Home >Unix > What is the Linux Operating System?



Linux is an open-source operating system published under the GNU Public License. Open source means that anyone is free to use and modify any of the actual source code. Companies and individuals can change the way the operating system works to suit their own personal or business needs. Linux was originally developed by Linus Torvalds while he was a student at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Torvalds, originally working with Minix, (a small UNIX system) decided to create an operating system which would exceed Minix standards. His development began in 1991 when he released version 0.02. Since then Linux has undergone drastic changes. There are now many different distributions of Linux (sometimes referred to as flavors) which all use the same Kernel. This Kernel is still being developed by Torvalds and a group of programmers and releases are more and more frequent. The current Kernel version is 2.6 as of the writing of this document.

The Linux operating system is touted for its speed, minimal hardware requirements, security and remote administration. Linux is a fully featured operating system which doesn't have to cost a dime. You download many different distributions directly from the Internet and the support community is huge. Because of Linux's speed and stability it has become the operating system of choice for most types of servers and permeates the entire web market. In addition there is a plethora of software available free of charge for Linux.

If graphics is your thing and the whole text based mode scares you a little then you should check out the X Window system. There are a few different interfaces available to choose from the two main ones being KNOME and KDE. Both of these have tons of features and are always being updated.

On a side note, you may see the Linux around the web he's an overweight penguin who sits contentedly on whatever area he happens to be perched on. His name, for the record, is Tux. Tux was chosen by Torvalds to represent the Linux operating system years ago and he seems to have done a good job of catching on.

---

---

Warning: include(ads/text468x15.html): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in D:\inetpub\webs\fishscriptcom\documents\view_document.php on line 131

Warning: include(): Failed opening 'ads/text468x15.html' for inclusion (include_path='.;C:\php\pear') in D:\inetpub\webs\fishscriptcom\documents\view_document.php on line 131

Tutorial
Executing a shell script   [Unix] 
Shell scripting passare parametri ad un programma  [Shell scripting] 
Cheking mandatory parameters have been passed to shell file, comparing strings in if construct and some other basics warming up with shell scripting  [Shell scripting] 
Estendere un logical volume e di un filesystem allocare più storage da riga di comando su Unix Hp  [HP UX 11i] 
Korn shell scripting If constructs AND, OR, &&, || syntax examples  [Unix] 
Function connecting to oracle getting results, executing query, verify db connection  [Shell scripting] 
Cheking parameters have been passed to shell file, comparing strings in if construct warming up with shell scripting  [Shell scripting] 
awk command line tutorial and examples sintax, functions, conditional constructs, text file operations  [Unix] 
How many processor and what kind of CPU extracting info from red hat system file /proc/cpuinfo  [REDHAT] 
sed command example on fixing errors and adding and removing blank lines  [Unix] 
Shell scripting eseguire controlli   [Shell scripting] 
Script
while do loop simple shell script  [Shell scripting] 
if e else strutture condizionali  [Shell scripting] 
Array valorizzazione e stampa  [Shell scripting] 
Hide user input on screen parameter of read command  [Shell scripting] 
Array in do while construct printing elements  [Shell scripting] 
Shell script automating oracle data pump schema export automatically export and compress database schemas in single separated dump files  [Shell scripting] 
Script per ricavare i nomi dei db (SID) dal file oratab   [Unix] 
Ciclo sul contenuto directory   [Shell scripting] 
If contruct check if a value is null or not  [Unix] 
Shell script extract items and looping example: issue dba statment for each db listed in oratab  [Unix] 
Passing parameters to shell script example sum of two numbers  [Shell scripting] 
Export and compress dump on the fly script to reduce storage need while using exp and imp Oracle utilities  [Unix] 
Pulire i file provenienti da ambieti dos/ windoes da caratteri sporchi dos2ux, dos2unix per eliminare i control M (^M)  [Shell scripting] 
Script for archiving and compressing folder and file utility example  [Shell scripting] 
How to get size or other file info in a shell script manipulating with cut or awk operative system commands output  [Shell scripting] 
Comandi
Privilegi su file o cartella (lettura, scrittura, execuzione)   [Unix] 
Cancellazione di una directory rm o rmdir   [Unix] 
Cd: cambiare directory   [Unix] 
Copiare un file in un altra cartella   [Unix] 
hostname   [HP UX 11i] 
uname visaulizza informazioni sul sistema operativo e la versione  [HP UX 11i] 
ipcs report stato dei processi  [HP UX 11i] 
getconf ricavare se si ha a disposizione un Kernel da 32-bit o 64-bit   [HP UX 11i] 
swlist -l patch determinare il software e le patch installate nella piattaforma  [HP UX 11i] 
who determinare gli utenti connessi  [Unix] 
shutdown   [Unix] 
env visualizzazione (e modifica) variabili dell'ambiente   [Unix] 
w attività degli utenti  [Unix] 
bdf visualizzare spazio disponibile  [HP UX 11i] 
df visualizzazione spazio disponibile  [Unix] 

---

---