What is Linux?
Linux is a free Unix-like operating system written by Linus
Torvalds. Originally, it was made to run on Intel 80386-based IBM PC
compatible machines (and better, and clones of it), but these days it also
runs on DEC/Compaq's Alpha, SPARC-based workstations (including the
UltraSPARC), Motorola 680x0-based machines (Ataris, Amigas, Macs, Sun3),
MIPS-based boxen, and PowerPC-based machines (including PowerMacintoshes).
There are also ports of it to various embedded architectures, such as
Motorola's DragonBall controller, and ELKS, the port to 8088/80286 machines.
Linux was created in 1991, after Linus Torvalds began working with Minix,
which is a small Unix-like educational OS for PCs by Andrew Tannenbaum.
Linux strives for POSIX compliance, and it supports things found in most
modern OSes today, including networking, virtual memory, multitasking,
shared libraries, and demand loading.
Linux usually comes packaged with many userland utilities and programs
(known as a distribution). Popular Linux distributions include Red Hat
Linux, Linux-Mandrake, S.u.S.E. Linux, and Slackware Linux.
Linux uses the GNU General
Public License as its license.
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