The, mascot of Linux Community Primarily and OS family Working state Current Source model Mainly, is also available. Initial release September 17, 1991; 27 years ago ( 1991-09-17) Marketing target, Multilingual Platforms, NDS32, type and various others Default Many and other free and open-source licenses (the name 'Linux' is a trademark ) Official website Linux ( ( ) ) is a family of built around the.
Typically, Linux is in a form known as a (or distro for short) for both desktop and server use. The defining component of a Linux distribution is the, an first released on September 17, 1991,. Many Linux distributions use the word 'Linux' in their name. The uses the name /Linux to refer to the operating system family, as well as specific distributions, to emphasize that most Linux distributions are not just the Linux kernel, and that they have in common not only the kernel, but also numerous utilities and libraries, a large proportion of which are from the GNU project.
This has led to some. Linux was originally developed for based on the architecture, but has since been to more than any other operating system. Because of the dominance of the Linux kernel-based OS on, Linux has the of all. Linux is also the leading operating system on and other systems such as, and the only OS used on (since November 2017, having gradually eliminated all competitors). It is used by around 2.3% of. The, which runs the Linux kernel-based, dominates the US education market and represents nearly 20% of the sub-$300 sales in the US. Linux also runs on, i.e.
To use Skype for Windows 10 (version 12) in a different language: Select the Start button, then the Settings gear. Select Time & Language. Select Region & Language settings, select the desired language and click on Set as default. It will appear as the first item in the list of languages: Restart Skype for Windows 10 (version 12).
Devices whose is typically built into the and is highly tailored to the system. This includes and similar devices, network, facility automation controls, televisions,. Many smartphones and run Android and other Linux derivatives. The development of Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free and open-source collaboration. The underlying may be used, modified and distributed—commercially or non-commercially—by anyone under the terms of its respective licenses, such as the.
Some of the most popular and mainstream Linux distributions are, and, together with commercial distributions such as. Distributions include the Linux kernel, supporting and, many of which are provided by the, and usually a large amount of application software to fulfil the distribution's intended use. Desktop Linux distributions include a windowing system, such as, or a implementation, and an accompanying such as or; some distributions may also include a less resource-intensive desktop, such as. Distributions intended to run on servers may omit all graphical environments from the standard install, and instead include other software to set up and operate a such as.
Because Linux is freely redistributable, anyone may create a distribution for any intended use. Principal author of the The operating system was conceived and implemented in 1969, at 's in the United States by,. First released in 1971, Unix was written entirely in, as was common practice at the time. Later, in a key pioneering approach in 1973, it was rewritten in the programming language by (with the exception of some hardware and I/O routines).
The availability of a implementation of Unix made its to different computer platforms easier. Due to an earlier forbidding it from entering the computer business, AT&T was required to license the operating system's source code to anyone who asked. As a result, Unix grew quickly and became widely adopted by academic institutions and businesses. In 1984, AT&T divested itself of Bell Labs; freed of the legal obligation requiring free licensing, Bell Labs began selling Unix as a product, where users were not legally allowed to modify Unix.
The, started in 1983 by, had the goal of creating a 'complete Unix-compatible software system' composed entirely of. Work began in 1984. Later, in 1985, Stallman started the and wrote the (GNU GPL) in 1989. By the early 1990s, many of the programs required in an operating system (such as libraries, a, and a ) were completed, although low-level elements such as, and the, called, were stalled and incomplete. Linus Torvalds has stated that if the had been available at the time (1991), he would not have decided to write his own. Although not released until 1992, due to, development of, from which, and descended, predated that of Linux. Torvalds has also stated that if 386BSD had been available at the time, he probably would not have created Linux.
Was created by, a professor, and released in 1987 as a minimal operating system targeted at students and others who wanted to learn the operating system principles. Although the complete source code of MINIX was freely available, the licensing terms prevented it from being until the licensing changed in April 2000. Creation In 1991, while attending the, Torvalds became curious about operating systems.
Frustrated by the licensing of MINIX, which at the time limited it to educational use only, he began to work on his own operating system kernel, which eventually became the. Torvalds began the development of the Linux kernel on MINIX and applications written for MINIX were also used on Linux. Later, Linux matured and further Linux kernel development took place on Linux systems. GNU applications also replaced all MINIX components, because it was advantageous to use the freely available code from the GNU Project with the fledgling operating system; code licensed under the GNU GPL can be reused in other computer programs as long as they also are released under the same or a compatible license. Torvalds initiated a switch from his original license, which prohibited commercial redistribution, to the GNU GPL. Developers worked to integrate GNU components with the Linux kernel, making a fully functional and free operating system. 5.25-inch holding a very early version of Linux Linus Torvalds had wanted to call his invention ' Freax', a of 'free', 'freak', and 'x' (as an allusion to Unix).
During the start of his work on the system, some of the project's included the name 'Freax' for about half a year. Torvalds had already considered the name 'Linux', but initially dismissed it as too egotistical. In order to facilitate development, the files were uploaded to the (ftp.funet.fi) of in September 1991. Ari Lemmke, Torvalds' coworker at the (HUT), who was one of the volunteer administrators for the FTP server at the time, did not think that 'Freax' was a good name. So, he named the project 'Linux' on the server without consulting Torvalds.
Later, however, Torvalds consented to 'Linux'. To demonstrate how the word 'Linux' should be pronounced ( ( ) ), Torvalds included an audio guide ( ) with the kernel source code. Another variant of pronunciation is. Commercial and popular uptake. Running Adoption of Linux in production environments, rather than being used only by hobbyists, started to take off first in the mid-1990s in the supercomputing community, where organizations such as started to replace their increasingly expensive machines with of inexpensive commodity computers running Linux. Commercial use began when and, followed by, started offering Linux support to escape 's monopoly in the desktop operating system market. Today, Linux systems are used throughout computing, from to virtually all, and have secured a place in installations such as the popular application stack.
Use of Linux distributions in home and enterprise desktops has been growing. Linux distributions have also become popular in the market, with many devices shipping with customized Linux distributions installed, and Google releasing their own designed for netbooks.
Linux's greatest success in the consumer market is perhaps the mobile device market, with being one of the most dominant operating systems on and very popular on and, more recently, on. Linux gaming is also on the rise with showing its support for Linux and rolling out its own gaming oriented Linux distribution.
Linux distributions have also gained popularity with various local and national governments, such as the federal government of. Current development. In flight entertainment system booting up showing the Linux logo is the lead maintainer for the Linux kernel and guides its development. Heads the Free Software Foundation, which in turn supports the GNU components.
Finally, individuals and corporations develop third-party non-GNU components. These third-party components comprise a vast body of work and may include both kernel modules and user applications and libraries. Linux vendors and communities combine and distribute the kernel, GNU components, and non-GNU components, with additional software in the form of. Design A Linux-based system is a modular operating system, deriving much of its basic design from principles established in Unix during the 1970s and 1980s. Such a system uses a, the, which handles process control, networking, access to the,. Are either integrated directly with the kernel, or added as modules that are loaded while the system is running. The GNU is a key part of most systems based on the Linux kernel, with Android being the notable exception.
The Project's of the functions as a wrapper for the system calls of the Linux kernel necessary to the kernel-userspace interface, the is a broad collection of programming tools vital to Linux development (including the used to build the Linux kernel itself), and the implement many basic. The project also develops. The (or GUI) used by most Linux systems is built on top of an implementation of the. More recently, the Linux community seeks to advance to as the new display server protocol in place of. Many other open-source software projects contribute to Linux systems. Various layers within Linux, also showing separation between the and User mode User applications For example, etc. Low-level system components: System:, logind, networkd,.:, (Android) Other libraries:, etc.
Open, exec, sbrk, socket, fopen, calloc. (up to 2000 ) aims to be /-compatible, targets embedded systems, written for, etc. Kernel mode, etc. (about 380 system calls) The Linux kernel (SCI, aims to be /-compatible) subsystem IPC subsystem subsystem Virtual files subsystem Network subsystem Other components:,:, Hardware (, etc.) Installed components of a Linux system include the following:. A, for example,. This is a program that loads the Linux kernel into the computer's, by being executed by the computer when it is turned on and after the initialization is performed.
An program, such as the traditional and the newer,. This is the first launched by the Linux kernel, and is at the root of the process tree: in other terms, all processes are launched through init. It starts processes such as system services and login prompts (whether graphical or in terminal mode)., which contain code that can be used by running processes. On Linux systems using -format executable files, the that manages use of dynamic libraries is known as. If the system is set up for the user to compile software themselves, will also be included to describe the of installed libraries. Besides the most commonly used software library on Linux systems, the (glibc), there are numerous other libraries, such as. is the library needed to run on a computer system, with the GNU C Library being the standard.
For embedded systems, alternatives such as the (a glibc fork once used by Debian) and (which was designed for ) have been developed, although both are no longer maintained. Android uses its own C library,. Basic Unix commands, with GNU coreutils being the standard implementation. Alternatives exist for embedded systems, such as the copyleft, and the BSD-licensed. are the libraries used to build (GUIs) for software applications. Numerous widget toolkits are available, including and developed by the, developed by the and led by, and (EFL) developed primarily by the team. A, such as.
Alternatively packages can be compiled from binary or source. User interface programs such as command shells or windowing environments. User interface The, also known as the, is either a (CLI), a (GUI), or controls attached to the associated hardware, which is common for.
For desktop systems, the default user interface is usually graphical, although the CLI is commonly available through windows or on a separate. CLI shells are text-based user interfaces, which use text for both input and output. The dominant shell used in Linux is the (bash), originally developed for the. Most low-level Linux components, including various parts of the, use the CLI exclusively. The CLI is particularly suited for automation of repetitive or delayed tasks, and provides very simple. On desktop systems, the most popular user interfaces are the, packaged together with extensive, such as, and, though a variety of additional user interfaces exist. Most popular user interfaces are based on the, often simply called 'X'.
It provides and permits a graphical application running on one system to be displayed on another where a user may interact with the application; however, certain extensions of the X Window System are not capable of working over the network. Several X display servers exist, with the reference implementation, being the most popular. Several types of exist for X11, including,. Window managers provide means to control the placement and appearance of individual application windows, and interact with the X Window System.
Simpler such as, or herbstluftwm provide a functionality, while more elaborate window managers such as, or provide more features such as a built-in and, but are still lightweight when compared to desktop environments. Desktop environments include window managers as part of their standard installations, such as (GNOME), (KDE) or (xfce), although users may choose to use a different window manager if preferred. Is a display server protocol intended as a replacement for the X11 protocol; as of 2014, it has not received wider adoption. Unlike X11, Wayland does not need an external window manager and compositing manager.
Therefore, a Wayland compositor takes the role of the display server, window manager and compositing manager. Weston is the reference implementation of Wayland, while GNOME's Mutter and KDE's KWin are being ported to Wayland as standalone display servers. Enlightenment has already been successfully ported since version 19. Video input infrastructure. Main article: Linux currently has two modern kernel-userspace APIs for handling video input devices: API for video streams and radio, and API for digital TV reception. Due to the complexity and diversity of different devices, and due to the large amount of formats and standards handled by those APIs, this infrastructure needs to evolve to better fit other devices. Also, a good userspace device library is the key of the success for having userspace applications to be able to work with all formats supported by those devices.
Development. Main articles: and The primary difference between Linux and many other popular contemporary operating systems is that the and other components are. Linux is not the only such operating system, although it is by far the most widely used. Some and are based on the principle of, a kind of reciprocity: any work derived from a copyleft piece of software must also be copyleft itself. The most common free software license, the (GPL), is a form of copyleft, and is used for the Linux kernel and many of the components from the. Linux-based distributions are intended by developers for with other operating systems and established computing standards. Linux systems adhere to, and standards where possible, although to date only one Linux distribution has been POSIX.1 certified, Linux-FT.
Free software projects, although developed through, are often produced independently of each other. The fact that the software licenses explicitly permit redistribution, however, provides a basis for larger scale projects that collect the software produced by stand-alone projects and make it available all at once in the form of a Linux distribution. Many Linux distributions, or 'distros', manage a remote collection of system software and application software packages available for download and installation through a network connection. This allows users to adapt the operating system to their specific needs. Distributions are maintained by individuals, loose-knit teams, volunteer organizations, and commercial entities. A distribution is responsible for the default configuration of the installed Linux kernel, general system security, and more generally integration of the different software packages into a coherent whole. Distributions typically use a such as, or to install, remove, and update all of a system's software from one central location.
Community. See also: and A distribution is largely driven by its developer and user communities. Some vendors develop and fund their distributions on a volunteer basis, being a well-known example.
Others maintain a community version of their commercial distributions, as does with, and does with. In many cities and regions, local associations known as (LUGs) seek to promote their preferred distribution and by extension free software.
They hold meetings and provide free demonstrations, training, technical support, and operating system installation to new users. Many Internet communities also provide support to Linux users and developers. Most distributions and free software / open-source projects have chatrooms.
Are another means for support, with notable examples being and the various distribution specific support and community forums, such as ones for,. Linux distributions host; commonly there will be a specific topic such as usage or development for a given list. There are several technology websites with a Linux focus. Print magazines on Linux often bundle that carry software or even complete Linux distributions.
Although Linux distributions are generally available without charge, several large corporations sell, support, and contribute to the development of the components of the system and of. An analysis of the Linux kernel showed 75 percent of the code from December 2008 to January 2010 was developed by programmers working for corporations, leaving about 18 percent to volunteers and 7% unclassified. Major corporations that provide contributions include, (now part of Oracle). A number of corporations, notably Red Hat, and, have built a significant business around Linux distributions.
The, on which the various software packages of a distribution built on the Linux kernel are based, explicitly accommodate and encourage commercialization; the relationship between a Linux distribution as a whole and individual vendors may be seen as. One common of commercial suppliers is charging for support, especially for business users. A number of companies also offer a specialized business version of their distribution, which adds proprietary support packages and tools to administer higher numbers of installations or to simplify administrative tasks.
Another business model is to give away the software in order to sell hardware. This used to be the norm in the computer industry, with operating systems such as, and versions of prior to 7.6 freely copyable (but not modifiable). As computer hardware standardized throughout the 1980s, it became more difficult for hardware manufacturers to profit from this tactic, as the OS would run on any manufacturer's computer that shared the same architecture. Programming on Linux Linux distributions support dozens of. The original development tools used for building both Linux applications and operating system programs are found within the, which includes the (GCC) and the. Amongst others, GCC provides compilers for,. Many programming languages have a cross-platform reference implementation that supports Linux, for example, Go,.
![Linux Linux](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125497994/541639989.png)
First released in 2003, the project provides an alternative cross-platform open-source compiler for many languages. Compilers for Linux include the, and IBM XL / Compiler. In the form of is supported in such forms as, and, and in terms of terminal programming or or programming in the form of. A common feature of Unix-like systems, Linux includes traditional specific-purpose programming languages targeted at, text processing and system configuration and management in general. Linux distributions support,. Many programs also have an embedded programming language to support configuring or programming themselves. For example, are supported in programs like and, the traditional Unix contains its own scripting system, and the advanced text editor is built around a general purpose interpreter.
Most distributions also include support for, and other. While not as common, Linux also supports (via ),. Acts as an targeting the system utilities, seeking to make the conventionally small, programs of rapidly and dynamically extensible via an elegant, high-level scripting system; many GNU programs can be compiled with optional Guile to this end. A number of and development kits run on Linux, including the original Sun Microsystems JVM , and IBM's J2SE RE, as well as many open-source projects like. And are popular and provide a framework for developing applications. These projects are based on the and, respectively, which can also be used independently of the larger framework.
Both support a wide variety of languages. There are a number of available including, and, while the long-established editors, and remain popular. Hardware support. See also: The Linux kernel is a widely operating system kernel, available for devices ranging from mobile phones to supercomputers; it runs on a highly diverse range of, including the hand-held -based and the. Specialized distributions and kernel forks exist for less mainstream architectures; for example, the kernel can run on or microprocessors, while the kernel fork may run on systems without a. The kernel also runs on architectures that were only ever intended to use a manufacturer-created operating system, such as computers (with both and processors), and mobile phones.
There are several industry associations and hardware devoted to maintaining and improving support for diverse hardware under Linux, such as. Over time, support for different hardware has improved in Linux, resulting in any off-the-shelf purchase having a 'good chance' of being compatible. See also: Besides the Linux distributions designed for general-purpose use on desktops and servers, distributions may be specialized for different purposes including: support, stability, security, localization to a specific region or language, targeting of specific user groups, support for applications, or commitment to a given desktop environment. Furthermore, some distributions deliberately include only. As of 2015, over four hundred Linux distributions are actively developed, with about a dozen distributions being most popular for general-purpose use. See also: and The popularity of Linux on standard desktop computers and laptops has been increasing over the years. Most modern distributions include a graphical user environment, with, as of February 2015, the two most popular environments being the.
No single official Linux desktop exists: rather desktop environments and Linux distributions select components from a pool of with which they construct a GUI implementing some more or less strict design guide. GNOME, for example, has its as a design guide, which gives the an important role, not just when doing the graphical design, but also when considering people with, and even when focusing on security. The collaborative nature of free software development allows distributed teams to perform of some Linux distributions for use in locales where localizing proprietary systems would not be cost-effective.
For example, the version of the distribution became available significantly before Microsoft translated into Sinhalese. In this case the played a major part in developing the localized system by combining the knowledge of university professors, and local developers. Performance and applications The performance of Linux on the desktop has been a controversial topic; for example in 2007 accused the Linux community of favoring performance on servers. He quit Linux kernel development out of frustration with this lack of focus on the desktop, and then gave a 'tell all' interview on the topic. Since then a significant amount of development has focused on improving the desktop experience.
Projects such as and aim for a faster boot time; the Wayland and Mir projects aim at replacing while enhancing desktop performance, security and appearance. Many popular applications are available for a wide variety of operating systems. For example, / and have downloadable versions for all major operating systems.
Furthermore, some applications initially developed for Linux, such as, and, were ported to other operating systems (including and ) due to their popularity. In addition, a growing number of proprietary desktop applications are also supported on Linux, such as, Softimage XSI and in the high-end field of animation and visual effects; see the for more details. There are also that have ported their own or other companies' games to Linux, with Linux also being a supported platform on both the popular and digital-distribution services. Many other types of applications available for Microsoft Windows and macOS also run on Linux. Commonly, either a application will exist which does the functions of an application found on another operating system, or that application will have a version that works on Linux, such as with and some like.
Furthermore, the project provides a Windows compatibility layer to run unmodified Windows applications on Linux. It is sponsored by commercial interests including, which produces a commercial version of the software. Since 2009, Google has also provided funding to the Wine project., a proprietary solution based on the open-source Wine project, supports running Windows versions of, applications such as and, versions through CS2, and many popular games such as. In other cases, where there is no Linux port of some software in areas such as and, there is equivalent software available on Linux. It is also possible to run applications written for on other versions of Linux using. Components and installation Besides externally visible components, such as, a non-obvious but quite central role is played by the programs hosted by, such as or; both major desktop environments (GNOME and KDE) include them, each offering graphical front-ends written using the corresponding toolkit ( or ). A is another component, which for the longest time has been communicating in the X11 display server protocol with its clients; prominent software talking X11 includes the.
Frustration over the cumbersome X11 core protocol, and especially over its numerous extensions, has led to the creation of a new display server protocol,. Installing, updating and removing software in Linux is typically done through the use of package managers such as the,. While most major Linux distributions have extensive repositories, often containing tens of thousands of packages, not all the software that can run on Linux is available from the official repositories. Alternatively, users can install packages from unofficial repositories, download pre-compiled packages directly from websites, or compile the source code by themselves. All these methods come with different degrees of difficulty; compiling the source code is in general considered a challenging process for new Linux users, but it is hardly needed in modern distributions and is not a method specific to Linux. Samples of graphical desktop interfaces.
Netbooks Linux distributions have also become popular in the market, with many devices such as the and shipping with customized Linux distributions installed. In 2009, Google announced its as a minimal Linux-based operating system, using the as the main user interface. Chrome OS does not run any non-web applications, except for the bundled file manager and media player (a certain level of support for applications was added in later versions). Netbooks that shipped with the operating system, termed, started appearing on the market in June 2011.
Servers, mainframes and supercomputers. Broad overview of the, displayed here together with. A high-performance and high-availability web server solution providing security in a hostile environment. Have long been used as operating systems, and have risen to prominence in that area; reported in September 2006, that eight of the ten (other two with 'unknown' OS) most reliable internet hosting companies ran Linux distributions on their, with Linux in the top position. In June 2008, Linux distributions represented five of the top ten, three of ten, and two of ten; since February 2010, Linux distributions represented six of the top ten, FreeBSD three of ten, and Microsoft one of ten, with Linux in the top position. Linux distributions are the cornerstone of the server-software combination (Linux, /, //) which has achieved popularity among developers, and which is one of the more common platforms for website hosting.
Linux distributions have become increasingly popular on, partly due to pricing and the open-source model. In December 2009, computer giant reported that it would predominantly market and sell mainframe-based Enterprise Linux Server. At, IBM announced, a series of mainframes specifically designed to run Linux and open-source software. Linux distributions are also dominant as for. As of November 2017, all supercomputers on the list run some variant of Linux. Smart devices. Android smartphones Several operating systems for, such as, and (IVI) systems, are based on Linux.
Major platforms for such systems include,. Android has become the dominant mobile operating system for, running on 79.3% of units sold worldwide during the second quarter of 2013.
Android is also a popular operating system for tablets, and Android smart TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems have also appeared in the market. Cellphones and PDAs running Linux on open-source platforms became more common from 2007; examples include the, 's, and the.
Continuing the trend, (later acquired by ) produced a new Linux-derived operating system, which is built into its line of smartphones. 's, one of the earliest mobile operating systems, was based on. It was later merged with 's, another Linux-based operating system, to form. The project was later terminated in favor of Tizen, an operating system targeted at mobile devices as well as IVI. Tizen is a project within. Several products are already running Tizen, being the most significant example.
Smartphones will use Tizen instead of Android. As a result of MeeGo's termination, the Mer project forked the MeeGo codebase to create a basis for mobile-oriented operating systems. In July 2012, announced, their own mobile operating system built upon Mer technology. Firefox OS consists of the Linux kernel, a, a -based and user interface, and an integrated. Has released, aiming to bring convergence to the user experience on this mobile operating system and its desktop counterpart,.
The operating system also provides a full Ubuntu desktop when connected to an external monitor. Embedded devices.
A smartphone that runs Linux kernel Due to its low cost and ease of customization, is often used in. In the non-mobile telecommunications equipment sector, the majority of (CPE) hardware runs some Linux-based operating system.
Is a community driven example upon which many of the OEM firmware releases are based. For example, the popular digital video recorder also uses a customized Linux, as do several network and from such makers as /. The, the, the /Motif XF, Yamaha S90XS/S70XS, Yamaha MOX6/MOX8 synthesizers, Yamaha Motif-Rack XS, and Roland RD-700GX also run Linux. Linux is also used in control systems, such as the WholeHogIII console. Main article: In the past, not many games were available for Linux, but in the recent years, more games have been released with support for Linux.
Nowadays, many games support Linux (especially ), except for a few games. On the other hand, as a popular mobile platform, (which uses the ) has gained much developer interest and is one of the main platforms for mobile game development along with operating system by for and devices. On February 14, 2013, released a Linux version of, a popular game distribution platform on PC. Many Steam games were ported to Linux. On December 13, 2013, Valve released, a gaming oriented OS based on Debian, for, and has plans to ship as a gaming and entertainment platform.
Valve has also developed, an debugger intended to aid video game development, as well as porting its game engine to desktop Linux. As a result of Valve's effort, several prominent games such as, and are now natively available on desktop Linux. On July 31, 2013, released as an attempt to use Android as a specialized gaming platform.
Some Linux users play Windows games through. On 22 August 2018, Valve released their own fork of Wine called Proton, aimed at gaming. It features some improvements over the vanilla Wine such as Vulkan-based DirectX 11 and 12 implementations, Steam integration, better full screen and game controller support and improved performance for multi-threaded games. Specialized uses Due to the flexibility, customizability and free and open-source nature of Linux, it becomes possible to highly tune Linux for a specific purpose. There are two main methods for creating a specialized Linux distribution: building from scratch or from a general-purpose distribution as a base. The distributions often used for this purpose include, (which is itself based on Debian),. In contrast, Linux distributions built from scratch do not have general-purpose bases; instead, they focus on the philosophy by including only necessary components and avoiding overhead caused by components considered redundant in the distribution's use cases.
Home theater PC A (HTPC) is a PC that is mainly used as an entertainment system, especially a. It is normally connected to a television, and often an additional audio system., a Linux distribution that incorporates the media center software, is an OS tuned specifically for an HTPC. Having been built from the ground up adhering to the JeOS principle, the OS is very lightweight and very suitable for the confined usage range of an HTPC. There are also special editions of Linux distributions that include the media center software, such as, a special edition of Ubuntu. Digital security is a Debian-based Linux distribution designed for.
It comes preinstalled with several software applications for penetration testing and identifying. The Ubuntu derivative provides pre-installed security and network analysis tools for ethical hacking. There are many Linux distributions created with privacy, secrecy, network anonymity and information security in mind, including,. Is a distribution based on Arch Linux and developed by the. Is a minimal distribution created solely to host the network anonymity software. System rescue Linux sessions have long been used as a tool for recovering data from a broken computer system and for repairing the system.
Building upon that idea, several Linux distributions tailored for this purpose have emerged, most of which use as a partition editor, with additional data recovery and system repair software:. – a Debian-based distribution developed by the GParted project. – a commercial Linux distribution. – a Gentoo-based distribution with support for editing Windows. In space uses multiple redundant in a in its rocket.
Each Merlin engine is controlled by three computers, with two physical processors per computer that constantly check each other's operation. Linux is not inherently fault-tolerant (no operating system is, as it is a function of the whole system including the hardware), but the flight computer software makes it so for its purpose. For flexibility, parts and system-wide 'radiation-tolerant' design are used instead of parts. As of September 2018, SpaceX has conducted over of the Falcon 9 since 2010, out of which all but one have successfully delivered their primary payloads to the intended, and plans to use it to transport astronauts to the. In addition, Windows was used as an operating system on non-mission critical systems—laptops used on board the space station, for example—but it has been replaced with Linux; the first Linux-powered humanoid robot is also undergoing in-flight testing.
The has used Linux for a number of years 'to help with projects relating to the construction of unmanned space flight and deep space exploration'; uses Linux in robotics in the Mars rover, and Linux to 'save data from satellites'. Education Linux distributions have been created to provide hands-on experience with coding and source code to students, on devices such as the.
In addition to producing a practical device, the intention is to show students 'how things work under the hood'. The Ubuntu derivatives and, as well as the Debian derivative, provide education-oriented software packages. They also include tools for administering and building school computer labs and computer-based classrooms, such as the (LTSP). Others and are browser-based Linux distributions often used in web. Is a minimalist distribution designed for. Is tailored for.
There are general-purpose Linux distributions that target a specific audience, such as users of a specific language or geographical area. Such examples include for Chinese language users and targeted at Indonesians. Profession-specific distributions include for media creation and for. There is also a Muslim-oriented distribution of the name that consequently also provides some Islamic tools. Certain organizations use slightly specialized Linux distributions internally, including used by the French, used internally by Google, and developed specifically for the Russian army. Market share and uptake. See also: Many quantitative studies of /open-source software focus on topics including market share and reliability, with numerous studies specifically examining Linux.
The Linux market is growing rapidly, and the revenue of servers, desktops, and packaged software running Linux was expected to exceed $35.7 billion by 2008. Analysts and proponents attribute the relative success of Linux to its security, reliability, low cost, and freedom from. Desktops and laptops According to, (that is, based on the numbers recorded from visits to websites by client devices,) as of November 2018, the estimated market share of Linux on is around 2.1%. In comparison, has a market share of around 87.o%, while covers around 9.7%.
Web servers W3Cook publishes stats that use the top 1,000,000 Alexa domains, which as of May 2015 estimate that 96.55% of web servers run Linux, 1.73% run Windows, and 1.72% run FreeBSD. W3Techs publishes stats that use the top 10,000,000 Alexa domains, updated monthly and as of November 2016 estimate that 66.7% of web servers run Linux/Unix, and 33.4% run Microsoft Windows. In September 2008, Microsoft's then-CEO stated that 60% of web servers ran Linux, versus 40% that ran.
's Q1 2007 report indicated that Linux held 12.7% of the overall server market at that time; this estimate was based on the number of Linux servers sold by various companies, and did not include server hardware purchased separately that had Linux installed on it later. Mobile devices Android, which is based on the Linux kernel, has become the dominant operating system for. During the second quarter of 2013, 79.3% of smartphones sold worldwide used Android. Android is also a popular operating system for tablets, being responsible for more than 60% of tablet sales as of 2013. According to web server statistics, as of December 2014 Android has a market share of about 46%, with holding 45%, and the remaining 9% attributed to various niche platforms. Film production For years Linux has been the platform of choice in the film industry.
The first major film produced on Linux servers was 1997's. Since then major studios including, and have migrated to Linux.
According to the Linux Movies Group, more than 95% of the servers and desktops at large animation and visual effects companies use Linux. Use in government Linux distributions have also gained popularity with various local and national governments. The federal government of Brazil is well known for its support for Linux.
News of the Russian military creating its own Linux distribution has also surfaced, and has come to fruition as the G.H.ost Project. The Indian state of has gone to the extent of mandating that all state high schools run Linux on their computers. Uses Linux exclusively as the operating system for its processor family to achieve technology independence. In Spain, some regions have developed their own Linux distributions, which are widely used in education and official institutions, like in Extremadura and in Andalusia. And have also taken steps toward the adoption of Linux. North Korea's, developed since 2002, is based on a version of.
Copyright, trademark, and naming. See also: and Linux kernel is under the (GPL), version 2. The GPL requires that anyone who distributes software based on source code under this license, must make the originating source code (and any modifications) available to the recipient under the same terms.
Other key components of a typical Linux distribution are also mainly licensed under the GPL, but they may use other licenses; many libraries use the (LGPL), a more permissive variant of the GPL, and the implementation of the uses the. Torvalds states that the Linux kernel will not move from version 2 of the GPL to version 3. He specifically dislikes some provisions in the new license which prohibit the use of the software in. It would also be impractical to obtain permission from all the copyright holders, who number in the thousands. A 2001 study of 7.1 found that this distribution contained 30 million. Using the, the study estimated that this distribution required about eight thousand person-years of development time. According to the study, if all this software had been developed by conventional means, it would have cost about $1.57 billion (2019 US dollars) to develop in the United States.
Most of the source code (71%) was written in the, but many other languages were used, including, and various languages. Slightly over half of all lines of code were licensed under the GPL. The Linux kernel itself was 2.4 million lines of code, or 8% of the total. In a later study, the same analysis was performed for version 4.0 (etch, which was released in 2007). This distribution contained close to 283 million source lines of code, and the study estimated that it would have required about seventy three thousand man-years and cost US$8.66 billion (in 2019 dollars) to develop by conventional means.
From smartphones to cars, supercomputers and home appliances, the Linux operating system is everywhere. It’s been around since the mid ‘90s, and has since reached a user-base that spans industries and continents. For those in the know, you understand that Linux is actually everywhere. It’s in your phones, in your cars, in your refrigerators, your Roku devices. It runs most of the Internet, the supercomputers making scientific breakthroughs, and the world 's stock exchanges. But before Linux became the platform to run desktops, servers, and embedded systems across the globe, it was (and still is) one of the most reliable, secure, and worry-free operating systems available.
For those not in the know, worry not – here is all the information you need to get up to speed on the Linux platform. What is Linux? Just like Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Mac OS X, Linux is an operating system. An operating system is software that manages all of the hardware resources associated with your desktop or laptop. To put it simply – the operating system manages the communication between your software and your hardware.
Without the operating system (often referred to as the “OS”), the software wouldn’t function. The OS is comprised of a number of pieces:. The Bootloader: The software that manages the boot process of your computer. For most users, this will simply be a splash screen that pops up and eventually goes away to boot into the operating system. The kernel: This is the one piece of the whole that is actually called “Linux”. The kernel is the core of the system and manages the CPU, memory, and peripheral devices. The kernel is the “lowest” level of the OS.
Daemons: These are background services (printing, sound, scheduling, etc) that either start up during boot, or after you log into the desktop. The Shell: You’ve probably heard mention of the Linux command line. This is the shell – a command process that allows you to control the computer via commands typed into a text interface. This is what, at one time, scared people away from Linux the most (assuming they had to learn a seemingly archaic command line structure to make Linux work). This is no longer the case. With modern desktop Linux, there is no need to ever touch the command line.
Graphical Server: This is the sub-system that displays the graphics on your monitor. It is commonly referred to as the X server or just “X”. Desktop Environment: This is the piece of the puzzle that the users actually interact with. There are many desktop environments to choose from (Unity, GNOME, Cinnamon, Enlightenment, KDE, XFCE, etc). Each desktop environment includes built-in applications (such as file managers, configuration tools, web browsers, games, etc). Applications: Desktop environments do not offer the full array of apps. Just like Windows and Mac, Linux offers thousands upon thousands of high-quality software titles that can be easily found and installed.
Most modern Linux distributions (more on this in a moment) include App Store-like tools that centralize and simplify application installation. For example: Ubuntu Linux has the Ubuntu Software Center (Figure 1) which allows you to quickly search among the thousands of apps and install them from one centralized location. The Ubuntu software center is a Linux app store that carries thousands of free and commerical applications for Linux.
Why use Linux? This is the one question that most people ask.
Why bother learning a completely different computing environment, when the operating system that ships with most desktops, laptops, and servers works just fine? To answer that question, I would pose another question. Does that operating system you’re currently using really work “just fine”? Or are you constantly battling viruses, malware, slow downs, crashes, costly repairs, and licensing fees? If you struggle with the above, and want to free yourself from the constant fear of losing data or having to take your computer in for the “yearly clean up,” Linux might be the perfect platform for you. Linux has evolved into one of the most reliable computer ecosystems on the planet.
Combine that reliability with zero cost of entry and you have the perfect solution for a desktop platform. That’s right, zero cost of entry.as in free.
You can install Linux on as many computers as you like without paying a cent for software or server licensing (including costly Microsoft Client Access License – CALs). Let’s take a look at the cost of a Linux server, in comparison to Windows Server 2012. The price of the Windows Server 2012 software alone can run up to $1,200.00 USD. That doesn’t include CALs, and licenses for other software you may need to run (such as a database, a web server, mail server, etc).
With the Linux server.it’s all free and easy to install. In fact, installing a full blown web server (that includes a database server), is just a few clicks or commands away (take a look at “” to get an idea how simple it can be). If you’re a system administrator, working with Linux is a dream come true. No more daily babysitting servers. In fact, Linux is as close to “set it and forget it” as you will ever find.
And, on the off chance, one service on the server requires restarting, re-configuring, upgrading, etc.most likely the rest of the server won’t be affected. Be it the desktop or a server, if zero cost isn’t enough to win you over – what about having an operating system that will work, trouble free, for as long as you use it? I’ve personally used Linux for nearly twenty years (as a desktop and server platform) and have not once had an issue with malware, viruses, or random computer slow-downs. It’s that stable.
And server reboots? Only if the kernel is updated. It is not out of the ordinary for a Linux server to go years without being rebooted.
That’s stability and dependability. Linux is also distributed under an open source license. Open source follows the following key philosophies:. The freedom to run the program, for any purpose. The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish.
The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor. The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others. The above are crucial to understanding the community that comes together to create the Linux platform.
It is, without a doubt, an operating system that is “by the people, for the people”. These philosophies are also one of the main reasons a large percentage of people use Linux. It’s about freedom and freedom of choice. What is a “distribution?' Linux has a number of different versions to suit nearly any type of user. From new users to hard-core users, you’ll find a “flavor” of Linux to match your needs.
These versions are called distributions (or, in the short form, “distros.”) Nearly every distribution of Linux can be downloaded for free, burned onto disk (or USB thumb drive), and installed (on as many machines as you like). Ubuntu 's Unity desktop. The most popular Linux distributions are:. Each distribution has a different take on the desktop. Some opt for very modern user interfaces (such as Ubuntu’s Unity, above, and Deepin’s Deepin Desktop), whereas others stick with a more traditional desktop environment (openSUSE uses KDE). For an easy guide to Linux desktops check out. You can check out the top 100 distributions on the site.
And don’t think the server has been left behind. For this arena, you can turn to:.
Some of the above server distributions are free (such as Ubuntu Server and CentOS) and some have an associated price (such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Enterprise Linux). Those with an associated price also include support. Which distribution is right for you?
Which distribution you use will depend upon the answer to three simple questions:. How skilled of a computer user are you?. Do you prefer a modern or a standard desktop interface?. Server or desktop? If your computer skills are fairly basic, you’ll want to stick with a newbie-friendly distribution such as Linux Mint, Ubuntu, or Deepin.
If you’re skill set extends into the above-average range, you could go with a distribution like Debian or Fedora. If, however, you’ve pretty much mastered the craft of computer and system administration, use a distribution like.
If you’re looking for a server-only distribution, you will also want to decide if you need a desktop interface, or if you want to do this via command-line only. The Ubuntu Server does not install a GUI interface.
This means two things – your server won’t be bogged down loading graphics and you’ll need to have a solid understanding of the Linux command line. However (there is always an “however” with Linux), you can install a GUI package on top of the Ubuntu Server with a single command like sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop. System administrators will also want to view a distribution with regards to features. Do you want a server-specific distribution that will offer you, out of the box, everything you need for your server? If so, CentOS might be the best choice. Or, do you want to take a desktop distribution and add the pieces as you need them? If so, Debian or Ubuntu Linux might serve you well.
For new users, check out “”, to make the selection a much easier task. Installing Linux For most, the idea of installing an operating system might seem like a very daunting task. Believe it or not, Linux offers one of the easiest installations of all operating systems. In fact, most versions of Linux offer what is called a Live distribution – which means you run the operating system from either a CD/DVD or USB flash drive without making any changes to your hard drive. You get the full functionality without having to commit to the installation. Once you’ve tried it out, and decided you wanted to use it, you simply double-click the “Install” icon and walk through the simple installation wizard. Typically, the installation wizards walk you through the process with the following steps (I’ll illustrate the installation of Ubuntu Linux):.
Preparation: Make sure your machine meets the requirements for installation. This also may ask you if you want to install third-party software (such as plugins for MP3 playback, video codecs, and more). Preparing for your Linux installation. Wireless Setup (If necessary): If you are using a laptop (or machine with wireless), you’ll need to connect to the network, in order to download third-party software and updates.
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Hard drive allocation (Figure 4): This step allows you to select how you want the operating system to be installed. Are you going to install Linux alongside another operating system (called “dual booting”), use the entire hard drive, upgrade an existing Linux installation, or install over an existing version of Linux. Select your type of installation and click Install Now.
Location: Select your location from the map. Keyboard layout: Select the keyboard layout for your system. User setup: Set up your username and password. Once the system has completed the installation, reboot and you’re ready to go. For a more in-depth guide to installing Linux, take a look at “”, or download the for Linux installation. Installing software on Linux Just as the operating system itself is easy to install, so too are applications. Most modern Linux distributions include what most would consider an “app store”.
This is a centralized location where software can be searched and installed. Ubuntu Linux has the Ubuntu Software Center, Deepin has the Deepin Software Center, some distributions rely on Synaptic, while others rely on GNOME Software. Regardless of the name, each of these tools do the same thing – a central place to search for and install Linux software. Of course, these pieces of software depend upon the presence of a GUI. For GUI-less servers, you will have to depend upon the command line interface for installation. Let’s look at two different tools to illustrate how easy even the command line installation can be.
Our examples are for Debian-based distributions and Fedora-based distributions. The Debian-based distros will use the apt-get tool for installing software and Fedora-based distros will require the use of the yum tool. Both work very similarly. I’ll illustrate using the apt-get command. Let’s say you want to install the wget tool (which is a handy tool used to download files from the command line). To install this using apt-get, the command would like like this: sudo apt-get install wget The sudo command is added because you need super user privileges in order to install software. Similarly, to install the same software on a Fedora-based distribution, you would first su to the super user (literally issue the command su and enter the root password), and issue this command: yum install wget That’s it.all there is to installing software on a Linux machine.
It’s not nearly as challenging as you might think. Still in doubt? Recall the Easy Lamp Server Installation from earlier? With a single command: sudo tasksel You can install a complete LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) server on either a server or desktop distribution.
It really is that easy. More Resources If you’re looking for one of the most reliable, secure, and dependable platforms for both the desktop and the server, look no further than one of the many Linux distributions. With Linux you can assure your desktops will be free of trouble, your servers up, and your support requests at a minimum. If you’re looking for more resources to help guide you through your lifetime with Linux, check out the following resources:.: Everything you need to know about Linux (news, how-tos, answers, forums, and more ).: Everything about the Linux kernel (with plenty of beginner, intermediate, and adavanced tutorials).: Linux tutorials.: Plenty of documentation (some may be out of date).: Plenty of tutorials.