What is Linux?

Linux is a free (free as in freedom, not as in lunch), Open Source (open as in... oh, nevermind) Operating System which runs on a variety of computer system architectures, including the ubiquitous x86 architecture, which uses primarily intel or AMD CPUs. It also runs on Alpha, SPARC, PPC and others, but the majority of people using it will be interested in the standard `PC' architecture versions. If you don't know what kind of computer you have, it's an x86 (the logic being, if you don't know what kind of computer you have, the chances of it being something other than a standard x86 PC are slim to none). So, good news! Linux will run on your PC! Whether you are just starting to use Linux, or have been using it for some time, hopefully you will find some content, or at least links, which will be of use to you.

Work on Linux was begun in the early 90's ('91?) by a Finnish Computer Science student named Linus Torvalds, who simply wanted his own Unix-like operating system to use, since proprietary unices had price tsags which were beyond the budget of ordinary home users like himself. So, he began work on what was to become the Linux kernel, and opened his work up for collaboration when he had successfully run bash, and several other GNU tools, on his kernel.

GNU

GNU deserves some introduction, also, as it predates the development of the Linux kernel by several years, and without the GNU project, arguably Linux as we know it could not have developed so quickly or so well. Some members of the Free Software community consider the debt owed to GNU so large that they refer to a complete Linux-based operating system as `GNU/Linux', which is not innappropriate, though it is not in common use.

The GNU project was started in the 80s by Richard M. Stallman, more commonly known by his initials/login `rms'. GNU is a recursive acronym, standing for `GNU's Not Unix'; which it isn't. The goal of the GNU project was and is to create a free implementation of the Unix operating system. The Free Software Foundation is the non-profit organization behind the GNU effort, and they are still at work on another OS kernel called HURD, which will be a microkernel. While the GNU/HURD OS is a very interesting project, and still in active development, it will not be ready for casual use on the desktop for some time; this page is dedicated to GNU/Linux, in all its many distributions.

Distros A-plenty

One of the first things a Linux neophyte will probably notice is that there certainly seem to be many different kinds of Linux! Actually, there is only one Linux kernel (well, okay, there's many versions of the Kernel, but those are revisions), but many different companies or organizations distribute complete operating systems based on the kernel. The most well known (to me, at any rate) are Redhat, SuSE, Mandrake, Debian, Slackware, and gentoo. If you meet someone who is using GNU/Linux, chances are they are using one of those I just mentioned. If you are using another distro, please don't send me angry emails, just let me know. I'm curious as to what other distros could be considered `in common use'.

Actually, Redhat and SuSE seem to have the largest market share by far. If you have linux at work, you almost certainly have one of those two (unless your corporation has jumped out and purchased Mad Hatter from Sun, which is also based on linux).

Who is SCO, and what do they have to do with Linux?

I'm not even going to start a SCO rant. Look up the archived stories in Slashdot under `Caldera', starting in March 2003. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's sad -- sometimes it's sad and funny. For what its worth ($699, if SCO is to be listened to) the ongoing SCO-soap opera is a fixture in the background of the Linux world, for the time being.

Starting to use Linux

It's pretty much still imperative that you know a fair bit about your own computer before you decide to learn linux. This is especially true if you want to continue using Windows on the same box, because it means you probably need to resize and create partitions before you can install linux. None of this is really too difficult, but it can be intimidating to complete neophytes. Do not be afraid. Almost any and every question you could have about the process of starting to use linux has an answer somewhere on the internet.

It's even easier to get started if you have an extra computer -- it can even be an old one -- which you can use only to run and test linux. Then you don't even need to worry much about partitioning, until the actual install process. And as for that, if you are using a fairly newbie-friendly distro, such as Redhat or Mandrake, you shouldn't have very much trouble.

Cygwin

It's been awhile now since I used it, but my first foray into a unix-like operating environment was with cygwin. Cygwin.com states

Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows. It consists of two parts:

• A DLL (cygwin1.dll) which acts as a Linux emulation layer providing substantial Linux API functionality.
• A collection of tools, which provide Linux look and feel.

If you are unwilling or unable to set up linux on the computer you are using, you may want to try setting up Cygwin. They have an extensive help and faq section on their site, so you can visit that if you want. Some enterprising people have even set up Gnome or KDE over the X-windows system, inside cygwin; something I have never attempted (I've run X in cygwin, but that is pretty spare without a desktop environment and window manager...). Enjoy!

Knoppix/Gnoppix

Knoppix is a debian linux system which is bootable from a CD. This means that it does not need to be installed on your hard drive for you to try it out, or use it. Knoppix uses KDE; Gnoppix (I haven't used it yet, but I plan to get it) is the same idea, but with the Gnome desktop environment.

All you need to do to use one or the other of these is to download and burn the CD image, reboot your PC and boot from the CD. (If none of that makes sense, but you still want to try it, check out the Knoppix/Gnoppix faqs for possibly more information)

These will be on the links page as well, but here are the websites, for good measure:

• Knopper.net --this is Klaus Knoppers own site, the english version. The rest of the site is in German.
• Knoppix.net --Knoppix.net is a resource for users, developers, and testers of Knoppix. Lots of help and FAQs here, if you need them.
• Gnoppix.org --If you're like me, and you prefer the Gnome desktop, you may want to try Gnoppix. It's at version 0.5.4 as of this writing, so I don't know if it's as stable as Knoppix, but it's certainly worth checking out.

Gentoo Linux

I just installed Gentoo Linux for the first time over the weekend, and I have to say, so far I'm extremely impressed. I'd have to recommend that you use a simpler (to install) distribution for awhile before trying to tackle gentoo. At least, for my part, if I had tried gentoo first, I might still be lost. On the other hand, I might have learned quicker. I've certainly learned a lot just from one install, and that from a stage 3 tarball (meaning that it was a non-expert install, for those unfamiliar with gentoo stage tarballs -- a stage 1 compiles completely from source, a stage 2 from an 'inbetween' partly compiled base, and stage 3 from a more-or-less already compiled base system).