| Of all the open source operating systems, | | | | wants to put together his or her own Linux |
| LINUX heralded an era of freedom from | | | | distribution is free to do so, and we know of |
| licensed softwares and signalled the end of | | | | more than 200 different Linux distributions |
| the road for monopoly softwares from the | | | | that fill special "niche" purposes. But we |
| giant Microsoft. With the arrival of LINUX | | | | advise new users to stick with one of the |
| and its many versions, users got themselves | | | | five or six most popular general-purpose |
| liberated from the shackles of Windows | | | | Linux distributions until they know a little |
| operating systems and soon found that they | | | | about what Linux can and can't do. You can |
| could edit and tinker with LINUX to generate | | | | get Linux from a number of online software |
| new versions of the famous OS. Linux has | | | | repositories, including the official Web |
| gained an unexpectedly large amount of | | | | sites for each distribution. It helps to have |
| interest in the home market over the past two | | | | a fast connection and a CD burner so you can |
| years. This could be due to any number of | | | | quickly download an .ISO image of the |
| reasons including, it's both free and open | | | | distribution and burn it onto a CD. You then |
| source, almost all applications are free and | | | | can load the bootable installation programs |
| open source, the stability is unsurpassed, | | | | that lead you, step by step, through the |
| the code is constantly revised, updated and | | | | process of getting Linux on your computer. |
| added to by a numerous amount of programmers | | | | |
| across the world. Linux is undisputable a | | | | The more popular distributions are available |
| giant in the OS world, with just the name | | | | in many computer stores and directly from |
| Linux being a symbol of stability and | | | | each distribution's publisher. The |
| security. With the interest in Linux growing, | | | | convenience of a distribution on CDs, |
| many new distributions have surfaced offering | | | | including manuals, generally makes your first |
| easy installation and configuration. | | | | installation so much easier that it is well |
| Well-established distributions such as Redhat | | | | worth the money. |
| are also striving to meet the same goals. | | | | |
| | | | Linux boasts of some of the best free online |
| Linux is an operating system and therefore is | | | | support for its operating system.Take |
| the basic set of programs and utilities that | | | | advantage of some free, expert technical |
| make the computer run. Some other common | | | | support: the Linux Users Group, or LUG. The |
| operating systems are Unix (and its variants | | | | heartbeat of Linux support, and of Linux |
| BSD, AIX, Solaris, HPUX, and others); DOS; | | | | itself, is the LUG. There are LUGs in almost |
| Microsoft Windows; Amiga; and Mac OS.Linux is | | | | every country in the world, where you can get |
| Free Software. In a nutshell, software that | | | | Linux advice and help from people who live |
| is free in the sense that Linux is | | | | near you, speak your language, and are |
| distributed along with its source code so | | | | willing to donate their time so that new |
| that anyone who receives it is free to make | | | | users can learn about Linux without going |
| changes and redistribute it. Users are free | | | | through any more head-scratching than |
| to make copies of Linux and give them to | | | | necessary.Each LUG operates independently and |
| friends, it's also fine to tweak a few lines | | | | has its own style and meeting schedule. Note |
| of the source code.The only catch is that the | | | | that if there is no LUG close enough for you |
| user who modifies it has to necessarily make | | | | to conveniently attend meetings, most LUGs |
| available the source code to all users. Linux | | | | maintain email lists you can join and use to |
| is not owned by anyone. One misconception | | | | get answers to any Linux questions you have. |
| many first-time readers have is that this | | | | |
| site, Linux.com, is similar to Microsoft.com, | | | | The best-known corporate GNU/Linux |
| which is owned and controlled by the company | | | | distribution is REDHAT. Mandrake Linuxwas the |
| that produces the Windows operating system. | | | | first Linux distribution that worked hard to |
| No one company or individual "owns" Linux, | | | | make Linux easy for ordinary desktop users. |
| which was developed, and is still being | | | | Freely downloadable version available; |
| improved, by thousands of corporate-supported | | | | commercial versions have pre-integrated |
| and volunteer programmers all over the world. | | | | sofware packages and are easier for |
| | | | first-timers to set up than the download |
| Users are generally provided with Linux | | | | edition. There are other distributions like |
| distribution that contains not only the basic | | | | Fedora, Debia, Knoppix,Suse, Slackware, |
| Linux operating system, but also programs | | | | MEPIS, Gentoo and so on. |
| that enhance it in many ways. Anyone who | | | | |