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Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator Certification
This article is mainly written for the people who are not familiar with the Linux operating system. I hope this article will help to understand the history behind the UNIX/LINUX Operating system. Before getting into the topic, we will see some important points of the Linux system:
· Most of the computers are using Linux as an operating system as it is a Command line interface.
· LINUX is very popular and stable because computers running LINUX almost never crash.
· LINUX can smoothly manage a large amount of data as it is very efficient.
History of LINUX operating system:
The UNIX story starts at AT & T Bell laboratory in 1969. Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie ported a game, known as “Space travel” in Multics project. Thompson wrote a simple file system for porting a game. In 1973, The UNIX was rewritten in C by Thompson and Ritchie. In 1979, portable version of UNIX (Version 7) was released for general use.
In 1991, Linux Torvalds who is a student of Helsinki University developed a UNIX like a system called LINUX, to run on the Intel microprocessor. The Linux distributions, developed from 1993 are based on Torvalds kernel. Different versions of Linux distributions include Red Hat, Slackware, Caldera, Debian, Mandrake and so on.
The Linux can be downloaded at free of charge. Today, LINUX has become fastest growing part of the UNIX operating system.
OPERATING SYSTEM OF A LINUX:
As we all know that the operating system is an interface between the user and computer hardware. The operating system is a collection of software which manages computer hardware and provides services for the programs.
Linux is a layered operating system. The services provided to the operating system in Linux are the innermost layer called hardware.
The “Kernel” which is the operating system in Linux interacts directly with the hardware and provides services to all the user programs. For the user programs, it is enough to know how to interact with the kernel and no need to know anything about the hardware.
Linux is a multi-user Multitasking operating system, which means many users can log in with each running multi programs at a time. The kernel will keep each process and used separately and manages the hardware of the system along with CPU, I/O devices.
As we know that the source code of the Linux is freely available, means anyone can add features and corrects the deficiencies of a Linux source code. Therefore, LINUX is known as a free open-source operating system.
The main important components of the Linux operating system are:
1. Kernel:
The kernel is the core part of the Linux operating system, as it manages the hardware devices of a PC and keeps track of the disks, printers, tapes and many other devices. The latest versions of the kernel can be downloaded from http://www.kernel.org.
2. Shell:
The Shell is an interface between user and kernel, known as Command Interpreter. Even though it is only a utility program and is not a proper part of the system, it is a part which user sees. The shell translates our requests into actions by listening to the terminal on the part of a kernel.
The shell is divided into two forms – Command line shells and Graphical shells. The command line shell provides Command line interfaces and a Graphical line shell provides Graphical user interfaces. The Graphical shell performs operations slower than the Command line shells.
3. Hardware:
The hardware layer of the Linux operating system includes peripheral devices like RAM, CPU and so on.
It is easy to remember the architecture of the Linux system as a series of concentric circles. The innermost layer is the hardware and kernel including with the next layer as a shell and the outermost layer is the Application programs and utilities.
Features of the Linux Operating system:
1. Portable and Open source:
The Linux kernel supports all types of hardware installations and can work with different types of hardware. The source code of the Linux is also available free.
2. Multi-user multiprogramming:
As already said, the Linux operating system is a multi-user and multiprogramming system.
3. Security:
The Linux operating system provides security systems for the users by using authentication features such as password protection, encryption of data, controlling access to particular files and so on.
4. Hierarchical File system:
The Linux operating system provides a standard structure of the file where system or user files are arranged.
Advantages of Linux operating system:
Low cost:
There is no need to spend more time and money for the license of Linux as it is available for free and software has GNU (General Public License).
Stability:
There is no need of rebooting the system periodically to maintain the performance.Performance:
Linux can easily handle the bulk number of users simultaneously.Flexibility:
It is easy to save the disk space by installing only selected and wanted components.Compatibility:
Linux can run all UNIX software packages.Applications of Linux operating system:
Due to its reliability and stability, many companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon and so on are using Linux system administration servers. Some of the major application programs that use Linux are:
- Abiword
- Firefox
- Apache
- Gnumeric
- GQview
- Gedit
- PHP
- Python
- My SQL
- Open office
- Rosegarden
Some of the electronic devices which are using Linux are:
- Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and 12
- HP Mini 1000
- Google Android
- Sony Reader
- Lenovo Ipad
- TiVo Digital video recorder.
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