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Linux Distributions: A History and its Modern-Day Applications

Caswell Hennig

Department of Information Science, Marymount University

IT 315: Operating Systems and Virtualization

Mr. Hossein Beyzavi

May 7, 2020

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Abstract

Linux distributions are very important in today’s world to utilize the power of the operating

system effectively by having everything you need to get up and running in one package.

Linux began in 1991 as a personal project by Finnish student , to create a new

free kernel for personal computers based on the architecture. The

resulting has had large constant growth throughout its history and has since been

ported to more platforms than any other operating system. Since the initial release of its source

code in 1991, it has grown from a small number of files to 23.3 million lines of .

Linux is now also used not only for personal computing but is the leading operating system on

servers and other systems such as mainframe computers. Linux also runs on embedded systems,

such as routers, automation controls, televisions, digital video recorders, video game consoles,

and smartwatches. Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free and open-source software collaboration, which means that the source code may be freely used, modified, and distributed.

Keywords: Linux, distribution, , , , kernel, Live CD, Live USB,

Linux Mint, Fedora, Gentoo, , openSUSE, 3

Linux: The Beginnings

By its modern definition, Linux refers to a group of operating system distributions built around the Linux kernel. In the strictest sense, though, Linux refers only to the presence of the kernel itself. To build out a full operating system, Linux distributions often include tooling and libraries from the GNU project, as well as other sources (Juell, 2017). Linux has its roots in

UNIX and , two projects that shared the goal of developing a robust operating system that

could accommodate multiple users.

UNIX and Multics

UNIX developed out of the Multics, or Multiplexed Information and Computing Service,

project iteration at the Bell Laboratories’ Computer Sciences Research Center. Multics, which is

a mainframe time-sharing operating system that was developed during 1963 through 1969 period

through the collaboration of the aforementioned , along with the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology (MIT), and General Electric (GE), was one of the first operating systems

that used page-segmented storage (Rouse, 2005). Bell Labs stopped funding the Multics project

in 1969, as they were disappointed with the progress that had been made, but a group of

computer scientists, including and , continued working with the

project’s core principles, which ended up culminating in the development of UNIX. Thompson

and Ritchie first led a team of Bell Labs researchers to develop a hierarchical , a

command-line interpreter, some small utility programs, and the concepts of computer processes

and device files, which were a very big improvement for the time. A month later, Thompson and

his coworkers had deployed a full self-hosting operating system with an assembler, an editor, and

a shell, which ended up being UNIX (Rouse, 2017). 4

Ever since the team at Bell Labs developed UNIX, it has seen tremendous growth over

the years, especially after the fourth version was released, which translated the code from

assembly language into C, a high-level programming language, which increased its portability to

other computing platforms. Due to this popularity, many universities and research institutions

adopted UNIX as an emerging technological advancement that showed promise, and as a result,

many students during that era were introduced to it, such as a Linus Torvalds, a graduate student

at the Helsinki University of Technology in .

The Creation of Linux

In 1991, while studying at the University of Helsinki, graduate student

Linus Torvalds began a personal project to create a new free operating system kernel for personal computers, which later became what we know as the Linux kernel. He wrote the program specifically for the hardware he was using, independent of an operating system because he wanted to make the program so that it would be universally compatible with his Intel 80386 processor. According to Torvalds, during a TED Talk in 2016:

I did not start Linux as a collaborative project. I started it as one in a series of many

projects I had done at the time for myself, partly because I needed the end result, but even

more because I just enjoyed programming.

Also, he mentioned that the main reason for him embarking on his project was his gripe about the fact that there was no true, open-source operating system available. At this point in his project, though, he had created a functional kernel, however, he didn’t have the necessary

expertise and tools to turn the kernel into a functional operating system. A kernel is a necessary

component of an operating system, but it can’t achieve any tasks without programs such as a 5 shell, a library, and compilers. , a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology, or MIT, as well as the founder of the GNU Project, an organization whose goal is to offer 100% free UNIX-compatible software, meanwhile, had programs but lacked a functional kernel. A technological marriage of sorts was arranged between the GNU Project, located in

Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Linux kernel, located in Helsinki, Finland. The code was transmitted through the Internet to allow the union between the two developers’ systems. In other words, Linux was born on the Internet (Roberts, 2014). After this development had been finalized, Torvalds (at age 21), announced the system in a posting to the newsgroup comp.os.minix on August 25th, 1991. A screenshot of the post is shown below:

As shown, Torvalds was very eager to get his new operating system out to the masses and was willing to hear suggestions from all, which is a hallmark of his operating system being open 6

source. Regarding people contributing to his code to expand on his idea, Torvalds goes on to say

that:

It didn't even start by people contributing code, it was more that people started

contributing ideas. And just the fact that somebody else takes a look at your project – and

I'm sure it's true of other things, too, but it's definitely true in code – is that somebody

else takes an interest in your code, looks at it enough to actually give you feedback and

give you ideas. That was a huge thing for me. (2016)

Torvalds went on to have a huge amount of success with Linux, however, as the operating

system grew bigger and more files were added to it, there needed to be a way for users to get

their hands on the operating system without having to rely on their slow and antiquated Internet

connections of the time. This gave rise to the distribution, or “distro”, as it’s more commonly

known.

The Rise of the Distribution

The very earliest versions of Linux, in 1991, consisted of two versions, one that could be

downloaded from the Internet, as mentioned previously, and another physical version which

contained two floppy disks, a boot disk that contained the kernel, and a root disk that set up the

file system and came with some of the basic GNU tools. Copies of these disks and the Linux

source were downloadable from a server hosted by Helsinki University. As more software

became available, though, this method was no longer enough, and Linux distributions came into

existence. A distribution is a package containing a ready-to-run selection of available software plus installation utilities, configuration tools, and documentation, as well as the Linux kernel itself (Berlich, 2001). Most Linux distributions were created by enthusiasts who wanted to 7

spread the word and increase the availability of Linux, especially due to the original Linux

source code and kernel being notoriously difficult to set up for all but the most tech-savvy users

due to its lack of technical documentation. According to an article by Ruediger Berlich:

The first was created by Owen Le Blanc at the Manchester Computing

Centre (MCC) in the northwest of England. The first MCC Interim release, as it was

known, was released in February 1992. This was followed shortly after by the

Softlanding Linux System (SLS), founded by Peter McDonald, which was the first

comprehensive distribution to contain elements such as X and TCP/IP, and the Slackware

distribution maintained by (initially based in large parts on SLS).

(2001)

After these three distributions were created, more and more distributions started popping up,

each attempting to either fix or improve issues present in another distribution or to customize

their distribution to fill a particular need in the computing market, which is still the case with

Linux distributions today. Some of these distributions have matured into sophisticated

enterprises, generating income from commercial support services. Some examples of these are

SuSE Linux, which was founded in late 1992 which was originally based on Slackware, and Red

Hat (now known as Fedora, with being the company itself), which was founded in 1993,

absorbing aspects of the BOGUS distribution, which was also created in 1993.

In addition to commercial companies creating Linux distributions, there were and are

purely community-driven distros, such as Debian, which was started as an independent project by in late 1993 to provide a free alternative to the commercial Linux distributions,

Slackware, which was mentioned previously, Gentoo, first released on July 26th, 2000, and Arch

Linux, first released on March 11th, 2002. 8

Linux in the Modern Day

In the modern-day, Linux is used practically everywhere, on billions of devices. Much of this is thanks to there being even more distros and variations of Linux being created after the year 2000, which is shown in the table below:

Also, a large reason of why Linux is used on so many devices in the modern era is thanks to the development of the Android operating system, which is commonly used in phones, tablets, and other devices.

Android

The Android operating system was first developed by Android Inc, which was founded in

Palo Alto, California, in October 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris 9

White. The early intentions of the company were to develop an advanced operating system for digital cameras, however, they then decided that would be a more profitable endeavor. Android, Inc was bought out by Google in July of 2005, and while at Google, Rubin developed a mobile device platform powered by the Linux kernel and made the software open source. Because of the open-source nature of the operating system and the rapid boom of smartphones over the years, especially in countries like China, Android has become ubiquitous throughout the world, and as a result, Linux has also become ubiquitous.

Embedded Applications

Just like how good Linux is suited for and tablet use, Linux is also very well suited for use in embedded applications due to its stability as a kernel and the Linux is a good match for commercial-grade embedded applications due to it being generally highly stable, being already in use by large numbers of programmers, and it allows developers to program hardware

“close to the metal”, which means that there are fewer pieces of software between the program itself and the actual chipset, so that there are fewer bottlenecks. It is an operating system used in almost all embedded device projects. Linux is also platform-independent. (compiled on one platform and can be executed on any other platforms), which makes it very beneficial for embedded applications so that it can be replaced with a new version down the road if needed.

Also, due to the open-source nature of the software, it allows unlimited modifications in the source code, which means that the code can be updated in the future as needs arise. Some popular embedded Linux distributions are , XBMCbuntu, KaeilOS, Yocto,

Buildroot, and OpenWRT/LEDE.

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Servers and Mainframes

Just like in embedded applications, Linux is also used on a wide variety of servers and

mainframe systems due to its lightweight operating system and the ability for programmers to

utilize more of the available resources without as much overhead. A Linux server is designed

from the ground up to handle more intense storage and operational needs of larger organizations

and their software than desktop-grade hardware and Linux distributions. Another major benefit of using Linux over other operating systems such as Windows is that it is fully open source,

which helps keeps setup and maintenance costs low. One company that has been majorly

involved in the promotion of Linux distributions for server use is IBM. IBM began considering

the Linux operating system in the late 1990s, and in 2000, IBM announced it would promote

Linux for its servers, and a year later, they “invested $1 billion to back the Linux movement,

embracing it as an operating system for IBM servers and software. IBM’s actions grabbed the

attention of CEOs and CIOs around the globe and helped Linux become accepted by the business

world” (IBM, 2011). Also, according to IBM:

By inserting IBM developers directly into Linux communities, IBM engaged Linux

development in natural ways, as a team of individuals, rather as than a lumbering and

monolithic corporate contributor. IBM learned that involvement required influence in

place of control and embraced the broadness of the Linux community—benefitting

greatly from the wisdom of the crowds. (2011)

IBM has since integrated Linux into their server lineup even more, promoting them on their

Power Systems, which is a family of servers based on their POWER processors, and specifically

three POWER7 processor-based Linux-specific systems launched in 2012 for big data analytics,

industry applications, and open-source infrastructure services. Also, they have integrated Linux 11

distributions onto their IBM z/Architecture mainframe computers, citing the usability of Linux

matched with the hardware that can be utilized in these servers. Finally, the last major server

family that IBM is utilizing Linux on is that of their well-names LinuxONE servers, which can leverage the power of a distribution with a form factor and price that make them

competitive for small and large businesses alike.

Conclusion

As has been shown in this paper, Linux is everywhere. Ever since Linus Torvalds created the first Linux kernel, due to the open-source nature of the environment in which he created, it took off and grew more than anyone could have imagined in such a short time comparatively. It

is quite amazing to think of the fact that only 28 years ago, Linux didn’t exist, and now it is

absolutely ubiquitous, present in billions of devices, many of which we don’t even realize are

running Linux, and many of those devices can be in business-critical or medical applications as well, where accuracy and precision count more than ever. I have been very interested in watching the growth of Linux and Linux distributions over the years, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

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References

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