Why You Should Use GNU/Linux

Pradeesh
What is GNU?

I GNU stands for GNU’s Not Unix!

I Development of the GNU operating system was initiated by
Richard Stallman while he worked at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
It was called the GNU Project, and was publicly announced on
September 27, 1983.
I The goal was to bring a wholly free software operating system
into existence.
I Free as in Freedom not as in Free beer.
Richard Stallman

Figure 1: Richard Stallman

Time for memes

Figure 2: RMS
GNU’s Mascot
What is Free Software?

I Free software means that the software’s users have freedom.

(The issue is not about price.)
I In October 1985, Stallman set up the Free Software
Foundation (FSF)
I The FSF publishes the GNU General Public License (GNU
GPL), the world’s most popular free software license.
Four essential freedoms:
I 1.To run the program,
I 2.To study and change the program in source code form,
I 3.To redistribute exact copies, and
I 4.To distribute modified versions.
How Linux comes into the picture?

I GNU Hurd is the multiserver microkernel written as part of

GNU. It has been under development since 1990 by the GNU
Project of the Free Software Foundation, designed as a
replacement for the Unix kernel, and released as free software
under the GNU General Public License. While the Linux kernel
soon proved to be a more viable solution, development of GNU
Hurd continued, albeit at a slow pace
Why do you call the system we use GNU/Linux and not
Linux?

I Most operating system distributions based on Linux as kernel

are basically modified versions of the GNU operating system.
We began developing GNU in 1984, years before Linus Torvalds
started to write his kernel. Our goal was to develop a complete
free operating system. Of course, we did not develop all the
parts ourselves—but we led the way. We developed most of the
central components, forming the largest single contribution to
the whole system. The basic vision was ours too. In fairness,
we ought to get at least equal mention -Richard Stallman
What is Linux?

I Linux is just a kernal

What is the kernal?
Linus Torvalds

Figure 5: Linus Torvalds in action giving finger towards Nvidia

Linux’s Mascot
Naming of Linux

I Linux
I Linus wanted his kernal to finish with x because of Unix
Facts about the Linux kernal

I The Linux kernel was conceived and created in 1991 by Linus

Torvalds
I Torvalds first published the Linux kernel under its own licence,
which had a restriction on commercial activity.
Linux comes under the GNU GPL in 1992
I Sadly, a kernel by itself gets you nowhere. To get a working
system you need a shell, compilers, a library etc. These are
separate parts and may be under a stricter (or even looser
copyright. Most of the tools used with linux are GNU software
and are under the GNU copyleft. These tools aren’t in the
distribution - ask me (or GNU) for more info - Linus
Torvalds(1992)
Fun Fact

I By looking at the pictures of RMS and Linus Torvalds,you

might be wondering that these two guys are weird and don’t fit
into the crowd(Sheeples).
I That’s how the people who use GNU/Linux Users are.
More facts about the Linux kernal

I 1.More than 90% of current Linux source code is written by

other developers (and not Linus Torvalds himself)
I 2.Even Microsoft Contributes to Linux Kernel Development!
I 3.Top 500 Super Computer’s run on Linux.
I 4.An operating System called Minix inspired Linus Torvalds for
making Linux
I 5.There are more than 10 Linux based Mobile operating
System’s(Firefox OS, Sailfish OS, Ubuntu Touch, Ubuntu
Mobile, Android.)
I 6.Google has its own Linux Distribution for its internal
Employees. Its called gLinux based on Debain
I 7.Andrew S Tanenbaum, the creator of Minix, once said
that Linux is Obsolete
Continued
I 8.Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer,in 2000 said that “Linux is a
cancer”
I 9.Steve Jobs once offered (in 2000) a job to Linus Torvalds
at Apple.Linus rejected it.
I 10.There are 115 million lines of code in The Linux
Foundation’s collaborative projects. Compare this to the 45
million lines of code in Windows XP.
I 11.The Linux kernel is by far the most active open source
project on Earth
I 12.SpaceX uses a special fault-tolerant design of Linux in each
of its Merlin rocket engines. Through this, Linux has helped
complete 32 space missions.
I 13.Is Linux the king of the world? Titanic was the first feature
film produced on Linux servers.
I 14.Toyota and Jaguar plan to run their future cars using
Automotive-grade Linux.
Companies that contribute to Linux kernal
Linus working in his house

Figure 8: Linus Torvalds seen walking on Treadmill

GNU/Linux runs these
2013 Cadillac XTS

Figure 10: Cadillac User Experience (CUE) for recognizing voice

The most powerful physics project in the history

Figure 11: The $10 Billion Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is powered by
Linux.
Nspire CAS CX Calculator

Figure 12: ARM based graph calculator

Delaval’s Robotic System for Milking cows

Figure 13: System fro Milking cows

Wireless routers
List goes on on. . . .

I Computers
I Smart phones
I CCTV
I Fridges & other Smart Home appliances
I SmartTv
I Sony Play station
I TiVo
I Lockheed Martin’s Nuclear submarine
I Japanese High Speed Train
I Air Traffic control system
I Sans Francisco High-tech traffic control system
I International Space Station
I Smart Rifle
I Self-Driving Cars
I servers(powers the internet)
You get the point. . .

I GNU/Linux is everywhere
Where is OS X and Windows are (cough. . . )

I Computers,Mobiles and some on servers

The place which is yet to be conquered

I Computers(Desktop& Pc)
I Which i guess will not be conquered because people won’t
give shit about what OS their Computers runs on as
long as it comes pre-installed with Windows
OS Marketshare

Figure 15: Marketshare

How GNU/Linux works?

I Hardware(You Know that)

I Kernal(Linux)
I Bios(Comes pre-installed by Pc maker)
I Grub(Boot loader-where the linux kernal lives)
I Init system(Systemd-Initializes the X11,Display manager etc)
I X11(Display server-without it you will get only a black screen)
I Display manager(The place where you log in)
I Desktop Environment(There are many,which i will list next)
I Gui Applications(Why you interact daily)
To understand the Desktop Environment

I We will Start with Windows 10 & OS X

Windows DE

Figure 16: Same boring interface

OS X DE

Figure 17: Walled Garden

GNU/Linux DE

I There are atleast 20!

I We will go one by one
KDE

Figure 18: Plasma 5

GNOME

Figure 19: Gnome 3

Cinnamon

Figure 20: Cinnamon

XFCE

Figure 21: XFCE 4

Budgie

Figure 22: Budgie

Unity

Figure 23: You must have seen this

Deepin

Figure 24: Deepin from china

MATE

Figure 25: MATE

Pantheon

Figure 26: Pantheon

Im tired after listing 9 DE’s From GNU/Linux

I Other DE’s are. . .

I Enlightenment
I LXDE
I LXQT
I EDE
I Liri
I Lumina
I Moksha
I Trinity
GNU/Linux Distributions

I Commonly called as Distro

I There more than 500 Distros
I The Distribution of Linux kernal with Grub,GNU
utils,X11,Display Manager,DE,Applications(eg Firefox,vlc)
-GNU/Linux Distro
Top Distros

I Advanced -Gentoo,Arch Linux(Which i use).

I Intermediate -Debian,Slackware,Opensuse,Fedora
I Beginner friendly -Ubuntu,Linux
Mint,Manjaro,Solus,Peppermint,Feren OS,Elementary,MX
Linux.
How do My Computer look like?

Figure 27: Arch Linux

Arch linux with i3 wm

Figure 28: Arch Linux+i3 wm

I know what you must be wondering. . .

I What is i3?. . . .is it a Intel Cpu?

I No.Its Tiling Window Manager.Its not in that 20 DE which i
showed you
I In fact you don’t need DE to work with computers.
Why do i use i3 Window Manager?

I Because i’m Lazy.

I I don’t like point and click way of using computer.
I i3 wm is fully Keyboard driven.
Conclusion

I Freedom is a very hard to get,where be it in life and in the

freedom to use your computer the way like.
I If you are a windows user,i feel sorry for you.You don’t know
the real Freedom yet.
I Microsoft actually licences Windows 10(same shit for OS
X),which means you don’t own it.Its like living in a rented
house.
I That’s why updates are forced on to users.
Freedom requires sacrifice

I I don’t know whether GNU/Linux will ever conquer the

Pc Market share,but i do l know that GNU/Linux will
outlast OS X and Microsoft. Because Apple and
Microsoft are corporations.Corporations rise and
fall.GNU/Linux is not controlled by any corporation but
by the people.As long as there are people who want
freedom there will be GNU/Linux.