what is linux

what is linux

Linux is a true 32/64-bit operating system that run on different platforms. It is a multi-user, multi-tasking and time sharing operating system. Linux is a very stable OS and is used in many application areas, such as by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and as a network OS for providing various services. The Linux OS derived its name from its creator, Linux Torvalds. Linux started writing the Linux kernel in 1991, as a hobby, and created one of the most powerful operating systems available today. Perhaps the most important factor for the immense success of Linux is that it is free. It can be copied and redistributed without having to pay any fee or royalty.

A Brief history of Linux
All modern operating systems have their roots in 1969 when Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson developed the C language and the UNIX operating system at AT&T Bell Labs. They shared their source code with the rest of the world, including the hippies in Berkeley California. By 1975, when AT&T started selling UNIX commercially, about half of the source code was written by others. The hippies were not happy that a commercial company sold software that they had written; the resulting (legal) battle ended in there being two versions of UNIX in the Seventies: the official AT&T UNIX, and the free BSD UNIX.

In the Eighties many companies started developing their own UNIX: IBM created AIX, Sun SunOS (later Solaris), HP HP-UX and about a dozen other companies did the same. The result was a mess of UNIX dialects and a dozen different ways to do the same thing. And here is the first real root of Linux, when Richard Stallman aimed to end this era of UNIX separation and everybody reinventing the wheel by starting the GNU project (GNU is Not Unix). His goal was to make an operating system that was freely available to everyone, and where everyone could work together (like in the Seventies). Many of the command line tools that you use today on Linux or Solaris are GNU tools.

The Nineties started with Linus Torvalds, a Swedish speaking Finnish student, buying a 386 computer and writing a brand new POSIX compliant kernel. He put the source code online, thinking it would never support anything but 386.

hardware. Many people embraced the combination of this kernel with the GNU tools, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Features of Linux Operating System

Hierarchical File System
Linux provides a standard file structure in which system files/ user files are arranged.

Multiprogramming
Linux is a multiprogramming system means multiple applications can run at same time.

Time-Sharing
Multi-programming is made possible on the Linux system by time-sharing feature.

Multi-Tasking
A program in Linux is broken down into tasks, each task is something like reading from or writing to the disk, or waiting for input from a user. The ability of any as to handle the execution of multiple tasks is known as multi-tasking.

Multi-User
Linux is a multiuser system means multiple users can access system resources like memory, ram, and application programs at same time.

Open Source
Linux source code is freely available and it is community based development project. Multiple teams’ works in collaboration to enhance the capability of Linux operating system and it is continuously evolving.

Licensing
Linux is copyrighted under the GNU General Public License. The licensing for Red Hat Linux states that a person can make any number of copies of the software and distribute it freely or charge a price for it. One can freely download Linux from the Internet for use.

The Advantage of Linux Operating System

Cost
The most important advantage of using Linux is the fact that it is free to obtain. Linux distribution can be installed on any number of computers, without paying a single penny.

Reliability
Users on the Linux operating system work consistently with the Linux server, without reporting any operating system failures.

Backward Compatibility
Linux is perfect for those old computers with barely any processing power or memory. There are endless possibilities to find old 386 or 486 computers with barely any RAM run Linux without any issue.

Simple Upgrade and Installation Process
The installation procedure of most Linux versions is menu-driven. It includes the ability to upgrade from prior versions. The upgrade process preserves the existing configuration files and maintains a list of its actions during installation.

GUI Interface
The graphical interface for Linux is the X Window system. It is divided into two sub systems consisting of a server and a client. Linux has a number of graphical user interfaces called Desktop Environments, such as K Desktop Environment (KDE) and GNU Object Model Environment (GNOME), both of which are versions of the X Window system. They run on the X server.

Excellent Security Features
Security - Linux provides user security using authentication features like password protection/ controlled access to specific files/ encryption of data. This is the reason why many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are replacing their current OS with Linux systems.

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