This is a haphazard page of notes, thoughts, rants and mumblings related to learning Linux, the other operating system. I'm learning, so don't expect any technical wizardry here! :-)

What is Linux?

Linux is a free version of the Unix operating system written to run on Intel-based PCs (i.e., IBM-compatibles) by Linus Torvalds while a graduate student at, I believe, the University of Helsinki. It is maintained by a world-wide group of unpaid computer programmers and is part of what is referred to as open source software. This means that the source code (the nuts and bolts of machine language) are freely available to the world and may be modified by any capable individual as they see fit.

Linux, like Unix, was designed from the ground-up to be a secure, multi-user/multi-tasking OS. While not truly easy to learn right out of the box, it is extremely powerful and stable (i.e., it rarely crashes).

Unix (or variants such as Linux, FreeBSD, etc.) are, in fact, what most Internet servers (the computers that "serve" web pages, for example) are running.

Why Linux?

Besides the BeOS and Windows, Linux (or Unix variants like FreeBSD) is the only OS that I know of that will run on Intel-based PCs.

If you are not up for the idea of buying a new computer every year, Linux will run comfortably on something as old as a 486 PC, although the graphical user interface may not be as fast as you'd like. I actually ran it on an old 386SX with, I think, 16 meg of RAM. In text mode it did admirably; I could not run the X-Window interface (the GUI, or graphical user interface) on that box because it had a very old video system that was not supported.

I was at a CompUSA store recently and happened to glance at the box for Windows 2000. It requires, I believe, a minimum of 64 meg of RAM to run; more is recommended. A large disk drive (at least 6 gigabytes) is also recommended, as well as some minimum level of Pentium processor (433 mHz? - I forget). My point is that we're being led down the primrose path of bigger and better and faster, year by year. Most of us don't need that or want that.

There is also a whole issue of open standards versus proprietary standards, which I don't want to go into in detail. Suffice it to say that, historically anyway, Microsoft wants everybody to do stuff their way, contrary to whatever fuzzies their advertising may convey. With Linux, one has choice.

Why NOT Linux

Although Linux is getting easier and easier to install, with many improvements in the desktop interface, it can still be a little daunting. Not all of one's favorite programs are available on this alternative operating system. There are still issues with supported hardware (as I discovered when installing it on a low-price 433 box which was originally built specifically for Windows). The other principal hurdle that is keeping Linux from becoming more mainstream is still the relatively smaller number of applications to run on it (compared to the enormous number of programs written for Windows). This disparity is gradually changing. For example, Star Office, bought out by Sun Microsystems, offers a free office suite that rivals Microsoft Office (and, in fact, exceeds it in some respects).

Devices and File Systems

Coming from the world of DOS/Windows, with its drive letters, like A: and C:, Linux presents a very different world. There are no drive letters. One does not just insert a floppy disk, for example, and double-click on its icon. That "device" must be "mounted" in order to do anything with it. Likewise, when one is done and wants to remove it, the device must be "unmounted." This takes a little getting used to. :-)

Permissions: the Great Trap

Since Linux/Unix was designed as multi-user system, there is a whole issue of users and file permissions to get used to in this new landscape. A Linux system has a "superuser" (the system administrator, as it were), who is called "root." This user has ultimate power to do literally anything to the system -- including causing it to self-destruct.

"Regular" users, most often known by something resembling their own name, have limited privileges and cannot generally mess with anything on the system except their very own stuff. Other users' files are generally either inaccessible or invisible to a particular user.

It's recommended that one not run one's system as "root" for everyday use -- inadvertent damage can be caused, as well as potential security "holes."

The most common glitch I've run into so far is trying to do something on the system, working as a normal user (me), rather than as " root", and finding that it doesn't work. I fume and swear, only to finally realize that I don't have permission, as "me", to do that. I need to log off the system and log back in as root to do system maintenance kinds of things. This can be frustrating. However, it makes for a system that is, overall, more secure, especially if one is online a good deal of the time (or permanently).