Saturday, February 3, 2007

Linux - History



The history of Linux is almost tied to that of GNU. In 1983, it was planed and in September 1983 Richard Stallman founded the GNU Project. GNU was to be a fully Unix-like operating system composed entirely of free software for all. Software research work started in January 1984. In start of 1990s, the project had collected most of the necessary components of this system, including libraries, text editors, Unix shell and compilers. Thus the GNU mid-level part of the operating system were mearly complete. The upper level could be supplied by the X Window System, but the lower level, which consisted of a kernel, system-level utilities, device drivers and daemons, was still pending. In 1990, the GNU project began developing the GNU Hurd kernel.



In 1991, work on the Linux kernel started by Linus Torvalds while he was in the University of Helsinki. In start, Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernel as a substitute for the non-free Minix kernel. Although dependent on the Minix userspace at first, work from both Linux kernel developers and the GNU project allowed Linux to work with GNU components. Thus Linux filled the final major hop in running a complete & fully functional operating system built from almost free software.





Richard Stallman - the founder of the GNU project for a free operating system.




Today, Torvalds continues to direct the development of the kernel. Richard Stallman leads the Free Software Foundation, which in turn develops the GNU components. Finally, third-party non-GNU components are made by individuals and corporations. These third-party components comprise a vast body of work and may include both kernel modules and userland applications and libraries. Linux vendors combine and distribute the kernel, GNU components, and non-GNU components with additional package management software in the form of Linux distributions.

Linux - Open Source Solutions


Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system family that uses the Linux kernel. There are many flavors of linux. Different versions of linux called as "flavors of linux". For example suse linux, redhat linux, mandrake linux, gentoo linux are different flavors of Linux. A Linux system which includes system utilities and libraries from the GNU Project is sometimes referred to as GNU/Linux.



Initially developed and used primarily by individual enthusiasts on personal computers, Linux has since gained the support of corporations such as Sun Microsystems, IBM, Novell and Hewlett-Packard



Linux is a good example of free of cost software and of open source development. IT is also calles as open system. Anyone can use it's source code, and modify it, and redistribute it freely, and in some instances the entire operating system consists of free/open source software. So what are you waiting for. Go for LINUX Free.