Linux is most popular platforms ,Android, powdered by the Linux operating System. linux is the Family of the Open-source Unix-like Operating System based on Linux Kernel, an Operating System kernel first released on September 17, 1981 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is packaged in Linux Distribution.
The Linux operating system comprises several different pieces:
Bootloader – The software that manages the boot process of your computer. For most users, this will simply be a splash screen that pops up and eventually goes away to boot into the operating system.
Kernel – This is the one piece of the whole that is actually called ?Linux?. The kernel is the core of the system and manages the CPU, memory, and peripheral devices. The kernel is the lowest level of the OS.
Init system – This is a sub-system that bootstraps the user space and is charged with controlling daemons. One of the most widely used init systems is systemd? which also happens to be one of the most controversial. It is the init system that manages the boot process, once the initial booting is handed over from the bootloader (i.e., GRUB or GRand Unified Bootloader).
Daemons – These are background services (printing, sound, scheduling, etc.) that either start up during boot or after you log into the desktop.
Graphical server – This is the sub-system that displays the graphics on your monitor. It is commonly referred to as the X server or just X.
Desktop environment – This is the piece that the users actually interact with. There are many desktop environments to choose from (GNOME, Cinnamon, Mate, Pantheon, Enlightenment, KDE, Xfce, etc.). Each desktop environment includes built-in applications (such as file managers, configuration tools, web browsers, and games).
Applications – Desktop environments do not offer the full array of apps. Just like Windows and macOS, Linux offers thousands upon thousands of high-quality software titles that can be easily found and installed. Most modern Linux distributions (more on this below) include App Store-like tools that centralize and simplify application installation. For example, Ubuntu Linux has the Ubuntu Software Center (a rebrand of GNOME Software? Figure 1) which allows you to quickly search among the thousands of apps and install them from one centralized location.
History:
The Unix operating system was conceived and implemented in 1969, at AT&T's Bell Labs, in the United States by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna. First released in 1971, Unix was written entirely in assembly language, as was common practice at the time. In 1973 in a key, pioneering approach, it was rewritten in the C programming language by Dennis Ritchie (with the exception of some hardware and I/O routines). The availability of a high-level language implementation of Unix made its porting to different computer platforms easier.
Linus Torvalds has stated that if the GNU kernel had been available at the time (1991), he would not have decided to write his own. Although not released until 1992, due to legal complications, development of 386BSD, from which NetBSD, OpenBSD and FreeBSD descended, predated that of Linux. Torvalds has also stated that if 386BSD had been available at the time, he probably would not have created Linux
Installation using Virtual Box VMWARE:
Requirements:
Good internet connection
At least 4GB RAM
At least 12GB of free space
Steps:
1. Download the VIRTUAL BOX from original ORACLE VIRTUAL BOX site. You can refer below link
https://www.virtualbox.org/
2. Install Linux Using Virtual Box
Use the .iso file or ISO file that can be downloaded from the internet and start the virtual box.
Here we need to allocate RAM to virtual OS. It should be 2 GB as per minimum requirement.
Choose an option under Create a virtual disk.
Choose a type of storage on physical hard disk. And choose the disk size(min 12 GB as per requirement)
Click on create option and then click on the START button to start the virtual box and browse to the location of the .iso file of the OS.
Now Linux OS will start, Click on install option.
Select the drive for completing the OS installation. Select “Erase Disk and install Ubuntu” in case you want to replace the existing OS otherwise select “Something else” option and click INSTALL NOW.
Click on Continue.
Choose a username and password.
You are almost done. It should take 10-15 minutes to complete the installation. Once the installation finishes, restart the system.
NOTE: In case of any issue close and again start the virtual box.
The Linux operating systems now offer millions of programs/applications to choose from, most of them free to install! Linux is also the OS of choice for Server environments due to its stability and reliability (Mega-companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Google use Linux for their Servers). It proves to be a good choice for everyone.
Uses:
Linux is simply a computer operating system, so its uses are as diverse as any other. It is popular in certain areas, though:
Web Serving Nearly 60% of all websites on the Internet are run using an Open Source program named "Apache." Most often, it's run on Linux. If you've ever surfed the web, you've (indirectly) used Linux!
Networking Linux is based on Unix, an operating system developed in the 1970s and which is still used heavily today, especially to run the Internet. Linux is used both to run parts of the Internet, as well as to run small and large networks in coporations, offices and homes.
Databases Since Linux is stable, secure and robust, it's perfect for storing huge databases of information.
Desktops People like us use Linux on our home and work computers, because of its stability and flexibility.
Scientific Computing Many dozens (or even hundreds or thousands) of Linux systems can be clustered together to work on a single task (like weather forecasting, physics simulations, computer graphics rendering, etc.)A large collection of inexpensive PCs running Linux can be just as powerful as a mainframe computer, but at a tenth of the cost.
Home Computing And, of course, people like us, and people like you, can and do use Linux on a daily basis at home and in the office!
Features:
Multiuser capability: Multiple users can access the same system resources like memory, hard disk, etc. But they have to use different terminals to operate.
Multitasking: More than one function can be performed simultaneously by dividing the CPU time intelligently.
Portability: Portability doesn't mean it is smaller in file size or can be carried in pen drives or memory cards. It means that it support different types of hardware.
Security: It provides security in three ways namely authenticating (by assigning password and login ID), authorization (by assigning permission to read, write and execute) and encryption (converts file into an unreadable format).
Live CD/USB: Almost all Linux distros provide live CD/USB so that users can run/try it without installing it.
Graphical User Interface (X Window system): Linux is command line based OS but it can be converted to GUI based by installing packages.
Support's customized keyboard: As it is used worldwide, hence supports different languages keyboards.
Application support: It has its own software repository from where users can download and install many applications.
File System: Provides hierarchical file system in which files and directories are arranged.
Open Source: Linux code is freely available to all and is a community based development project.
Advantages:
Stability and efficiency: Because Linux was developed from Unix, Linux and Unix have many similarities. Not only the user interface and operation methods, but Linux also inherits the superior stability and efficiency of Unix. For servers using Linux as the operating system, it is quite common to run for one year without downtime.
Low configuration requirements: Linux has very low hardware requirements. It can run smoothly on computers and Linux laptops a few years ago. With Windows, you need to constantly upgrade the machine’s hardware.
Free or a small fee: Linux is based on the GPL (General Public License), so anyone can use or modify the original code for free. Only a small fee is required when choosing a Linux distribution made by some vendors. Of course, it is still much less expensive than Windows.
Strong support: a large number of Linux enthusiasts will exchange discussions, and develop and share some good software, with a very open use atmosphere.
Security: Linux has considerable user and community support, so it can quickly find system vulnerabilities and quickly release security patches.
Disadvantages:
There is no specific support vendor: Because the software on Linux is distributed for free, naturally there is no support such as after-sales service. But the good news is that as long as we search carefully, we can always find a solution to the problem: D
The graphical interface is not good enough: this is probably the most important reason affecting the popularity of the Linux desktop. But over time, Desktop environments (Gnome, KDE, XFCE) have become more useful and better. At present, every major Linux distribution can be used as a desktop computer.
Source: Wikipedia, educba
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