Daxim on 2/11/2002 at 18:17
Avec bravour, ferret. Hope you don't mind me adding some details - wouldn't want to give any false info to the newbie.
3a. It's three layered. At the base the text mode, then (
http://www.x.org/) X which provide very basic graphics capability, and on top the window managers which provide a desktop environment. The most used are (
http://kde.org/screenshots/) KDE and (
http://gnome.org/start/2.0/screenshots/) GNOME, other favourites are (
http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/shots.html) blackbox and (
http://www.enlightenment.org/pages/shots.html) Enlightenment.
Commercial Unices (like, say, (
http://www.sgi.com/software/irix6.5/) Irix) often come with their own implementation of the X window system, but Linux uses the open source (
http://xfree86.org/) xfree86.
(Fortunately, nowadays no enduser needs to know all that anymore in order to be able to use a nifty desktop system. Hey, some Linux distributions are even easier to install than Windows!)
To compare with the consumer series of Windows (95, 98, ME): this one is two layered, when booting, first DOS is loaded, and on top of that the familiar graphical user interface.
5. If you don't want to mess with hard disk partitions, you can also (
http://linuxiso.org/distro.php?distro=2) download a bootable stand alone CD.
ignatios on 3/11/2002 at 01:01
Also, it's actually pronounced "Lee-nooks" ... like "Lee-noos" (Linus).
Everyone I know says "Lin-icks" though. :)
It's also not for the faint of heart.
Skilless on 4/11/2002 at 06:54
1. Linux is based upon Minix (UNIX derivation), which Linus Torvald used at school, but couldn't afford himself. He wanted to create something that was like Minix and also posix compliant, when he went to publish, the publisher coined the name "Linux".
2. Linux is free in a different sense of the word than "no cost". It is free in the sense of; liberty, freedom or without constraint. In other words, you are free to do with it as you please without worrying about Bill Gates coming to your house and having you arrested for copyright infringement. The only real way to get "in trouble" is to take GNU (don't worry about it right now) based/touched code and then not release the source for your program. Once something is "touched" by GNU, any "offspring" of that must fall under GNU as well.
3. Owned is not really the right word here. Linus is the "maintainer", no one can claim possiession of the Linux kernel, even Linus, due to steps taken by Linus to insure that it would always remain "free". A kernel is like a ruleset. The OS is a collection of modules and programs that use the Linux kernel/ruleset to interface with the human operator and complete tasks. The modules communicate with the kernel in a way that the kernel and module both understand, and the result is the output. Different apps use different aspects/modules to give the desired effect(s).
Linux and BeIA (formerly a product of BeOS Inc, now owned by Palm) are probably going to be the small household appliance OSs of the future.
An OS doesn't need anything but an interface and ways to complete the tasks the user asks of it. The GUI is a graphical representation of work that can be done in the command line interface (CLI). UNIces have traditionally been worked on in the CLI, and only recently have they started to see the value of having a GUI. Most UNIces (Solaris/Irix) have used CDE in the past as their GUI, and it is horrible. Sun is now an official supporter of Gnome, which is one of the two most popular Linux GUIs (or window managers), so hopefully they will finally move away from CDE. The REAL power of the *nix OSs can only be realized from the CLI.
Everything in Linux is a file. Harddrives, GUIs, you name it.
4. You CAN slightly alter someone else's code and re-release it, that is the beauty of open source. Someone can write a program, and another programmer can fix a bug in it and re-release. Again, normally the original author is the "maintainer".
StarOffice is no longer free. OpenOffice is. Open Office is a StarOffice with any non-opensource code removed. Sun is the owner of StarOffice, which IS "ownable" since some things (gif) can no longer be put into it without compensation.
Normally, Linux vendors (SuSe, Mandrake, RedHat, etc.) give you hardcopy (printed) manuals and technical support when you purchase their products. Also, non-free 3rd party software is often included in their boxed sets. I have no problem using just the no-cost version, which is over a Gig worth of apps with Debian, mandrake, RedHat or SuSe.
Skilless on 4/11/2002 at 14:45
Quote:
Originally posted by system shocker what does "linux" mean? Assuming you are being serious; Linux is the name given to the operating system originally developed by Linus Torvalds and a group of programmers that frequented Minix usenet. It is an OS that will run quite well on a number of platforms, but the fact that it will run on Intel and AMD CPU-based (i386/486/586/686/etc) machines is probably all you need to know.
The OS has always been powerful, but now it is becoming so popular that distributions are frequently coming with 3 or more CDs worth of software that do much of what normally a user would have to pay for in the Windows world. The two primary interfaces for the new user are KDE and Gnome/Ximian, which are window managers, or GUIs. Additionally, Linux is a superior server OS to everything but perhaps xxxBSD (NetBSD, FreeBSD, etc.). Linux has succeeded in becoming a viable desktop OS in the last 3 years or so, since there has been a lot of progress in making a simple user interface that removes much of the learning curve associated with learning UNIX or the commands available in the CLI of UNIces.
Quote:
Originally posted by system shockerwhere can I get this "linux"Whoa, where to start? How about (
www.linuxiso.org) ? You could also buy some CDs at Cheapbytes, if you don't have a CD-R (burner) and a fat pipe (broadband connection). You could also have someone download and burn the ISO CDs for you. Basically, there are 100s of distributions of Linux out there, and you can surely find one that fits your needs. If you are simply interested in ease of use, I would recommend Mandrake ((
www.linux-mandrake.com)) since it seems the easiest for the new user. Once you've gotten the hang of Mandrake, you might be interested in Debian, which takes a little more understanding, but is actually easier to maintain and is more stable (I run my server at home on Debian, but my computers on my LAN run Mandrake).
I would also recommend Peanut Linux, as it is a fairly small distribution (220MB), but it has a lot of great apps without a lot of the redundancy, and it uses the RPM (RedHat Package Manager) package management system, so it is easy to get binary packages made for RedHat or Mandrake and just install those. Packages are programs/apps/libraries or any code that you would need/want for your machine, but it is pre-compiled to run specifically on an RPM system. Source code is typically stored in a archived file (.tgz, tar.gz, or bzip2), and can be installed on any Linux machine, and it is compiled by the user for their machine with; "./configure, make, make install". Some people just prefer the ease of using a package manager. Debian uses a highly advanced package manager (APT) that satisfies all dependencies "behind the scenes" so that all you have to do to install or upgrade some program is;
apt-get install
package nameor
apt get upgrade
package nameVery cool, and easy.
The only detractor that kept me from staying in Linux 24/7, is that I couldn't play the majority of games. With WineX, I can now play many of my favorite games (DX, UT/UT2003, Q I/II/III, HL/CS, Diablo II, Civilization III, Max Payne, JKII: Outcast, Baldur's Gate I/II/ToSC, etc.) in Linux.
I only started replaying DX recently because of being able to play it in Linux. Otherwise, I would have probably forgotten about it.
Sorry about being so long-winded....
