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What is Linux_

It would seem to many observers that the operating system known as Linux is a new phenomenon, it is not. Hardly anyone has not heard of this thing called Linux, few truly know what it is. Linux has gotten alot of press lately, which is good and bad. It is good to get the exposure, however most of the press is uninformed and non-technically inclined therefore there is a lot of misinformation out there, commonly called FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt).

Linux was created in 1991 by a Finnish student named Linus Torvalds at the University of Helsinki in Finland. The original release of Linux occurred in 1991 with version 0.02. Currently the Linux kernel is at version 2.2.13 and rising. Kernel version 2.4 should be out the first quarter of 2000.

Linux is not owned or developed by one single person or company, in effect no one really "owns" Linux, although Linus Torvalds owns the Linux trademark (so no one else may claim it and charge money for the use of the term Linux). Linux is developed by a worldwide team of volunteers most have never met each other and the vast majority of developers have never earned a dime from their work. They do it for the love and the challenge of it.

Linux is a 32 bit multitasking, multi-user, POSIX compliant, UNIX type operating system. It is fast, efficient, secure, and extremely stable. Although it was originally written for Intel processors and hardware (PC systems) it has been ported to numerous other platforms. You can get Linux if you are running an Intel processor, DEC Alpha, an m68k MAC, PPC and a variety of other platforms.

Linux not only runs on a wide range of hardware, it also supports a wide range of peripherals. One of the most common questions for new Linux users is whether or not Linux will support their hardware. An excellent place to begin finding out is The Linux Hardware Compatibility How-To. This document lists much of the hardware known to work with Linux and places to find drivers for that hardware.

A common occurrence is for users to blame Linux if a piece of hardware is not supported. This is wrong, it is not anyone's fault except the manufacturer of the unsupported hardware. Much of the work that has been done to write device drivers for Linux has been done with little or no documentation. If a company will not release the specifications for its hardware then it is difficult (sometimes impossible) to write a driver. Many companies jealously guard their hardware specifications unwilling to open up a market estimated at over 10 million users and growing. Therefore, do not blame Linux if your favorite hardware is not supported, blame the manufacturer. You can write the manufacturer or start some sort of petition campaign to help convince the manufacturer to support Linux.

Linux is also free, however the meaning of free may surprise you. Free in this case does not necessarily mean free in cost (however Linux may be obtained free of charge). Linus Torvalds decided to release his new OS under what is called the GNU General Public License. Linux is often refered to as GNU/Linux. This license basically says you are free to copy, redistribute, and change and modify the program covered under the license as long as source code is provided. A stipulation of the license also states that derivative works must also be covered under the GPL. The ability to legally copy and redistribute a piece of software is alien to most people. There really is not a large free software movement in the PC (Windows) world.

If you can freely copy and redistribute Linux then why is it for sale in stores and why do you have to pay for it_ The GPL does not restrict anyone from selling the software covered under it. However, when you sell the software you must realize that it is still covered under the GPL and subject to its terms and conditions, therefore anyone may freely copy and redistribute what you have sold. The major distributions simply package Linux into an easy to use and install system with a lot of included software. The different distributions all have their strengths and weaknesses but they are all Linux at their core. Here are some links to the more common Linux distributions.

• Debian Linux - high-quality non-commercial Linux distribution. Free Software Foundation's Linux distribution.
  
• easyLinux - from eIT.
  
• Linux Mandrake
  
• NoMad Linux - based on the encap package managing system for ease of installation and upgrades.
  
• OPen Linux - From Caldera Systems
  
• Phat Linux - In late 1998, Phat Linux created a simple, easy to use Linux operating system that ran on a Windows 95/98 partition.
  
• Red Hat - What more needs to be said_
  
• ROCK Linux - designed for highly skilled Linux Users and Administrators.
  
• Slackware Linux - offers installation help, download locations, Slack propaganda, and all the latest happenings in Slackware development.
  
• Stampede GNU/Linux - geared to power users.
  
• SuSe Linux
  
• Trinux - Trinux is a portable Linux distribution that boots from a single floppy disk, loads it packages from a FAT/Ext2 partition, floppy disks, or HTTP/FTP servers, and runs entirely in RAM.
  

Compare the costs of Linux to other operating systems and you can see the advantage. A typical small business that runs a small LAN would benefit greatly from Linux. Lets say the office had 1 server and 8 workstations. Each workstation would have to have a copy of Windows at approx. $90.00 a copy. Already you can see that costs of the OS for the workstations is about $720.00. Now, add in the costs of the server software (a few hundred dollars) and 8 client licenses for MS Office and your up to a cost of around $2000.00 for the software alone. If the same office were running Linux the OS would cost between $0.00 and $100.00 depending on weather you bought or downloaded the OS and which distribution you purchased. However, you only need one copy of the OS, you can freely install it on all 8 workstations and the server. There are free office suites for Linux also, so you can factor in a null cost for the office software also. Based on this example you can definitely see the cost advantage of Linux.

There are many myths, falsehoods and rumors about Linux, many of which are completely untrue. Linux Today maintains the Linux anti-FUD pages which helps to explain some of these myths away. One common myth is that Linux has very little software available for it. If you mean commerial software then you are correct, there is not a lot of commercial software available (but the list is growing all the time). What Linux lacks in commercial software it more than makes up for in free software. There are quite a few office suites for Linux, tons of games, many business, productivity, internet and other applications available. Most of this free software is just as good and in many cases better than software costing much more.

Linux is hard to use or hard to understand is another common myth. Linux is a bit more complicated but not much, if anything it is just different than Windows and Macs. You may hear detractors of Linux saying that is a command line driven interface and non graphical in nature. You will use the command line more in Linux, it is true, but it gives you far more flexibility and power than using a GUI for everything. Many users who are at first annoyed at the different way Linux does things and the use of a command line more often than other operating systems now feel more at home doing it the 'Linux way' because they now understand the far greater flexibility and power Linux provides for them.

Linux is not ready for the desktop is another very common myth that is completely ungrounded. I, along with millions of other users have been using Linux for many years in a desktop role. Linux provides the same features that other operating systems have with even more power. Linux has a complete GUI provided by the X Windows system, has complete (and superior) internet capabilities, has tons of home and office software available for it. It is easy to administer and maintain, in fact a well setup Linux system will virtually maintain itself with little need for the user to do complex tasks.

Linux is a complete operating system with superior stability to many other offerings. It is suitable for home, office, and dedicated server use. It has a wide variety of software, is extremely low cost and fairly easy to maintain and operate.