Linux is a UNIX-base operating system. Its original creator was a Finnish
student name Linus Torvalds, although being ‘open source’ it has change a great
deal since its original conception. It belongs to nobody, and is free to
download and use. Any changes to it are open for all to adopt, and as a result
it has developed into a very powerful OS that is rapidly gaining in popularity
worldwide, particularly among those seeking an alternative to Windows.
In 1991, hardware was expanding rapidly, and DOS was the king of
operating systems. Software development was slower, and Macs, while better,
were also much pricier than PCs. UNIX was growing, but at that time in its
history the source code was jealously guarded and expensive to use.
Linus Torvalds was a Helsinki university student who liked playing around
with software and computers, and in 1991 he announced the creation of a new
core operating system that he had named Linux. It is now one of the most used
systems for the PC, and is particularly suitable for businesses with small IT
budgets. Linux is free to use and install, and is more reliable than almost all
other systems, running for many months and even years without a reboot being
necessary.
Advantages and Benefits of Linux
One of the significant benefits of open source software such as Linux is
that because it has no owner, it can be debugged without resource to a license
owner or software proprietor. Businesses therefore have the flexibility to do
as they wish with the OS without having to worry about conforming to complex
license agreements.
The major advantage of Linux is its cost: the core OS is free, while many
software applications also come with a GNU General public License. It can also
be used simultaneously by large numbers of users without slowing down or
freezing and it is very fast. It is an excellent networking platform and
performs at optimum efficiency even with little available hard disk space.
Linux also runs on a wide range of hardware types, including PCs, Macs,
mainframes, supercomputers, some cell phones and industrial robots. Some prefer
to dual-boot Linux and Windows while others prefer Linux and Mac OS. System76
machines come pre-installed with Linux in the form of Ubuntu, a Debian
distribution of Linux. This is the most popular distribution of Linux for
laptops.
Linux Vs Windows
The main benefits and advantages of Linux over other operating systems,
particularly Microsoft Windows, are:
• It is free to use and distribute.
• Support is free through online help sites,
blogs and forums.
• It is very reliable – more so than most other
operating systems with very few crashes.
• A huge amount of free open source software has
been developed for it.
• It is very resistant to malware such as
spyware, adware and viruses.
• It runs in a wide variety of machines than
cannot be updated to use newer Windows versions.
• Since the source code is visible, ‘backdoors’
are easily spotted, so Linux offers greater security for sensitive
applications.
• Linux offers a high degree of flexibility of
configuration, and significant customization is possible without modifying the
source code.
The Linux operating
system is widely use by both home and business users, and its usage is
increasing daily. It is considered that Linux will eventually overtake
Microsoft Windows as the most popular operating system, which could also open
the door further for more free software such as Open Office, The Gimp, Paint,
Thunderbird, Firefox and Scribus. It is easy to install and run alongside your
existing operating system, so give it a try, because it is also easy to remove
if you don’t like it – which is unlikely.
1.1.
History 1.1.1. UNIX
In order to understand the popularity of
Linux, we need to travel back in time, about 30 years ago... Imagine computers
as big as houses, even stadiums. While the sizes of those computers posed
substantial problems, there was one thing that made this even worse: every
computer had a different operating system. Software was always customized to
serve a specific purpose, and software for one given system didn't run on
another system. Being able to work with one system didn't automatically mean
that you could work with another. It was difficult, both for the users and the
system administrators. Computers were extremely expensive then, and sacrifices
had to be made even after the original purchase just to get the users to
understand how they worked. The total cost per unit of computing power was
enormous. Technologically the world was not quite that advanced, so they had to
live with the size for another decade. In 1969, a team of developers in the
Bell Labs laboratories started working on a solution for the software problem,
to address these compatibility issues. They developed a new operating system,
which was
1. Simple and elegant.
2. Written in the C programming language
instead of in assembly code.
3. Able to recycle code.
The Bell Labs developers named their
project "UNIX." The code recycling features were very important.
Until then, all commercially available computer systems were written in a code
specifically developed for one system. UNIX on the other hand needed only a
small piece of that special code, which is now commonly named the kernel. This
kernel is the only piece of code that needs to be adapted for every specific
system and forms the base of the UNIX system. The operating system and all
other functions were built around this kernel and written in a higher
programming language, C.
This language was especially developed
for creating the UNIX system. Using this new technique, it was much easier to
develop an operating system that could run on many different types of hardware.
The software vendors were quick to adapt, since they could sell ten times more
software almost effortlessly. Weird new situations came in existence: imagine
for instance computers from different vendors communicating in the same
network, or users working on different systems without the need for extra
education to use another computer. UNIX did a great deal to help users become
compatible with different systems. Throughout the next couple of decades the
development of UNIX continued. More things became possible to do and more
hardware and software vendors added support for UNIX to their products. UNIX
was initially found only in very large environments with mainframes and
minicomputers (note that a PC is a "micro" computer). You had to work
at a university, for the government or for large financial corporations in
order to get your hands on a UNIX system. But smaller computers were being
developed, and by the end of the 80's, many people had home computers. By that
time, there were several versions of UNIX available for the PC architecture,
but none of them were truly free and more important: they were all terribly
slow, so most people ran MS DOS or Windows 3.1 on their home PCs.
1.1.2.
Linus and Linux
By the beginning of the 90s home PCs
were finally powerful enough to run a full blown UNIX. Linus Torvalds, a young
man studying computer science at the university of Helsinki, thought it would
be a good idea to have some sort of freely available academic version of UNIX,
and promptly started to code. He started to ask questions, looking for answers
and solutions that would help him get UNIX on his PC. Below is one of his first
posts in comp.os.minix, dating from 1991:
From the start, it was Linus' goal to
have a free system that was completely compliant with the original UNIX. That
is why he asked for POSIX standards, POSIX still being the standard for UNIX.
In those days plug-and-play wasn't invented yet, but so many people were
interested in having a UNIX system of their own, that this was only a small
obstacle. New drivers became available for all kinds of new hardware, at a
continuously rising speed. Almost as soon as a new piece of hardware became
available, someone bought it and submitted it to the Linux test, as the system
was gradually being called, releasing more free code for an ever wider range of
hardware. These coders didn't stop at their PC's; every piece of hardware they
could find was useful for Linux. Back then, those people were called
"nerds" or "freaks", but it didn't matter to them, as long
as the supported hardware list grew longer and longer. Thanks to these people,
Linux is now not only ideal to run on new PC's,
LINUX
DISTRIBUTIONS
Linux isn’t a complete operating system
— it’s just a kernel. Linux distributions take the Linux kernel and combine it
with other free software to create complete packages. There are many different
Linux distributions out there.
If you want to “install Linux,” you’ll
need to choose a distribution. You could also use Linux From Scratch to compile
and assemble your own Linux system from the ground up, but that’s a huge amount
of work.
Ubuntu is probably the most
well-known Linux distribution. Ubuntu is based on Debian, but it has its own software
repositories. Much of the software in these repositories is synced from
Debian’s repositories.
The Ubuntu project has a
focus on providing a solid desktop (and server) experience, and it isn’t afraid
to build its own custom technology to do it. Ubuntu used to use the GNOME 2
desktop environment, but it now uses its own Unity desktop environment. Ubuntu
is even building its own Mir graphical server while other distributions are
working on the Wayland.
Ubuntu is modern without
being too bleeding edge. It offers releases every six months, with a more
stable LTS (long term support) release every two years. Ubuntu is currently
working on expanding the Ubuntu distribution to run on smartphones and tablets.
Mint is a Linux distribution built on
top of Ubuntu. It uses Ubuntu’s software repositories, so the same packages are
available on both. Originally, Mint was an alternative distribution loved
mainly because it included media codecs and proprietary software that Ubuntu
didn’t include by default.
This distribution now has its own
identity. You won’t find Ubuntu’s own Unity desktop here — instead, you get a
more traditional Cinnamon or MATE desktop. Mint takes a more relaxed approach
to software updates and won’t automatically install critical software updates.
Controversially, this has led some Ubuntu developers to label it insecure.
Debian is an operating system composed
only of free, open-source software. The Debian project has been operating since
1993 — over 20 years ago! This widely respected project is still releasing new
versions of Debian, but it’s known for moving much more slowly than
distributions like Ubuntu or Linux Mint. This can make it more stable and
conservative, which is ideal for some systems.
Ubuntu was originally founded to take
the core bits of stable Debian and improve on them more quickly, packaging the
software together into a user-friendly system that’s more frequently updated.
Fedora is a project with a
strong focus on free software — you won’t find an easy way to install
proprietary graphics drivers here, although third-party repositories are
available. Fedora is bleeding edge and contains the latest versions of
software.
Unlike Ubuntu, Fedora
doesn’t make its own desktop environment or other software. Instead, the Fedora
project uses “upstream” software, providing a platform that integrates all this
upstream software without adding their own custom tools or patching it too
much. Fedora comes with the GNOME 3 desktop environment by default, although
you can also get “spins” that come with other desktop environments.
Fedora is sponsored by Red
Hat, and is the foundation for the commercial Red Hat Enterprise Linux project.
Unlike RHEL, Fedora is bleeding edge and not supported for long. If you want a
more stable release that’s supported for longer, Red Hat would prefer you use
their Enterprise product.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is
a commercial Linux distribution intended for servers and workstations. It’s
based on the open-source Fedora project, but is designed to be a stable
platform with long-term support.
Red Hat uses trademark law
to prevent their official Red Hat Enterprise Linux software from being
redistributed. However, the core software is free and open-source. CentOS is a
community project that takes the Red Hat Enterprise Linux code, removes all Red
Hat’s trademarks, and makes it available for free use and distribution. It’s a
free version of RHEL, so it’s good if you want a stable platform that will be
supported for a long time. CentOS and Red Hat recently announced they’re
collaborating, so CentOS is now part of Red Hat itself.
openSUSE is a
community-created Linux distribution sponsored by Novell. Novell purchased SuSE
Linux in 2003, and they still create an enterprise Linux project known as SUSE
Linux Enterprise. Where Red Hat has the Fedora project that feeds into Red Hat
Enterprise Linux, Novell has the openSUSE project that feeds into SUSE Linux
Enterprise.
Like Fedora, openSUSE is a more
bleeding edge version of Linux. SUSE was once one of the great user-friendly
desktop Linux distributions, but Ubuntu eventually took that crown.
Mageia is a fork of Mandriva
Linux created in 2011. Mandriva — known as Mandrake before that — was once one
of the great user-friendly Linux distributions.
Like Fedora and openSUSE,
this is a community-created project to create an open-source Linux
distribution. Mandriva SA no longer creates a consumer Linux distribution for
desktop PCs, but their business Linux server projects are based on Mageia code
— just like how Fedora and openSUSE provide code to their enterprise
equivalents.
Arch Linux is more old
school than many of the other Linux distributions here. It’s designed to be
flexible, lightweight, minimal, and to “Keep it Simple.” Keeping it simple
doesn’t mean Arch provides tons of graphical utilities and automatic
configuration scripts to help you set up your system. Instead, it means Arch
dispenses with that stuff and gets out of your way.
You’re in charge of
configuring your system properly and installing the software you like. Arch
doesn’t provide an official graphical interface for its package manager or
complex graphical configuration tools. Instead, it provides clean configuration
files designed for easy editing. The installation disc dumps you at a terminal,
where you’ll need to enter the appropriate commands to configure your system,
partition your disks, and install the operating system yourself.
Arch uses a “rolling
release” model, which means any installation image is just a snapshot of the
current software. Every bit of software will be updated over time without you
needing to upgrade to a new “release” of Arch.
This distribution has a bit
in common with Gentoo, which was popular at one time. Both Linux distributions
are designed for users who know how their systems work or who are at least
willing to learn. However, Arch uses binary packages while Gentoo had an
(unnecessary) focus on compiling every bit of software from source — this means
it’s quick to install software on Arch as you don’t have to spend CPU cycles
and time waiting for software to compile.
Slackware is another
institution. Founded in 1993, Slackware is the oldest Linux distribution that’s
still maintained and putting out new releases today.
Its pedigree shows — like
Arch, Slackware dispenses with all those unnecessary graphical tools and
automatic configuration scripts. There’s no graphical installation procedure —
you’ll have to partition your disk manually and then run the setup program.
Slackware boots to a command-line environment by default. It’s a very
conservative Linux distribution.
Puppy Linux is another
fairly well-known Linux distribution. Previous versions have been built on
Ubuntu, but the latest is built on Slackware. Puppy is designed to be a small,
lightweight operating system that can run well on very old computers. The puppy
ISO file is 161 MB, and Puppy can boot from that disc in a live environment.
Puppy can run on PCs with 256 MB or RAM, although it does recommend 512 MB for
the best experience.
Puppy isn’t the most modern
and doesn’t have all the flashiest bells and whistles, but it can help you
revive an old PC.
These aren’t the only Linux
distributions out there. Distrowatch lists many and tries to rank them by
popularity.
For more detainled list of linux distibutions click here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions
For more detainled list of linux distibutions click here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions
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