A Brief Introduction to Linux Cheng-Han Du

History

GNU Founded by Richard Stallman GNU = GNU’s Not Unix Free software GPL, Copyleft

Linux Founded by Linus Torvalds Linux kernel

Linux Distribution Ubuntu Red Hat (Fedora) SUSE Mandriva

Shell A user interface using command lines bash, csh, ksh, …

Linux Desktop: GNOME

Linux Desktop: KDE

Why Linux? Many downloadable packages which are free of charge. Much better computation performance. Less system restriction on resources. Kernel is open-sourced and fully customizable.

Disadvantages of Linux Progress on device driver update  New hardware may not be operational when older Linux is in use. Something not expected may happen. Sometimes, you should work in terminal (command lines). You should “google” to solve your problem.

Recent Development Some companies sell computer with Linux system included.  Dell laptops  ASUS EeePC Many guidelines can be found online about installing Linux on desktop PC and laptops.  ThinkWiki