Once upon a time,Linux had a command-line interface, packages that had to be downloaded one by one, and devices that had to be configured manually before you got your Linux machine working. Then Linux grew tremendously,acquiring new user friendly features every time a new distribution rolled out from garages and college students groups.Pretty soon these garages and student groups became big corporationsToday,these corporations bundle Linux in fancy packages ,with slickly designed interfaces and easy installation options to enhance its appeal.
These days Linux isn't targeted at just programming geeks.Desktop users are of vital importance to the Linux community ,since they form more than 80 percent of the total number of PC users.the desktop user today needs ease of use, productivity and ,of course ,games and multimedia capabilities.
At the same time, users don't want to feel isolated ,and therefore require collaboration and networking tools that enable communication with portable devices such as digital cameras ,personal digital assistants,MP3 players and so on.
Most Linux distributions try to answer these needs,and constantly redefine their packages to make them more user-friendly.
What is the Linux kernel ?
The Linux kernel is the core application code that lets the programs running on the top of it interface with the system hardware .In other words,it acts as a controlling layer between programs and the hardware ,and manages the system memory ,devices, display and the distribution of processor time between applications.
It's the Linux kernel that translates your keystrokes into a language understood by the applications and the system hardware.The kernel does this by using small additives called kernel modules(like drivers).The linux kernel is extremely flexible and can be optimised and recompiled for a particular kind of system hardware. Generally, odd number kernels denote that the kernel is in the testing phase while even numbered kernels are supposed to be stable.
Using kernel modules makes the kernel easier to port to other platforms, as all the hardware specific code can be confined to the kernel modules only. That's why Linux is one of the most ported operating systems and is available for Intel, Sparc ,MIPS, PowerPC and various other platforms.