| FAQ Article: What is Linux? |
Pronounced lee-nucks or lih-nucks. A freely-distributable open source operating system that runs on a number of hardware platforms. The Linux kernel was developed mainly by Linus Torvalds. Because it's free, and because it runs on many platforms, including PCs and Macintoshes, Linux has become an extremely popular alternative to proprietary operating systems.
Now, as you know - Unix is a text based operating system like Dos - therefore there are no amazing graphics. This is where people get confused with Linux! Many a time I have mentioned Linux to someone and said "Oh, I have Linux on my pc now" - only to get a response like - "What?!? Why!! Its all text isn't it and you cant get any programs for it like you can for Windows!) ... This is of course, completely untrue! Linux has a beautiful GUI system - called X Windows (or just X).
There are many different desktops and window managers for X that complete change the look and feel of your systems GUI. Some are very similar to Windows in many ways (KDE desktop or GNOME) - but offer a number of things Windows does not (multiple desktops, more customisation etc). You can visit http://xwinman.org/ for a good list of Windows Managers and Desktops.
Here are some of the advantages of Linux as an operating system:
- It is quite secure out of the box
- Linux source code is freely distributed. Tens of thousands of programmers have reviewed the source code to improve performance, eliminate bugs, and strengthen security.
- It performs true multi tasking
- Most of the software for Linux is completely free
- It is very customisable
- Linux runs on a wide range of hardware
- It is robust (i.e. it doesn't crash all the time)
- Core elements of the O/S can be upgraded separately for free
- Linux can handle multiple processors
- Multiple desktops
- You can run it on a computer alongside windows
- You can run Windows from within Linux, or vise versa - using VMWare or a similar Virtual PC application
Linux is distributed as an "Open source" program. This means that the source code for it comes with it (yes, the source code for the entire operating system!! written in C). Now you may thing, "Why write something and then give the source code away so that people can copy it??" - well, Open source has turned out to be a good way to create reliable, high-quality software.
Think about it! If you give the source code with the program, as soon as someone finds a bug - they can fix it in the code themselves (and therefore not wait for the maker to eventually get around to it). The person who fixes it can then tell other users over the net how to fix it, and therefore the problem disappears in a fraction of the time it would take Microsoft to fix it. So you see, the idea is brilliant. Also, this allows people to TRUELY customise the operating system to look and operate exactly how they want it.
This is why you may have seen loads and loads of different companies distributing Linux under different names (Debian, Gentoo, Redhat/Fedora, Corel, Mandrake etc). It's all Linux - just a different "flavor" :) You can see a huge list of flavors and download them from: http://distrowatch.com/.
If you think you might like to try Linux, but don't want to modify your PC's setup or go through a difficult installation process - there is a solution! See our article titled "Linux Live CD's".
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Posted on: 19-08-1999
Article has been viewed 7499 times
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