Linux is a free UNIX workalike operating system. It comes with full source code and oodles of UNIX freeware including the GNU C (and C++) compiler, Perl and Tcl/Tk.

Linux runs on a variety of computer architectures, including ARM, SPARC, Alpha, PowerPC, M68k, MIPS, and Intel. Linux is free on the Internet and you can purchase CD-ROMs with Linux for about US $30-$50. Major companies are now endorsing Linux as a platform for their wares, including IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics, Oracle, Informix, and Sybase.

Linux is used by a number of companies, primarily as a server, and by countless individuals, often as a home UNIX system.

Linux is a UNIX-like operating system originally developed by Linus Torvalds, then a University student in Finland. Linux has its roots in Minix, an educational version of UNIX developed by Andrew Tannenbaum. As an interesting aside, we might be talking about Minix today if not for the licensing that Minix required. Few people have heard about Minux today, far less than have heard about Linux.

Early on, Linux grew as a cheap UNIX that ran on Intel-based PC equipment. At the time, you could purchase UNIX for PCs, but at a high cost. I remember paying $1500 for a developer's version of Interactive UNIX.

To make things confusing, there's more than one version of Linux. Technically, Linux is really just an OS kernel, produced under the direction of Linus Torvalds. But, Linux usually comes with a set of utility, desktop, and server programs, including networking suites, Web servers, file systems, compilers, and a whole lot more. For example, Linux includes the XFree86 version of the X Window System, the GNU C compiler GCC, and code from quite a lot of other sources.

A number of organizations, some commercial and some volunteer, collect together versions of all these programs with the Linux kernel, test that everything works together, and then release a what is called a distribution of Linux.

Most distributions are more or less equal. The main differences lie in platform support, administration, and installation. For example, the PowerPC distribution, as you'd guess, focuses on Linux for PowerPC platforms.

The main Linux distributions include:

Debian
Kondara MNU/Linux (now defunct, alas), and my review of Kondara, goro-goro!
Linux Mandrake
LinuxPPC (PowerPC)
RedHat, main distribution in the US
Slackware (see also Linux Configuration and Installation which includes Slackware.
Stampede
SuSE
TurboLinux

Linux runs on a number of hardware architectures. By far the main platform, though, is Intel systems. Linux supports most Intel PC hardware.

Linux supports a wide variety of older hardware and can run fine on 386s and 486s you may have lying around. If you have an old PC that's underused, that's a good candidate for Linux.

But, be sure to check the hardware compatibility lists, though. Linux does not support all hardware. Most hardware vendors still focus only on the Windows market, because that's where the main volume remains. So, with Linux, you must wait until someone writes a driver for the hardware.

In general, the hardware that is most used (and often cheapest) is supported best.


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