Why use linux..
A gentle introduction to Linux.
So, what?s all the noise about Linux? What?s so interesting about an old Unix variant that runs on almost all platforms in the world is safe, secure, fast and highly adaptable? Nothing much you might say. In real terms to a user ? it?s free and the source code comes with it!
There has lately been an explosion of news about this quiet and powerful Operating system of the new (GNU!) generation. In realistic terms, Linux has reached its critical mass ? the point at which enough people know about it and want to use it. The hysteria that you would have seen is just the effects of this critical mass. To understand all that?s being said, let?s take a quick tour of Linux.
Why should you have Linux on your machine? Well, that question has many answers. I?d like to stick to two major reasons ? Unix and Exploration. Unix for all those people out there who need to work on the old workhorse OS or have applications that run on it. A fine example are college students who have Unix in their syllabus or someone who has legacy software that works perfectly well in Unix, but their version seems to be a mite out of date. The other set of people that I would freely recommend Linux to are people who are interesting generally in programming, operating systems (OS), system administration and such other things. There is no other system where such freedom is given to an individual to get under the hood of the operating system as in Linux. If you like exploration and want to find answers for yourself, welcome to Linux.
The people who I would actively discourage using Linux are those who think that using it is cool ? (Hey, I?m a hack ? I use Linux types). Don?t think that just because you have it lying around makes you especially cleverer that those poor blokes who have never heard of it. Don?t think it?s useful to know the only alternative to OS X or Y. Don?t ever run Linux simply because everyone whose someone is using it. While these reasons are inadequate in themselves, these belittle the spirit and nature of Linux.
If you are unhappy with your present configuration can?t seem to find a software configuration that you need? Then shift to Linux. If you seem to find bugs and systems crashes a problem, then shift to Linux. If you need reliability of a very high degree, then shift to Linux. Look at your computing needs and answer the questions. Do I need this application X on Linux / Do I need to learn about Linux? Remember that Linux is an OS that places a premium on your intelligence. Things will not always work with a single click. You may have to work hard before things work out. Once they do, the joy of the process of getting there will be worth all the effort.
Don?t let the common myth of Linux for hackers confuse you. At the pure operating systems level, Linux is the best introduction to this difficult topic. If you are an amateur in Computing, then Linux is a good choice. While the learning curve will be steep here, once these fundamentals are well organized, the rest of the gooey (GUI?) stuff comes pretty easily. Adapting to other operating systems will be a breeze. As for those initial days when it seems you can?t understand anything ?
?Ah, for a man?s reach should exceed his grasp,
Or else what?s a heaven for??
The best way to start the tale of Linux would be to misquote Neil Armstrong ? ?A small step for Linus, a giant step for Mankind?. Linus Torvalds was a student at University of Helsinki in Finland who was working on Minix, a mini Unix. He, according to legend, sent a mail onto Usenet requesting for some information on Posix systems for the x86 systems. People wondered then ? why wasn?t there a powerful enough variant of Unix on these systems? Linus then started working on it until he released version 0.0.2 (that?s pretty far back!) in 1991.
From then on, there was no looking back. Linux simply went from strength to strength. The unique nature of co-operative work on the Internet meant that everyone had to work with each other. This implies that people borrow, share and modify each other?s ideas. The Open General License (OGL) is exactly such a system where this is possible. Linus ensured that Linux would be under OGL. From there on, until today?s version (Version 2.2.0 released Jan 25, 1999), work has proceeded by people devoting their own time and resources to create a system that they want. Nice story, you might say ? what does it mean to me? It implies that since everyone contributed and is still contributing, Linux is not officially owned by anyone (although Linus does hold the OGL on many parts of it and many other parts are owned by many other people!). So, Linux can be distributed free and installed as many times as required on as many machines. There is no concept of piracy or of illegality associated with it.
Where?s the money in Linux if it?s all free is the next natural question. Why should or would anyone earn money if it?s all free? A detailed analysis of the GNU and OGL systems will explain that ? basically while you cannot be charged for the software, you can be charged for the distribution costs and any support costs if you so desire it. This process is called ?Copyleft? as opposed to ?Copyright? on software. This process has spawned the various distributions of Linux that tends to confuse a new user. So, Red Hat Linux and Debian Linux are not different from each other in the sense that they are still Linux (look for the Linux version number in the region of 2.0.0 ? 2.2.0), but in the sense that they are differently put together by each of the vendors. To provide an analogy, a dictionary can only list words from the English language, so one dictionary can?t claim to be something totally different from any other. The presentation, fonts and styles are different. Therefore, for the final user, the words he/she needs will be there, the only appearance differs. The same story holds true for the Linux distributions.
The most famous of these distributions is Red Hat, known for it?s ease of use and it?s first-time user-friendly installation procedures. This company has the support of many commercial firms (such as Intel, IBM and so on) behind it. Debian Linux still remains the only non-commercial non-profit distribution that is organized by a band of volunteers over the Internet. Other distributions in this realm include Slackware, Caldera, and SuSe. Each implementation has some individual quirks associated with it. Overall, there is not much variance between distributions, although it may help to look around before you decide on your personal choice. It?s actually more a matter of preference and/or availability.
Then, what are the strengths of Linux? It?s essentially safe, secure and robust. These words mean different things in different areas. In the ?keep the bad guys out? aspect it?s achieved C2 security status before. This is a highly coveted security classification set up by the US Department of Defense for software. This means that back orifices and other nefarious means of entering your precious machine do not exist. This also means that if security measures offered by the OS are effectively implemented, a hacker attack into the system is virtually impossible. In the angle of being bug free ? it?s tested everyday by users like you and me. If something doesn?t work, all you do is tell someone about it ? put up a notice on the Usenet for example. The next thing is people will test the bug and if it is indeed a problem, solutions will be immediately posted for people to download. Microsoft?s problems with Windows 2000 and NT?s beta testing time come to mind in this connection. The response time in bug reporting and correction is very small (Internet cycle time - is the correct term to use). Finally, because everyone pokes around in the code, you can be happy in the knowledge that there?s no hidden code somewhere that?s tracking exactly what you are doing or something equally malicious.
It?s available on a variety of platforms. Since everyone thinks its such a great idea (you should too!!), they all got to writing their versions of it for their own machine and architecture. So, the net result of all this is that there are versions of Linux for almost all processors and platforms that you could want to work on. The effect on the user is that he/she doesn?t have to care what machine he/she?s working on ? Linux remains the same.
It?s based on entirely free public domain concepts and technologies. What this means is that it is open and willing to work with everything else. Proprietary standards and such other concepts are long gone. If Linux can talk to any software, it makes most sense to use it if there is even a remote possibility that such a conversation may be necessary. The advantage with such open standards is that they are widely accepted, most efficient and most secure. The biggest advantage of open standards is that they make competition fierce and open. This translates into better deals for the user.
Then, if everything is so great about Linux why isn?t every machine in the world on Linux? Every coin has another dark side to it. Linux in relative terms is still a young software (1991-1999 is a long time in computing but it?s only 8 years for heaven?s sake!). It sometimes has problems accepting some specific machine components. Nevertheless, not to worry ? so you think you have the unique configuration that Linux doesn?t work on? Put up a posting and people will immediately tell you that the driver that you thought didn?t exist is there somewhere on the net. Still, the ease of installation and hardware support is something of a problem for Linux. There is also another side to this story. Linux is a very exacting system for it requires many bits of information that most OS?s don?t require during an installation (How many OS?s ask for dot clock information to set up a monitor?) In the personal experience of the author, installing Linux machines can be at the same time a pleasure and a pain. A particular machine that installed two other OS failed to install Linux. Some long and frustrating checks later revealed a motherboard-memory speed incompatibility that was the irritating problem! So, hardware specifications need to be well known before you set off to install Linux on your machine! The creation of an OS is no small task. The initial programming was done by highly intelligent people who knew exactly what they were doing. A kind of implicit understanding that a user will know how to handle operations in Linux had meant that it was restricted to hackers and coding gurus. Now, however, that concept is changing rapidly. The average user is also being thought about when features are being added to the systems. While this is really difficult considering the tortures that average users put their systems even through it may be accidental! To paraphrase a popular quotation in software engineering, ?programming is a constant struggle to make solutions in the universe idiot proof, and so far, the universe is winning!?
What about software that you need on Linux? The free spirit and enterprise that are so vital to Linux ensured that big corporations and software companies knew about Linux, but they didn?t design products for it. After all, there was no big money or big markets in it. This problem lead to a lack of user applications for Linux. This in turn made sure that there was a problem in wide acceptability of Linux. After all, if you can?t find your favorite word applications that you are comfortable with on this new OS then why would you change to it? It?s a vicious circle ? the lack of users driving a lack of commercial interest ? driving a lack of interest in users.
Luckily for mankind (and the computers too!), Linux has broken through this circle. When it reached critical mass (i.e. sufficient numbers of users), companies have realized that there is a future in Linux products and that it is important to build products for this new market. This drives interest in Linux, leading to new users. This is a circle of events that Linux users feel happy about! Now many companies have allied themselves with Linux. These are the companies actively working on Linux and products for it. IBM, Corel, Lotus and others have announced support for Linux either directly or indirectly and that they will be shipping Linux products. Intel has agreed to let Linux developers into previewing future releases of processors. Many more stories are now showing that companies have joined the Linux bandwagon.
Another additional problem associated with Linux is the common misconception that it is a character based (and therefore old and dead) OS. Linux has very good support for graphics via the X-Windows platform. The GUI with the operating system are not very closely linked. Most senior Linux enthusiasts believe that all this graphics nonsense will destroy the beauty of Linux. This is a problem of Linux, as new users understand GUI usage much faster. As of now, it can be operated in either modes (character or GUI). And, before all the gamers out there ask, Doom for Linux exists and is reputed to run faster on the same machine when on Linux!
Linux (officially pronounced as lih-nucks or sometimes as lie-nucks) has many interesting stories linked to it. For example, the world?s most common server software Apache is closely linked to it. When Sun Microsystems released Java, Linux was the first OS to react to it, and yes there was Java modules on the Internet for writing Java on Linux. Another interesting fact is that Linux is being used in diverse situations ? the most weird usage being that of the world?s smallest Web server. This matchbox-sized machine runs off a 5V battery! In addition, as proud Linux users would testify it can run on any system with any resources! Linus B. Torvalds himself is the source of much legend on the Internet. His work with a company called Transmeta Inc. was supposed to be so advanced that it was even rumored that it was Alien technology! The official mascot of Linux is a penguin ? chosen by Linus because he believe it stood for all he wanted Linux to be ? think that one out!
For long, Linux was an essential component that every competent hacker and programmer would install on his machine. Well, those days are more or less over. From now on, general acceptability is the key word in Linux. Everyone?s using it ? everyone knows about it ? and if you aren?t, remember the words of Robert Frost -
?The woods are lonely dark and deep.
I have miles to go before I sleep.
I have miles to go before I sleep.?
Sites:
Linux India home site, join now! :www.linux-india.org
Headquarters of Linux worldwide :www.linux.org
Another site of Linux worldwide :www.linuxhq.org
Linux hackers gather here, news :www.slashdot.org
Linux Links to all sorts of stuff :www.linuxlinks.com
Linus Torvalds homepage :www.cs.helsinki.fi/~torvalds/
Official Penguin Site :www.isc.tamu.edu/~lewing/linux/
X windows site ,graphics :www.xwindows.org
X windows for x86 machines :www.xfree86.com
GNU site :www.gnu.org
The world?s smallest Web server :wearables.stanford.com
Linux Myths and Stories : www.kenandted.com/Kensbookmark/linux/index.html
Linus pronouncing Linux : ftp:/ftp.linux.org/kernel/SillySounds/swedish.au
FAQ on Linux installation : http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/Installation-HOWTO.html
FAQ on Linux distributions : http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/Distribution-HOWTO.html.