PSeries Technical Conference L17 Brian Dolan-Goecke Atlanta, GeorgiaOctober 8-12, 2001 Linux Today

IBM Corporation 2001 pSeries Technical Conference

L17

Brian Dolan-Goecke

Atlanta, Georgia October 8-12, 2001

Linux Today


Brian Dolan-Goecke


Contact

Email: [email protected]

WebSite: www.Goecke-Dolan.com/Brian

Phone: (612) 759-0967


Linux Today

Today, Linux is a fun and exciting development in the IT world. In this presentation we will investigate the evolution of Linux. We will begin by covering some common questions about Linux. Then we look at the

current state of Linux, what it has to offer and where it comes up short. To conclude we will look at future

development in Linux.


Linux Basics

What is Linux ?

Where did it come from ?

Open Source ?

What is Linux composed of ?

How does one get Linux ?


What Is Linux ?

Common Definition

A Unix Operating System and Applications that run on multiple machines from PDAs to

Mainframes


What Is Linux ?

Technical Definition

Collection of programs distributed with the "Linux Kernel", and most often with several additional applications. Often programs and tools included are from GNU, BSD and many

other contributors


Where Did Linux Come From ?

Linus Torvalds, a student at the University of Helsinki, wrote the Kernel code and released it

to the world in 1991


Grow

When Torvolds released the Linux Kernel code onto the Internet he did this in a Free, no strings attached manner. He was actively looking for feedback, answers and help


Open Source

At the heart of Linux

Comes in flavors

Can be more complex than the software!

Lineo has GPL manager tool

See www.opensource.org for more info


Linux Grew To

10 years later, Linux has grown to about 2,437,470 lines of code, with thousands of

developers contributing

With thousands of applications (packages) being written and developed for it


What Is Linux Composed Of ?

Linux Kernel (from Linus Torvalds)

GNU Programs (from GNU Project)

Other software

More correctly called a

"GNU/Linux Distribution"


Common Distributions

Slackware

RedHat

Caldera

Mandrake

Debian

Corel


Slackware

Current Version: 8.0

Notes:

Oldest distribution

WebSite: www.slackware.com


RedHatCurrent Version: 7.1

Notes:

Best known distribution

Company is more than just distribution

Has Alpha CPU Distribution

Has Itanium CPU Distribution

WebSite: www.RedHat.com


Caldera


Notes:

Have products for machines classes

Combined with SCO/Unix

WebSite: www.Caldera.com


Mandrake


Notes:

Based on RedHat ?

Known for speed

Graphical interface, install, admin, more

Has PowerPC version

WebSite: www.Mandrake.com


SuSE


Notes:

Many available packages

Popular in Europe

Available on 6 CD's or DVD

WebSite: www.SuSE.com


Debian

Current Version: 2.2r3 (Potato)

Notes:

A completely Open Source distribution

Multiple CPU Architectures

Have some special distributions

WebSite: www.Debian.org


Corel

Current Version: Second Edition

Notes:

Based on Debian

Bundled with Corel Linux Products

Sold to xandrox ?

WebSite: www.corel.com/Linux


Notable Distributions

YellowDog, for Mac/PowerPC

NSA Secure Linux

Several Single-Use Distributions

NetMax -- www.netmax.com


How Does One Get Linux ?

Buy a distribution

Download a distribution

Build you own distribution


Questions

Audience Questions


Current Linux

Linux Kernel 2.4

Other Software


Kernel 2.4

Released January 4, 2001

Made Linux more robust and stable with better performance. A lot of these advances make Linux more appealing to the enterprise user.

Newest Kernel is 2.4.10, released 9/23/2001


Linux Advances Highlights

New Architectures

Optimizations

Better SMP

Better Resource Management

Extended Limits

DevFS

New File Systems


New Architectures

Intel Itanium (ia64)

IBM Mainframe (S/390)

SuperH

MIPS 64-bit


Optimizations

Pentium III

AMD

Cyrix

MMX/MMX2

MTRR/MCR


Expanded Support For Buses

Added direct ISA "Plug and Play" support

I2O devices

Robust resource management

Key for enterprise


Better SMP

Multi IO-APIC (Also non-SMP IO-APIC)

Can handle many more simultaneous processes

Configurable process limit

More efficient scheduler

Key for Enterprise


Resource Management

New Resource Management Subsystem

Works better with "Plug and Play"

Has PCI card database

Works with DevFS


Expanded Limits

4.2 Billion Users and Groups

64 GB Ram on Intel hardware

16 Ethernet Cards

10 IDE Controlers

Remove 2GB file size limit

Key for Enterprise


Shared Memory

POSIX-style shared memory segments

Still has SysV shared memory compatibility


VFS Changes

Faster and simpler single-buffer system

Multi-File System mounts

More Partition Table types


Logical Volume Manager

Added great flexibility to disk management

Key for enterprise


File System Advances

Journal File System

- Ext3

- Reizerfs

- IBM JFS

-SGI JFS

HPFS Read/Write

UDF (cdrom/dvd filesystem)


Embedded Memory Devices

Memory Technology Devices (MTD)

Disk-On-Chip

Onboad memory as MTD

Flash Memory

More...


Embedded Filesystems

Compressed ROM FS (CRAMFS)

ROM FS (ROMFS)

Simple RAM-Based FS (RAMFS)


New Devices

USB

IrDA

Firewire (IEEE1394)

Improved DVD


DevFS

Adds ability for dynamic devices

Adds ability for static devices nodes

Devices created by driver as loaded

Directory hierarchy for devices

Larger device name space


Desktop Advances

Direct Rendering Manager

Improved DVD support

Digitizer Pad as Mice

Parallel device layer rewritten


Software Packages


Servers

SAMBA

Apache

Tomcat/Java


Desktop Software

XFree86 4.x

GUI Advances

- KDE

-Gnome

Gnome adoption by UNIX community


Other Software

Linux Clustering

More games


Linux Future


Linux Needs

Better HotSwap

More raid support (soft/hard)

GFS

More Fiber Channel Support


Linux Future

Continued improvements

More devices supported

More clustering


Linux Will Be Seen

Embedded devices

- PDA's

- Multimedia devices

- Networking devices

- Other

Continued server growth


What do you think

Linux needs

for the future ?


Resources

GNU - www.GNU.org

OpenSource - www.OpenSource.org

Linux - www.Linux.com

Linux Documentation Project - www.linuxdoc.org

Linux Kernel - www.kernel.org

OPENSOURCES Book -

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/toc.html


ArticlesThe Bullet Points: Linux 2.4-Part Deux

Linux Journal, September 2000

More Than a Gigabuck: Estimating GNU/Linux's Size

by David A. Wheeler ([email protected])

www.dwheeler.com/sloc/redhat71-v1/redhat71sloc.html

Linux History - http://www.li.org/linuxhistory.php

Wonderful World of Linux 2.4 - http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-01-05-007-04-NW-LF-KN


BooksThe Cathedral & the Bazaar

Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental RevolutionaryEric S. Raymond

Paperback Edition February 2001 ISBN 0-596-00108-8

www.ora.com

Open SourcesVoices from the Open Source Revolution

Edited by Chris DiBona, Sam Ockman & Mark Stone1st Edition January 1999

ISBN: 1-56592-582-3www.ora.com


Version Info

Brian Dolan-Goecke

[email protected]

http://www.goecke-dolan.com/Brian/Presentations

Linux Today Presentation

Version 1.2

10/9/2001

Documents

PSeries Technical Conference L17 Brian Dolan-Goecke Atlanta, GeorgiaOctober 8-12, 2001 Linux Today