Portal:Linux
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Linux
Linux (commonly pronounced /ˈlɪnəks/ in English; variants exist) or GNU/Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system. Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free software and open source development: typically all underlying source code can be freely modified, used, and redistributed by anyone.
Selected article
Ubuntu (pronounced /uːˈbuːntuː/) is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution. It is named after the South African ethical ideology Ubuntu ("humanity towards others") and is distributed as free and open source software. Ubuntu provides an up-to-date, stable operating system for the average user, with a strong focus on usability and ease of installation. Ubuntu has been selected by readers of desktoplinux.com as the most popular Linux distribution for the desktop, claiming approximately 30% of Linux desktop installations in both 2006 and 2007.
Ubuntu is composed of multiple software packages of which the vast majority is distributed under a free software license (also known as open source). The main license used is the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) which, along with the GNU Lesser General Public License (GNU LGPL), explicitly declare that users are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change, develop and improve the software. Ubuntu is sponsored by the UK based company Canonical Ltd., owned by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. By keeping Ubuntu free and open source, Canonical is able to utilize the talents of community developers in Ubuntu's constituent components. Instead of selling Ubuntu for profit, Canonical creates revenue by selling technical support and from creating several services tied to Ubuntu.
Canonical endorses and provides support for three additional Ubuntu-derived operating systems: Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Ubuntu Server Edition. There are several other derivative operating systems including local language and hardware-specific versions.
Selected biography
Andrew Keith Paul Morton (born 1959 in England) is an Australian software engineer, best known as one of the lead developers of the Linux kernel. He currently maintains a patchset known as the mm tree, which contains not yet sufficiently tested patches that might later be accepted into the official Linux tree maintained by Linus Torvalds.
Since August 2006, Morton has been employed by Google but will continue his current work in maintaining the kernel. [1] [2]
Andrew Morton delivered the keynote speech at the 2004 Ottawa Linux Symposium. He is also a featured speaker at MontaVista Software's Vision 2007 Conference. [3]
Selected quote
| “ | ...you might as well skip the Xmas celebration completely, and instead sit in front of your linux computer playing with the all-new-and-improved linux kernel version. | ” |
| — Linus Torvalds, |
In the news
- 2009-12-03 Linux kernel 2.6.32 released.
- 2009-11-28 Linux Mint 8 "Helena" released.
- 2009-11-17 Fedora 12 "Constantine" released.
- 2009-11-11 OpenSUSE 11.2 released.
- 2009-10-29 Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" released.
- 2009-09-09 Linux kernel 2.6.31 released.
- 2009-06-10 Linux kernel 2.6.30 released.
- 2009-05-26 Linux Mint 7 "Gloria" released.
- 2009-04-23 Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" released.
- 2009-03-23 Linux kernel 2.6.29 released.
- 2008-12-25 Linux kernel 2.6.28 released.
- 2008-11-25 Fedora 10 "Cambridge" released.
Selected picture
The KDE 4 desktop environment.
Did you know?
- ... that Linux was started in 1991 by Linus Torvalds?
- ... that there are hundreds of Linux distributions?
- ... that the Linux kernel is a monolithic kernel?
- ... that Linux was inspired by MINIX?
- ... that Linux supports over 15 hardware architectures?
- ... that the Linux kernel is coded in C?
- ... that the Linux kernel is licensed under the GPL?
- ... that the Linux kernel uses an 1:1 thread model?
Categories
Topics
Linux gaming - Linux kernel - Linux kernel portability and supported architectures - Desktop Linux - History of Linux - Linux adoption - Tux -- Linux distribution - Embedded Linux - Linux devices - Linux Foundation - Linux User Group
Technology: ext3 • ext4 • Netfilter • Kernel-based Virtual Machine • Filesystem in Userspace • Netlink • CFQ • Completely Fair Scheduler • dm-crypt
People: Linus Torvalds • Andrew Morton • Greg Kroah-Hartman • Rusty Russell • Alan Cox • Jens Axboe • H. Peter Anvin • Theodore Ts'o • Harald Welte
Companies: Canonical Ltd. • Red Hat • Novell • Mandriva
Related portals
WikiProjects
Things to do
- Improve this portal.
- Join the Linux WikiProject.
- Add the {{User Linux}} infobox to your user page.
- Join ##linux and #wikipedia on freenode.
