubuntu on an old netbook or Optiplex, you've experienced it first hand.

Linux swap files just saved my low-RAM PC from obsolescence

Bobby Jack — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:13 GMT

A low-powered CPU can make some tasks slower, while a small disk drive means you’ll have space for fewer files. But a machine with low memory can be catastrophic: applications hanging or getting closed by the memory manager, or even the whole system coming to a halt.