Linux

From TheBestCaseScenario

[edit] History

Linux is an operating system that was initially created as a hobby by a young student, Linus Torvalds, at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Linus had an interest in Minix, a small UNIX system, and decided to develop a system that exceeded the Minix standards. He began his work in 1991 when he released version 0.02 and worked steadily until 1994 when version 1.0 of the Linux Kernel was released. The kernel, at the heart of all Linux systems, is developed and released under the GNU General Public License and its source code is freely available to everyone. It is this kernel that forms the base around which a Linux operating system is developed. There are now literally hundreds of companies and organizations and an equal number of individuals that have released their own versions of operating systems based on the Linux kernel.

[edit] Lawsuits

Linux is an operating system developed by the public and private companies. GNU licensing problems start to crop up, companies copyright there modifications of the linux kernel, which caused lawsuits.

In March 2003, the SCO Group filed a lawsuit against IBM, claiming that IBM had contributed portions of SCO's copyrighted code to the Linux kernel in violation of IBM's license to use Unix. Additionally, SCO sent letters to a number of companies warning that their use of Linux without a license from SCO may be actionable, and claimed in the press that they would be suing individual Linux users. This controversy has involved lawsuits by SCO against DaimlerChrysler (dismissed in 2004), and AutoZone, and by Red Hat and others against SCO. Furthermore, whether SCO even owns the relevant Unix copyrights is currently disputed by Novell.

As per the Utah District Court ruling on July 3, 2006; 182 claims out of 294 claims made by SCO against IBM have been dismissed

[edit] Business

Linux remained an operating system used primarily by hobbyists until the Apache web server was released in 1995. Fueled by the economic benefit of being open source, more flexibility than Microsoft's ISS, and a surge of IT professionals with working knowledge of linux, Apache webserver became the backbone of the modern world wide web.

[edit] Distributions

Linux comes is various versions and flavors, these are known as distributions. Each distrubution is made by a different team or company. The common distributions are as follows:

Redhat http://www.redhat.com/

Fedora http://fedora.redhat.com/

SuSe http://www.novell.com/linux/

Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com/

Madriva http://www.mandriva.com/

Debian http://www.debian.org/

Slackware http://www.slackware.com/

LinuxMint http://linuxmint.com/

[edit] Benefits

Linux has some very distinct benefits over it's close sourced competition. Namely, the ability to modify any piece of open source code to suit your needs. Close sourced programs don't allow you access to the code to fix any problems you might have with the software. This idea of freedom of information is what draws many computer hobbyists and developers to linux platforms.

Another aspect of linux that is useful in both business and personal use is runtime. Linux is extremely stable, and will often run for years without problems if allowed to. This means that linux is a better choice for most servers, or computers that rarely have downtime.

[edit] CONS

The main problem with linux is that Home brew people can't always just Plug 'N' Play with linux, Yes it come with office, Few games and system tools, But unless you know what your doing it can seem daunting.

Most of programs that you install on linux need to be compiled to suit your version, or you need to have a spefic Kernal version. Most of Linux's commands are "Terminal" driven, a bit like MS-DOS PROMPT.

[edit] GUI

There are many versions of the GUI (Graphical User Interface), the main two are "KDE" and "GNOME"

_KDE_

The KDE project started on October 14th 1996 (and the project has thus celebrated its tenth birthday already)

Developer Meetings

There have been roughly yearly large-scale developer meetings for the KDE community since very early in the project. Since the KDE e.V. was created the yearly meeting is a requirement of its bylaws, so we can count on it now.

   * aKademy 2006 - Dublin, Ireland
   * aKademy 2005 - Málaga, Spain
   * aKademy 2004 - Ludwigsburg, Germany
   * Kastle - Nové Hrady, Czech Republic 2003
   * KDE Three - Nürnberg, Germany, 2002
   * KDE Three Beta - Trysil, Norway 2000
   * KDE Two - Erlangen, Germany 1999
   * KDE One - Arnsberg, Germany 1997

_GNOME_

"Taken from GNOME, Copyright GNOME.org"

he GNOME project provides two things: The GNOME desktop environment, an intuitive and attractive desktop for users, and the GNOME development platform, an extensive framework for building applications that integrate into the rest of the desktop. You can learn more about how GNOME can work for you in our Why Choose GNOME? page.

GNOME is..

Free

GNOME is Free Software and part of the GNU project, dedicated to giving users and developers the ultimate level of control over their desktops, their software, and their data. Find out more about the GNU project and Free Software at gnu.org. Usable

GNOME understands that usability is about creating software that is easy for everyone to use, not about piling on features. GNOME's community of professional and volunteer usability experts have created Free Software's first and only Human Interface Guidelines, and all core GNOME software is adopting these principles. Find out more about GNOME and usability at the GNOME Usability Project. Accessible

Free Software is about enabling software freedom for everyone, including users and developers with disabilities. GNOME's Accessibility framework is the result of several years of effort, and makes GNOME the most accessible desktop for any Unix platform. Find out more at the GNOME Accessibility Project.

And just like linux its self, they are both OPEN SOURCE.

For the GUI to work in harmony with your distro you need something called X-SERVER ,

Otherwise known as the "X-Window system" all this does is pass the keyboard and mouse information the the kernel through the GUI for ease of use, the GUI also include a terminal window from which you can pass commands directly to your linux kernel.

All in all Linux is a excellent O/S, it is not for the faint hearted, you can use it out of the box, but without ALOT of reading and time/effort you will find it VERY hard to install drivers and/or applications.