Portal:Linux
Linux
The terms "Linux" (commonly pronounced /ˈlɪnəks/ in English; variants exist) and "GNU/Linux" refer to the family of Linux kernel-based operating systems – and not to any one operating system. Their base components, i.e. the Linux kernel (more precisely its System Call Interface (SCI)), the GNU C Library or the uClibc, the GNU Core Utilities and a couple of more packages, make many Linux operating systems behave "unix-like" though none of the Linux distributions has bothered so far to actually become UNIX®-certified, mostly because of financial reasons.
Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free software and open source development: typically all underlying source code can be freely modified, used, and redistributed by anyone.
Selected article
The Linux kernel is a Unix-like operating system kernel. It is the namesake of the Linux family of operating systems. Released under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2) and developed by contributors worldwide, Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free software.
The Linux kernel was initially conceived and assembled by Linus Torvalds in 1991. Early on, the MINIX community contributed code and ideas to the Linux kernel. At the time, the GNU Project had created many of the components required for a free software operating system, but its own kernel, GNU Hurd, was incomplete and unavailable. The BSD operating system had not yet freed itself from legal encumbrances. This meant that despite the limited functionality of the early versions, Linux rapidly accumulated developers and users who adopted code from those projects for use with the new operating system.
Selected biography
Andrew Keith Paul Morton (born 1959 in England) is an Australian software engineer, best known as one of the lead developers of the Linux kernel. He currently maintains a patchset known as the mm tree, which contains not yet sufficiently tested patches that might later be accepted into the official Linux tree maintained by Linus Torvalds.
Since August 2006, Morton has been employed by Google but will continue his current work in maintaining the kernel.
Andrew Morton delivered the keynote speech at the 2004 Ottawa Linux Symposium. He is also a featured speaker at MontaVista Software's Vision 2007 Conference.
Selected quote
| “ | I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. | ” |
| — Linus Torvalds, |
In the news
- 2014-12-09 Fedora 21 released.
- 2014-12-07 Linux kernel 3.18 released.
- 2014-10-23 Ubuntu 14.10 "Utopic Unicorn" released.
- 2014-10-05 Linux kernel 3.17 released.
- 2014-09-24 GNOME 3.14 released.
- 2014-09-23 Linux From Scratch 7.6 released.
- 2014-08-03 Linux kernel 3.16 released.
- 2014-07-15 CentOS 7 released.
- 2014-06-10 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 released.
- 2014-06-08 Linux kernel 3.15 released.
- 2014-05-31 Linux Mint 17 "Qiana" released.
- 2014-04-17 Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" released.
- 2014-03-30 Linux kernel 3.14 released.
- 2014-03-02 Linux From Scratch 7.5 released.
- 2014-02-08 Debian 7.4 "Wheezy" released.
- 2014-01-20 Linux kernel 3.13 released.
- 2013-12-18 KDE SC 4.12 released.
- 2013-12-17 Fedora 20 "Heisenbug" released.
- 2013-12-14 Debian 7.3 "Wheezy" released.
- 2013-12-01 CentOS 6.5 released.
- 2013-11-30 Linux Mint 16 "Petra" released.
- 2013-11-21 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 released.
- 2013-11-19 openSUSE 13.1 released.
- 2013-11-03 Linux kernel 3.12 released.
- 2013-10-17 Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" released.
- 2013-10-12 Debian 7.2 "Wheezy" released.
- 2013-09-26 GNOME 3.10 released.
- 2013-09-08 Linux From Scratch 7.4 released.
- 2013-09-02 Linux kernel 3.11 released.
- 2013-07-02 Fedora 19 "Schrödinger's Cat" released.
- 2013-06-30 Linux kernel 3.10 released.
- 2013-05-29 Linux Mint 15 "Olivia" released.
- 2013-05-04 Debian 7.0 "Wheezy" released.
- 2013-04-28 Linux kernel 3.9 released.
- 2013-04-25 Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" released.
- 2013-03-27 GNOME 3.8 released.
- 2012-03-13 openSUSE 12.3 released.
- 2013-03-09 CentOS 6.4 released.
- 2013-03-01 Linux From Scratch 7.3 released.
- 2013-02-21 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 released.
- 2013-02-18 Linux kernel 3.8 released.
- 2013-01-17 CentOS 5.9 released.
- 2013-01-15 Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" released.
- 2013-01-08 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 released.
- 2012-12-10 Linux kernel 3.7 released.
- 2012-11-20 Linux Mint 14 "Nadia" released.
- 2012-10-18 Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" released.
- 2012-09-30 Linux kernel 3.6 released.
- 2012-09-05 openSUSE 12.2 released.
- 2013-09-01 Linux From Scratch 7.2 released.
- 2012-08-01 KDE SC 4.9 released.
- 2012-07-21 Linux kernel 3.5 released.
- 2012-07-09 CentOS 6.3 released.
- 2012-06-21 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 released.
- 2012-05-29 Fedora 17 "Beefy Miracle" released.
- 2012-05-23 Linux Mint 13 "Maya" released.
- 2012-05-20 Linux kernel 3.4 released.
- 2012-04-26 Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" released.
- 2012-03-28 GNOME 3.4 released.
- 2012-03-18 Linux kernel 3.3 released.
- 2012-03-02 Linux From Scratch 7.1 released.
- 2012-02-05 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 released.
- 2012-02-15 Scientific Linux 6.2 released.
- 2012-01-04 Linux kernel 3.2 released.
- 2011-12-20 CentOS 6.2 released.
- 2011-12-09 CentOS 6.1 released.
- 2011-12-06 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 released.
- 2011-11-26 Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" released.
- 2011-11-16 openSUSE 12.1 released.
- 2011-11-08 Fedora 16 "Verne" released.
- 2011-10-29 Linux From Scratch 7.0 released.
- 2011-10-24 Linux kernel 3.1 released.
- 2011-10-13 Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" released.
- 2011-09-28 GNOME 3.2 released.
- 2011-08-28 Mandriva Linux 2011 released.
- 2011-07-26 KDE SC 4.7 released.
- 2011-07-22 Linux kernel 3.0 released.
- 2011-07-10 CentOS 6.0 released.
- 2011-05-26 Linux Mint 11 "Katya" released.
- 2011-05-24 Fedora 15 "Lovelock" released.
- 2011-05-18 Linux kernel 2.6.39 released.
- 2011-04-28 Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" released.
- 2011-04-12 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP4 released.
- 2011-04-06 GNOME 3 released.
- 2011-03-14 Linux kernel 2.6.38 released.
- 2011-03-10 openSUSE 11.4 released.
- 2011-03-08 Gentoo Linux 11.0 released.
- 2011-03-04 Linux From Scratch 6.8 released.
- 2011-02-06 Debian 6.0 "Squeeze" released.
- 2011-01-26 KDE SC 4.6 released.
- 2011-01-05 Linux kernel 2.6.37 released.
- 2010-11-12 Linux Mint 10 "Julia" released.
- 2010-11-11 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0 released.
- 2010-11-02 Fedora 14 "Laughlin" released.
- 2010-10-20 Linux kernel 2.6.36 released.
- 2010-10-10 Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" released.
- 2010-09-29 GNOME 2.32 released.
- 2010-09-18 Linux From Scratch 6.7 released.
- 2010-08-10 KDE SC 4.5 released.
- 2010-08-01 Linux kernel 2.6.35 released.
- 2010-07-15 OpenSUSE 11.3 released.
- 2010-06-02 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 released.
- 2010-05-25 Fedora 13 "Goddard" released.
- 2010-05-18 Linux Mint 9 "Isadora" released.
- 2010-05-16 Linux kernel 2.6.34 released.
- 2010-04-29 Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" released.
- 2010-03-01 Linux From Scratch 6.6 released.
- 2010-02-24 Linux kernel 2.6.33 released.
- 2009-12-03 Linux kernel 2.6.32 released.
- 2009-11-28 Linux Mint 8 "Helena" released.
- 2009-11-17 Fedora 12 "Constantine" released.
- 2009-11-11 OpenSUSE 11.2 released.
- 2009-10-29 Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" released.
- 2009-10-12 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3 released.
- 2009-09-09 Linux kernel 2.6.31 released.
- 2009-08-16 Linux From Scratch 6.5 released.
- 2009-06-10 Linux kernel 2.6.30 released.
- 2009-05-26 Linux Mint 7 "Gloria" released.
- 2009-04-23 Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" released.
- 2009-03-24 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 released.
- 2009-03-23 Linux kernel 2.6.29 released.
- 2008-12-25 Linux kernel 2.6.28 released.
- 2008-12-15 Linux Mint 6 "Felicia" released.
- 2008-11-25 Fedora 10 "Cambridge" released.
- 2008-11-23 Linux From Scratch 6.4 released.
- 2007-08-28 Linux From Scratch 6.3 released.
- 2005-07-09 Linux From Scratch 6.1 released.
- 2003-11-05 Linux From Scratch 5.0 released.
- 2002-10-05 Linux From Scratch 4.0 released.
- 2001-09-21 Linux From Scratch 3.0 released.
- 1999-12-16 Linux From Scratch 1.0 released.
Selected picture
The Plasma desktop environment from the KDE community.
Did you know?
- ... that Linux was started in 1991 by Linus Torvalds?
- ... that there are hundreds of Linux distributions?
- ... that the Linux kernel is a monolithic kernel?
- ... that Linux was inspired by MINIX?
- ... that Linux supports over 15 hardware architectures?
- ... that the Linux kernel is coded in C?
- ... that the Linux kernel is licensed under the GPL v2?
- ... that the Linux kernel uses an 1:1 thread model?
- ... that the Linux kernel development is managed through Git?
- ... that about 50% of the Linux kernel consists of code for device drivers?
- ... that the article Linux startup process is pretty outdated?
Categories
Topics
Linux as gaming platform - Linux kernel - List of Linux supported computer architectures - Desktop Linux - History of Linux - Linux adoption - Tux -- Linux distribution - Embedded Linux - Linux devices - Linux Foundation - Linux User Group
Technology: ext3 • ext4 • Netfilter • Kernel-based Virtual Machine • Filesystem in Userspace • Netlink • CFQ • Completely Fair Scheduler • dm-crypt • Btrfs
People: Linus Torvalds • Andrew Morton • Greg Kroah-Hartman • Rusty Russell • Alan Cox • Jens Axboe • H. Peter Anvin • Theodore Ts'o • Harald Welte
Companies: Canonical Ltd. • Red Hat • Novell • Mandriva
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