Linux ● What is Linux? ● History of Linux ● The Linux Kernel ● Distributions ● Areas of application ● Linux and safety

What is Linux? ● free, platform independent, multi-user operating system ● supports a large amount of processors ● stands under GPL (general public license) ● distributed in form of Linux-Distributions – For example: SUSE, Slackware, Fedora Core, Gentoo

History of Linux ● Linus Torvalds, the “father” of Linux started to develop Linux in 1991 ● 1993 licensed under GPL – "Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did.", Linus Torvalds 1997 ● until now, a lot of projects developed around the kernel – For example the X Windows System, KDE, GNOME

The Linux Kernel ● a hybrid monolithic operating system kernel – It contains the whole operating system functionality like memory and process management and virtual interface over hardware ● runs on almost every exotic hardware like iPAQ or also digital cameras and number crunchers ● developed by a big international community of not profit oriented programmers

Distributions

Areas of application ● Mainly in professional areas as server, on number crunchers, clusters – LAMP: Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP ● On desktop systems not as successful as Windows at this time ● Sometimes on mobile phones or PDAs

Linux and safety ● Strict access right management ● Developed for and under the eyes of professionals ● Free availability makes it easy so test in different scenarios