Introduction to linux -What is Linux? 03-20-2014, 04:00 PM
#1
Beginners Linux
Hello HC this is the first part of a series of tutorials I will be writing designed to give you an introduction to Linux, and help you get to grips with this flexible and powerful operating system.
As this is a new series I will first talk about Linux itself, and although I won't really be teaching you much about the Linux system I will be talking a little bit about what it is and why we love it so much. So, let's get started by looking a little at the birth of the Linux kernel.
The early days
Linux was created by a fellow named Linus Torvalds a (then) Computer Science student of the University of Helsinki, who used the MINUX operating system which was available on the university computers. As part of his thesis he decided to create a new system based from this, and on August 25, 1991, he announced his initial creation on the MINIX newsgroup comp.os.minix as follows:
Oh how wrong he was, fast forward 23 years to today and Linux is the most sucessful operating system in the world, wait? What? If it's so successful why isn't anyone using it you ask? Well you are every single day Linux powers virtually everything from smartphones (android, symbian) routers, T.V's, printers, to nearly all major websites (HC, Google, Youtube, Facebook etc, etc )
So why is Linux so popular
Linux is an open source OS licensed under the GNU public licence (more here) which in a nutshell states that you are free to download re distribute and modify the software as you see fit, so long as when doing so you give other people the same freedoms you are given. So Linux is free, and not only that but it's open source which means developers (and the general public) are free to view modify and distribute the source code freely, this allows room for huge growth it means that anyone can make changes to the software add features remove features they don't need or want and more importantly fix bug's on the fly, this is the true power of Linux it's maintained and improved by it's users (of course this is regulated) but it means that:
It's flexible and highly customisable, if you don't like the way unity looks change it or better still remove it altogether and install a desktop environment you do like, there's literally 100's to choose from so finding one you like is almost guaranteed.
Did I mention it's free? Yeah another big advantage is that it costs you absolutely nothing (other than the cost of a blank CD or the USB thumb drive you had laying around) most of the software is also free and open open source, with alternatives to just about any Windows application you can think of.
The file system makes sense everything is set out in a logical way, and instead of having multiple copies of the same .dll strewn around the hard drive Linux uses shared libraries meaning you only have one copy of the file which all programs on the machine share saving space and making updates a breeze.
There are however some down sides to Linux, which we will go over now:
Driver issues are still there, however they are slowly going away. Don't get me wrong most* of the time your hardware will work out of the box , but a lot of the times those extra features won't work. You can install additional drivers to recover these features a lot of the time though but not always.
No standardised packages, in Windows you download an .exe run it and the application will install/run in Linux however there are multiple ways of packaging an application such as .deb, .rpm, or even source tarballs (.tar.gz). This doesn't really effect the end user as s/he will just use the package system designed for his/her system. It does however slow down development as each piece of software has to be repackaged multiple times so that it will install on each of the many, many distributions, which leads me onto my point. Why are their so many distributions each requiring different package managers, using different desktops, etc. The answer is choice this is both a weakness and strength of Linux, it's a weakness in the sense that it causes a lot of work for developers and makes it hard to keep track of where the OS is going, but it's also it's greatest strength- freedom. You can do anything you like to it, remember the GNU public license? The freedom to change and modify Linux any way you see fit? It means that you can have an operating system tailored to suit your exact needs what could be better then that?
Summery
In conclusion we have learned a little about what Linux is and why you should try it for yourself. In the next segment we shall look at getting stuck into the OS itself choosing the right distribution for you and installing the system to your machine.
Hello HC this is the first part of a series of tutorials I will be writing designed to give you an introduction to Linux, and help you get to grips with this flexible and powerful operating system.
As this is a new series I will first talk about Linux itself, and although I won't really be teaching you much about the Linux system I will be talking a little bit about what it is and why we love it so much. So, let's get started by looking a little at the birth of the Linux kernel.
The early days
Linux was created by a fellow named Linus Torvalds a (then) Computer Science student of the University of Helsinki, who used the MINUX operating system which was available on the university computers. As part of his thesis he decided to create a new system based from this, and on August 25, 1991, he announced his initial creation on the MINIX newsgroup comp.os.minix as follows:
Quote:Message-ID: 1991Aug25.205708.9541@klaava.helsinki.fi
From: torvalds@klaava.helsinki.fi (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
To: Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: What would you like to see most in minix?
Summary: small poll for my new operating system
Hello everybody out there using minix-
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-sytem due to practical reasons)among other things.
I've currently ported bash (1.08) an gcc (1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that i'll get something practical within a few months, and I'd like to know what features most people want.
Any suggestions are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)
Linus Torvalds
Oh how wrong he was, fast forward 23 years to today and Linux is the most sucessful operating system in the world, wait? What? If it's so successful why isn't anyone using it you ask? Well you are every single day Linux powers virtually everything from smartphones (android, symbian) routers, T.V's, printers, to nearly all major websites (HC, Google, Youtube, Facebook etc, etc )
So why is Linux so popular
Linux is an open source OS licensed under the GNU public licence (more here) which in a nutshell states that you are free to download re distribute and modify the software as you see fit, so long as when doing so you give other people the same freedoms you are given. So Linux is free, and not only that but it's open source which means developers (and the general public) are free to view modify and distribute the source code freely, this allows room for huge growth it means that anyone can make changes to the software add features remove features they don't need or want and more importantly fix bug's on the fly, this is the true power of Linux it's maintained and improved by it's users (of course this is regulated) but it means that:
- There are literally thousands of developers worldwide working on it all the time
- Only features that are useful are added into it, bloatware is quickly rejected
It's flexible and highly customisable, if you don't like the way unity looks change it or better still remove it altogether and install a desktop environment you do like, there's literally 100's to choose from so finding one you like is almost guaranteed.
Did I mention it's free? Yeah another big advantage is that it costs you absolutely nothing (other than the cost of a blank CD or the USB thumb drive you had laying around) most of the software is also free and open open source, with alternatives to just about any Windows application you can think of.
The file system makes sense everything is set out in a logical way, and instead of having multiple copies of the same .dll strewn around the hard drive Linux uses shared libraries meaning you only have one copy of the file which all programs on the machine share saving space and making updates a breeze.
There are however some down sides to Linux, which we will go over now:
Driver issues are still there, however they are slowly going away. Don't get me wrong most* of the time your hardware will work out of the box , but a lot of the times those extra features won't work. You can install additional drivers to recover these features a lot of the time though but not always.
No standardised packages, in Windows you download an .exe run it and the application will install/run in Linux however there are multiple ways of packaging an application such as .deb, .rpm, or even source tarballs (.tar.gz). This doesn't really effect the end user as s/he will just use the package system designed for his/her system. It does however slow down development as each piece of software has to be repackaged multiple times so that it will install on each of the many, many distributions, which leads me onto my point. Why are their so many distributions each requiring different package managers, using different desktops, etc. The answer is choice this is both a weakness and strength of Linux, it's a weakness in the sense that it causes a lot of work for developers and makes it hard to keep track of where the OS is going, but it's also it's greatest strength- freedom. You can do anything you like to it, remember the GNU public license? The freedom to change and modify Linux any way you see fit? It means that you can have an operating system tailored to suit your exact needs what could be better then that?
Summery
In conclusion we have learned a little about what Linux is and why you should try it for yourself. In the next segment we shall look at getting stuck into the OS itself choosing the right distribution for you and installing the system to your machine.
If you need help feel free to PM me
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BTC clicks
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