This article is the English translation of the Japanese article titled ‘初心者がLinuxを使い始める環境が整ったと思う7つの理由’.

Today, I’d like to share my thoughts on “7 Reasons Why a Beginner is Ready to Start Using Linux.” If you’re interested in Linux but hesitant to dive in, I hope this article will be helpful. Welcome to the world of Linux distributions!

The Rise of Driverless Printing: More Printers Are Now Compatible with Linux

With the increasing popularity of printing from smartphones over a network, many printers now support driverless printing. This has created a very favorable situation for Linux users. Before the widespread adoption of driverless printing, users would need to download and install specific Linux drivers from each manufacturer’s website to connect their printers. If the manufacturer did not provide a Linux driver, users couldn’t print, so Linux users had to search for printers that offered Linux drivers. It was often said that “printers were a Linux headache,” but the situation has dramatically changed with the rise of driverless printing.

Printers that support driverless printing can be found at OpenPrinting.

The Growth of New Package Management Systems like Flatpak

In most Linux distributions, application installation and removal are managed through a tool called a package manager. The package manager retrieves and installs applications from online repositories, which has traditionally been the general method of package management for Linux users. While this method is still widely used, new application delivery methods using virtualization technologies like Flatpak, Snaps, and AppImage have gained popularity. I feel that Flatpak and Snaps, in particular, have gradually become more common among Linux users over time. Thanks to these new package management systems, users can easily install applications that are not available in official repositories through Flatpak. Additionally, Flatpak, Snaps, and AppImage do not affect the original system during installation or removal, making it easy to try and remove applications without any worries. This is a very welcome development for Linux beginners.

If you’re interested in learning which applications are available through Flatpak, Snaps, and AppImage, you can check out the following links. They lead to some of the most popular repositories and websites:

• Flathub: The de facto standard repository for Flatpak
• Snapcraft: The official repository operated by Canonical
• AppImageHub: A store site for AppImages

Setting Up a Japanese Language Environment Has Become Easier

This may be a point specifically for Japanese users, but for many Japanese people, the ability to use the system in Japanese or input Japanese text is a significant concern. Nowadays, Linux distributions have made significant progress in multilingual support, and there are distributions where Japanese language support is fully set up right after installation. Using distributions like Ubuntu can largely alleviate this concern. Additionally, even for distributions that aren’t initially localized in Japanese, it’s now much easier to set up Japanese language support. When it comes to Japanese input, there are considerable differences in the packages provided by each distribution, but by using the aforementioned Flatpak, it has become much easier to use the same Japanese input method across different distributions.

Installation Has Become Easier

As mentioned earlier about Japanese language support, many modern Linux distributions make installation incredibly easy. If you’re unfamiliar with the term “distribution,” you can think of it as a type of operating system based on Linux. Many distributions now offer Japanese-language installation options. It’s rare these days to find a distribution where you have to install it through a command line in a black screen. Hardware detection, drivers, and firmware are automatically installed. With a clean graphical interface, you can quickly complete the installation by answering a few questions with your mouse. This is the current state of Linux installation. If you have struggled with installation in the past, I encourage you to give it another try.

I have also introduced some beginner-friendly distributions on my blog. For more details, refer to 2024 Recommended Linux Distributions for Beginners.

The Expansion of Web Applications

With the rise of smartphones, web browsers have taken on an OS-like role, and web applications have become much more advanced. Whether you’re using Windows, macOS, or Linux, web apps allow you to have the same experience regardless of the OS. Tasks like document creation, spreadsheets, music and video streaming, and more can now be done through web apps and services. Many people continue using Windows because they feel they need Microsoft Office. While it’s true that LibreOffice can’t fully replace Microsoft Office, if the task can be done with the web version of Microsoft 365 for the web, then there’s no need to stick with Windows.

The Gap Between Linux Distributions Is Narrowing

This is related to the new package management methods like Flatpak and Snaps discussed earlier, but recently, major Linux distributions have adopted Systemd as the core system. As a result, the differences in usability and settings between distributions have significantly decreased. In distributions that use Systemd, commands related to the core system settings are unified, and the differences in command sets that used to exist between distributions are now gone. While this might be disappointing for distribution enthusiasts like myself, I believe it’s a positive change for those starting with Linux. Whether you use a RedHat-based or a Debian-based distribution, you can retrieve system information and configure settings with the same commands. This provides psychological safety for users and removes the hassle of learning new commands for each distribution.

UEFI Machines Are Becoming the Majority

When you power on a PC, the first program to load is the motherboard’s BIOS (Basic Input Output System). Nowadays, most PCs use either the older Legacy BIOS or the newer UEFI BIOS. Since UEFI BIOS has been around for a while, machines with UEFI BIOS are now more common. What does this have to do with Linux? Well, when installing Linux, the partitioning of the hard disk and the installation of the bootloader differ depending on whether you’re using Legacy BIOS or UEFI BIOS. Fortunately, modern installers automatically detect this, so users typically don’t have to worry about making this choice. With UEFI machines becoming the majority, the situation is much simpler compared to when both Legacy BIOS and UEFI BIOS were in use. However, if you’re looking to reuse an older PC, it may still be using Legacy BIOS, so be mindful of that.

Conclusion

I listed seven reasons to encourage those who are hesitant to start using Linux. Writing this article made me realize that compared to when I first started using Linux, the conditions are much more favorable now. In particular, the situation with printers and web apps has been dramatically improved by smartphones. The phrase “Linux can’t do this” is slowly becoming a thing of the past.

Just as the advent of web browsers and web apps has bridged the gap between operating systems, virtualization technologies and Systemd are helping to reduce the differences between Linux distributions. While unification and reduced differences bring convenience to users, they also come at the cost of diversity, leading to commodification. It’s wonderful that it’s easier to recommend Linux to beginners, but on the other hand, I can’t help but feel a little nostalgic for the diversity that once existed.