07 Introduction to Linux

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Introduction to LINUX


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Revision no.: PPT/2K605/03

CMS INSTITUTE, 2006. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored or emailed without the prior permission of Programme Director, CMS Institute

History of Linux

Unix was the first widely-used operating system that could

switch from and outlive its original hardware.

Academic community, led by Berkeley, developed a variantcalled the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD).

AT&T continued developing Unix under the names "System III''

and later "System V'.

System V won the "standards war'' and most hardware

vendors switched to AT&T's System V but it also incorporated

many BSD innovations.

Most versions of Unix were proprietary and maintained by theirrespective hardware vendor.

E.g. Sun Solaris is a variant of System V.


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History of Linux (contd.)

Unix vendors priced it high enough to ensure small PC users

stayed away from it and the source code of UNIX was also not

published publicly at that time.

In the 70s, MINIX appeared, which was written from scratch by

Andrew S. Tanenbaum.

The source code of MINIX was available to anyone who got the

book 'Operating System' by Tanenbaum.

In 1984 Richard Stallman's Free Software Foundation (FSF)

began the GNU project, a project to create a free version of the

Unix operating system.


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In the 1990's the FSF was having trouble developing the

operating system kernel.

In 1991 Linus Torvalds began developing an operating system

kernel for 386(486) AT clones which he named ``Linux''.

Kernel of LINUX could be combined with the FSF material andother components to produce a freely-modifiable and very

useful operating system.

Linux version 0.01 was released by mid September 1991,

licensed under GNU General Public License, and then put on

the net.


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Code went worldwide via ftp sites at Finland and version

numbers went directly from 0.02 to 0.95 and 0.96 and so on.

Commercial vendors moved in and compiled up various

software and gathered them in a distributable format like the

other operating systems.

E.g. Red Hat , Caldera, Debian, etc.


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Linux Package

It consists of a package of programs with associated

documentation that will perform a specific function either for

the operating system or add additional capabilities.

Original standard Linux package type consisted of what was

called a tarred and gzipped file.

Another type of popular package format is called RPM which

refers to the Redhat Package Manager.


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Linux Distribution

It is a set of packages that together make up the operating

system.

The tools to perform the install must be available in the correct

order for the user to install the operating system .

The Distribution package generally makes some assumptions

about the way the system will be set up.

The core of the operating system is still likely to be the same

or similar and many of the packages used will be the same.


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Popular Linux distributions

Red Hat Linux Linux for x86, IA-64, Alpha, and Sparc systemsSuSE Linux Linux for x86, PowerPC, Sparc, and Alpha systems

Debian GNU/Linux Linux for x86, Alpha, 680x0, Sparc, ARM, and PowerPC systems

Mandrake Linux Linux for x86 and PowerPC systemsCaldera Linux Linux for x86 systems, based on UnitedLinux


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Red Hat Linux

It is one of the oldest and most popular of today's Linux

distributions.

Red Hat originated the RPM format used by many other

distributions.


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SuSE Linux

It originates in Germany therefore contains a few Germanic

touches, such as German text in comments inside

configuration files.

It is another RPM-based distribution.

It has a GUI configuration tool, YaST2, which works reasonably

well.

Recently SuSE is acquired by Novell Inc

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Debian GNU/Linux

Debian relies on a text-mode utility for package selection and

management, even during installation.

It has GUI package management tools such as the Storm

Package Manager.

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Mandrake Linux

It is an offshoot of Red Hat Linux.

It is available in at least four forms: A "Standard" edition, a

"PowerPack" version, a "Pro Suite" version, and a "Corporate

Server" version.

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Caldera Linux

It has a GUI-based installation and graphical bootup.

It is configured using utility called as COAS Administration.

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07 Introduction to Linux