...........My
Linux Links...........
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About my site |
My Fave Links |
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My hope is, this site will be a useful recourse for those interested in moving to Linux. I have been using linux software as my primary desktop, for over twelve months now and will not by choice go back to any microsoft product. I believe opensource software is the best option for me and am therefore dedicating this site to the promotion of Linux. |
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A bit about Linux |
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Linus Torvalds first developed Linux in August 1991 At that time the operating system basically consisted of Linus' kernel and some GNU tools. It was not to stay this way for long, with the help of others Linus added more tools and applications. In time individuals, groups of university students and companies began building and distributing versions of Linux, adding their own choice of packages around Linus' kernel. The concept of the Linux Distribution was here. This may be the most remarkable hacker project in history, an entire clone of Unix for 386, 486 and Pentium micros, distributed for free with sources over the net (ports to Alpha and Sparc and many other machines are also in use). |
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Torvalds continues to direct the development of the kernel, while other subsystems such as the GNU components continue to be developed separately (Linux kernel development is not part of the GNU Project). Other groups and companies combine and distribute these components with additional application software in the form of Linux distributions. Today Linux is a multi million dollar business, powering everything from your mobile phone, Television set-top boxes,PDA, laptop, desktop / workstation, small business server, enterprise server and many more applications. Linux is increasingly common as an operating system for supercomputers. In the 2005 Top500 list of supercomputers, the two fastest supercomputers in the world ran Linux. Of the 500 systems, 371 (74.2%) ran some version of Linux, including seven of the top ten. |
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The Sony PlayStation 3 video game console, due to launch on November 11, 2006 in Japan and November 17, 2006 worldwide, will run Linux by default. Sony has previously released a PS2 Linux do-it-yourself kit for their PlayStation 2 video game console. Game developers like Atari and id Software have released titles to the Linux desktop. Linux Game Publishing also produces games for Linux, licensing and porting them from their Windows source code. |
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Boxed versions are available for purchase from many companies as well as free downloads from many individuals and companies via the internet. I recently typed "linux" into my favorite search engine. Results 1 -10 of about 811,000,000 for linuxââ¬ÂÂ. Try it yourself and have a look around. |
News,
New Releases, Updates
Samba asks Novell to scuttle Microsoft dealFriday November 17, 2006 (06:01 PM GMT) The Novell/Microsoft agreement has upset and offended quite a few members of the free software community. The Samba team has issued a statement asking Novell to undo the patent agreement, and the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) is negotiating with Novell on their behalf. |
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Ballmer: Linux users owe MicrosoftSaturday November 18, 2006 (02:54 PM GMT) In comments confirming the open-source community's suspicions, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Thursday declared his belief that the Linux operating system infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property. |
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Builder AU: Making Manpages Work for You
Nov 17, 2006, 11 :30
UTC (0
Talkback[s]) (850 reads) "Once upon a time, Linux was a hacker's operating system, in the sense that only the most dedicated and enthusiastic computer geeks had the motivation and skill to make sense of it and make it work for them. That has been changing for several years, and now it's entirely possible for casual computer users to make the transition from Microsoft Windows without undue difficulty. In fact, it is possible now for someone to make the switch to Linux and never even have to use the command line interface. GUI utilities and configuration tools are available from installation onward, and in the case of some operations--like using the graphical interfaces for software management programs--basic system functionality is made even easier to use than equivalent tasks in Microsoft Windows..." |
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The Linux Extremist: The First Prophet of LinuxJul 17, 2006, 22 :45 UTC (2 Talkback[s]) (2378 reads) "My favourite science fiction author is Frank Herbert, the creator of the Dune series of novels. The philosophical themes he embeds in his intriguing stories are most compelling: three of most important of these are, first, we should not allow computers to do our thinking for us, and second, conformity is to be avoided, and finally, predictablity is death. "In the panoply of Herbert's work, these themes manifest themselves in a tale in which humanity has narrowly avoided subjugation by machines by invoking an anti-thinking machine jihad, and avoiding conformity, predictability and extinction through a 'Scattering,' after the collapse of an enforced Peace in a single Empire has caused the energies of humanity to burst out across the universe..." |
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My thoughts on Linux,(so far). |
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In my experience it takes a little more effort to successfully set up a linux distribution but the time spent is worth it for the end result.
The variety and amount of software available is amazing. On Windows, you were probably used to looking for a program on the Internet, downloading the program with its setup.exe file, checking it for viruses, clicking on “I agree” licensing agreements, most of which when you read them don't make sense to the normal user anyway. Then finally, installing the program in something like C:\Program Files.
This process is greatly simplified with Linux.
On most distributions, downloading, installing and uninstalling programs and applications is done with a single add/remove programs utility.
With this program, you will find literally thousands of useful, free programs that are already listed, sorted and described for you. You need only select/deselect the programs you want to install or uninstall, and the changes are done for you. The download, install and set-up will be done automatically. You do not have to worry about where the program is being installed, the add/remove programs utility takes care of this for you.
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Yast Screenshots, as used by Suse, click an image to view. Yum Extender, available in many distributions. Add/Remove Applications, Screenshots of the utility provided with Ubuntu. With the wealth of free programs and support for java, mp3, flash and macromedia there isn't much you can't do. The Linux Desktop There are two main choices when it comes to your new desktop, This site, my first effort, was created using open office, which comes with most linux distributions. It is an open source alternative to microsoft office and includes a fully featured office suite. To find out more about Open Office, have a look - HERE
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I would be glad of input from others wishing to contribute to this site.
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These are but a few examples of the famous Penguin, to see some more and find out how he came to be the Linux Logo, have a look - History of Tux |
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