Things you should know about linux
Hello fledglings!!! Welcome to the world of Linux. Before you start using linux here are a few things that you should know about linux
Linux is leading their rivals in almost all categories like Server, Super Computers, Smart Phones etc... But one category in which Linux lags is Desktop/Laptop. One of the major reason for this is due to some myths surrounding Linux. Lets see the myths and find out whether there is any truth to these myths.
Myth 1: Linux is command oriented and only an expert can use it
Reality: It is always good to know linux commands which gives you more power over the operating system. But there is absolutely no need to know the commands to use Linux operating system. In fact using most of the Linux distros under Desktop category, like Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora etc.. are as easy as operating a Windows machine with similar or better user interfaces.
Myth 2: Linux is open source so there is no support
Reality: Linux being open source doesn't mean that there is no support for the OS. You can find a large number of online communities offering solutions to your queries, which is far better than services offered by proprietary software companies. If you are not satisfied with that, there are companies like Redhat and Novell who provides supports commercially.
Myth 3: There is no quality software available for Linux
Reality: If a software is developed by a bunch of open source enthusiasts, it doesn't mean that they are of bad quality. Infact these softwares are developed by some of the most talented programmers and there are giant corporations like IBM, HP, Redhat who are continuously contributing to the developments. For almost all software available in Windows or Mac there are alternatives of good quality in Linux.
Myth 4: Installing software is very difficult in Linux
Reality: Installing a software in linux is as simple as installing in Widows or Mac OS. Most of the software packages are available in binaries, you just have to double click the package and follow the onscreen instruction. Or you can use the package management tool like yum (Redhat) and apt-get (debian) available in the OS which installs the packages and their corresponding dependencies.
Myth 5: Linux is not good for gaming
Reality: When it comes to gaming Windows leads Mac OS and Linux on both quality and quantity. This statement would have been true a few years back. Now more and more games are being developed for Linux users and most of the games that worked only in Windows works flawlessly in Linux by making use of softwares like wine and PlayOnLinux. On top of that video game giants Valve developed and released a steam client for Linux platform in 2013 and build SteamOS based on linux, which is the primary operating system for gaming cosole named Steam Engine developed by Valve
UPDATE: November 2015 list of 500 best super computers include 494 (98.8%)Super Computers running Linux O.S family and 6 (1.2%) Unix.
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| Tux - Linux Mascot |
- Linux is *nix - Linux or should we say GNU/Linux, is an Unix-like (referred as *nix) operating system. The core of linux is it's kernel (Linux Kernel) developed by Linus Torvalds. There are a lot of operating system based on the LinuX Kernel and we call them Linux Distributions or Linux distros.
- Linux is FOSS - Linux is assembled based on Free and Open Source Software model for development and distribution. To be simple, this means users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. The term Free has nothing to do with price. When you hear Free Software you should think about freedom, as in free speech and not free meals. That doesn't mean you have to pay for purchasing Linux Operating Systems. Almost all Linux distributions like Fedora, CentOS, Ubuntu, etc... are available for free downloads. But there are companies like RedHat who charge a nominal fee for product support for their enterprise products. But again this is very small when compared to what proprietary OS vendors charge.
- Linux is reliable - Linux is the trusted Operating System of the world's leading scientific communities, Military, Government, Education and Business establishment. In the latest (November 2013) list of top 500 Super Computers linux is leading the other Operating Systems by a huge margin.Out of the 500 Super Computers 482 runs on linux i.e 96.4 % of the total share. And the remaining 18 comprises of Unix (11), Mixed (4), Widows (2), BSD based (1) Operating Systems.Click here and select the category operating system family for more detailed analysis
- Linux is everywhere - Linux is the most used Operating System whether it is in earth or in space!!! From Super Computers to Desktop, Mobile Phone(Android) to Robots or be it for mind blowing animations in movies like Gravity, popularity of Linux is increasing steadily. A lion's share of the worlds most popular websites, like google and facebook, are powered by Linux.
- Linux is case-sensitive - One thing you should remember while using linux is that it is case sensitive. For a machine that knows only 0s and 1s (binary system), a and A are entirely different entities. Similarly for Linux OS a and A entirely different things. The gives you a lot of freedom. So next time remember README.txt and readme.txt are 2 different files.
- In linux, everything is file - This is one of the philosophies linux has inherited from Unix. i.e. On a UNIX system, everything is a file; if something is not a file, it is a process. Yeah you heard it right. In Linux there is no difference between a file and a directory, since directory is just another file containing the names of other files. Similar is the case of hardware devices. Whether it is your hard disk or your monitor, linux identifies them as files called special files. Not only everything is a file, the main configuration files are all simple plain text. That is why linux is highly customizable
Linux is leading their rivals in almost all categories like Server, Super Computers, Smart Phones etc... But one category in which Linux lags is Desktop/Laptop. One of the major reason for this is due to some myths surrounding Linux. Lets see the myths and find out whether there is any truth to these myths.
Myth 1: Linux is command oriented and only an expert can use it
Reality: It is always good to know linux commands which gives you more power over the operating system. But there is absolutely no need to know the commands to use Linux operating system. In fact using most of the Linux distros under Desktop category, like Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora etc.. are as easy as operating a Windows machine with similar or better user interfaces.
Myth 2: Linux is open source so there is no support
Reality: Linux being open source doesn't mean that there is no support for the OS. You can find a large number of online communities offering solutions to your queries, which is far better than services offered by proprietary software companies. If you are not satisfied with that, there are companies like Redhat and Novell who provides supports commercially.
Myth 3: There is no quality software available for Linux
Reality: If a software is developed by a bunch of open source enthusiasts, it doesn't mean that they are of bad quality. Infact these softwares are developed by some of the most talented programmers and there are giant corporations like IBM, HP, Redhat who are continuously contributing to the developments. For almost all software available in Windows or Mac there are alternatives of good quality in Linux.
Myth 4: Installing software is very difficult in Linux
Reality: Installing a software in linux is as simple as installing in Widows or Mac OS. Most of the software packages are available in binaries, you just have to double click the package and follow the onscreen instruction. Or you can use the package management tool like yum (Redhat) and apt-get (debian) available in the OS which installs the packages and their corresponding dependencies.
Myth 5: Linux is not good for gaming
Reality: When it comes to gaming Windows leads Mac OS and Linux on both quality and quantity. This statement would have been true a few years back. Now more and more games are being developed for Linux users and most of the games that worked only in Windows works flawlessly in Linux by making use of softwares like wine and PlayOnLinux. On top of that video game giants Valve developed and released a steam client for Linux platform in 2013 and build SteamOS based on linux, which is the primary operating system for gaming cosole named Steam Engine developed by Valve
UPDATE: November 2015 list of 500 best super computers include 494 (98.8%)Super Computers running Linux O.S family and 6 (1.2%) Unix.
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