What is Linux?

How could I define Linux?

Kernel vs. Operating System

Linux is both a kernel (or core) and the Operating System that runs on it, depending on the context which you are talking about. In this case, I am going to focus on Linux as the Operation System.

What is an OS?

The Operating System is a computer program. The most important of all.

First, the OS loads into memory Itself. After loaded, is his duty to organize the resources available on the computer and provides them to other programs that need access.

Probably the best known recent operating systems are Windows 7 from Microsoft, and Mac OS X from Apple, and according to the Distro Watch website, the most popular Linux distribution is Ubuntu, followed by Fedora and OpenSUSE.

Windows 7

Mac OS X

Ubuntu

Linux adopts the GPL, a free software license - which means, among other things, that everyone interested can use it and redistribute it, subject to the license terms. Combined with several other free software like Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice.org, Linux can form a modern, secure and stable environment for desktops, servers and embedded systems.

When it all began?

To talk how the Linux OS developed along these years, I need to explain how his kernel was built. The core code was originally write by the 21 years old student Linus Torvalds at the University of Helsinki, Finland in April 1991. Then, on 26 August 1991, Torvalds posted on the Usenet:

Linus Torvalds

I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since April, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things).

I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months [...] Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT portable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.

[...] It's mostly in C, but most people wouldn't call what I write C. It uses every conceivable feature of the 386 I could find, as it was also a project to teach me about the 386. As already mentioned, it uses a MMU, for both paging (not to disk yet) and segmentation. It's the segmentation that makes it REALLY 386 dependent (every task has a 64Mb segment for code & data - max 64 tasks in 4Gb. Anybody who needs more than 64Mb/task - tough cookies). [...] Some of my "C"-files (specifically mm.c) are almost as much assembler as C. [...] Unlike minix, I also happen to LIKE interrupts, so interrupts are handled without trying to hide the reason behind them. (http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.minix/msg/b813d52cbc5a044b)

There is a lot of computer jargon, but basically, the post explain the how he was building the kernel, what technology he was using, and invinting others Usenet users to give feedback. A lot of people contributed code to the project. One month after the post, the Linux core version 0.01 was released. It had 10,239 lines of code. In February 1992, Torvalds adopted the GNU General Public License (GPL) over his previous self-drafted license, which had not permitted commercial redistribution.

The project continued to grow rapidly! On 14 March 1994, Linux 1.0.0 was released, with 176,250 lines of code. One year later, Linux 1.2.0 was released with almost twice lines of code (310,950)!

The last version released (2.6.36) on 20 October 2010 has 13,499,457 lines of code.

Ref:www.kernel.org

With the Linux kernel, the Linux OS is developing even faster. What was just a hobby for one student, it is now the job of a lot of companies which have been developing easy graphical environment for end users, resulting in friendly distribution like the widely-know Ubuntu.

Red Hat is a company founded in 1993 which provides Linux based operating-system platforms, applications and management products, as well as support, training and consulting services. 

In February 2009, Red Hat was the largest corporate contributor to the Linux kernel.

Logo / Mascot

Most of the project has his Logo/Mascot, and Linux is not an exception. Tux is the name of the lovable, cuddly, stuffed penguin as Linus Torvalds said in his post in the linux-kernel mailing list:

Somebody had a logo competition announcement, maybe people can send their ideas to a web-site..

Anyway, this one looks like the poor penguin is not really strong enough to hold up the world, and it's going to get squashed. Not a good, positive logo, in that respect..

Now, when you think about penguins, first take a deep calming breath, and then think "cuddly". Take another breath, and think "cute". Go back to "cuddly" for a while (and go on breathing), then think "contented".

With me so far? Good..

Now, with penguins, (cuddly such), "contented" means it has either just gotten laid, or it's stuffed on herring. Take it from me, I'm an expert on penguins, those are really the only two options.

Now, working on that angle, we don't really want to be associated with a randy penguin (well, we do, but it's not politic, so we won't), so we should be looking at the "stuffed to its brim with herring" angle here.

So when you think "penguin", you should be imagining a slighly overweight penguin (*), sitting down after having gorged itself, and having just burped. It's sitting there with a beatific smile - the world is a good place to be when you have just eaten a few gallons of raw fish and you can feel another "burp" coming.

(*) Not FAT, but you should be able to see that it's sitting down because it's really too stuffed to stand up. Think "bean bag" here.

Now, if you have problems associating yourself with something that gets off by eating raw fish, think "chocolate" or something, but you get the idea.

Ok, so we should be thinking of a lovable, cuddly, stuffed penguin sitting down after having gorged itself on herring. Still with me?

NOW comes the hard part. With this image firmly etched on your eyeballs, you then scetch a stylizied version of it. Not a lot of detail - just a black brush-type outline (you know the effect you get with a brush where the thickness of the line varies). THAT requires talent. Give people the outline, and they should say [ sickly sweet voice, babytalk almost ]"Ooh, what a cuddly penguin, I bet he is just _stuffed_ with herring", and small children will jump up and down and scream "mommy mommy, can I have one too?".

Then we can do a larger version with some more detail (maybe leaning against a globe of the world, but I don't think we really want to give any "macho penguin" image here about Atlas or anything). That more detailed version can spank billy-boy to tears for all I care, or play ice-hockey with the FreeBSD demon. But the simple, single penguin would be the logo, and the others would just be that cuddly penguin being used as an actor in some tableau.

Linus

Did you like? Why not give it a go?

As you can see, the Linux evolved a lot during the past years, it has now be much more accept (not a lot, but it is something for the next post) for the end-users without a lot of computing skills. 


Just to finish, I would like to leave you a few suggestions of Linux Distributions if you maybe interested in try it.


I will pick up 2 from the 10 distros suggested on the techradar website: 


As I already said a few times, the Ubuntu is the most famous Linux distribution and highly recommend it for the beginners. It is the one will not need to worry aboutincompatibly, software installation and configuration.

But, if you have been using Windows OS for a couple of years, you should try the PCLinuxOS. Quoting: This is because it is an environment who is slate grey and blue surface belies and underworld of configuration options, complexity and customisation on the interior. The latest, for example, includes significant updates to the K3b Blu-Ray, CD and DVD burner, the Digikam photo management tool, the Choqok social networking tool and the Amarok media player, all wrapped around the very latest KDE release.

Maybe you don't want to install and configure it in your pc. Then, have a look on the KNOPPIX distro. Quote from the website: It is a compilation of GNU/Linux software, run completely from CD, DVD or flash disk. It automatically detects and supports a wide range of graphics adapters, sound cards, USB devices and other peripheral devices. Basically, it is one of the easiest way to try it.

Reference

And what about you?
Have you had any experience with Linux before? How was it?
What do you think about Linux for personal use?