Introduction
to Linux
A BEGINNER’S APPROACH
Operating System
OS is the interface between hardware and user
All computers need an OS
OSes are used to run applications and control hardware
Popular OSes include Windows, Linux, Mac OSX
What is Linux?
Developed in 1991 by a University of Finland student Linus
Torvalds.
Basically a kernel, it was combined with the various
software and compilers from GNU Project to form an OS,
called GNU/Linux
Linux is a full-fledged OS available in the form of various
Linux Distributions
RedHat, Fedora, SuSE, Ubuntu, Debian are examples of
Linux distros
Linux is supported by big names as IBM, Google, Sun,
Novell, Oracle, HP, Dell, and many more
History of Linux
Inspired by the UNIX OS, the Linux kernel was developed as
a clone of UNIX
GNU was started in 1984 with a mission to develop a free
UNIX-like OS
Linux was the best fit as the kernel for the GNU Project
Linux kernel was passed onto many interested developers
throughout the Internet
Linux User Interface
Can be controlled through command-line (CLI) or Graphical
User Interface (GUI)
GUI run through Desktop Environments (DE)
KDE, GNOME, Xfce, E17 are popular Des
The GUI interface is easy-to-use and much like that of
Windows and Mac OSX
The CLI is similar to that of UNIX/BSD
Programming in Linux
Modern languages are cross-platform, like Python, Ruby,
Perl, Java
Most Linux distros support these languages and have their
runtimes pre-installed
GTK+ and Qt are widely used to design applications for
Linux
IDEs like NetBeans, Anjuta, KDevelop, MonoDevelop,
Eclipse are available for Linux too
Linux on the Desktop
Linux is desktop computer ready
Large number of distros targeted at Desktop users are
available
Linux desktop distros come with many commonly used pre-
installed softwares
The modern Linux interface is user-friendly and makes the
interaction with computer easy
Running Windows
software on Linux
It is possible to install/run Windows software on Linux
Wine helps run a wide range of Windows applications
Cedega helps run huge number of Windows games
flawlessly
Linux on Servers and
Supercomputers
Linux is the most used OS on servers
5 out of 10 reliable web hosting companies use Linux
Linux is the cornerstone of the LAMP server-software
combination (Linux,Click to add
Apache, t
MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python)
which has achieved popularity among developers
Out of top 500 supercomputers, Linux is deployed on 426
of them
Linux on Embedded
Systems
16.7% of smartphones worldwide use Linux as OS
Linux poses a major competition to the most popular OS is
this segment – Symbian
Nokia, Openmoko supply Linux on their select
smartphones
Adoption of Linux
1983 (September): GNU project was announced publicly
1991 (September): first version of the Linux kernel was released to the Internet
2001 (second quarter): Linux server unit shipments at 15% annual growth rate
2004: Linux shipped on approximately 50% of the worldwide server blade units, and 20% of
all rack-optimized servers
2005: Microsoft representatives accuse Brazilian college using Famelix of pirating Microsoft
Windows
2007: Dell announces it will ship select models with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed
2007: Lenovo announces it will ship select models with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
pre-installed
2007: HP announces that it will begin shipping computers preinstalled with Red Hat Linux in
Australia
2007: ASUS launches the linux-based ASUS Eee PC
2008: Dell announces it will begin shipping Ubuntu based computers to Canada and Latin
America
2008: Dell is shipping systems with Ubuntu pre-installed in China
2008: Acer launches the linux-based Acer Aspire One
Adoption by
Governments
Governments of many countries around the world are
shifting to Linux from Windows due to the many benefits it
offer
Countries like India, France, Pakistan, Czech Reppublic,
Brazil, Germany, USA, Austria, Spain, China, and Peru
already use Linux
USES:
No threat of viruses
Linux systems are extremely stable
Linux is Free
Linux comes with most of the required software pre-
installed
Update all your software with minimum storage.
Linux never gets slow
Linux does not need defragmentation
