Frequently Asked Questions
What is Linux?
Linux was conceived and nurtured into existence by Linus Torvalds, a Finnish computer programmer who has now moved to the United States. There is often some confusion about how to pronounce Linux and to assist you Linus has recorded his own pronunciation to guide you. The recording is available in either english or swedish.
Linux is an operating system kernel that is functionally very similar to Unix. Linux supports a wide range of features, many of which are found only on powerful operating systems. Technically Linux is just the operating system kernel and doesn't include all of the support software necessary to build a complete operating system. The Linux kernel is written to be compatible with the I.E.E.E. Posix specification for portable operating systems. This makes it easy to build software initially developed for other operating systems under Linux.
What platforms does Linux run on?
Linux has been ported to an ever increasing number of computer platforms, including but not limited to: Intel *86 (386 or greater), Digital Alpha, Sun Sparc, Commodore Amiga, Apple Macintosh, and MIPS platforms.
Is Linux free?
Linux is free software. Free in that you receive all of the source code for the whole operating system and are allowed to modify it and redistribute it as you please.
What applications are availiable to run under Linux?
A wide range of application and system software has been developed for or ported to, Linux including most of the software developed for the GNU operating system. For this reason it is fair to refer to most Linux distributions (kernel plus supporting software) as the GNU/Linux Operating System. Linux distributions include such diverse software as:
- A fully network aware client/server graphical environment, the powerful X11 Window system.
- Sophisticated Network applications such as web servers, databases and file servers.
- Many common network applications such as web browsers, telnet/ftp/login programs and mail clients.
- Programming Languages such as C, C++, Pascal, Fortran, Java, perl and even Basic.
- A large number of more obscure languages are also available.
- Graphics programs such as raytracers, drawing editors, image manipulators and image viewers.
- Games such as Doom, Quake and many other original and classic games are available for Linux.