What is Linux? | All Open Source

Saturday 14 June 2014

What is Linux?

Linux is a computer operating system under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of Linux is the Linux kernel , an operating system kernel, first released on 5,Oct 1991 by Linus Torvalds.


Tux Linux


Linux was originally developed as a free operating system for intel x86-based personal computers. It has since been ported to more computer hardware platforms than any other operating system. It is a leading operating system on servers and other big iron systems such mainframe computers and supercomputers. Linux also runs on embedded systems which are devices whose operating system is typically built into the firmware and is highly tailored to the system: this includes, mobile phones, tablet computers, network routers, facility automation controls, televisions and video games consoles. Android, which is a widely used operating system for mobile phones, is built on top of the Linux kernel.

The development of the Linux is one of the most prominent example of free and open source software collaboration. The underlying source code  may be used, modified and distributed, commercially or non-commercially, by anyone under licenses such as GNU General Public License

Typically Linux is packaged in to a format known as Linux distribution for desktop and server use. Some popular mainstream Linux distributions include, Debian, Ubuntu, Linux mint , and the commercial Red hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Linux distributions include the Linux kernel, supporting utilities and libraries and usually a large amount of applications software to fulfill the distribution's intended use.


Performance and Applications

Linux is the fastest operating system at this time. It has a largest community and free and open source projects such as, desktop applications, web applications etc. Furthermore, some applications were developed for Linux such as Pidgin and GIMP and were ported to other operating systems including Windows and Mac OS X due to their popularity. 

Many other types of applications available for Windows and Mac OS X are also available for Linux. Furthermore, the Wine project provides a windows compatibility layer to run unmodified windows applications on Linux. 

Popular Linux Distributions

  • Arch Linux
  • Android
  • Backtrack
  • Manjaro Linux
  • Chromium OS
  • Chrome OS
  • Debian 
  • gNewSense
  • Knoppix
  • Linux Mint
  • Kali Linux
  • Ubuntu
  • SteamOS
  • Fedora
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  • CentOS
  • Oracle Linux
  • Mandriva
  • Gentoo
  • OpenSUSE
  • Slackware

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