Linux! This is the word that haunts new users. Users
think that this is some kind of a demon that can’t be controlled.
Everyone knows that Linux is an alternative operating system to
Windows. Linux and all it’s software is open source, meaning
that teams of programmers work on software and Linux for free.
Everything in Linux is free unless you are going to use it for
a company. Many people think that Linux is only for nerds and
it is impossible to learn as a new user. Today we’ll be
looking at all aspects of Linux. We’ll tell you which Linux
distribution to choose? Is it that hard as many professionals
claim? We will try to explain everything about Linux and why users
are scared and maybe by the end of this article we can encourage
you to try out a distribution of Linux.
Let’s get into the history of Linux before
anything else. We understand that this might not be the most interesting
topic for some of you out there but we think telling our users
about history of Linux give them better understanding of Linux
in the future. Linus Torvalds, a college going student, first
developed Linux. He was very frustrated at the fact that he couldn’t
get the operating system to do whatever he wants to do with it.
His frustration led him to a long programming task. He created
his own operating system and named it “Linux” after
his first name. From the old days to now he is an inspiration
to all the programmers around the world. He is considered to be
a Linux Guru among Linux fans.
Linux is based on a clone to UNIX hence making it
more stable and efficient. There are 2 ways in which you can use
Linux. You can run Linux either in a text mode, which is very
hard, if you are a new Linux user like myself, or GUI (Graphical
User Interface). If you install Linux in GUI mode it will make
a new user’s life a lot easier since you can see a real
live desktop just like windows.
You might or might not want to use Linux. Usually
users like to use Linux as a way to learn and explore different
operating system. You really have to be curious to learn Linux.
Usually users think that Linux is very hard to use and should
only be kept to programmers or nerds. This is not the case anymore;
companies like RedHat and Mandrake are designing Linux distributions
for normal consumers who just want free and different alternative
to Microsoft windows. Like mentioned above, if you like to program
and have programming skills, Linux could be a whole new world
to you since you can make it do whatever you want.
