On 11/24/2009 07:57 PM, Subin Sebastian wrote: > You are right > 2. I'll do it now, But you also can edit it, Its open for editing... :D
Instead of editing the google doc (I don't know how to get back the older version if I do), I'm attaching a (heavily) modified version. I've tried to fix most grammatical errors and some factual ones (the Linux kernel is not written in C++ - it's mostly C and some assembly). I've made some additions and altered the flow of the document in a way that looks better to me. By googling some of the sentences, I've seen that you've copied text verbatim from the ubuntu manual and books like 'Linux programming unleashed', 'advanced linux programming', 'linux system programming' etc. While it's fine to gather information from these sources, copying entire paragraphs is plagiarism. I haven't done much about this. And the last section titled "And how should..". I haven't touched it. I recommend you redo the title and the content - a sentence like "The world of computers can't be there without Linux, in the future." doesn't look very good. Anyway, see my attachment. Do a diff with your version and use as you like. thanks, Syam -- "Freedom is the only law". "Freedom Unplugged" http://www.ilug-tvm.org You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ilug-tvm" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For details visit the website: www.ilug-tvm.org or the google group page: http://groups.google.com/group/ilug-tvm?hl=en
HOW DOES LINUX SOUND TO YOU ? ( And, How Should... ) For a common computer user By the term 'common computer user', I'm pointing to 92.08% of the Internet accessing population that use computer systems with Windows® as the main operating system. A typical member of this group has free/non-free applications installed, manages to work with all those viruses and malware, has a fragmented file-system, lot of multimedia applications and sufficiently nice looking desktop environment. It's possible that a user might have tried GNU/Linux to replace or work-aside with his/her Windows® system, and probably failed to get it working so far. For most such 'common computer users', GNU/Linux is something that runs backbone servers to provide connectivity to his/her ISPs, works on supercomputers which form 0.03% of all computers on the planet, gives life to complex control systems in atomic reactors and so on. While these statements are absolutely true (and one of them is copyrighted by my friend who is a newbie to GNU/Linux), there is something more than that. Linux systems are known for their rock solid stability, security and hierarchical architecture. And with rising desktop market share, many people are eager to know what exactly is GNU/Linux. With this article, I'll try to give a rough idea about GNU/Linux systems. What is GNU? The GNU Project was launched in September 1983 by Richard Mathew Stallman, while working as a programmer in Massachusetts Institute Of Technology. They set out to develop a complete UNIX-style operating system which is comprised of free software: the GNU system. 'GNU' is a recursive acronym that stands for "GNU's Not Unix". The 'GNU' in the expansion again expands to itself - a technique called 'recursion', commonly used in computer programming domain. Hackers and Programmers from all around the world contributed to the GNU project and by 1991, almost all the components like shells, editors, compilers were developed. But one thing was still missing - a powerful kernel. An independent project of Linus Torvald - the 'Linux' kernel, filled this gap and the GNU developers found it suitable for use with their system. Thus a complete 'free' operating system was born. The GNU project is closely linked to the philosophy of Free Software. The Free Software Foundation, custodians of the GNU project is responsible for the management of registered trademarks, licenses etc. What is Linux? The kernel is an important part of any operating system, providing the communication bridge between hardware and software. It is the set of programs that perform the most basic functions of an operating system - it controls and interfaces the computerâs hardware, handles allocation of memory and other resources, allows multiple programs to be executed simultaneously, manages the file system, and so on. Linux is a kernel which is the heart of most GNU operating systems. Linux was brought to life in 1991 by a Finnish student named Linus Torvalds with assistance from hackers across the net. At the time, it would run only on i386 systems, and was essentially an independently-created clone of the UNIX kernel. Today, Linux runs on virtually all modern architectures. What makes up an Operating System A kernel by itself doesnât provide the features that are useful to end-users. It canât even provide a simple prompt for users to enter basic commands. It provides no way for users to manage or edit files, communicate with other computers, or write other programs. These tasks require the use of a wide array of other programs, including command shells, file utilities, editors, and compilers. Many of these programs, in turn, use libraries of general-purpose functions, such as the library containing standard C library functions, which are not included in the kernel. On GNU/Linux systems, many of these other programs and libraries are software developed as part of the GNU Project. A great deal of this software predates the Linux kernel. Here comes GNU/Linux Where did the name GNU/Linux came from? You may not have heard the name GNU/Linux, although youâre probably familiar with the system it refers to. The Linux kernel and software from the GNU Project has proven to be a powerful combination. Although the combination is often called âLinuxâ for short, the complete system couldnât work without GNU software, any more than it could operate without the kernel. For this reason, weâll refer to the complete system as GNU/Linux, except when we are specifically talking about the Linux kernel. Free Software Free software, in simple terms, is a piece of software that can be used, studied, modified and distributed without restrictions. People are encouraged to use free software, improve it, and pass it on. The "free" in Free Software represents this "freedom" and does not mean that you don't have to pay for the software ( although many of them are committed to being free of charge as well). The source-code that makes up free software is available for anyone to download, change, fix, and use in any way. The GNU General Public License (GPL) is a popular license adopted by many popular free software projects. There is an entire community of people who believe in the ideas of free software and spend their time helping to make 'open source' technology as good as it can be. People in this community took initiatives to numerous projects which shaped the development of a fully functional OS, organizations like the Mozilla Foundation - responsible for creating the popular Firefox web browser, and countless other software projects from which you've almost certainly benefited in the past. Alongside ideological benefits, this freedom also has technical advantages: when programs are developed, the hard work of others can be used and built upon. With non-free software, this cannot happen and when programs are developed, they have to start from scratch. For this reason the development of free software is fast, efficient and exciting! You can find out more about free software and the ideological and technical philosophy behind it at www.fsf.org/about/what-is-free-software. GNU/Linux Distributions A 'Linux distribution' (or just 'distro') typically refers to a complete functional GNU/Linux system which can be used to run a computer to perform your day-to-day computing activities. Today, there are several GNU/Linux distributions - ranging from fully featured desktops and stable servers to tiny minimal environments. Ubuntu is a well known distribution which is derived from Debian project known as the purest form of GNU/Linux. For newbies Ubuntu is fairly a Windows® replacement. Installation process was somewhat difficult in older versions, but with the emergence of graphical installers, live sessions, Wubi ( Installer designed to work on Windows® ) it became very simple to build up an Ubuntu system. Fedora is another known distribution which is based on the good-old Redhat® Linux system. Fedora is known for user-space stability and numerous rugged applications derived from Redhat® project. There is a few extra-tuned distributions like Linux Mint or Mandriva One which includes almost all non-free extras which in turn supports restricted file formats like mp3, divx etc. If you are not connected directly to the Internet, it is better to use an extra-tuned distribution as your main desktop system. There are another open derivatives like Open Solaris® which is based on Solaris® operating system known for work on servers. http://distrowatch.com is a popular destination for tracking different GNU/Linux distributions. The Desktop The desktop is what you see after you log in to your computer and what you use to manage and run applications. If you are a typical user of Windows® system you know what is a desktop. On GNU/Linux systems, you get to choose between several different 'Desktop Environments' (DE), as the desktop environment is just a software package as any other program. Desktop is the major part of user-space which includes a GUI and a number of handy applications to deal with. The default desktop environment for several distors is GNOME, a leading UNIX and Linux desktop suite and development platform. KDE is another popular DE, known for its flexibility and eye-candy. You can optionally install other desktop environments like Xfce, LXDE, Fluxbox etc. that have their own distinctive look and feel. Most server Linux systems do no have a desktop environment at all. The Linux development model Like many other large free software projects, Linux is developed by a large community of programmers and hackers all around the world. Several non-programmers and users also belong to this community, providing documentation, artworks, ideas etc. The Linux kernel is written mainly in the C proramming language, and the lion's share of it is compiled using gcc. You will get many meaningful and distinct definitions of Linux on the web ( Google is your friend, try âdefine:Linuxâ ). The Linux kernel has gained an ideological importance as well as a technical one. The spirit of open source, commonly attributed to Linux, is influencing software developers and users everywhere to drive communities with common goals. Linux has always provided a rich programming environment, and it has only grown richer. As students we can contribute to such highly engineered programs to make each build better than the last one, which in turn will improve ourselves. In The End... Right now, Linux is the most flexible, reliable and powerful operating system that has ever been created, running everything from the tiniest cell phones and embedded devices to more than 88% of the worldâs top 500 supercomputers ( Specifically 443 yesterday ). Very long uptimes ( usually years ), massive repositories, countless projects, and a huge community who support users. No other operating system has ever been able to scale so well and meet the challenges of all of these different hardware types and environments. And how should... I hope you people have got a rough idea about the GNU/Linux operating system. I recommend you to use, study and contribute to Linux systems as its almost known now. The world of computers can't be there without Linux, in the future. Enjoy the spirit of freedom, enjoy Linux. Thats all...
