Last Update: 2008-07-22

What is Linux ?
    First introduction:
    Further reading:
    Movies / Books:
Linux humor
Where can I obtain a copy of Linux ?
Linux counter

What is Linux ?

Back in August of 1991, a student from Finland began a post to the comp.os.minix newsgroup with the words:

Hello everybody out there using minix -
I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby,
won't be big and professional like gnu) for
386(486) AT clones.

The student was Linus Torvalds, and the hobby'' he spoke of eventually became what we know today as Linux.

Over the years I placed a brief introduction into Linux here. In my eyes this was obsolete because it didn't cover most of the facts which are special to the Linux and open source movement. Moreover, this section shouldn't be called just Linux any more. Free Software or Open Source would be a much better name, as Linux is just one part of a bigger movement. However, I decided to put a selection of links to good articles for further reading here instead of writing a better article. I hope this will give you a better impression about Linux and the Open Source movement. Have fun!

First introduction:

• The GNU project is the origin of the modern free software movement and existed before Linus started working on Linux. If you start reading about Linux, you should also read about GNU and see how it all began.
• Linux - An article which will introduce you to Linux and it's history. You can use this article as an overview and then use google to go deeper into Linux.

Further reading:

• If you're still interested in GNU, you should take a look at gnu.org. Especially see the GNU philospophy. Furthermore, if time permits, you could listen to some speeches of Richard Stallman who "is the founder of the free software movement, the GNU project, and the Free Software Foundation." (Quoted from Wikipedia).
• Free Software
• Open source culture
• The Cathedral and the Bazaar " (...) is an essay by Eric S. Raymond on software engineering methods, based on his observations of the Linux kernel development process and his experiences managing an open source project, fetchmail." (Quoted from Wikipedia). You should consider reading this article if you're interested on why and how the open source development process works.

Movies / Books:

• Revolution OS This is a movie about "(...) hackers who rebelled against the proprietary software model and Microsoft to create GNU/Linux and the Open Source movement. " (Quoted from revolution-os.com). The movie is quite good and tells lots of stories about the creation of GNU / Linux and the open source movement.
• Moody, Glyn: Rebel Code. Inside Linux and the Open Source Revolution, Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2001, ISBN 0-7382-0333-5.
  This is a really fascinating book about the history of Linux and the free software movement. You will read about how Linus started writing his Linux kernel, how Richard Stallman founded GNU and what's so special about it. Moreover, it will cover how Linux developed over the years and much more. I can only recommend it to everyone who's interested into Linux history and would like to know how it all started and what was the motivations of most developers. You should look for abstracts / reviews at your favourite book store (e.g. amazon.com).

Linux humor

I've compiled a collection of funny Linux source code comments by grepping the kernel code.

Where can I obtain a copy of Linux ?

If you have access to a fast internet connection and a reasonable amount of time, you can download Linux CD Images from: linuxiso.org. Otherwise, it is possible to buy a copy of Linux in a bookstore. Just ask for a Linux distributer.

If you are anxious to start now and don't want to install a huge amount of software, KNOPPIX might be the system of your choice!

A new and user friendly distribution is ubuntu Linux. They also provide a Live-CD. Ubuntu is based on Debian.

Linux counter

By the way, I support the Linux counter project which means that I'm a registered Linux user (191885) at the Linux Counter, my mashines are registered there as well.

If you are a Linux user, please support the Linux counter project and register yourself - It's free.