Types Of Linux, Where To Download, Why Is This OS Free And Who Makes It?

If you stop 10 people on the street and ask them what they know about Linux, then most will describe some kind of complex operating system for hackers that does not have a familiar graphical interface and is extremely unfriendly towards an inexperienced user. What exactly is Linux? We understand the material below.

To begin with, you need to understand that Linux is not an operating system, but rather a project that brings together a huge number of people and companies around the world. They all work on improving distributions, adding and removing tens of thousands of lines of code from ready-made Linux solutions every day. To understand this phenomenon, one should consult the history of two other interesting projects - GNU and Minix.

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Who Invented Linux?

GNU GPL

At the end of the 70s, quite numerous communities of geeks had already formed in the United States, who preached the free distribution of ideas, programs, source codes. One of the outstanding people of that time is called Richard Stallman, who in 1983 announced the development of the GNU project (abbreviated as "GNU is Not Unix").

The purpose of the venture was the development and free distribution of software, which in its functionality would not be inferior to the capabilities of AT & T's Unix OS (a license to use the source code cost about 40 thousand dollars).

At the same time, Stallman formulated the GNU GPL (GNU General Public License) manifesto, in which he indicated 4 freedoms that underlie Linux to this day:

Freedom 0. Everyone has the right to run the program for any purpose;

Freedom 1. Everyone can study the program and change it according to their own needs;

Freedom 2. Everyone has the right to distribute software to help others;

Freedom 3. Everyone can improve and publish the software for the benefit of the community.

Basically, Stallman gave everyone the right to freely sell their own GNU software products, but those products must also be licensed under the GPL.

That is, when distributing a program, a person or a company is obliged to provide the source code to everyone and allow them to freely modify, as well as use any code fragments for their own purposes.

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Minix

Another person who needs to be mentioned in the context of Linux history is Andrew Tanenbaum, a teacher from the Netherlands, who developed a tutorial in 1987 in the form of the Minix operating system.

Its advantage was compatibility with the popular at that time Intel 80286 processor, while most commercial versions of UNIX did not support Intel chips. Tanenbaum not only released Minix on floppy disks, but also published all 12 thousand lines of code in his book, which became an excellent guide for young programmers, one of whom was Finnish student Linus Torvalds.

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Linux

Torvalds began developing Linux in 1991, but, having received a workable kernel, was forced to start replacing Minix components in favor of analogues under the GNU GPL license, since Tanenbaum legally restricted the use of his system for educational purposes only. After posting the release of his OS in the comp.os.minix newsgroup and switching to GNU components, Linus received hundreds of feedback and suggestions for further development of the system, which was the beginning of the most massive software project in history.

Already in February 1992, Torvalds began to receive letters from companies wishing to sell Linux, but not having such an opportunity - in the very first version of the kernel there was a file with a license agreement, in which Linus indicated a clause prohibiting commercial implementation of Linux-based systems. However, one of the main components of the entire project was the GCC compiler, protected by the four Stallman freedoms described above. Therefore, starting with version 0.12, the Linux kernel also began to be distributed under the GPL license. By the way, today many companies use the Linux kernel without GNU components; the Android operating system can serve as a vivid example of such a product.

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Who uses Linux

The Linux kernel is used almost everywhere today. One way or another, software created by a geographically dispersed community of many thousands that does not have a headquarters or central office controls the vast majority of existing electronic devices, from washing machines to appliances on the ISS. Distributions for private, commercial or other use are being improved and refined every day, technological corporations invest a lot of money in Linux projects, and all the results of millions of man-hours can be made available to anyone absolutely free.

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Linux distributions

Based on the foregoing, it is not difficult to conclude that there are a great many Linux distributions, and the most popular of them largely overlap with each other. So, the most widespread version of Linux Ubuntu (as well as Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Edubuntu) from Canonical is built on the basis of another popular distribution - Debian. In turn, Ubuntu underlies another popular version of Linux Mint, and so on.

In addition, there are specialized categories of distributions. For example, power users prefer the build-it-yourself versions of Linux, which have to be built on their own. The most popular in this category is Linux Knoppix. There are also distributions with a regional bias. So, in Russia, Rosa, alt = " Linux, NauLinux, Calculate Linux, Runtu and others are relatively popular.

Screenshot of Arch Linux desktop: