Linux Brochure
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Welcome to the wonderful world of Free || Open Source Software
What do the terms GNU, GNU/Linux, Linux, *BSD, Linux Distros denote?
GNU (GNU's Not Unix)
In the early 1980s Richard Stallman, a brilliant programmer, author of the Emacs editor, GCC compiler (GNU Compiler collection) and other software raised the demand that software should be Free - the source code should be available, freely distributable and modifiable.
To further these aims he started the GNU project aimed at producing a Free operating system. Free as in freedom. This freedom is imposed by a license. In other words, a software license, specifices, what, how and why you can do with software. This is the GNU GPL (GNU General Public License). This project built a set of tools. Glibc, GCC (C compiler and linker), Bash (a shell), Coreutils and Binutils (utilities for the shell to interact with the kernel). The project also started building a kernel (named Hurd). This set of tools, along with the kernel would comprise the GNU operating system - a Free operating system.
Linux
In the early 1990s, Linus Torvalds, a Finnish student developed a kernel that came to be named as Linux, though initially he planned to name it as Freax (As one would pronounce "freaks" in English). One should also note, Linus pronounces Linux as Lee-nux (as one would pronouce Lee [as in Bret Lee / Bruce Lee] and pronouce nux as [rhyming with mux i.e. short for Multiplexer]). Along with the tools provided mainly by the GNU project, this developed into a Free operating system. Both the kernel and the GNU toolset have been under continuous development till date with thousands of developers contributing code and continuously improving the operating system.
BSD
In a related but independent thread, other developers developed several variants of the BSD kernel, which also used tools like the GNU toolkit among others to comprise one more set of free operating systems like OpenBSD, FreeBSD and PCBSD. These also have undergone continuous development over the years, and this development continues.
Applications
Meanwhile, still other developers started building a huge assortment of applications to run on these operating systems. Webservers like Apache and Lighttpd, RDBMS systems like MySQL, Postgresql and Sqlite. Email transport agents like Sendmail, Postfix and Exim. X window systems like XFree86 and Xorg. Desktops like Gnome, KDE and XFCE. Programming languages like Perl, Python, Ruby and PHP. And tens of thousands of applications to do practically everything a person could envisage. Again, all free and open source, each developed over the Internet in public and freely available and modifiable.
These applications, bundled with the operating systems comprising the GNU toolset and related tools along with the Linux or BSD kernels, have been packaged into hundreds of distributions - known as linux distributions (distros) which are described further along this article.
Licenses
Although all these are free and open source, they are distributed under a variety of licenses. There are two main types of licenses - the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) on one hand and the BSD style licenses on the other hand. And from these licensing schemes come the two broad streams of developers, FLOSS (Free Libre Open Source Software) and OSS (Open Source Software). Both streams have their active proponents, and the competition between the two further fuels the growth of the movement. Developers of both streams freely cooperate and contribute to each others efforts.
The GNU school prefers the term GNU/Linux to describe the operating system as they feel that the term "linux" does not focus sufficiently on the freedom aspect, particularly as the original developer of the linux kernel Linus Torvalds feels that linux is not part of the GNU project. Others feel that the term 'Linux' is sufficient to describe the operating system and is the more widely used term. The user may choose the term he wants.
The term GNU/Linux also seems correct because most distributions that were built, had much (if not all) of GNU tools working on top of the Linux Kernel. Infact one of the primary tools the gcc (gnu c compiler) and associated libraries are an absolute essential to build the linux kernel.
Excitement, Challenges and Fun
Regardless of nomenclature wars - or maybe even because of them - the world of FOSS, be it GNU/Linux, *BSD, Linux or whatever, is an exciting and challenging place to live in. Hundreds of contending and cooperating systems, ideas and applications. Huge choice for the user. Unlimited opportunities to develop, change and modify. And, as a result, fantastic stability, user-friendliness, adaptability and power. These distros cater to everyone from the rawest of end users to the most sophisticated programmer. What's more, they give a chance for people in the remotest, the most backward parts of the world, to interact on equal terms with the leading developers on the planet.
The movement that has created this massive computing ecosystem is arguably one of the greatest cooperative efforts ever made by the human race - and if you plunge into it - you would have a chance to be part of this movement.
The participants in this movement include engineers, businesses, school teachers, academics, artists, doctors, publishers, scientists, students, school children, nutritionists, sportsmen - the list goes on and on. The majority of these contributors are not code writers, but ones who contribute ideas and report bugs. So jump in and help make a great software system even better.
Why use Linux?
There are many reasons why one would want to use GNU/Linux instead of other well known OSes. Well known reasons include security, performance and cost, but the most important reason - largely missed by newcomers - is the freedom to modify and reuse the source code. All other reasons of utility are a result of this fundamental characteristic.
Most users wonder what they would do with these freedoms if they don't have the technical ability to modify and reuse the source code. Simply put, it isn't important for all users of the system to have the ability to modify it as long as the right to do so belongs to all users. This right ensures that no individual may take control over the system and lock existing users out.
Apart from the important principle of freedom, GNU/Linux offers unprecedented stability, security, customisability, platform independence, and standards compliance. It is also one of the few OSes that is 64bit compliant.
- Stability - uptimes measured in years
- Security - secure by virtue of being a multiuser multitasking networked system by design. One of the spin offs is that GNU/Linux is essentially virus free
- Customise - All code is available for reuse
- Platform Independence - Runs on Intel x86, ARM, Alpha, Sparc, Mips, SH, Sharc, Power Omap and many other architectures.
GNU/Linux is used by organisations such as TIFR, NASA, CERN, LIC (India), City of Munich.
GNU/Linux is used in a large number of Desktops, Servers and embedded systems, whose combined figures may well exceed all other OSes put together. It has been chosen as the operating system in the OLPC project
Common Linux Distributions
What is a Linux Distribution?
Simply described, a Linux Distribution is a complete, usable operating system. Well known names are Debian GNU/Linux, Redhat Linux, Mandrake Linux etc. The names often refer to the organisation creating the distribution ( or distro ). Contrary to common belief, a Linux Distrbution has a Graphical User Interface (GUI). It consists of various applications that could be used for daily work. Based on requirements, there are different applications available.
If you are a Home User, and access the Internet, use Word Processing applications for letters, Spreadsheet for home accounts, there are office suites, and Internet Tools available with most distributions. You can look at the list given below.
Debian GNU/Linux
Debian is one of the most popular distros, particularly for servers. However, there are many desktop derivatives of Debian like Knoppix, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, etc. It has a modular design with a standard framework for all configuration files for all applications. The 'apt' utility is used to install and remove applications. For example: 'apt-get install postgresql' would install postgresql and all its dependencies. Besides it has many tools for fully automated installation on multiple machines and bandwidth efficient download tools like jigdo.
Debian can be download from here.
The easy dist-upgrade method for upgrading releases, powerful package management system, vast collection of software spanning 21 CD sets, large number of package repository mirrors, prompt security updates make it an excellent choice for people who are looking for a stable distribution which works on more than a dozen CPU architectures with equal ease.
IRC Channels: #debian (and various) at irc.oftc.net
Fedora
Fedora is an RPM based Linux distribution, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat. Its goal is to be a complete, general-purpose operating system that contains only free and open source software. It also considered to be the testing ground for future versions of Redhat Enterprise Linux.
Fedora is an offshoot of the original Red Hat Linux distribution, and it is intended to replace the consumer distributions of Red Hat Linux aimed towards home users. Support for Fedora comes from the community in form of a highly active mailing list and wiki. A sizable part of the support is contributed by Red Hat staff. The release interval between new versions of Fedora is around nine months and bug fixes, security updates and patches for any version is available only for 15-18 months after release. Older versions used to be supported by the Fedora Legacy project, but it is currently dormant due to the lack of volunteers and resources. The latest version of Fedora is Fedora 8 (Werewolf).
A recent interesting development in Fedora is the production of various Custom Spins. These spins cater to niche audience.
Fedora does not carry non free packages (like the proprietary NVidia drivers) or media codecs (like MP3) but these can easily be installed from third party RPM repositories like Livna or FreshRPMS.
Mandriva
Mandriva is a very user friendly distro. Older people, newbies to computers, love Mandriva. Full graphical install and excellent graphical interface. Mandriva does have all the power of Linux under the hood. But one need never go under the hood as practically every peripheral works out of the box for it. It is an RPM based distribution. A lot of characteristics of this distribution are derived from Red Hat based Linux distributions.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a complete Linux based Operating System, developed by a large community and dedicated to develop a highly user-friendly Linux distribution. Ubuntu - an African word, literally meaning "Humanity to others", means to say "I am what I am because of who we all are". It believes in respecting the contributions of the community in creating a highly adorable Linux distribution.
The Ubuntu community is built on the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu Philosophy: that software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities, and that people should have the freedom to customise and alter their software in whatever way they see fit.
Ubuntu comes as a single CD distribution, containing core desktop utilities in it, but additionally providing around 16,000 softwares through its repositories. Ubuntu is suitable both for desktop as well as servers, and thus provides all the applications and softwares needed for them. Ubuntu features one of the easiest installation methods with its fast and elegant graphical installer. Once installed, you can fetch all the additional softwares and updates from one of our online repositories. When a newer release of Ubuntu comes out, you can upgrade yours to the newest release without the need for any reinstallation.
Ubuntu has its origins from Debian and its is known for its regular once-in-every-6-month releases, while supporting each release with security updates for a period of 18 months. Ubuntu has its mailing lists, web forums, wiki pages and IRC channels to support its users.
Ubuntu uses GNOME as the default desktop. There is derivative known as Kubuntu with KDE as the default desktop, and another Xubuntu, based on XFCE desktop.
Ubuntu can be obtained by downloading from the website or by requesting for a free shipping. It is highly recommended that you use the free shipping facility judiciously. You can also share/copy/distribute your Ubuntu CD with your friends or any one who wishes to try Ubuntu on their computers. And copying and distributing is LEGAL. Infact you are encouraged to copy and distribute all FOSS software.
If you are interested to be a part of the Indian Ubuntu team, visit Ubuntu India Website for more details, and even to place requests for copy of Ubuntu CDs from individuals residing in your city / area.
Gentoo
Gentoo is a special flavor of Linux that can be automatically optimized and customized for just about any application or need. Extreme performance, configurability and a top-notch user and developer community are all hallmarks of the Gentoo experience. Gentoo can become an ideal secure server, development workstation, professional desktop, gaming system, embedded solution or something else; whatever you need it to be. Because of its near-unlimited adaptability, Gentoo is also known as a "metadistribution".
Gentoo is a source-based distribution; which means that all the software that you choose to install is compiled from scratch. Portage, Gentoo's package manager is very powerful and configurable; and offers a large number of packages. Gentoo also provides good documentation for all its tools; as well as general Linux HOWTOs.
Red Hat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is one of the earlier distributions created in the early 90's and was quite popular at that time. The company has an interesting history behind its name. It has extensively been used on servers and also has a share of desktop users. The distribution uses a package manager tool called Red Hat Package Manager (RPM, for short). There are a few derived distributions from Red Hat such as Mandrake, CentOS. The distribution was available freely until its version 9 (Red Hat Linux 9), but later on Red Hat shifted its focus to the enterprise market and still helps a different project called Fedora Core, that was essentially continued from Redhat Linux 9 (Shrike).
You can request for obtaining a copy of the above mentioned distribution's CDs / DVDs, if available, from someone on this page.
Common problems installing Linux
A Linux based distribution is made up of a huge number of packages covering almost every aspect of computing - from cell phones, to adsl modems, and supercomputers. The installation methods would thus vary depending on the intended use and type of hardware. We would be restricting this wiki to the more mundane desktops and small servers.
The most common problem faced by first time installers is not knowing the details of their hardware and the partitioning of the harddisk. Every motherboard is made up of several chips which can vary from batch to batch even for the same brand name and model number. Knowing the chip numbers helps in identifying whether your hardware is supported by your distro. This is particularly the case with video, audio and wifi subsystems. Absence of support almost always indicates that the particular chip vendor does not want to disclose interface and programming details. Some vendors provide binary only drivers. As far as possible such hardware should be avoided as binary only drivers are impossible to maintain, ties you down to that vendor and could be security risks. Besides the whole point of using GNU/Linux was freedom, wasn't it?. Knowing the chip details also helps in avoiding any pitfalls due to driver bugs, other software issues and performance problems.
So BEFORE you start an installation get your hardware details and search the web. Next, visit the website of your particular distro and check out the recommended installation procedure. Join your friendly neighbourhood Lug - Linux user group - or this Lug, since you are already on this page. Lug members will help IF you have followed the above procedure.
If you have been a Windows user for a long time, and know little bit about partitions, filesystems you can read this for more information.
If you would like to choose a distribution yourself, based on your requirements and with little or no knowledge of GNU/Linux, you can try the Linux distribution chooser.
What is different in any Linux based Distribution?
Linux uses file systems that are different from the ones used in Windows(R). The commonly used file systems in Linux are Ext3, Reiserfs, etc. Unlike the Windows(R) file systems where C:\ is the root of the system, in Linux the root is simply a front slash '/'. All files and folders originate from this '/'. Similar to saying, a root of a tree as '/' and the branches, leaves as its folders and subfolders. For example folders like /etc, /boot, /usr, /home. The Desktop folder in the home directory for a user called Bharat would look like '/home/Bharat/Desktop'.
Therefore, partitions on a Windows OS are rather, simple folders under a Linux distribution. In general, for Windows users who may boot into a live CD or dual boot, can access their Windows partitions under specific folders while they are logged on to their distribution.
Two common folders are: /media and /mnt.
A few Linux distribution mount all partitions along with removable media drives (Floppy, CDROM, USB Flash drive) under /media (such as under K/Ubuntu Linux) or under /mnt (older Fedora Linux). A common configuration often available on most home computers include C:\, D:\ E:\ F: or G: as CD-ROM / DVD-ROM / Writer drive.
Generally, the C:\ drive is accessible as hda1 (or sda1 in recent Linux distributions) and D:\ drive onwards, are accessible as hdax where x starts from 5 onwards. The following table, is a sample of how drives would be mapped
| Windows | Linux distribution | Folder (accessible) |
|---|---|---|
| C:\ | hda1 | /media/hda1 or /mnt/hda1 |
| D:\ | hda5 | /media/hda5 or /mnt/hda5 |
| E:\ | hda6 | /media/hda6 or /mnt/hda6 |
| F:\ (CD-ROM/DVD) | cdrom | /media/cdrom or /mnt/cdrom |
Note: It is assumed here, that C:\ is the primary partition and D:\ and others are logical partitions within an extended partition.
To install the Linux operating system, you need to create minimum two partitions. One main partition that will hold your entire system including data and another partition called the Swap partition which is double the size of the system's RAM, (rule of thumb). The main partition is formatted with the Ext3 or Reiserfs file system (depends on a Linux Distribution) whereas the swap is left untouched as it is used as Extended Memory by the RAM.
An important feature of Linux is that it can co-exist with the Windows(R) operating system thus giving you a dual option of booting into Linux or Windows(R) at the system startup.
How can I try / test a GNU/Linux without installing it?
The Linux based operating system can be tried out even without installing it on the hard disk. A few Linux distributions allow you to do this.This is possible by booting from CD/DVD or USB drives. The CDs which allows booting from it are called as "Live CDs". Though not necessary, it is usually recommended, that to try out latest LIVE CD's, computers with atleast 256 MB of RAM are better. A few of the common ones are:
- Ubuntu
- Knoppix
- Kubuntu (If you like the K Desktop Environment [KDE] over GNOME)
- SLAX LIVE CD
- Fedora Live CD
- MEPIS
- AGNULA
For detailed steps to try out Knoppix LIVE CD, you can read the this document.
How to get compatible hardware?
Search the web for your hardware details. Ask your vendor. But that may not be of much help since most vendors' customer support don't have a clue about the hardware they sell let alone the possibility of it supporting GNU/Linux. Here are some helpful links.
Linux Friendly hardware dealers
Sparc Systems
Phone: 25770864, 25796698
Email:
Linux Desktops
KDE
KDE is a powerful Free Software graphical desktop environment for Linux and Unix workstations. It combines ease of use, contemporary functionality, and outstanding graphical design with the technological superiority of the Unix operating system. The K Desktop Environment
- Please visit http://www.kde.org/ for more information
- Please visit http://www.kde.org/screenshots/ for some cool screenshots
- Please visit KDE-India to know more about KDE users in India
Gnome
GNOME offers an easy to understand desktop for your Linux or UNIX computer. Please refer to http://www.gnome.org/ for more information
XFCE
Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for Unix-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and easy to use.
- Please visit http://www.xfce.org/ for more information
- Please visit here for some cool screenshots
Applications that run under Linux
For a more comprehensive list of applications running on Linux please visit http://www.linux.org/apps/
Productivity Software
Databases
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
- Sqllite
- Firebird
Office Suites
- OpenOffice
- StarOffice
- Koffice
3D Graphics
Developer Tools
- GCC - GNU Compiler Collection, (includes C, C++, Java)
- OpenJDK - Java Development Kit
- Python - Included default with *buntu
Desktop Publishing
Audio Players
- XMMS - An audio player, that looks similar to Winamp
- amaroK - Audio player, with special support for your iPod too!
- Rhythmbox - The music management application for GNOME
- Banshee - Music management and playback for GNOME
- Songbird - Desktop media player mashed-up with the Web
Multimedia Player
Photos and Images
Image Viewing
- gThumb - An Image Viewer and Browser for the GNOME Desktop
- F-Spot - Full-featured personal photo management application for the GNOME desktop.
Image Editing
- GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program
- Blender - A professional quality 3-D image processing and animation tool
- Krita - A tool similar to GIMP - for the K users
Cameras and Scanners
- gphoto2 - Digital Camera software
- XSane - Graphical scanning front end
- Kooka - Scan and OCR suite for KDE
Internet Software
Browsers
Note: Please do not add Opera in this list. Opera is non-free
Email Clients
Instant Messenger
IRC Clients
Firewalls and Security
File Sharing
- aMule - An all-platform eMule-like P2P client
- Azureus - Java BitTorrent Client
- KTorrent - BitTorrent client for KDE
- Transmission-BitTorrent Client
- Deluge-BitTorrent client
Engineering Tools
Ecad
Robotics
For Windows Users
Applications in Linux based distribution / GNU/Linux equivalent to Windows
Format: Name_of_Windows_Application - Name(s)_of_Application
The applications listed here, offer same or nearly same functionality. However, do note that this list isn't comprehensive, just indicative. The list continues to change as and when inputs are made to this page.
- Windows Explorer (Explorer, Double click - My Computer) - Nautilus, Konqueror, Thunar
- Command / Cmd (Command Prompt) - gnome-terminal, konsole, xterm
- Notepad - KWrite, Kedit, Gedit
- Custom Text Editor (such as Edit Plus) - GNU Emacs, Vi, Kate, KWrite (many more...)
- Turbo C++ 3.0 Compiler - GCC
- Winamp / Windows Media Player - XMMS, Totem, Xine, wxvlc, mplayer, Amarok, Exaile, Banshee
- iTunes - amaroK, Banshee
- Microsoft Word - Open Office Word Processor
- Microsoft Excel - Open Office Spreadsheet
- Microsoft PowerPoint - Open Office Impress
- Microsoft Access - Open Office Base
- Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express - Evolution, Mozilla Thunderbird, KMail
- Adobe Photoshop - GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
- Adobe Reader - Xpdf, KPDF (more recently Okular), Evince
- Free Download Manager, Download Accelerator Plus - KGet, wget, curl
- Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, AIM - Kopete, Pidgin
- Calculator - Xcalc, Kcalc, gcalctool
- VB - Gambas
