The origin

In 1991, in Helsinki, Linus Torvalds began a project that later became the Linux kernel. It was initially a terminal emulator, which Torvalds used to access the large UNIX servers of the university. He wrote the program specifically for the hardware he was using and independent of an operating system because he wanted to use the functions of his new PC with a 80386 processor. The operating system he used during development was Minix, and the initial compiler was the GNU C compiler, which is still the main choice for compiling Linux today (although Linux will compile under other compilers, such as the Intel C Compiler). As Torvalds wrote in his book Just for Fun, he eventually realized that he had written an operating system kernel. He may have not realized it initially but at that point Torvalds layed the grounds for one of the best secure operating systems in the whole Internet, widely utilized by tools like Linux Firewall Appliance nowadays.

The name

Linus Torvalds had wanted to call his invention Freax, a mixture of "freak," "free," and "x," an allusion to Unix. During the start of his work on the system, he stored the files under the name "Freax" for about a half year. Torvalds had already considered the name "Linux," but initially dismissed it as too egotistical. In order to give other people the ability to cooperate in the system or to suggest improvements, the files were placed on the ftp server (ftp.funet.fi) of the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) in September 1991. Ari Lemmke, Torvald's coworker at the HUT who was responsible for the servers at the time, did not agree with the name Freax, preferring the name Linux. Later, Torvalds consented to it admitting that "Linux" was the better name. In the source code of version 0.01 of Linux, the name 'Freax' was still used in the makefile. Only later was the name Linux used. Thus the name actually not planned at all became generally accepted world-wide."

Linux under the GNU GPL

Torvalds first published Linux under its own license, which was almost a free software licence but which had a restriction on commercial activity. In 1992, he decided to use the GNU General Public License and in the same year he published version 0.99 using the licence. Later, Torvalds said in an interview that the decision to place Linux under the GNU GPL was his best decision ever. "Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did. Today, the GNU GPL is commonly used for most open-source projects, such as Ares, the most popular Peer to Peer filesharing application.

GNU/Linux

The designation "Linux" was initially used by Torvalds only for the Linux kernel. The kernel was, however, frequently used together with other software, especially that of the GNU project. This GNU variant quickly became the most popular variant of GNU, since there was no other functioning free kernel at this time. When people started referring to this collection as "Linux", Richard Stallman, the founder of the GNU project, requested the name GNU/Linux be used, in order to recognize the role of GNU software. This name garnered varying reactions. While the GNU and Debian projects accepted the name, most developers and other Linux distributors rejected it. This was justified with comfort, because the name Linux was regarded as simpler, and with the fact that a considerable quantity of non-GNU software is delivered with Linux. The finished product is most often referred to simply as "Linux", as the simpler, original name.

Community

The largest part of the work on Linux is performed by the Community, the programmers that use Linux and send their suggested improvements to the maintainers. Various companies have also helped not only with the development of the Kernels, but also with the writing of the body of auxiliary software, which is distributed with Linux. It is released both by organized projects such as Debian, and by projects connected directly with companies such as Fedora and openSUSE. The members of the respective projects meet at various conferences and fairs, in order to exchange ideas. One of the largest of these fairs is the LinuxTag in Germany, where about 10,000 people assemble annually, in order to discuss Linux and the projects associated with it. If you would like to learn more about Linux visit: thai opensource and linux community forum.

Linux Gaming

Linux is a widely used operating system. While the Linux kernel was originally designed for Intel 80386 microprocessors, it now runs on a more diverse range of computer architectures than any other operating system. The kernel runs on architectures that were only intended to use a manufacturer-created operating system, such as the iMac and PowerBook, and Palm PDAs. It also runs on a number of gaming systems such as GameCube, Xbox, Nintendo DS and even the Playstation Portable. If you're interested in gaming play free online games from Play for Real. From the hand held ARM based iPAQ, to the mainframe IBM System z9. It runs in devices ranging from supercomputers to mobile phones. Specialized distributions exist for less mainstream architectures. The ELKS kernel fork can run on Intel 8086 or Intel 80286 16-bit microprocessors, while the Clinux kernel may run on systems without a memory management unit including iPods.

Open Source Development Lab

The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) was created in the year 2000, and is an independent nonprofit organization which pursues the goal of optimizing Linux for employment in different data centers. It served as gesponsorte working premises for Linus Torvalds and also for Andrew Morton, until the middle of 2006 when he transferred to Google, which runs on the Linux kernel. Torvalds works full time on behalf the OSDL, developing the Linux Kernels. The noncommercial mechanism of several major companies is financed as Red Hat, Novell, Mitsubishi, Intel, IBM, Dell and HP. Meanwhile a set of companies make money with Linux. These companies, most of which are also members of the Open Source Development Lab, invest substantial resources into the advancement and development of Linux, in order to make it suited for various application areas. This includes hardware donations for driver developers, cash donations for people who develop Linux software, and the employment of Linux programmers at the company. Some examples are IBM and HP, which use Linux first of all on their own servers, similarly different web hosting companies utilizing Linux like php web hosting and also Red Hat, which maintains its own distribution.

Linux environment

Linux environment has become much more popular in recent years particularly in companies dealing with hosting, as well as cheap web hosting. A few years ago it was almost assumed that the average person looking for a hosting plan would opt for Windows hosting and only really big corporations or alternatively people that were very computer savvy would even consider using a Linux hosting solution. Nowadays though, Linux hosting has really charged up the ranks in terms of market share and many people are starting to realize that using a Linux hosting package is not only possible, but can actually result in several advantages over its Windows hosting counterpart packages. More and more people are using Linux hosting every day and more and more companies are starting to offer Linux hosting packages along side Windows hosting packages, creating a positive feedback cycle that ultimately keeps on increasing the Linux hosting market share.

Linux software

It is not a surprise that in order to keep things safe multiple platforms tend to apply Linux system as the operating one more widely nowadays. Most advanced open operating systems possess features that can handle one's entire enterprise - starting from the most demanding technical compute applications, through the Web tier, up to the data warehouse. The reasons standing behind using Linux are obvious: security and stability of the potential users, performance delivered properly, and in certain cases it is customers' demand. Due to its nature software based on Linux frequently meets the required criteria which fundamental element is openness to further development which also imposes its being non-proprietary. It may not mean that all stuff is freely available under a license that meets the official Open Source terms. It is because of the fact that the license types vary and certain ones may restrict usage to academic or personal situations. Such software as the one listed below is an examplary one that can be used on Linux Intel platforms:

• Animation Software - completely online animating application that allows to create short movies without the need to download or install anything!
• Hide My IP Software - offerring advanced solutions allowing you to surf anonymously, change your IP address, prevent identity theft, and guard against hacker intrusions, all provided with the click of a button.

With similar success the forementioned software can also be utilized on Linux Alpha, PowerPC, Sparc, and other ports.

Linux Office Furniture

It is a common phenomenon that programmers struggling for improving the functionality of Linux feel the need of working in proper conditions, which can be provided by Officeprofiles. This company offers UK business customers office supplies, stationery, business machines and many office furniture lines including; office chairs, computer chairs, desks, workstations, and many more. They also offer various school furniture lines including stacking classroom chairs, science lab table, whiteboards (drywipe) and filing trolleys. Generally, one is sure, they know how to make the hard labour of linux programmers a pleasurable activity.

Competitor of Microsoft

The Microsoft and Linux camps had a number of antagonistic interactions between 1997 and 2001. It started in 1998, when a short essay by a Microsoft developer that sought to lay out the threats posed to Microsoft by Free Software and identified strategies to counter these threats, was brought to light by Eric S. Raymond. Competition entered a new phase in the beginning of 2004, when Microsoft published results from customer case studies evaluating the use of Windows vs. Linux under the name "GET the Facts" on its own web page. Based on inquiries, research analysts, and some Microsoft sponsored investigations, the case studies claimed that enterprise use of Linux on servers compared unfavourably to the use of Windows in terms of reliability, security, and total cost of ownership. The commercial Linux distributors put effort into producing their own studies, to counter Microsoft's campaign. Novell's web-based campaign at the end of 2004 was entitled "Unbending the truth" and sought to outline the advantages as well as dispelling the widely publicised legal liabilities of Linux deployment. Novell particularly referenced the Microsoft studies in many points. However, In the autumn of 2006 Novell and Microsoft announced an agreement to co-operate in future on the topics of interoperability and patent protection. It was agreed to improve the exchange from Office documents and to simplify the Virtualisierung of the Enterprise solutions in each case under the competition product as well as the integration of Linux and Windows machines into a common directory structure to simplify. The patent protection planned at the same time that customers of an offerer for the use its software of in each case different the offerer may not be sued because of infringement of a patent. This patent protection was expanded also since non-commercial free software developers. The straight last step harvested also criticism, since it included only non-commercial developers with.