Operating systems

A short reference on segmentation faults — what actually happens between the MMU and SIGSEGV, the five bugs that cause almost all of them, how to get and read the core dump, and why memory-safe languages mostly (but not entirely) make them extinct.

A short reference on the shell — what it actually does between your keyboard and the kernel, how it differs from a terminal and a tty, what happens to a command line before it runs, and the classic footguns of quoting and sh-vs-bash.

Picking a GPU driver on Linux comes down to your vendor. This explains Mesa, the open and proprietary NVIDIA options, what DKMS does, and the package to install for Intel, AMD and NVIDIA on a fresh Arch system.

Linux splits networking into a kernel layer that runs the link and a userspace manager that configures it. This explains NetworkManager, systemd-networkd and iwd, and which one to enable on a fresh Arch install.

Partitioning splits a disk into independent regions, and the partition table records the map. What GPT and MBR are, why the EFI system partition exists, and a sane beginner layout for an Arch install.

mdadm + ext4 stacks RAID and the filesystem as two layers that don't talk to each other — which is why neither can heal silent bit-rot. ZFS and btrfs fuse the layers and add end-to-end checksums, scrubs, and snapshots. When that's worth it, and when the old stack is still the right call.

RAID combines several disks into one volume for redundancy, speed, or both. A plain-English tour of RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10 — what each survives, what it costs, the rebuild-risk reason RAID 5 fell out of favour for big drives, and why none of it is a backup.

Hardware vs software RAID gets muddled because people smuggle bit-rot in — but that's a filesystem property, not a RAID one. Decide hardware vs software on lock-in, tooling, cost, and write cache; decide integrity separately at the filesystem layer.

A bootloader is the small program that hands control from your firmware to the Linux kernel. What systemd-boot and GRUB each do, and which one to pick for an Arch install.

Swap is the overflow space Linux uses when RAM fills up, and the installer offers a few ways to set it up. A beginner-friendly look at swap partitions, swap files, and zram, with sizing guidance.

A filesystem is how Linux lays your files onto a disk, and the installer makes you pick one. A beginner-friendly tour of ext4, btrfs, and xfs, with an honest recommendation.

Part 3 of the Arch install: get online with NetworkManager, install the right GPU drivers and PipeWire audio, set up GNOME or KDE Plasma with a display manager, add the AUR via yay, and keep the system updated safely.

Part 2 of the Arch install: install the base system with pacstrap, generate fstab, chroot in, set timezone, locale, hostname, and a user, then install a bootloader and reboot into a working system.

Get the ISO, verify it, write a bootable USB, boot the live environment, get online, and partition and format your disk. Everything up to the point where the base system gets installed.

Arch trades convenience for control: a minimal base, a rolling release, the AUR, and the best documentation in Linux. An honest look at what that buys you and who should walk away.

A hands-on, four-part walkthrough of an Arch Linux install, written to be read alongside the official Arch Wiki installation guide. Why Arch, then booting, disks, the base system, and a usable desktop.

Moving from a Mac to Linux: the hardware reality of Apple Silicon and Asahi Linux, how to map Homebrew, Finder, Spotlight and Preview, keyboard and gesture differences, and why your Unix familiarity is an advantage.

A practical guide to moving from Windows to Linux: the mindset shift, application equivalents, dual-boot gotchas, drivers, and the real state of gaming under Proton in 2026.

The graphical part of a Linux system is built from independent layers: a display server, a window manager, and a desktop environment on top. This explains each layer and helps you choose between GNOME, KDE Plasma, XFCE and the rest.

Distributions differ in their package manager, release model, defaults, and philosophy, not in the kernel. A tour of the major families and an honest recommendation for which to pick.

Linux is a kernel, not a whole operating system. This explains the difference, where Linux came from in 1991, what GNU contributed, and why people argue about the name.

The case for Linux in four values — privacy, owning your machine, the freedom to change it, and not paying to rent software you never own. The principled argument from the FSF, paired with what Windows and macOS actually do today.

A beginner-friendly path from never having touched Linux to understanding the kernel, distributions, and desktops, and confidently moving over from Windows or macOS. The ordered reading list, and where to go next.

A short reference on cron — the five-field expression syntax, how the fields combine, the aliases, the timezone footgun, and the differences between standard cron, crond, and modern systemd timers.

A beginner-friendly explainer of the initramfs: the tiny RAM-based root filesystem the kernel uses to find your real disk, and how Arch's mkinitcpio builds it.

A beginner-friendly explainer of systemd: what an init system is, what units and services are, and the everyday systemctl commands you meet on Arch.