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What is GNU/Linux

Saturday, December 8, 2012 by Lazeez SMS Collection
What is GNU/Linux

GNU/Linux is an Operating System like UNIX, Macintosh, Windows, etc. but is free. 'Free' here doesn't imply cost; it means that you can use, distribute & change it according to you, following the GNU General Public License(GPL).
GNU/Linux can be downloaded Free of Cost from any GNU/Linux provider's site or it's CDs can be bought with it's documentation & source code by paying nominal charges.
As GNU/Linux has been evolved from MINIX(OS kernel developed by A. S. Tanenbaum) which itself is originated from UNIX so the internals & a number of features of it are similar to UNIX. But this does not mean that GNU/Linux does not have it's own existence; it has been beautified by programmers around the world & is thus one of the most versatile & powerful OSs of the wold.
GNU/Linux is the OS that incorporates in it all the functionality & stability that many major OSs of the world still do not have.

Past, Present and Future
Past :

GNU/Linux is not the result of efforts of a few persons but of a whole community. The two main persons behind this OS are Richard Matthew Stallman(RMS) & Linus Torvalds. When His Hacker friends have surrendered against the Non-Free software culture, RMS sticked to His principles & to the Hacker Ethics & keep developing Free software for people. He was also giving away the sorce code of His softwares so that the softwares can be modified & thus become more & more better. One such software is the Emacs. In addition to developing Free softwares RMS was also looking forward for a Free OS & started coding necessary utilities & softwares for his dream OS.

While HE was working on His dream OS project Linus Torvalds was playing with the code of MINIX, an OS written by A.S.Tanenbaum for students so that the students of computer science can understand how an OS works. Click here to download MINIX code can be in PDF format. Tanenbaum has kept the length of the OS small so that students will easily understand the whole code. Linus was at that time a student & his interest pushed him to add several new features to the MINIX. He wanted to add new features to the MINIX code but Tanenbaum's goal was only to let the student's understand about how an OS works, so he didn't agreed to add any code to the existing MINIX but he permitted Linus to add his features to MINIX under some other name. Linus did the same thing & introduced Linux, the kernel of GNU/Linux.

RMS laid the foundation of GNU(GNU's Not Unix) & FSF(Free Software Foundation). At that time RMS was looking for a kernel so that He can patch up His Free utility softwares to it & can give a completely Free OS to the world. After working on some kernels He finally looked onto Linux which was also Free & then They both(RMS & Linus) introduced the GNU/Linux.

Free means the Freedom to modify the existing software & distribute it, it may or may not be free(zero cost).

Note : The actual pronounciation for the word GNU is guh-new & for Linux is "Lee-n-ix". The "nux" part of the word GNU/Linux should be pronounced same as we pronounce the part "nix" in UNIX.

Present :

GNU/Linux at present has established itself as one of the major OS at the server end & at the workstation side & is also proved & growed quite rapidly in the Desktop OS market. A number of organizatoins are shifting themselves to GNU/Linux & also a number of home users are also turning to it. Many real time flavours of GNU/Linux are also available like QNX, BlueCat RT, etc. GNU/Linux is also a key player of the embedded os market with it's numerous flavours like EmDebian, PeeWeeLinux, OpenZaurus, Embedix, RedBoot, etc. Many flavours of GNU/Linux can run directly from a CD without installing a single file onto your hard disk like Knoppix. Linux For You, a magazine in India, is also provinding it's Knoppix version with it's issues known as LiFY (Linux from India For You) & many other GNU/Linux utilities. Lindows(a commercial flavour of GNU/Linux) can be installed in around six to eight minutes.

Future :

The future is always unpredictable but we can make our guessworks based on todays facts and observations. The future of GNU/Linux is brightest when compared to other OSs of today. As far as I know, GNU/Linux is the fastest growing OS so we can see that where it is heading to.

What are Distributions or Flavours

When we talk about GNU/Linux we generally refer to some flavor of it. A distribution(or "distro") or flavor is a combination of a number of utilities & the kernel grouped together by following some standard by some group of developers or by some company.
The purpose of a distro is to define a name, style & standard for it's packaged utilities alongwith the kernel. In general terms we can say that a flavor is a complete OS in itself & if we call all flavors GNU/Linux then it's giving a common name to all the distros.
So when we say that we are using GNU/Linux or when we say that we are going to install GNU/Linux then we actually are planning to install a flavor of GNU/Linux, commonly reffered to as a distribution.

There are a number of distributions out there & one might get confused when he/she will have to choose a distro for him/her. All the distros are having the same GNU/Linux base but they all are different from one another generally in the following things:

All distributions follow their own guidelines to develop the respective distro.
All distros have different package management schemes.
All distros approach a particular class of users, though some are fairly general & can be used by anybody.
All distros have different installation methods.
All distros have different upgrade policies.
All distros have different dependency checking policies.

NOTE: Some distributions may only differ in the number & type of packages & thus are almost same.

Anyone who wants to use GNU/Linux has to choose from the available distributions. The most common distros are viz.
Debian, RedHat, Slackware, Mandrake, S.U.S.E., PCQuest(in INDIA).
Let us now discuss the above mentioned distos one by one so that it might be easier for one to choose a particular distro for him/her.

Debian
Debian is the one that conforms too closely with the GNU standards & principles. It's called as "The Universal Operating System" by their developers because it can be installed on a wide variety of hardware & for almost anyone. At a time there are three versions of Debian viz.
Potato-The most stable but having a bit outdated packages.
Woody-Stability is much better when compared to some other distros & incorporates quite newer packages.
Unstable-It is the most unstable of the three versions but is not much bad in stability. It incorporates the most updated package list.

RedHat A very nice distro for anyone, especially for people who are new to GNU/Linux. The main features of it are easier installation, good documentation available, widely used, & can be installed for desktops, workstations & servers. Earlier it was coming in versions like 7.3, 8.0, 9.0 but after 9.0 or 9.1 now RedHat is sponsoring the Fedora Project. It is also providing Workstation series. The difference in them is that RedHat doesn't provide support for Fedora Core(FC) but provides support for it's Workstaion series.

Slackware
A good distro when comes to stability, easy installation but not for a first time GNU/Linux user.

Mandrake
Mandrake is a RedHat revamp, revamp means that it is originated from the RedHat distro. It's a little bit more light than RedHat or Fedora & is slightly better in some cases. A home user who is new to GNU/Linux should install either RedHat8.0, 9.0, Fedora or Mandrake.

S.U.S.E. It's not conformed to Free Software or Open Source Principles. It is popular in European countries only & is not freely available in it's entirety.

PCQuest It is also a RedHat revamp most suitable for Indians who are new to GNU/Linux. It is much catered keeping in mind about the Indian people. It's stability is almost the same as that of RedHat.

NOTE: I am not yet practically familiar with Debian, & S.U.S.E. distros & the information written above about these distros is what I have learnt after reading some sources.
ANY FLAVOUR/ DISTRIBUTION OF GNU/Linux IS NOT AT ALL HARD TO INSTALL & TO USE; THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS HERE IS THE COMMITMENT TO SET YOURSELF FREE FROM THE PRISON OF PROPRIETARY OSs & SOFTWARES. GNU/Linux is a havoc only for those who are using another OS from a very long time, might be from the time they are using a computer; so it's obvious that using another OS is like a nightmare to them.

From where I can get GNU/Linux, in how much & how I can install it without losing my existing data?

First of all one can go for a GNU/Linux CD like Knoppix(a flavour of GNU/Linux but don't come under the GNU GPL), as it does not require any installation or hard disk partition & thus one can try out GNU/Linux before actually installing it.

When a person finds himself a little bit comfortable with the new interface(icons, graphics, etc.) he can establish a Dual boot system by installing any flavour of GNU/Linux(like Debian, Slackware, RedHat, Mandrake, etc.) with his/her previous OS as it may take some time to adapt with the new environment(in my case this time was about one month) & can check out the GNU/Linux at it's full bloom with all it's histles & whistles.

And finally when one is having a good deal of experience with GNU/Linux, he/she can then shift completely to it.
All above flavours of GNU/Linux can be installed by either downloading from Internet(free of cost) or from a CD.
You can also get the CDs from your friends & can even make a copy of it(of course if your friend has one :-), without overriding any terms or conditions.
The installations details can be found on the GNU/Linux Installation page of this site.

To see which flavour of GNU/Linux is suitable for you, I would advise you to directly browse some of the pages of that OS distributor.

Who can use GNU/Linux and WHY??

Anybody having a computer, with any configuration, meeting the minimum requirements for instalation.

I think that a person can go for proprietary software only if he/she is facing the following problems :

Doesn't know about any other(free software or open source software) alternative to that proprietary software.
The other software which is free or open source is not being easily avalable.
Thinks that their current proprietary software is the best & no other software can outshine to it.

So if you are facing any one of the above problems then you should read the following solutions to the above problems :

The solution to the first problem is that you can either contact us through email (support@ioosd.in) or can took help from your local Linux User's Group.
Internet is the solution for these type of problems. You can contact any GNU/Linux provider for free download or for CDs(at a very nominal rate). Also you can contact your local Linux User's Group.
This problem will have no base to stand upon once you have worked on any GNU/Linux computer system somewhere around your home or office as then only you will be able to know that where actually GNU/Linux stands as compared with other OSs of today.

GNU/Linux has got all the applications a home user require like free Office suite(OpenOffice), free media players, free internet utilities, free games, free image viewers, free editors, free language compilers & free debuggers & much much more.

GNU/Linux can do all & much more what any other OS can do.
So try GNU/Linux now & see what more it can do for you.

Why should I go for(try) GNU/Linux when I am very much comfortable with the OS I am using already?

The answer to this question can be found by asking the following questions from yourself :

Note :

Does my OS crashes frequently(about once in six months or may be earlier) & suddenly before giving to my the slightest hint or before I could judge anything?

Note :

Do I want to know the internal in-depth details, pitfalls, & dark corners of an OS by studying it's source code?

Do I wish to use & distribute my own OS in a way I want & not in a way stated(bounded) by the Licensing Conditions of any proprietary OS?
If the answer to any one of the above questions is YES in your case then you should GO for GNU/Linux.

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