What is Linux

strictly speaking, Linux is just a kernel in an operating system.

What is the kernel?

The kernel establishes a platform for communication between computer software and hardware, and the kernel provides system services such as file management, virtual memory, device I/O, etc.

　　What is the usual Linux operating system?

What we typically call Linux, the Gnu/linux, is the GNU operating system that uses the Linux kernel.

The actual name of the operating system is GNU. What is GNU? GNU stands for GNU ' s not Unix. Can be said to be an operating system and can be said to be a specification. For example, PHP, known as Personal homepage (personal homepage), is now renamed Php:hypertext Preprocessor (hypertext preprocessor) according to GNU's software naming convention.

　　Who wrote/created Linux?

Linux was first written by Linus Torvalds in 1991. Prior to that, Richard Stallman created the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the GNU project, and was constantly writing to create the GNU program (the program was licensed in Gpl:general public License). With the constant addition of programmers and developers to the GNU organization, we have become the Linux, or gnu/linux, we see today.

　　What is a Linux distribution?

As previously mentioned, Linux is just a kernel. However, a complete operating system is not just a kernel. As a result, many individuals, organizations, and businesses have developed Linux distributions based on Gnu/linux. One of the most famous of these is Red Hat's red Hat and the community (community) Debian series.

Here's a quick introduction to the most popular Linux distributions available

Mandriva Formerly known as Mandrake, was first created by Ga?l Duval and released in July 1998. I remember the first two years in the country just began to popularize Linux, Mandrake very popular. Speaking of the history of Mandrake, in fact, the earliest Mandrake developers are based on Redhat development. Redhat uses the GNOME desktop system by default, and Mandrake changes it to KDE. Because Linux was generally difficult to install at the time, not suitable for first contact with Linux novice, so Mandrake also simplifies the installation system. I think this is one of the reasons why Mandrake was so prosperous at home. Mandrake has done a lot of work on usability, including hardware detection by default.

The development of Mandrake is fully transparent, including "cooker". Once the system has a new beta version, it can be found on the cooker. The new version of Mandrake was released quickly, but began to slow down after 9.0. It is expected to be able to extend the vitality of the version to ensure stability and security.

Advantages: Friendly user interface, graphical Configuration tool, huge community support, NTFS partition size change

Cons: Some version bugs are more, the latest version is only released to members of Mandrake club first

Package Management system: URPMI (RPM)

Free Download: FTP instant download, ISO available within a few weeks after release

Official homepage: http://www.mandrivalinux.com/

The most familiar and well-known distribution in the country, and even the world's Linux users, must be Red hat. Red hat was first created by Bob Young and Marc Ewing in 1995. The company has only recently begun to actually enter the profit era, thanks to the charge of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (rhel,red Hat's corporate edition). The Orthodox Red Hat version has already stopped technical support, and the last version is Red Hat 9.0. As a result, Red Hat is now divided into two series: Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which is powered by Red Hat and updated by the company, and the free Fedora Core developed by the community. Fedora Core 1 was released at the end of 2003, and FC is positioned as a desktop user. FC offers the latest software packages, while its version update cycle is also very short, just six months. Currently the latest version is FC 3, and FC4 is scheduled to be released this June. This is why Fedora Core is generally not recommended on servers.

The version that applies to the server is red Hat Enterprise Linux, which is a chargeable operating system. Therefore, many domestic and foreign enterprises or space vendors choose CentOS. CentOS can be considered a clone of Rhel, but its greatest benefit is free! Rookie oil The current server uses the CentOS 3.4.

Advantages: A large number of users, excellent community technical support, many innovative

Cons: The free version (Fedora Core) version has a short life cycle and multimedia support is poor

Package Management System: Up2date (RPM), YUM (RPM)

Free Download: Yes

Official homepage: http://www.redhat.com/

SUSE is Germany's most famous Linux distribution and enjoys a high reputation all over the world. The software package management system developed by SuSE is also highly praised. SuSE was acquired by Novell at the end of 2003.

The release after SuSE is confusing, for example, the 9.0 version is charged, and the 10.0 version (perhaps due to various pressures) is released free of charge. This makes some users confused and uses other distributions instead. However, his flaws, SuSE is still a very professional, excellent distribution.

Pros: Professional, easy-to-use YaST package management system

Cons: FTP publishing is usually 1-3 months later than retail edition

Package Management System: YaST (RPM), third-party apt (rpm) Software Library (repository)

Free Download: Depends on version

Official homepage: http://www.suse.com/

Debian is the operating system used before the rookie oil server. Debian was first created by Ian Murdock in 1993. It can be considered to be the most GNU-compliant Linux system to date. The Debian system is divided into three versions of the branch (branch): stable, testing and unstable. As of May 2005, these three version branches correspond to the specific version: Woody, Sarge, and Sid. Among them, unstable is the latest beta version, which includes the latest packages, but there are also relatively many bugs that are suitable for desktop users. Testing versions are tested in unstable, relatively stable, and support a number of new technologies (such as SMP). While Woody is generally used only for servers, the packages above are mostly obsolete, but the stability and security are very high. Before the rookie oil, the Debian Sarge was used.

Why are so many users obsessed with Debian (including the author)? Apt-get/dpkg is one of the reasons. Dpkg is a unique package management tool for the Debian family, which is known as the most powerful of all Linux package management tools (RPM)! With Apt-get, installing, upgrading, deleting, and managing software on Debian becomes exceptionally easy. Many Debian users are joking that Debian keeps them lazy because all the software on the machine is automatically updated as long as the Apt-get upgrade && apt-get Update is simply tapped ...

Pros: Follow the GNU code, 100% free, excellent network and community resources, powerful Apt-get

Cons: Relatively hard to install, stable branch software is extremely outdated

Package Management system: APT (DEB)

Free Download: Yes

Official homepage: http://www.debian.org/

Ubuntu Author's desktop computer will be used by Ubuntu. According to the author's understanding, in a nutshell, Ubuntu is a nearly perfect Linux operating system with all the benefits of Debian, as well as the advantages of being strengthened. :) Ubuntu is a relatively new release, but its appearance may have changed the way many potential users view Linux. It may have been thought that Linux was hard to install and difficult to use, but after the advent of Ubuntu, it became a history. Ubuntu is based on Debian Sid, so this is what the author says, Ubuntu has all the advantages of Debian, including Apt-get. However, not only that, Ubuntu's default GNOME desktop system also features an easy-to-use, yet gorgeous, Ubuntu interface. Of course, if you're a KDE supporter, Kubuntu is the same for you!

Ubuntu installation is very user-friendly, just follow the prompts step by step, installation and Windows is just as easy! And, Ubuntu is known as one of the best and most comprehensive Linux distributions for hardware support, many of which are not available on other distributions, or hardware that cannot be used with default configuration, and is easily done on Ubuntu. Also, Ubuntu uses a self-reinforcing kernel (kernel) to improve security. Also, Ubuntu cannot be directly rooted by default, and must be rooted from the first created user via Su or sudo (which may not be convenient, but adds security to prevent users from damaging the system due to carelessness). Ubuntu has a six-month version period, which makes up for the slow Debian update. Pros: Highly popular forum provides excellent resources and technical support, fixed version update cycle and technical support, can be directly upgraded from Debian Woody

Cons: No mature business model yet established

Package Management system: APT (DEB)

Free Download: Yes

Official homepage: http://www.ubuntulinux.org/

Gentoo was originally created by Daniel Robbins (one of the developers of former Stampede Linux and FreeBSD). Because of the developer's familiarity with FreeBSD, Gentoo has a widely acclaimed ports system--portage that is comparable to FreeBSD. (Ports and Portage are all systems for updating software online, similar to Apt-get, but still very different) the first stable version of Gentoo was released in 2002.

Gentoo is famous for its high degree of customization: because it is a source-based (source-based) release. Although pre-compiled packages can be selected for installation, most users who use Gentoo choose to manually compile them themselves. This is why Gentoo is suitable for use with experienced veteran Linux users. However, it is important to note that since compiling the software takes a lot of time, it may take a few days to compile if all your software compiles itself and installs a larger package such as the KDE desktop system ...

Advantages: Highly customizable, complete manuals, comparable to ports's portage system, suitable for "smug" master use ^ ^

Cons: Compile time-consuming, slow installation

Package Management system: Portage (SRC)

Free Download: Yes

Official homepage: http://www.gentoo.org/

Slackware was founded in 1992 by Patrick Volkerding. It should be the oldest Linux distribution. Once Slackware is very popular, but when Linux becomes more and more popular, the user's technical level is more and more wide (more novice), Slackware gradually by the new people forgotten. While other mainstream distributions emphasize ease of use, Slackware still stubbornly pursues the most primitive efficiency-all configurations are still done through configuration files.

Nonetheless, Slackware is still deeply rooted (most of them are more experienced Linux veterans). Slackware is stable and secure, so there are still a large number of loyal users. As slackware as much as possible with the original package without making any changes, so the chances of creating new bugs are much lower. The version of Slackware is updated for a long period of time (about 1 years), but the new version of the software is still available to users for download.

Pros: Very stable, secure, highly adhered to UNIX specifications

Cons: All configurations are made by editing files, and the automatic hardware detection capability is poor

Packages Management System: Slackware package Management (TGZ)

Free Download: Yes

Official homepage: http://www.slackware.com/

Developed by Klaus Knopper of Germany, Knoppixis a Debian-based distribution. Knoppix strictly calculate is a LiveCD Linux, so-called LiveCD is the entire operating system on a CD-ROM, as long as the boot from the CD-ROM, you can have a complete Linux system! No installation required! Of course, the Knoppix is also very easy to install on the hard drive. Its powerful hardware detection capabilities, system repair capabilities, and instant compression transmission technology, are greatly praised. It can be said that in the LiveCD world, Knoppix is no one can do!

Advantages: No installation can directly run on CD, excellent hardware detection ability, can be used as a system emergency disk

Cons: LiveCD performance drops due to data read speed limits on discs

Package Management system: APT (DEB)

Free Download: Yes

Official homepage: http://www.knoppix.com/

MEPIS was established by Warren Woodford in 2003. Mepis, although just established soon, but quickly spread among Linux users. Simply put, Mepis is a collection of Debian SIDs and KNOPPIX products. The user can use it as a LiveCD and can also be installed using a regular graphical interface.

Mepis Default Integration Installs the Java Runtime environment, Flash plugin, nvidia accelerated driver and many other commonly used programs. Users can easily install the system and start using it without looking for information about how to download it, how to install it, and how to configure the software. This not only brings convenience to the new Linux novice, but also saves a lot of time for the veteran.

Advantages: LIVECD and conventional installation dual-use, excellent hardware detection capabilities, preloaded with a lot of practical software

Cons: Build time is not long, the default interface is somewhat shabby

Package Management system: APT (DEB)

Free Download: Yes

Official homepage: http://www.mepis.org/

Xandros is built on Corel Linux, which has become a history. When Corel Linux was forced to terminate the development of Corel Linux due to financial difficulties, Xandros promptly bought the Corel Linux department and launched the new Xandros Desktop in October 2002.

Xandros's selling point is that it is extremely simple to install and use, so its market position is for beginners who don't have any experience with Linux, or who are accustomed to using Windows. Xandros's standard and enhanced editions are commercial software, each priced at $ $ and $ $. However, you can still download it here to the free public release version.

Advantages: Suitable for completely inexperienced novice, after installation can immediately put into use, with very good tools

Cons: Commercial software

Package Management system: Xandros Networks (Deb) or APT (Deb) (optional, but no technical support)

Free Download: Public release version

Official homepage: http://www.xandros.com/

The first thing to emphasize is thatFreeBSD is not a Linux system! But, why should I introduce FreeBSD? Because there are quite a few users of FreeBSD, many features are similar to Linux. In fact, both Linux and BSD (Berkeley software distribution) are the evolutionary branches of UNIX. Also, quite a few features and functions in Linux, such as the BIND software for configuring DNS, are taken from BSD. And FreeBSD is the BSD family's most famous, the largest number of users of a distribution. The FreeBSD system was used before the MEZOC.

FreeBSD was established in 1993 and has a very long history. FreeBSD has two branches: stable and current. As the name implies, stable is a stable version, and current is a beta version that adds new technology. In addition, FreeBSD will release the new version from time to time, known as release,stable and current, with its own release version. such as 4.11-release and 5.3-release, please note that this does not mean that the latter is newer than the former version. This only represents the former (the smaller version of the number) is the stable version, the latter (the large version of the number) is the current version.

In addition to being a server system, FreeBSD is also suitable for desktop users. However, given the compatibility of software, it is not advisable for a general user to choose FreeBSD as a desktop system. As a server, FreeBSD is pretty good. It has been said that the same server hardware configuration, running the same vbulletin forum, FreeBSD uses less resources than Linux. That's why many space vendors are trying to promote FreeBSD. :)

Advantages: Fast, very stable, excellent user manual, ports system

Cons: Poor hardware support compared to Linux, software compatibility is a problem for desktop systems

Package Management system: Ports (TBZ)

Free Download: Yes

Official homepage: http://www.freebsd.org/

What is Linux