Understanding the Copyright for the Linux Operating System

Understanding the Copyright for the Linux Operating System

The Linux operating system is really just a clone of Unix, also known as a work-alike for the Unix operating system, and it was written completely and entirely from scratch, never using a single line of the AT&T code. Neither the USL or the Berkeley campus of the University of California was actually involved in the creation or writing of the Linux operating system. People from all over the world, from Finland to Australia have contributed to the development of Linux, and it is hopefully going to continue to grow, change and evolve as people from all over the world continue to work on it.

The Linux operating system is copyrighted under the GNU General Public License or GPL terms. This is a specific type of license that is written by the FSF or Free Software Foundation, and the purpose of this license is to make sure that people can not restrict the distribution of the software. In brief, what it says is that although you can charge anything that you want to give a copy to someone, you absolutely cannot restrict that someone from giving their copy away for free. What it also generally means is that the source code has to be made available as well. This is especially important for programmers. The GNU General Public License also states that anybody that modifies the program has to make his version of the source code available and free for distribution. Rather than restricting how the Linux operating system is used, Linux guarantees that it will grow, spread, evolve and be developed for many years to come.

Filed Under: Linux, Operating System Tagged With: , ,

The Development of Linux

The Development of Linux

A man named Andrew Tanenbaum, who was a computer science professor in the Netherlands, who was a specialist in OS system design write a work-alike educational version of the UNIX operating system during the 80s and called it Minix. He did this so that his students could take it home and learn how to use Unix on their own home computers. A student in the University of Helsinki, Linus Torvalds, began searching out new ways that he could get more out of the Minix software during the spring of 1991. This was originally a program that could switch between printing out AAAA and BBBB. Later on this project mushroomed significantly and became more about exploring task switching capabilities that the Intel 80386 chip had.

There were numerous wars between Torvalds and Tanenbaum along the way. They were not all out wars as much as friendly competition between the two gentlemen as they worked to explore everything that Unix would be capable of. Officially anyone is capable of creating a UNIX based operating system provided that it will pass X/Open tests. In reality, the Linux operating system is just an offshoot from the Unix operating system, but it is a freely available open source operating system and so it has been developed and experimented with often throughout the years thanks to Linus Torvalds.  The project has mushroomed significantly through the years and now there are hundreds if not thousands of different Unix and Linux distributions to meet a wide variety of different needs.

Filed Under: Linux, Operating System Tagged With: , ,

Installing the Linux OS

Installing the Linux OS

There are a number of different ways that you can use Linux on a computer. One of the most common methods is simply to allocate some of your hard disk drive for Linux use, and then you can just put whatever software you want to on it. It can also be possible for you to use a Linux distribution without actually touching the hard disk at all. You can do this by bringing the software over from a computer that is on the network, or by utilizing a DVD or CD. Usually when people are talking about installing Linux, they are talking about storing Linux software on a hard disk, which is generally the best way to make it happen.

In order for you to install the Linux operating system on the hard disk, the first thing that you are going to need to do is to find a section on your hard disk where you can put the Linux distribution of your choosing. There are all kinds of different ways that you can divide a hard disk into multiple sections, and this is going to make it possible for you to have two different operating systems on the same space so that you can simply swap back and forth between the two as however it suits you.

Once you have divided up your hard disk you can use a setup disk or install disk to put Linux in your partitioned space. Follow the instructions closely and make sure that you are doing everything as directed in order for your install to go as planned. It is not hard by any means to install a Linux distribution, but it is necessary for you to do it right in order to best benefit from the distribution of Linux that you install on your machine.

Filed Under: Linux, Operating System Tagged With: , ,

Linux on Your Phone

Linux on Your Phone

Sure you have heard of the Linux operating system before but did you know that Linux is much more common than you think? You can find it in many embedded systems like copy machines, but even on a consumer level some new washers and dryers with fancy displays and buttons may run some variant of Linux. But the place where you will find it hidden the most is in your phone. Yep, if you have a new Smartphone, odds are good it’s an iPhone or Android phone you are essentially running Linux. Linux is important as it an Open Source operating system which again, everyone uses.

If you are running an Android phone you are running Linux. Sure it not the desktop version that you may have seen with all its options and bells and whistles, but the operating system is based off Linux. Now just because the operating system is based on Linux it doesn’t mean you can run native Linux applications. No Google has done enough tweaking that it simply isn’t possible. As the Android operating system advances more and more, its stems further and further from the Linux development fork that it was created from.

Google isn’t the only company that created a phone with a core based on Linux and while the connection may be small, Apples iOS that runs on their iPhone, contains a trace amount of Linux. Because the Apple’s iPhone operating system, is based on Mac OS X, which is based on the NeXTs operating system called “OpenStep”, which has part of FreeBSD and NetBSD built into its core. So you can see while the there isn’t a very strong connection, it’s enough for most to consider it a valid claim.

Filed Under: Linux, Operating System Tagged With: , ,

System Features of the Linux Operating System

System Features of the Linux Operating System

There are a number of primary features that are associated with the Linux operating system. For example, Linux is known for its preemptive multitasking which means that more than a single task or more than a single application can run at the same time. Preemptive means that the operating system will control the tasks rather than the application, and will allot clock cycles accordingly.

The next main feature is the multiuser support which means that more than a single user is going to be capable of being logged on to the operating system at the same time and the multiple users will not affect one another.

A third benefit is the fact that the Linux operating system has some rudimentary security that is built in, including file ownership, login and password, permissions and so on.

The next benefit is the fact that the Linux operating system was designed specifically for connectivity, and so you can connect many different workstations and many different computers together.

Next, the Linux operating system makes use of 32-bit access to the data in a protected mode.

Virtually every single utility program that is available for the standard mainframe implementations for the Unix operating system have also been ported over to the Linux operating system, and there are a number of great improvements in place. This means that engineers and programmers can use Linux instead of Unix, and they have access to a free operating system that has all of the same functionality as Unix without the costs involved in purchasing and using it.

Filed Under: Linux, Operating System Tagged With: , ,

Using a Linux Router

There are a variety of reasons you might be interested in a Linux router. Perhaps you have had problems with more traditional routers, or maybe you would like finer control of your routers operating system? It could simply be a cost issue, if you have the hardware, building a Linux router costs next to nothing. Linux routers don’t depend on a lot of memory or CPU usage, so finding an old computer built in even the last 10 years should work wonders. Also don’t forget that there are several Linux distributions to choose from, some are dependent on floppy disks for installation or as a way to save configuration data, and others will use a USB flash drive.

Most distributions come in the form of a downloadable ISO that is burned to a CD or DVD (depending on the file size). Another thing you will find is that many of the distributions that are burned to disk are Live CDs meaning, that the entire operating system boots off the CD and isn’t dependant on installation. Generally this has its advantages, you can try the operating system without having to install it, giving you a chance to play around and get a feel for what it would be like to run. Generally speaking there will be options to install the operating system from within the booted operating system itself. As confusing as that sounds it typically means it copies over the files it needs while in a booted environment and then restarts finishing the installation.

Generally speaking most Linux router distributions are going to require more than one network interface. This simply means more than one network card in it. If you have an onboard, usually you will only need to add one. Some Linux routers may support more than one. This can be beneficial if you have a third interface that you would like to use, like a wireless adapter. This will allow you to use the Linux router as your wireless access point for your laptop, Smartphone or anything else that may require it.

Filed Under: Linux, Operating System Tagged With: ,

Using a Linux Router

Using a Linux Router

There are a variety of reasons you might be interested in a Linux router. Perhaps you have had problems with more traditional routers, or maybe you would like finer control of your routers operating system? It could simply be a cost issue, if you have the hardware, building a Linux router costs next to nothing. Linux routers don’t depend on a lot of memory or CPU usage, so finding an old computer built in even the last 10 years should work wonders. Also don’t forget that there are several Linux distributions to choose from, some are dependent on floppy disks for installation or as a way to save configuration data, and others will use a USB flash drive.

Most distributions come in the form of a downloadable ISO that is burned to a CD or DVD (depending on the file size). Another thing you will find is that many of the distributions that are burned to disk are Live CDs meaning, that the entire operating system boots off the CD and isn’t dependant on installation. Generally this has its advantages, you can try the operating system without having to install it, giving you a chance to play around and get a feel for what it would be like to run. Generally speaking there will be options to install the operating system from within the booted operating system itself. As confusing as that sounds it typically means it copies over the files it needs while in a booted environment and then restarts finishing the installation.

Generally speaking most Linux router distributions are going to require more than one network interface. This simply means more than one network card in it. If you have an onboard, usually you will only need to add one. Some Linux routers may support more than one. This can be beneficial if you have a third interface that you would like to use, like a wireless adapter. This will allow you to use the Linux router as your wireless access point for your laptop, Smartphone or anything else that may require it.

Filed Under: Linux, Operating System Tagged With: ,

Will my software run on Linux?

Will my software run on Linux?

One of the biggest questions to answer when pondering switching your operating system is whether the software you use will work on the new one. And the answer for Linux depends on several factors: Did the company make a Linux compatible version of the software, is there a Linux compatible piece of software available that does the same thing as that software, and is it compatible with one of the programs out there that can run programs made for other operating systems on Linux.

First off, you are going to want to check to see if your software does have a developer supported Linux version, most of the major web browsers have versions for most of the operating systems available. If it is a piece of commercial software you may need to pay for a Linux version. This is probably the best result you can hope for, as this means that the developer is supporting the Linux version directly.

Next option is to see if you can find comparable software that is Linux compatible. There is a wide selection of software out there for Linux operating systems that can do what many commercial software programs do. Open Office provides a wide suite of office programs including word processing, spreadsheets, calculations, and presentation creation. The GIMP is a feature rich image editing program.

Finally, there are the programs out there that are going to be able to run some applications that are native to other operating systems in Linux. The most well known program for running Windows programs under Linux would be Wine. This program will run a large number of Windows applications, including many games, but it is not a perfect solution, not all programs will run under it properly. If you are thinking of switching and this seems like a good solution for you, check their database to see how well your applications run under Wine.

Filed Under: Linux, Software Tagged With: ,

Linux Lingo

As with any computer software there is a certain way those in the know speak about the product and use thereof. Those of us who are not fortunate to know this terminology wonder what alien planet our search engine has landed on when all we wanted to know was how to use Linux. If you are not a dyed in the wool full time computer enthusiast then here are some common terms that would be useful.

Kernel
The heart, body, and soul of Linux. It is a computer code that was developed by Linus Torvalds, who shared it with the then computer world. This decision created a community of fellow collaborators, who over the years have added to and improved the original computer coding for this operating system. Today it is one of the best examples of free and open source software there is.

Distribution
This is a general term that is used to signify that the operating system has
a Linux kernel base.

Ubuntu
A distribution of Linux sponsored by the Debian Project. It has regular six month
releases and it is known for its usability. It is absolutely free and will work with existing personal computer files, and devices.

Gnome or KDE
These are two common Windows like desktop environments of Linux.

Redhat
A company that promotes open source technology and sponsors a variety of projects
and products for Linux such as Fedora.

WINE
These are programs that create a programming code bridge between Linux and Windows. What this means to the public is the Linux operating systems can now use some of the Window applications such as Internet Explorer, Outlook Express. You can have the more stable Linux program running your computer and still use the software you are most familiar with.

There are literally thousands of more terms and definitions to know. Listed below are websites for exploration or information.

Resources
Linux Dictionary http://www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Dictionary/html/
Linux Forums http://www.linuxforums.org/

Filed Under: Linux, Operating System Tagged With: , ,

Open Source

What is open source software(OSS)? Most of the public is so familiar with Microsoft products that many do not realize that there are alternatives. It is an entirely different set up than the business model of Microsoft. In the open source world software or operating systems for computers is done by volunteer programmers. The software like xvid is free for use and for modification by any individual or entity.

Now the question becomes why? There are commercial companies such as Red Hat that contribute money and experts to the open source community, but by and large it is accomplished by individuals who love computing and programming. Since there are not any of the usual restraints such as office politics, lack of funding, and someone telling you what to do with your ideas you get incredible, innovative software, and communities who collaborate across the globe. These communities are not afraid of the process of invention and problem solving. They present incomplete pieces of software for others to tinker with over months and years and freely share their knowledge with newbies and experts alike. This group even tends to celebrate when some project reaches perfection.

Over the years programmers have developed guidelines, criteria, and licensesfor this massive undertaking and labor of love. By and large without the use of force or police the communities as a whole adhere to these guidelines. Open Source Initiative (www.opensource.org)gives a list of open standard requirements in its website.

Some of our favorite tech devices use open source software like the xvid codec to run. For instance Android which is on many of our smart phones was an open source software project led by Google. The server software Apache that powers many websites was an open source project. Then there is Linux which is embedded in many mobile phones, PDA’s, and other electronic devices.

This is a situation where volunteerism is equal to or trumps commercialism.

Filed Under: Linux, Operating System Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts