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What Is It?

Linus Trovalds began his work on the Linux operating system in 1991 when he was a student at the University of Helsinki. Based upon the Unix operating system, Linux grew with the help of developers around the world as this system was developed under the GNU General Public License. Therefore, the source code for Linux and many other components based upon the Linux kernel are freely available to everyone.

This license provides the primary difference between Linux and other popular operating systems. Although Linux isn’t the only operating system that uses the GNU General Public License, it is currently the most well known and most widely used system. Linux is largely driven by its developer and user communities, and some of these communities maintain versions of commercial distributions such as Red Hat does with Fedora.

Who Is it For?

Linux is based upon the Unix operating system, one of the widest available and most portable operating systems ever conceived. Therefore, Linux – like Unix – found an audience among individuals who wanted a system that could be adopted, modified, copied, and shared. Academic institutions, businesses, and individuals discovered that Linux was open to all this and more as users expanded upon the Linux kernel to provide resources that ranged from open source products to commercial resources.

Primarily known for its use in servers, Linux has expanded its usability as an operating system for desktop computers, supercomputers, video game systems, arcade games, and embedded devices such as mobile phones, routers, and even stage lighting systems. But, Linux has suffered from an identity problem in the past. Most average computer users felt that Linux operating systems and the accompanying by-products were too complicated to understand or use.

This “geekiness” issue has been addressed by the proliferation of easy-to-understand Linux-based online Web communities and resources. Among these is a fairly new resource called Ubuntu. This is a community-developed Linux-based operating system designed for ease of use on laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications an average user might need - a Web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more. Additionally, Ubuntu seems to overcome the average computer user’s fear of perceived complications from using a Linux-based operating system.

Features

Although Linux distributions may vary widely in their functions, most of these distributions support dozens of programming languages. Most of these applications and operating system programs exist within the GNU “toolchain,” which includes the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) and the GNU Build System. The Linux kernel alone was written to be compiled with GCC, and GCC provides compilers for Ada, C, C++, Java, and Fortan, Users also can find proprietary compilers for Linux.

Many Linux distributions also support dynamic languages such as Perl, Ruby, and Python. Other lesser known languages also are supported, but perhaps the best known frameworks for development include the GNOME project and KDE. Both frameworks support a broad range of languages. One of the major features of Linux is that it is as friendly to depreciating languages and technologies as it is to newer and more robust languages and usages.

Compatibility

As an operating system, Linux is compatible with any server, computer system, or technology that requires an operating system to function. Linux-based technologies developed from the Linux kernel are compatible only with the Linux operating system or with a system comparable to Linux. However, as mentioned previously, many programming languages designed for multiple systems find a fully functional home within Linux operating systems.

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