Do you know what Linux is? What can we use this Linux operating system? Whether you take any gadgets, from smartphones to cars, supercomputers or your home appliances, this Linux operating system is present everywhere. We may not have much information about it, but we are always using it.
Linux has been around for more than 30 years. It first came to us in the mid-90s. And since then, due to its usefulness, it has completely established itself in almost all devices and will continue to do so.
Those who have used the Linux operating system before, they must have known about its usefulness, but those who are not familiar with it yet, then I want to tell those people that we use them in almost all devices. Which we normally use. With this, it is used in almost all the servers of the internet, even in stock exchanges.
Mainly everyone wants to use Linux kernel due to it being a more reliable, secure and error-free operating system. And one more thing, it is completely open source and also free, which helps the developers to customize it in their own way.
What is Linux
Linux is a very popular version of the UNIX operating system. This is an open source software because its source code is freely available on the internet. With this you can use it absolutely free, which means to say that it is completely free.
Linux was designed keeping in mind the compatibility of UNIX. That's why its functionality list often swings from UNIX. Due to Linux OS being open source, developers can customize it according to their needs. With this it is a very reliable operating system for the computer.
Who is the Owner of Linux?
Since the licensing of Linux is open source, Linux is freely available to anyone. But still the trademark of the name “Linux” goes to its creator, Linus Torvalds. The copyright of the Linux OS's source code goes in the names of many individual authors, so it is collectively placed under the GPLv2 license.
Because there is a very large group behind Linux who have contributed to it and it took many years to develop, in such a situation it is not possible to contact them individually, so the license of Linux was included under GPLv2. which involves the consent of all.
How did Linux get started?
Linux was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991, when he was a university student at the University of Helsinki. Torvalds built Linux as a free and open source alternative to Minix OS, which was another Unix clone and used primarily in academic settings.
They first thought of naming it "Freax" but the administrator of the server that Torvalds had chosen to distribute its original code named their directory "Linux" which was a combination of Torvalds' earlier names. and Unix. This name was so good to hear that it was not changed any more later.
Components of Linux Operating System
If seen, there are mainly three components of Linux Operating System.
1. Kernel – This is the core part of Kernel Linux. It is responsible for all the major activities happening in the operating system. Other modules are present in this and they interact directly with the underlying hardware. Kernel prevents the information of low-level hardware details from reaching the system or application programs or rather behaves like an abstraction.
2. System Library − System libraries are called those special functions or programs by using which application programs or system utility access the features of Kernel. These libraries implement almost all the functionalities of the operating system and they do not even require the kernel module's code access rights to do so.
3. System Utility − System Utility is called those programs which are responsible for performing other specialized, and individual level tasks.
Advantages of Linux
Here I am going to tell you about some very important features of Linux Operating System.
1. Portable – Portability means that this software can run smoothly in all types of hardware. Linux kernel and application programs support almost all hardware platforms.
2. Open Source – Linux source code is freely available and it is a community-based development project. Multiple teams work in collaboration so that the capacity of the Linux operating system can be enhanced and hence it is always evolving.
3. Multi-User − Linux is a multiuser system which means that multiple users can access all its system resources such as memory/ ram/ application programs at the same time.
4. Multiprogramming − Linux is a multiprogramming system which means that multiple applications can run simultaneously, that too at the same time.
5. Hierarchical File System − Linux provides a standard file structure so that system files / user files can be arranged easily.
6. Shell – Linux also provides a special interpreter program which is used to execute the commands of the operating system. Along with this, it is also used to perform other different operations, call application programs.
7. Security – Linux also provides very good security features to the users such as password protection / controlled access to some specific files / even data encryption etc.
Features of Linux Operating System
1. Hardware layer - This hardware layer contains all the peripheral devices (RAM / HDD / CPU etc.).
2. Kernel – This is the core component of the OS, which interacts directly with the hardware, along with it provides low-level service to the upper layer components.
4. Shell – This is an interface to the kernel, which hides the complexity of the functions of the kernel from the users. These shells take commands from users and execute other kernel's functions.
4. Utilities – These are called utility programs that provide all the functionalities of operating systems to the user.
What is the difference between Linux and Windows Operating System?
An operating system is a system software that manages computer hardware, software and computer resources and provides a platform to run the software in a computer.
The operating system behaves as an intermediary between the user and the hardware. Linux and Windows operating systems are the most commonly used OS in computers.
If we talk about the main difference between Linux and Windows operating system, it is that Linux is completely free whereas to install Windows on your computer, you have to pay for its license.
What is Distribution?
There are many different versions of Linux operating system which is suitable for all types of users. Here you have different versions for everyone from new users to hard core users. These versions are called distributions.
All Linux distribution can be easily downloaded for free and it can also be installed later by burning it to any disk.
Here you can see the most popular Linux distributions:
Ubuntu Linux
Linux Mint
Arch Linux
Deepin
fedora
Debian
openSUSE.
All these distributions are available with different features and you should also choose them according to your needs.
Is Linux Operating System Completely Virus / Malware Free?
The answer is no. There is no such OS in the world which is 100% immune from Viruses and Malware. But there has never been any widespread malware-infection in Linux, if we compare it with Windows.
It is also true that users using Linux OS are very few, if we compare it with Microsoft users. By the way, the main purpose of malware or virus is mass destruction. In such a situation, any programmer will never waste his valuable time in this work, because users are very few in this. For this reason there are not many viruses in Linux.
Linux is very strong architecturally and therefore it is very immune to security threats. Remember that Linux is Kernel and GNU/Linux is an OS.
Technically speaking, you cannot set up a Linux system without root password and without user password. This means that every user of Linux has a password except 'Guest'. Whereas in Windows, a user can create a profile without a password.
Application of Linux Operating Systems
- Linux helps the movie industry a lot by becoming a render farm where movies are always running on millions of machines.
- Linux is also used for the menu system in the TV system.
- All Android mobiles run on Linux platform.
- You can even automate your home.
- All Internet connection routers run on Linux.
- Small disk storage system manufacturers also run on Linux.
- Web App and Website Hosting also.
- All internet servers, databases, websites are run and maintained by the Linux operating system itself.
- All stock exchanges also run on Linux platforms.
- You can also run an old and slow PC fast.
- Linux OS is also used to process the payment in all ATMs.
- It is used for making any Video Game Machine and dedicated Media Center.
There is no doubt in this that Linux is the operating system of the future. This is because Linux is present at the foundation of almost all the latest technologies. You cannot imagine any future technology without Linux. Embedded systems are one such example where Linux has been extensively used and where Linux is mainly used to create and maintain these applications.
All the big organizations are now using Linux the most according to the operating system. Since it has many such great features, their demand is increasing day by day. With this, many system admins are changing their job profile from windows to Linux operating system.
To learn any new technologies such as cloud computing, virtualization, VMware, database administration, it is very important for you to have knowledge about Linux. That's why it seems to me that the future of Linux Operating System is very bright in the coming times.
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