Introduction to Linux

Liam Green-Hugheshttp://www.greenhughes.com

AACS-SSIThttp://intranet.open.ac.uk/aacs/usg/ssit/

25th February 2008

What is Linux?

A Unix-like Operating System

A famous open source project

Free to use, distribute, modify under a compatible licence

Produced by a large developer and user community

A combination of many projects

Cost of commercial development estimated at USD 7 billion

Companies often make money by selling: Support Training Custom changes

What can it do for you?

Full operating system

Works well on a variety of hardware, including older hardware

You can adapt it to fit your needs

Thousands of programs available

Secure by design

LAMP stack

Supports a wide range of programming languages

Scalable

Where might you find Linux?

History

GNU project started 1984 to produce a Unix-like OS Founded by Richard Stallman Wrote the GNU manifesto in 1985 outlining philosophy Software that is free means more than free of charge

"It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming effort will be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the state of the art."

By early 1990s many of the GNU OS utilities were complete

Meanwhile....

Linus Torvalds starts work on the Linux Kernel First version released in 1991 Changes Linux to GPL licence in 1992 Combined with GNU to make an OS

The first “Distros”... 1992 - MCC Interim Linux 1992 - Softlanding Linux System (SLS) 1993 - Debian

Some previous issues...Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD)“If you just drag this out in a typical litigation path, where it takes years and years to settle anything, and in the meantime you have all this uncertainty clouding over the market...”

SCO vs IBM Microsoft patents

Lock-out IE only websites Hardware support

Prejudice/Safety Zone

For new users... User has choice Terminal Communities can be intimidating

Ubuntu code of conduct designed to help this

Linux Today

High profile adoptions: French Police French Parliament City of Munich Amazon Google Dreamworks (to produce Shrek)

Preinstalled: Sub notebooks: EEE & OLPC £99 laptop Dell Server hardware

Better support for Linux users

Edubuntu

A version of Ubuntu aimed at schools Able to use thin clients Makes use of older hardware

Case Study: OLPC

Background:"Most of the nearly two–billion children in the developing world are inadequately educated, or receive no education at all. One in three does not complete the fifth grade."

Why do they use Linux?“Linux...holds the promise of long-term sustainability by the local community—and, being free and open. The opportunity for local capacity-building abounds.”

Hardware designed for tough environment Features radical Sugar UI:“since the laptop will be the first experience of computing for many children, activities do not have to be overly true to legacy behaviors or expectations. This frees developers to innovate.”

Case Study: SecondLife

Linden Labs uses Linux for SecondLife Servers

Uses 2000 servers

Servers located in San Francisco and Dallas

Uses Debian Linux

CTO: Cory Ondrejka said Debian chosen as can scale massively with a small number of IT staff

Each geographic area corresponds to a processor running software known as a “sim”

Have plans to use more open source tools

Linux on the desktop

Different desktop systems available Choose the one you like the best! Can adapt to Mac & Windows styles of operation

Where to from here?

Kubuntu and the *buntus

Grab a CD!

Kubuntu Website:http://www.kubuntu.org

Ubuntu User Sites:http://forums.ubuntu.comhttps://wiki.ubuntu.com/

Switching From Windows:http://doc.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/switching/

My blog:http://www.greenhughes.com