Open source is a concept often associated with Linux and free software. Linux is an open source project, which means that its source code is available for anyone to see. That’s different from, say, Microsoft’s development model, which is closed source. Microsoft’s source code is not widely available, and if you’re granted access to it … Read more
For a Linux newbie, one of the most disorienting aspects is: why are there so many versions? You just want to use Linux, but which one? Linux itself seems to be nowhere—all there are to be found are distributions. That is quite true, but the real question you should be asking yourself is: what do … Read more
But Linux wasn’t a complete OS. It was just a kernel, unable to do anything useful without programs running in top of it. So Linux was in search of programs already available for free that emulated the working environment of a UNIX-like computer… which was exactly what the GNU project was producing. Meanwhile the GNU … Read more
In 1991 Linus Torvalds was a student at the University of Helsinki, Finland, when he purchased an Intel 80386-based IBM PC, which he intended to use as a terminal emulator for remotely connecting to the University’s lab. The main choices at that time for a PC operating system were MS-DOS and MINIX. He was rapidly … Read more
Richard Stallman was not the only one with the idea of making a UNIX-like operating system. In fact, in the 1980s the technical superiority of UNIX was widely recognized, so everyone expected it to become the dominant force in the PC market recently created by IBM and its clones. But that wasn’t happening. Disputes over … Read more
Speaking out against the practice of proprietary and closed software was an MIT Lab programmer called Richard Matthew Stallman, or RMS as he prefers to be called. Working at MIT labs, several episodes warned him about how proprietary and closed software was imposing severe limits to their users’ freedoms. He believed that users should be … Read more
In 1981 IBM introduced the IBM PC in an attempt to gain share in the microcomputer market. It was such a huge success that in the end it turned against its creator and undermined IBM’s market dominance. What IBM did at the time was sharply at odds with its previous corporate culture. To shorten the … Read more
By now, you know a lot of reasons to begin using Ubuntu Linux. We’ll wrap up the post by highlighting why is wise to stop using Windows and try Ubuntu Linux instead. Many of the topics touched on in this section have already been mentioned; now you have them all together in one place to … Read more
When you replace your OS, many things change with it. The interface might not look the same, the applications can be different, and you may not be able to ask the same people for help. So you may ask: “What would it be like to work with Ubuntu Linux? What would I be getting into?” … Read more
Ubuntu Linux can be defined in many ways and from different angles. First off, it is an operating system (usually shortened to OS). Ubuntu is a distribution of Linux, based on Debian, and that gives it some characteristic features. But to describe it only as an OS would be nothing short of unfair: it also … Read more