What Is Linux? Awesome Apps Quotes from Linus Linux is an independent Unix-like operating system that can be freely modi¯ed and redistributed. It works on all major 32-bit and 64-bit computer hardware plat- 1991: on the start of it all forms and is an implementation of the POSIX speci- ¯cation with which all true versions of Unix comply. \I'm doing a (free) operating system Linux uses no code from proprietary Unix sources, and much of the software available for Linux is developed (just a hobby, won't be big and profes- by the Free Software Foundation's GNU project. The Linux applications focus on doing one job well with sional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. result of e®orts by thousands of programmers coordi- necessary communications between applications imple- nating via the Internet, Linux is now recognized as one This has been brewing since april, and mented using standard ¯le formats such as the Open of the most stable and exible operating systems avail- Document Format (ODF) and standard protocols such is starting to get ready." able at any price. as TCP/IP. This modular design has a number of ad- vantages including exibility, simplicity, and stability. 1996: on the Linux logo A particular application can be replaced by any equiv- What Systems Run Linux? alent which follows the same rules. The resulting free- \Ok, so we should be thinking of a Desktops dom of choice leads to friendly competition between di®erent development teams and often results in Linux lovable, cuddly, stu®ed penguin sitting Linux desktops such as GNOME or KDE replace Mac applications that are best-of-breed through Darwinian down after having gorged itself on her- and Windows on the desktop for most users' needs. selection. Many applications are now available, including com- ring. Still with me?" plete o±ce suites such as OpenO±ce and KO±ce. Servers What Applications Run on Linux? 1998: on world domination Linux is an important part of the computer server mar- The short answer is lots! Your distribution of choice `The \World Domination" thing is ob- ket. It runs the large majority of the Web through will generally have many thousands of popular Linux the Apache server and provides email, FTP, SSH, applications which you can optionally install including viously always a bit tongue-in-cheek, ¯le, printer, and proxy servers with e±cient and scal- the Firefox web browser, Apache web server, OpenOf- but I think that yes, a ¯ve-year time- able solutions. Linux also supports many di®erent ¯ce suite, GIMP image manipulation program, XMMS databases (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle) audio player, xine video player, FooBillard suite of 5 frame [in 2003] for the free software which are the engines of enterprise-level servers. di®erent pool games, and PySol package of 200+ soli- movement and Linux to make a major Development Systems taire games! The following sites will help you ¯nd ad- ditional apps you might need: noticeable impact is not at all unreal- Linux provides a powerful software development plat- form, with all standard languages being freely avail- istic.' Good call, Linus! ² General apps: freshmeat.net/ able. Since the source code to the OS, development ² General apps: www.linux.org/apps/ tools, and most applications can be freely modi¯ed and 2003: on the Linux development ² General apps: icewalkers.com/ redistributed, Linux is the perfect environment for de- ² Free development site: sourceforge.net/ process velopers. ² Linux-Windows equivalents: Other Systems linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html \All of these people make their mod- ² An eclectic mix of systems all run on Linux including KDE apps: kde-apps.org/ ² i¯cations, and not all of them are ac- wristwatches, consumer electronics, point-of-sale ter- GNOME apps: gnome¯les.org/ ² minals, Google, Hollywood animation studios, main- Games: happypenguin.org/ cepted. I see it as a kind of ecosystem. frames, and supercomputer clusters. You have survival of the ¯ttest." Dream Distros Resources An introduction to Linux; Below are some of the key resources to help you with a secure, powerful, and free your Linux questions. operating system for computers Resource websites of all types. ² Loads of Linux Links loll.sourceforge.net/linux/links/ ² Freshmeat { Linux Applications freshmeat.net/ A Linux distribution consists of the Linux kernel and ² Linux Documentation Project a combination of other software to make a complete tldp.org/ Unix-like environment. Most distributions are avail- ² LinuxQuestions.org able for free download via the Internet or can be pur- linuxquestions.org/ chased in supported form. ² YoLinux Information Portal Some of the more popular distributions are: yolinux.com/ ² Linux Brochure Project (LBP) lbproject.sourceforge.net/ ² Ubuntu (amd64, i386, ppc) ubuntu.com/ ² Fedora (i386, x86 64, ppc) News websites ² fedora.redhat.com/ LWN ² Debian GNU/Linux (i386, IA64, Alpha, Sparc, lwn.net/ ² m68k, PPC, Arm, HPPA, Mips, S390) LXer: Linux News debian.org/ lxer.com/ ² ² Mandriva Linux (i586, x86 64) Slashdot: News for Nerds; Stu® That Matters mandriva.com/ slashdot.org/ ² SUSE Linux (i586, x86 64, ppc) Linux Brochure opensuse.org/ ² Yellow Dog Linux (PPC) Online Zines yellowdoglinux.com/ ² Linux Journal ² Smoothwall { Internet ¯rewall/router (i386) linuxjournal.com/ Linux is an operating system initially created in 1991 smoothwall.org/ ² Linux Gazette as a hobby project by a young student, Linus Torvalds, ² OpenWRT { Wireless Router Distribution linuxgazette.net/ at the University of Helsinki in Finland, and then openwrt.org/ ² Linux Magazine: Open Source, Open Standards released to the Internet as an Open Source project. www.linux-mag.com/ ² LinuxDevices.com { Embedded Linux Resource Since then thousands of programmers have contributed Complete distribution lists can be found at: linuxdevices.com/ to make Linux one of the most stable and full-featured operating systems available in the world. ² distrowatch.com/ Newsgroups ² lwn.net/Distributions/ ² groups.google.com/groups?group=comp.os.linux Tux, the penguin shown above, is the o±cial Linux mascot. ² vlug.org/linux/newsgroups.html.