What is Linux?
Linux is an operating system. An operating system is the basic set of programs and utilities that make your computer run. Some other common operating systems are Unix (and its variants BSD, AIX, Solaris, HPUX, and others); DOS; Microsoft Windows; Amiga; and Mac OS.

Who owns Linux? Who makes Linux?
One misconception many first-time Linux.com readers have is that this site, Linux.com, is similar to Microsoft.com, which is owned and controlled by the company that produces the Windows operating system.

Not so!

No one company or individual "owns" Linux, which was developed, and is still being improved, by thousands of corporate-supported and volunteer programmers all over the world. Not even Linus Torvalds, who started the Linux ball rolling in 1991, "owns" Linux.

(However, the trademark "Linux" is owned by Linus Torvalds, so if you call something "Linux" it had better be Linux, not something else.)

Where do I get Linux?
When you "get Linux" you are usually getting a "Linux distribution" that contains not only the basic Linux operating system, but also programs that enhance it in many ways. Anyone who wants to put together his or her own Linux distribution is free to do so, and we know of more than 200 different Linux distributions that fill special "niche" purposes. But we advise new users to stick with one of the five or six most popular general-purpose Linux distributions until they know a little about what Linux can and can't do.

You can get Linux from a number of online software repositories, including the official Web sites for each distribution. For example, at www.linux-mandrake.com you'll find the Mandrake distribution; at www.redhat.com you'll find Red Hat Linux.

It helps to have a fast connection and a CD burner so you can quickly download an .ISO image of the distribution and burn it onto a CD. You then can load the bootable installation programs that lead you, step by step, through the process of getting Linux on your computer.

If you don't have a CD burner, you'll be better off if you buy a CD pre-loaded with the distribution (or distributions) of your choice. The more popular distributions are available in many computer stores and directly from each distribution's publisher. They sell full boxed sets of CDs or DVDs that come complete with a fancy user manual and official technical support. The average price is $25 to $80 USD. The convenience of a distribution on CDs, including manuals, generally makes your first installation so much easier that it is well worth the money, and even if you pay full retail price for a Linux distribution you will still get an incredible value.

How much does Linux cost?
Linux is Free Software. Now, just because it's Free, doesn't necessarily mean it's free. Think "free" as in "free speech," not "free beer," as we in the Free Software/Open Source community like to say. In a nutshell, software that is free as in speech, like Linux, is distributed along with its source code so that anyone who receives it is free to make changes and redistribute it. So, not only is it ok to make copies of Linux and give them to your friends, it's also fine to tweak a few lines of the source code while you're at it -- as long as you also freely provide your modified source code to everyone else. To learn more about free software and the major software license it is distributed under, called the General Public License (GPL), go here. In addition to the GPL, there are many other software licenses that allow you to modify the source code

How do I get trained or certified on Linux?
The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) serves the community of Linux and open source software users vendors and developers, in the interest of increasing and supporting professional use of such software throughout world. LPI will seek to improve the skills and resources of Linux and open source professionals, by providing services and setting standards which are relevant, of high quality and widely accessible.

There are several (literally) hundreds of sites that offer support information for Linux.

One example of an extensive list of documentation can be found here:
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/howtos.html

Who uses Linux? And for what?
IBM for enterprise installations of database, file and web servers
Novell for desktop solutions, network integration and cross-platform development
Dreamworks Studio for cluster based video generation
Hewlett Packard for high performance video workstations
Toyota Motor Co for connecting all their dealerships together
Weta Digital for cluster based movie generation

An extensive list can be found here:
http://www.aaxnet.com/design/linux2.html
and an excellent reference for using Linux in small business can be found here:
http://www.aaxnet.com/editor/edit010.html

Isn't it hard to get reliable support for open-source software?

Absolutely not! InfoWorld's 1997 "Best Product of the Year" roundup should have demolished this myth once and for all.

Linux is not an exception. In fact, business users will generally find that mature open-source products are fare more reliable to begin with, and that when support is needed it is dramatically cheaper and easier to get than from closed vendors.
More information found here: http://www.opensource.org/advocacy/case_for_business.php

Doesn't closed source help protect against crack attacks?

This is exactly backwards, as any cryptographer will tell you. Security through obscurity just does not work.

The reason it doesn't work is that security-breakers are a lot more motivated and persistent than good guys (who have lots of other things to worry about). The bad guys will find the holes whether source is open or closed.

Closed sources do three bad things. One: they create a false sense of security. Two: they mean that the good guys will not find holes and fix them. Three: they make it harder to distribute trustworthy fixes when a hole is revealed.

In fact, open-source operating systems and applications are generally much more security-safe than their closed-source counterparts. When the "Ping o' Death" exploit was revealed in 1997 (for example) Linux had fix patches within hours. Closed-source OSs didn't plug the hole for months.

Alan Cox has written an excellent article you can read here:
http://www.osopinion.com/Opinions/AlanCox/AlanCox1.html

How is "open source" related to "free software"?

The Open Source Initiative is a marketing program for free software. It's a pitch for "free software" on solid pragmatic grounds rather than ideological tub-thumping. The winning substance has not changed, the losing attitude and symbolism have.

So that it is clear what kind of software we are talking about, we publish standards for open-source licenses. We have created a certification mark, "OSI Certified," to be applied only to software that is distributed under an open-source license that meets criteria set by the Open Source Initiative as representatives of the open software community. We intend this mark to become a widely recognized and valued symbol, clearly indicating that software does, in fact, have the properties that the community has associated with the descriptive term `open source'.

More information can be found here:
http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

Open Source Software Can Help Your Business!

MySQL – A fast SQL database server.

Apache – A high performance Unix-based HTTP server.

Ethereal – A GUI network network protocol analyzer.

Ettercap – A multipurpose sniffer for switched LANs.

OpenOffice.org – An Open Source version of StarOffice.

AbiWord – light weight, stand alone word processor.

OpenSSH – FREE version of the SSH protocol suite.

Mozilla Suite – Web browser, mail client.

TightVNC – Remote Desktop

PuTTy – Telnet and SSH client.

PDFCreator – Generate PDF documents.

GIMP – photo editing/creating software

Audacity – Sound editing program which can record, playback, and mix sounds.

7-Zip – Program for creating or unpacking many archive formats.

NetTime – Simple time synchronization client.

WinPT – Collection of applications to assist you with digital encrytion.

FileZilla – Fast and reliable FTP client and server.

XChat – Multiplatform IRC client

ITEC 2004 Handout	4 of 4

Http://www.kclug.org	Kansas City Linux Users Group

2004-10-26T19:43:47