_ __ _ | A / | / /___ ___ _____(_)____ | / |/ / __ \/ _ \/ ___/ / ___/ | / /| / /_/ / __(__ ) (__ ) | /_/ |_/\____/\___/____/_/____/ Informative Text File | | An Introduction to Linux | By: Noesis of Darktide.com and White Vampire | -------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS: 1. What is Linux? 2. The Maker of Linux 3. Advantages of Linux 4. Where do I get Linux 5. Linux Distributions 6. Installing Linux 7. Getting Documentation 8. What is Root? 9. Tasks of the Admin 10. X Windows 11. What are Window Managers? 12. Now What? (See the bottom for the proper proceder regarding the usage of this information) _______________________________________________________________________________ 1. What is Linux Linux (LIH-nucks) is an operating system that will run on just about anything, if you are willing to spend the time. It is ideal in professional networking environments and it will function quite well as an operating system on a workstation computer. Linux can be used in just about any situation if you have the ability to work with it, read, and learn how to use its wide capabilities. _______________________________________________________________________________ 2. The Creator of Linux Linus Torvalds initially created Linux when he was unsatisfied with the operating systems available. This project ended up getting contributions from various people he knew, and ended up getting more attention from other people around the Internet. Many, many people have contributed to Linux as we know it today. _______________________________________________________________________________ 3. Advantages of Linux There are many reasons why one would choose Linux over UNIX or other operating systems. -Linux is free: If you have the time, yoou can download Linux from the Internet. If not you can buy a box set at a cheap price (the cost is the box and book). -Full multitasking: Multiple tasks can bbe accomplished and devices can be accessed at the same time more efficiently then other operating systems (such as Windows). -The X Windows system: The X Windows sysstem is a graphics system for UNIX boxes. This powerful interface supports many applications and is the standard interface for the industry. -Virtual memory: Linux can use a portionn of your hard drive as virtual memory. Virtual memory increases the efficiency of your system by keeping active processes in RAM (Random Access Memory, for those who did not know) and placing less frequently used or inactive portions of memory on disk. Virtual memory also utilizes all your systems memory and does not allow memory segmentation to occur. -Shared libraries: Each application, insstead of keeping its own copy of software, shares a common library of subrountines it can call at runtime. By doing this, it saves a lot of hard drive space on your computer. -Open (Nonproprietary) source code: The source code is open. Other organizations, such as commercial companies, solo programmers, the GNU project, and (last but not least) hackers, can make software for Linux. -Speed: Linux is extremely fast, becausee the operating system is very efficient at managing resources such as memory, CPU power, and disk space. -Stability: Linux boxes are known for ruunning months or even years at a time without crashing, freezing, or having to be rebooted. _______________________________________________________________________________ 4. Where do I get Linux? The two most common ways to obtain Linux are downloading it free via the Internet or purchasing a CD with it on it. The best way to obtain it is up to you. When you purchase the CD chances are it will come with adequate documentation, however the documentation available via the Internet is quite well written. _______________________________________________________________________________ 5. Linux Distributions Since Linux has been growing so fast that many companies have started distributing it. Here is a list of some of the more common distributions: Red Hat Debain Linux Slackware S.u.S.e Open Linux Turbo Linux Corel Caldera (This vendor uses Red Hat's) MCC Interim Linux TAMA Linux LST SLS Linux, is Linux. Every distribution uses the Linux kernel and what it all comes down to it, is Linux. The main difference between distributions is the utilities included. Besides that, there are subtle differences. There is no better distribution, what is 'best' depends who you speak to. I myself would recommend Slackware. Some say Red Hat is good for beginners, nevertheless I never really found that to be the case. If you do not want to learn what you are doing and just want a GUI, Corel might be for you. _______________________________________________________________________________ 6. Installing Linux Installing Linux is not very hard if you read the documentation. There is an install.txt file, which takes you through the installation process systematically. It does not get too much easier than that. If you purchased Linux you should have documentation included. _______________________________________________________________________________ 7. Getting Documentation (Remember kids! RTFM!) You have two choices, you can use the extensive documentation provided with Linux and what is over the Internet, or you can purchase a book. Personally, I would recommend the pre-existing documentation. If you purchase a book, most anything published on O'Reilly is top quality. You can type 'man command' with just about any command and get extensive documentation on it. If you install the f package there will be extensive HOWTOs in /usr/doc/Linux-HOWTOs and /usr/doc/Linux-mini-HOWTOs. Even if you do not install the f package /usr/doc should have various documentation available there. Look into the Linux Documentation Project for more information. _______________________________________________________________________________ 8. What is Root? Root is the user in Linux or Unix systems with all of the power, typically the owner of the machine. This is also sometimes called superuser. The root account ignores permission bits and goes by the UID and GID 0 on the Unix system. The root user is always the system administrator. _______________________________________________________________________________ 9. Tasks of the Admin The task's a admin must take care of and do. Account Management Assisting Programmers Assisting users with problems Data backup and restoration Meetings, both formal and informal Performance monitoring and tuning Problem determination Software installation and configuration System automation System configuration and management System integrity and other security issues System startup and shutdown User Education These are only some the main tasks, the rest you need to decide for yourself! _______________________________________________________________________________ 10. X Windows The term 'X Windows' is typically used as a slang term to refer to XFree86 and related GUIs. XFree86 provides the backbone for the GUI in Linux. On top of XFree86, window managers run, this leads us to the next section (What are Window Managers?). _______________________________________________________________________________ 11. What are Window Managers? Window Managers fill out the necessities of the graphical user interface not provided by X servers. These make custom windows for your X windows. They make it so you are able to customize X windows, and move the windows (etc., etc.). Want to try X Windows with out a window manager? Make a copy of your .xinitrc file in your home directory and using your favorite text editor create a new one with just one line: exec xterm When you re-start X, you will get a xterm window, but you will not be able to resize or move it. To quit this X session, either type the word "exit" at the command line of the xterm terminal window or use the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace key combination to kill your X session. Scary scene, isn't it? Now set it back the way it was before you give yourself a heart attack! _______________________________________________________________________________ 12. Now What? Now that you have an idea on what Linux is about, and would be able to understand a book on Linux, you should keep reading and learning about the operating system. The more you read the more you learn. _______________________________________________________________________________ Proper proceder regarding the personal/public usage of this material --------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was written by Outkast of Darktide, Inc. (www.darktide.com). Permission to use and/or distrobute this document is granted as long as it is not modified from its original version and the proper credit is given. Proper credit consists of a link back to Darktide (www.darktide.com) and the author(s) name next to the article at all times.