Linux is a free and readily available operating system for computers. Very similar to Unix, it can run on a number of different platforms - IBM-compatible PCs using the Intel 386 CPU and upwards, Digital Alphas, Macintoshes, Sun Sparcs, Ataris, Amigas and even the 3Com Palm Pilot, although it is probably true to say most Linux systems are based on Intel PCs, as this is the cheapest and most popular computer system around. It has all the facilities, features and tools you would expect of a commercial Unix and some significant plus points - it will run on ordinary low-cost PCs, software for Linux is mostly free and commercial software is inexpensive, support is excellent and ongoing development is certainly dynamic!
A Finnish student, Linus Torvalds, daunted by the high cost of commercial Unix implementations, decided to create his own version for his personal use and while at Helsinki University, began work on the kernel of what was to become Linux. Together with supporting utilities and tools from the GNU Free Software Foundation, the end result was a fully fledged Unix-like operating system which he dubbed Linux (Linus's Unix).
Linus made his operating system freely available on the Internet in 1992 to all who were interested in using it or, better still, helping with its continuing development, adding new features to it and expanding its capabilities. The new operating system went public in 1994 with release v1.0 and the result is what we have now - a serious rival to traditional Unix which has many advantages ...
Linus has given many interviews but the longest one I'm aware of has to be this one in which he gives us a frank insight into many aspects of Linux, even Microsoft Windows ... For a good overview of Linux, read this . And this too.
On its own, the Linux kernel can't be used for very much - it's a bit like having MS-DOS but without the COMMAND.COM shell and all the utilities such as ATTRIB, SCANDISK, FORMAT and so on, that make it do something useful. So you need to add extra software and tools to the basic kernel before you can use Linux and this is where distributions come in. Linux distributions are simply collections of utilities, editors, tools, programming languages, network software, etc that have been put together along with the basic Linux kernel by various people and offered as a more or less complete package. (You can of course put together a Linux system from the bare bones, marrying your kernel - with suitable in-built drivers to match your hardware - to your own hand-selected choice of shell, getty and login utilities if you really want to but why bother going to extreme lengths when the standard choices will be OK for nearly all users?).
Distributions vary in what they offer, in the range of software provided and in the ease of installation but all will give you a fully-functional Linux system when installed. Some versions are intended for typical office use while others are more suited to programmers but the important thing is that you can always add software and utilities to make your system do what you want it to do. My favourite distribution is Patrick Volkerding's Slackware - mainly because I started my Linux experience with it back in the days when you could (and still can) download it over the 'Net via FTP onto a series of floppies; also, it is a very down to earth 'nut's n' bolts' distribution ideal for computer techies like me :-)
Other distributions are aimed at novice users or those who want a slick GUI installation program like those offered by Apple and Microsoft for their operating systems - Red Hat has a very polished and painless install procedure from its CD-ROM (I use Red Hat Linux version 5.1 on my Dell laptop) and so does S.u.S.E (I run S.u.S.E. 6.0 on an old Gateway 486 that used to run Windows 3.1 in one of King's College's open access PC rooms at the Strand). There are a number of other offerings from Caldera (who are probably the best bet for corporates who want to pay for hand-holding/support), Debian, and so on. For the full range of distributions, check out the distributions list.
Linux is a child of the Internet, the work of many hundreds of programmers and enthusiasts across the planet, and fittingly, you can download it from FTP sites all over the world. Try the Linux home site for starters or you may get a faster response from the UK Linux web site. Sunsite Northern Europe(formerly known as the Imperial College Archive) has them all too.
If you've got a network connection at work, university or whatever, this is the cheapest way of getting Linux - it costs you absolutely nothing except for some space on your hard disk or maybe a box of floppies! Also, if you have a computer that has neither a CD-ROM drive nor an Internet connection, a floppy installation is the only way to get Linux onto the system.
Now that most PCs have CD-ROM drives, increasingly popular are the Linux CD-ROM distribtions and these are a great way to get Linux. For about £2 plus postage you get a CD-ROM packed with 500-600 Mbytes of Linux executables, kernels, software and documentation; the charge just covers the cost of the CD media. If you want a printed manual, multiple CD-ROM sets in jewel cases, then you can pay anything from £20 to £50 but it still represents incredibly good value compared with what you get from 'you-know-who'. CD-ROM installation is the best way to go - it's fast and very professional install programs are now included on the disk. Also, you've got a huge amount of material all on a single disk. Incidentally, buying a CD-ROM can work out cheaper than your dial-up phone bills if your Internet connection is via modem.
Why follow the herd when you can have for free something that is so much better?
OK, the range and variety of applications software available for the Linux operating system is nowhere near as broad as that for Microsoft Windows but as more and more serious computer users are turning to Linux, the number of packages is increasing. Also, well known MS Windows software houses like Corel and WordPerfect have released X-windows versions of their popular products and Digital, Apple Computer and Silicon Graphics have actively encouraged the use of Linux on DEC Alpha AXPs, Macintosh PowerPCs and SGI systems. And now Dell, Hewlett-Packard and even IBM have seen the light and are actively supporting Linux by investing in Linux distribution vendors, offering it as a factory-installed alternative to Microsoft Winodws and providing support for Linux in the corporate workplace. It is probably correct to say the amount of software available for Linux is fast catching up with that for the Macintosh.
Being realistic, there's a long way to go yet. The day when you can go out and buy shrink-wrapped software for Linux off the shelf at the local branch of W H Smith, take it home and install it like a Windows program is still some way off. And there are few games and no children's or educational software of any description available for Linux, for example (although some DOS and MS Windows software can be run under the Linux DOS and Windows emulators). But it will come eventually. The PC World superstore chain has been selling Caldera OpenLinux alongside the typical Windows stuff for nearly a year now and Simply Computers have stocked Red Hat Linux since September.
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Well, given the choice would you pay good money for an operating system that GPF's several times a week (Windows 95)? Or eats up so much memory and CPU time that printing an image to a colour printer pushes CPU utilisation to 100% even on a Pentium 150 (Windows NT4)? Or viewing a Quicktime movie on a children's 'edutainment' CD-ROM demands CPU resources beyond 100% so that eventually the program crashes (NT again)?
There must be something wrong with these operating systems if things like these can be done with far less bother under plain old Windows 3.1. I have never known Linux itself crash, although X-servers occasionally hang if they are abused. I want to get things done with my computers and I want to trust and rely on them - and that simply means a 100% reliable operating system: Linux is that operating system.
The current generation of operating systems from Microsoft demand ever faster Pentium CPUs, lots of RAM and increasing amounts of hard disk space; Linux will run well on an old 386 box even with X-windows - imagine what it can do when it runs on a 500MHz Pentium III PC, or even better, a 700MHz DEC Alpha AXP system ...!
Microsoft Windows is relatively slow, unstable, is much less well-documented at a technical level and is such a mess internally that MS daren't fix the bugs for fear of either introducing more bugs or preventing existing applications that have been written around the bugs from working properly. Together with a typical range of application packages (which require huge amounts of disk space), Windows also costs a lot of money. Support from Microsoft is hard to get - if at all - and costs money too. On the other hand, the Linux/X-window combination is faster than any MS windowing system, is very well-documented both on the 'Net and in printed book form, most applications are free while commercial applications cost much less than the MS Windows equivalents and support ... well, it's all there for the asking on the 'Net - Usenet newsgroups, informative Web pages, FTP sites galore, complete Linux CD's for £2.00 ....
Linux users know they are using something far better than Windows and they just get on with enjoying it! Not much reason to get hot under the collar or all wound up over all the millions of users who are still using MS Windows, is there really?
There will always be Microsoft Windows in one incarnation or another, there will always be a huge mass market for Windows and software designed to run under Windows - there are lots and lots of people for whom Windows is quite adequate and simply does all they require of it. In the same way there will always be people who are quite happy with a Ford Mondeo or Vauxhall Cavalier, rather than something a bit classier.
But it is important the computer user has a choice - how dull and boring it would be if all we had were Microsoft operating systems; no Mac OS, no VMS, no AS400, no flavours of Unix, no Atari TOS, no AmigaDOS. Some users find the Mac OS suits them better, others love VMS while some find Linux is best for them. And there has to be a choice too for those who want a really powerful and high performance operating system for their computers.
Here Microsoft must tread carefully - seeking to dominate the world software arena will lead to an ever dwindling variety as this giant sucks up all before it. Microsoft's ill-concealed attempts in 1997 to take over and shape the future of the Internet by bundling Internet Explorer with its current operating systems landed it in court. It is the thin edge of the wedge - next, browsers are becoming part of MS Windows and, left unchecked, Microsoft will then begin creating its own standards and foisting them onto the Internet community, creating a different kind of network that will slowly but inexorably squeeze out other operating systems. If this ploy were to fail, Microsoft could kill off most competing operating systems simply by buying them up.
This will never happen to Linux - it is owned by a community, not a company or software house, and there is no way anyone (no, not even Microsoft) can stifle it by buying it. Microsoft might possibly seek to discredit it, or to launch a directly competing product, but why should it? In its latest deposition with the US Supreme Court hearing the current anti-trust case against it, Microsoft has at last admitted it perceives Linux as a threat, but for the moment it simply ignores it.
Microsoft is here to stay and so is Linux and rather than one camp slagging off the other, maybe we should just accept the two operating systems can co-exist quite happily - Windows NT4 and Linux in many ways integrate well. But let no-one be deluded - Microsoft's ultimate goal is total world domination in both operating systems and applications software, both on the desktop and in the corporate server market, making serious inroads into territory previously the sole preserve of mainframes and Unix. Given the chance, Microsoft will kill off all other operating systems - including Linux. Microsoft is not to be trusted.
Check out the main Linux home site on the Web or for a faster response, the UK Linux web site. Read all about it .... and then take the plunge and install it for free!
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Andy Thomas, April 3rd, 1998Updated October 23rd, 1998