What Is Linux?
Linux is an operating system (OS) kernel. Programmed from scratch by Linus Torvalds,
a Finnish computer student, Linux is modeled after existing UNIX kernels.
The Linux kernel, first distributed in 1991, provides the core OS services
that enable applications and hardware devices to function.
Hundreds of people have since contributed code, patches, testing, and documentation
to the Linux development effort, until what was once a rather minimalist OS
skeleton is today a powerful, full-featured operating system. Linus developed
the original Linux kernel for the Intel 386 chip family. The kernel has since been
ported to virtually all major microprocessor architectures, including Alpha, MIPS,
Motorola 68k, PowerPC, StrongARM, Sparc, and UltraSparc. 64-bit versions of Linux
exist for the Alpha and UltraSparc platforms.
Linux contains all of the features that you would expect in not only a UNIX, but
any Operating System. Some of the features included are true multitasking, virtual
memory, the world's fastest TCP/IP drivers, shared libraries, and of course
multi-user capabilities (this means 100s of people can use the one computer at
the same time, either over a network, the Internet, or on laptops/computers or
terminals connected to the serial ports of those computers). Linux runs fully in
protected mode and supports fully fledged 32-bit and 64-bit multitasking.
Linux also has a completely free X Windows implementation comforming to the X/Open
standard. Most existing X Based programs will run under Linux without any
modification. X Windows for the uninitiated is a GUI, similar to Microsoft
Windows but is feature packed (and is rather large, consuming around 15-20MB).
Most Linux distributions come completely pre configured to a factory configuration,
and distributions such as RedHat Linux also have graphical based configuration
utilities and installers (not unlike Windows' Control Panel).
Linux includes advanced networking capabilities that are clearly superior to most
other Operating Systems. Linux supports connection to the Internet or any other
network using TCP/IP or IPX via ethernet, fast ethernet, ATM (in development), modem,
HAM/packet radio (X.25 protocol), ISDN, token ring, or PLIP (modified printer cable
to another computer). As an Internet/www server, Linux generally out-performs
Windows NT, Novell and most UNIX systems on the same hardware.
Linux supports all of the most common Internet protocols, including Electronic
Mail, UseNet News, Gopher, Telnet, Web, FTP, Talk, POP, NTP, IRC, NFS, DNS, NIS,
SNMP, Kerberos, WAIS and many more. Linux can operate as a client or as a server
for all of the above and has already been widely used and tested in the above roles.
Linux also fits easily and tightly into your Local Area Network, no matter what
combination of systems you might be running. Full and seamless support for Macintosh,
DOS, Windows, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, WNovell, OS/2,
all using their own native protocols. Linux can do all of this in just 16MB of
memory or even less (with swapspace). Typically, you could have all the above
running in 8MB with 16MB swap (a total of 24MB RAM).
Linux is rather famous for being "free" or "Open Source" software. In this case,
"free" does not refer to the price of Linux, since anyone is able to download Linux
from the Internet for free. "Free" as applied to Linux actually refers to freedom,
meaning the freedom to inspect the system's underlying source code, the freedom to
modify the source code to fix problems or add new features, and the freedom to
redistribute the changed source as long as you don't charge other people for it.
Linux is the product of the work of thousands of committed programmers. The
cooperative, distributed nature of the Linux development team--strongly at odds
with the way operating systems are produced at proprietary software companies--is
one of the most remarkable aspects of the Linux phenomenon. In fact, some argue
that the Linux development model, by encouraging intensive peer scrutiny of all
proposed code and by enabling rapid patches to bugs, accounts for the stability and
general excellence of Linux itself.
Resources:
Wired Magazine: The Greatest OS That (N)ever Was, by Glyn Moody An article
describing the background of Linux:
http://www.wired.com/wired/5.08/linux.html
The Cathedral and the Bazaar, by Eric S. Raymond A paper describing the advantages
of the Open Source development model.
Linux International: a non-profit association of groups, corporations and others
that work towards the promotion of and helping direct the growth of the Linux
operating system and the Linux community.
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