What Is Linux: An Overview of the Linux Operating System

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Apr 11, 2020

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What is Linux: An Overview of the Linux Operating System

What is Linux?

Linux is an Operating system like Unix, Windows, and Mac OS, Linux is the most popular Operating System in the world. Also Android-powered by the Linux operating system. An operating system is a software that manages all hardware components of your computer. The operating system manages the communication between your software and your hardware. Without the operating system (OS), the software would not work.

The Linux operating system comprises several different pieces:

Bootloader: Bootloader is software that manages the boot process of your computer. For most users, this is just a welcome screen that appears and eventually disappears to start in the operating system.

Kernel: this is the only part of the set that is called “Linux”. The core is the core of the system and manages the CPU, memory and peripherals. The kernel is lowest level of the operating system.

Init system: this is a subsystem that starts the user space and is responsible for controlling the demons. One of the most commonly used init systems is the systemd? Which also appears to be one of most controversial. It is init system that manages the boot process as soon as the initial boot procedure delivered from the boot loader (i.e., GRUB or GRand Unified Bootloader).

Demons: these are background services (printing, sound, programming, etc.) that start during startup or after logging in to the desktop.

Graphics server: this is the subsystem that displays the graphics on your monitor. It is commonly known as the X server or just X.

Desktop environment: this is the piece with which users communicate. There are too many desktop environments to choose from (GNOME, Cinnamon, Pantheon, Mate, Enlightenment, KDE, Xfce, etc.). Every desktop environment contains integrated applications (such as file management, configuration tools, web browsers and games).

Applications: Desktop environment does not offer the full array of applications. Like Windows and macOS, Linux offers thousands upon thousands of high-quality software titles that can be easily found and installed. Most modern Linux distributions (more below) contain tools similar to the App Store that centralize and simplify the installation of applications. Ubuntu Linux, for example, has the Ubuntu Software Center (a new brand of GNOME software? Figure 1) that allows you to quickly search and install thousands of applications from a centralized location.

Who “owns” Linux?

Linux is freely available to everyone under the open source license. However, the trademark registered under the name “Linux” lies with the maker, Linus Torvalds. The Linux source code protected by the copyright of many individual authors and under the GPLv2 license. Because Linux has a large number of contributors from different decades of development, it is virtually impossible to contact each author individually and have them accept a new license, so Linux is a permanent license under the GPLv2.

How was Linux created?

Linux was created in 1991 by Linus Torvalds, then a student at the University of Helsinki. Torvalds created Linux as a free and open-source alternative to Minix, another Unix clone that was used primarily in academic environments. I originally intended to call it “Freax,” but the Torvalds server administrator used the original code called his “Linux” folder, after a combination of the Torvalds name and the Unix word, and the name remained.

What is an Operating System?

Every time you turn on your computer, you see a screen where you can perform different activities such as writing, surfing the Internet or watching a video. What makes the computer hardware work like this? How does your computer’s processor know that it is asking you to run a video file?

Well, it’s the operating system or the kernel that does this job. A kernel is a program at the heart of any operating system that deals with fundamental things, such as letting the hardware communicate with the software.

So, you need an Operating System (OS) to work on your computer. You are using one while reading this on your computer. Now, you may have used popular operating systems such as Windows, Apple OS X. Still, here we will learn what Linux is and what benefits it offers about other operating system options.

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How does Linux different from other operating systems?

Linux is in many ways similar to other operating systems that you may have used before, such as Windows, OS X or iOS. Like other operating systems, It has a graphical interface, and the types of software it uses in other operating systems, such as word processing applications, have Linux equivalents. In many cases, the software maker may have created a Linux version of the same program that he uses on other systems. If you can use a computer or other electronic device, you can use Linux.

But Linux also different from other operating systems in many important ways. First, and perhaps more importantly, Linux is an open-source operating system. The code that used to create Linux is free and available to the public to view, edit and, for users with the right skills, to contribute.

What is the difference between Unix and Linux?

You may have heard of Unix, an operating system developed by Bell Labs in the 1970s by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and others. Linux and Unix are similar in many ways, and in fact, Linux was created to be similar to Unix. Both have similar tools for interacting with systems, programming tools, file system designs, and other important components. However, Unix is not free. Over the years, various operating systems have created that attempted to be “UNIX-like” or “UNIX-compatible”. Still, Linux has been the most successful and has outstripped its predecessors in terms of popularity.

Who uses Linux?

You probably already use Linux, whether you know it or not. Depending on the user survey you see, between one and two-thirds of web pages on the Internet generated by servers running Linux.

Companies and people choose Linux for their servers because it is secure and they can get excellent support from a large user community, as well as companies such as Canonical, SUSE and Red Hat, which offer commercial support.

Probably many of the devices you own, such as Android phones, digital storage devices, personal video recorders, cameras, portable devices and more, also run Linux. Even your car has Linux under the hood.

How can I get started using Linux?

There is a possibility that you already use Linux and don’t know it. Still, if you want to install on your home computer to test it, the easiest way is to choose a popular distribution that designed for your platform (for example, laptop or Tablet) and give it a try. Although there are many distributions available, most of the oldest and best-known distributions are good options for beginners because they have large numbers of the user community that can help answer questions if they get stuck or can’t solve things. Popular distributions are Debian , Fedora , Mint and Ubuntu , but there are many more.