Linux words, in plain English
Linux people use a lot of words that nobody ever explained to them either. Here are the ones that turn up on this site, in alphabetical order, with the short version first.
Anti-cheat
Software that online games run alongside themselves to catch people cheating. A few anti-cheat systems block Linux outright, which is the main reason a game won’t run. The gaming guide names the games affected.
Apple Silicon
Apple’s own chips, the M1 and everything after it, in every Mac sold since late 2020. They’re ARM chips, so the Linux that runs on them is a separate project called Asahi, and the Mac guide says how far it has got.
ARM and x64
Two families of processor. Almost every Windows PC is x64, and that’s what Mint is built for. Some recent thin laptops use ARM chips, as do Macs with Apple Silicon, and the guides here cover the Mac case only. Windows tells you which you have under Settings, System, About.
BitLocker
Windows disk encryption, often switched on without the owner being told. It matters to a switcher for one reason. Windows can demand a 48-digit recovery key after a change to the PC, so find yours first.
Cinnamon
The desktop that Linux Mint uses by default, meaning the taskbar, menu, windows and settings. It’s the part of Mint that looks like Windows.
Codecs
Small pieces of software that let a computer play particular kinds of video and music file. Mint’s installer offers them with a tick-box. Tick it.
Desktop environment
The look and behaviour of everything on screen. Two distros with the same desktop environment feel nearly identical to use, and one distro with two different desktops feels like two different systems. Cinnamon, KDE Plasma, GNOME and Xfce are the names you’ll meet.
Distro
Short for distribution. A distro is Linux packaged up by a particular group into something you can install, with a desktop, an app store and a set of choices already made. Mint, Ubuntu and Fedora are distros. They all run the same apps. Which one to pick has a short answer.
Driver
Software that teaches the system to talk to one piece of hardware, such as a graphics card or a wifi chip. Linux includes most of them already. Mint’s Driver Manager offers the few it doesn’t.
Dual boot
Two operating systems on one PC, with a menu at startup asking which you want today. Mint’s installer calls this installing alongside. Only one runs at a time.
Etcher
A free program that copies an ISO file onto a USB stick in a way a PC can start from. Mint’s guide recommends it for people making the stick from Windows. Its button says Flash, and it erases the stick.
Flatpak and Flathub
Flatpak is a way of packaging an app so that one version works on every distro. Flathub is the shared catalogue those apps come from. In Mint’s Software Manager they sit in the same list as everything else, so you rarely need to think about either word.
Home folder
Your personal folder, holding Documents, Downloads, Pictures and the rest. It’s the Linux equivalent of C:\Users\YourName.
ISO
A single large file that is a complete copy of an install disc. You download a distro as an ISO, then put it on a USB stick with Etcher.
Kernel
The core of the operating system, the layer that talks directly to the hardware. Strictly speaking “Linux” is the name of the kernel and nothing more, which is a fact you can now safely forget. “Kernel-level” anti-cheat means anti-cheat that installs itself at that depth inside Windows.
Live session
Linux running from a USB stick without being installed. Nothing on the PC changes and nothing you do is kept. It’s the test drive.
NVIDIA
A maker of graphics cards. Its cards work on Linux and are at their best with NVIDIA’s own driver, which you switch on once through Driver Manager.
Open source
Software whose underlying code is published for anyone to read, check and improve. Most of what runs on Linux is open source, which is a large part of why so much of it is free.
Proton
A tool built by Valve and included in Steam that lets games made only for Windows run on Linux. You switch it on once and then ignore it. ProtonDB is a separate website where players report how well each game runs.
Secure Boot
A check the PC performs at startup to make sure the system it’s about to load is one it recognises. Windows 11 insists on it. Mint works with it left on.
Snapshot
A saved copy of the system’s state that you can roll back to if something breaks. The Mint tool that makes them is called Timeshift, and the nearest Windows idea is System Restore.
Software Manager
Mint’s app store. Search, click Install, type your password. Nearly everything in it is free.
sudo
A word at the start of a terminal command meaning “do this with full authority”. It’s the reason to read a command twice before running it.
T2 chip
A second chip Apple put in Intel Macs from 2018 to 2020 to run the disk, the sound, the webcam and startup security. Linux needs a version built for it, from the t2linux project, and the Mac guide explains what that changes.
Terminal
A window where you type instructions instead of clicking on things. It’s a legitimate tool that a lot of Linux help online assumes you’ll use. Almost nothing on this site requires it, and the first-week guide has the one rule for using it safely.
TPM
A security chip that Windows 11 requires and many older PCs lack. Linux doesn’t ask for one. If a TPM is the reason your PC was refused Windows 11, it has no bearing on whether Linux will run.
Update Manager
The shield icon near the clock in Mint. It tells you when updates exist and installs them when you say so.
Wine
A long-running project that lets some Windows programs run on Linux by translating what they ask for. Proton is built on it. For games through Steam it works well, and for ordinary Windows programs it’s a gamble, which is why this site prefers to recommend a replacement.