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Linux Tutorial: What is Linux?

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Whenever we are considering the computer for computing then the concept of Operating system is also come into our consideration. Merely the operating system is a software that enables the communication between computer hardware and software. It is used to make the hardware of the system useable. It conveys input to get processed by the processor and brings output to the hardware to display it.

What is Linux?
  • The Linux is an open-source operating system like other operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS, iOS, Google android, etc. 
  • Linux is a name which broadly denotes a family of free and open-source software operating system distributions built around the Linux kernel.
  • Linux was first started as a clone of the MINIX operating system. 
  • Open-source contributors added onto the kernel and expanded its hardware compatibility. 
  • Linux’s hardware support and free licensing made Linux a popular choice for desktop and server computing in the mid-90s.  
  • It can be used from wristwatches to supercomputers. 
  • It is very effective and reliable, so it is being used everywhere in our day to day used devices like phones, laptops, PCs, cars and even in refrigerators.
  • Since it is easily compatible with all hardware, so it is very much famous among developers and normal computer users.
What is an Operating System?

As we have discussed earlier that the operating system is a software that enables the communication between computer hardware and software. It is used to make the hardware of the system useable. It conveys input to get processed by the processor and brings output to the hardware to display it. 

In other words, it may also be defined as an Operating System (OS) is an interface between a computer user and computer hardware. An operating system is a software which performs all the basic tasks like file management, memory management, process management, handling input and output, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers. 

Introduction to the Linux Operating System:
  • As we know that the LINUX is an operating system, or a kernel distributed under an open-source license. Its functionality list is quite like UNIX. 
  • The kernel is a program at the heart of the Linux operating system that takes care of fundamental stuff, like letting hardware communicate with software.
  • This concept of Linux was proposed by Linus Torvalds when he was a computer science student. According to him it is the OS which will be receptive to changes, modifications suggested by its users. 
  • In the span of time Linus devised a Kernel named Linux in 1991. He also suggest that it will be helpful for programs like File Manager, Document Editors, Audio -Video programs to run on it.
  • Later on with the  collaboration with other programmers in places like MIT and applications for Linux started to appear. So around 1991, a working Linux operating system with some applications was officially launched.
  • The earlier versions of Linux OS were not so user-friendly as they were in use by computer programmers and Linus Torvalds never had it in mind to commercialize his product.
Advantage of Linux OS:
  • According to Linus the main advantage of Linux OS was that programmers were able to use the Linux Kernel to design their own custom operating systems. 
  • Now, Linux is one of the most popular and widely used Kernel, and it is the backbone of popular operating systems like Debian, Knoppix, Ubuntu, and Fedora. 
  • Being open source, anyone with programming knowledge can modify it as per his requirement and specified purpose.
  • The Linux operating systems now offer millions of programs/applications and Linux software’s to choose from, most of them are free.
  • Once you have Linux installed you no longer need an antivirus! Linux is a highly secure system. 
  • Linux freeware is the OS of choice for Server environments due to its stability and reliability (Mega-companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Google use Linux for their Servers). 
  • Nevertheless, the list does not end here as there are thousands of Best versions of Linux OS based on the Linux Kernel available which offer a variety of functions to the users.
Linux Architecture:

As per the architecture point of view the Linux Operating System's architecture primarily has these components: such as,

  1. Kernel, 
  2. Hardware layer and System library, and
  3. Shell and System utility. 
Kernel:
  1. In Linux, the kernel is basically considered as the core part of the operating system. 
  2. It is responsible for all the major activities of the LINUX operating system to get performed. 
  3. The Kernel is mainly consists of different modules which are allowed to interacts directly with the underlying hardware. 
  4. The kernel offers the required abstraction to hide  application programs or low-level hardware details to the system. 

Depending on the module and its utility, in Linux the Kernels is mainly classified into following category such as:

    • Monolithic Kernel.
    • Micro kernels
    • Exo kernels
    • Hybrid kernels
Hardware layer and System library:

The Hardware layer of the LINUX operating system consists of peripheral devices such as RAM, HDD, CPU.

In the similar way the System libraries are special functions, that are used to implement the functionality of the operating system and do not require code access rights of kernel modules.

Shell and System utility:
  1. As per the System Utility prospect, these programs are liable to do individual, and specialized-level tasks. In Linux these programs are especially meant for the specific purpose.
  2. Now considering the shell, In Linux the shell is mainly defined as an interface between the user and the kernel. 
  3. It is used to affords the services of the kernel. 
  4. It takes commands from the user and executes kernel’s functions. 
  5. The Shell is present in different types of operating systems and depending on the use and their mode of operation they are classified into two types, such as command line shells and graphical shells.
  6. Command line shells provide a command line interface to interact with the specified layer and user.
  7. While the graphical line shells provide a graphical user interface. 

Though both shells perform operations, but the graphical user interface shells perform slower than the command line interface shells. Types of shells are classified into four:

    • Korn shell
    • Bourne shell
    • C shell
    • POSIX shell
History of Linux:
  1. Now let us discuss about the History of Linux operating system. As we have already discussed above that the concept of Linux was proposed by Linus Torvalds when he was a computer science student. According to him it is the OS which will be receptive to changes, modifications suggested by its users. 
  2. In the span of time Linus devised a Kernel named Linux in 1991. He also suggest that it will be helpful for programs like File Manager, Document Editors, Audio -Video programs to run on it.
  3. As per the conventions, In the year 1991, The Linux was introduced by a Finland student Linus Torvalds. Later on Hewlett Packard UniX(HP-UX) 8.0 was released.
  4. In the next subsequent year 1992, Hewlett Packard 9.0 was get released which is being considered as an advance and superficial version of Linux 8.0.
  5. In the year 1993, NetBSD 0.8 and FreeBSD 1.0 released. Later, the expert was made the several research and in the year 1994, Red Hat Linux was introduced, Caldera was founded by Bryan Sparks and Ransom Love and NetBSD1.0 Released.
  6. In the year 1995, FreeBSD 2.0 and HP UX 10.0 were released.
  7. In the year 1996, again Matthias Ettrich is used to develop the most advance version of Linux for K Desktop Environment. It was being considered as the full flared version of Linux at that time.
  8. In the year 1997, HP-UX 11.0 was released later on in 1998, the fifth generation of SGI Unix i.e IRIX 6.5, Sun Solaris 7 operating system and Free BSD 3.0 was released.
  9. In the year 2000, the agreement of Caldera Systems with SCO server software division and the professional services division was announced.
  10. In the year 2001, Linus Torvalds released the Linux 2.4 version source code and in the same year the Microsoft filed a trademark suit against Lindows.com.
  11. In the year 2004, Lindows name was changed to Linspire and the first release of Ubuntu was released. This was the best version of Linux which is almost better as like as Microsoft windows. Although the Graphics was not so efficient, but it is still exhibiting all the functionality.
  12. In the year 2005, The project, openSUSE began a free distribution from Novell’s community.
  13. In the year 2006, Oracle released its own distribution of Red Hat.
  14. In the year 2007, Dell started distributing laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed in it.
  15. In the year 2011, Linux kernel 3.0 version was released.
  16. In the year 2013, Googles Linux based Android claimed 75% of the smartphone market share, in terms of the number of phones shipped. Whereas in 2014, Ubuntu claimed 22,000,000 users.
Linux features:

As the Linux Operating system is very much popular and efficient platform, it usually has the following major features such as,

Portable: It is more reliable and due to its small structure; it is portable in nature. The platform Linux operating system can work on different types of hardware’s as well as Linux kernel supports the installation of any kind of hardware platform.

Open Source: It is completely open source, so you need not require paying for it. The Source code of LINUX operating system is freely available.

Multiuser: Like Windows the Linux operating system is also support the multiuser system. Here the multiple users can access the system resources (RAM, Memory or Application programs) at the same time concurrently without having any problem.

Multiprogramming: Like Windows OS the Linux OS is also support the concept of multiprogramming. Here depending upon the requirement, the user can allow to run the multiple applications at the same time without having any loss of performance of the system.

Hierarchical File System: The Linux operating system is being designed in such a beautiful manner so that it can be able to afford a standard file structure.

Shell: Unlike Windows OS the Linux operating system has a special interpreter program. This program is mainly used to execute commands of the OS.

Security: The Linux operating system is very much secure and tuff. As it works on the principle of Kernel and Shell concept so it offers the user security systems using authentication features like encryption of data or password protection or  controlled access to particular files.

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