Operating systems

OPERATING SYSTEMS

LINUX Operating System

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LINUX Operating System

Overview

Today there are hundred of software developers around the world contributing software to the LINUX effort because the source code for the software is freely available , anyone can work on it , change it , or enhance it . Linux is developed under the GNU General Public License and its source code is freely available to everyone . This however , doesn 't mean that Linux and its assorted distributions are free companies and developers may charge money

for it as long as the source code remains available . Linux may be used for a wide variety of purposes including networking , software development , and as an end-user platform . Linux is often considered an excellent , low-cost alternative to other more expensive operating systems (Mancill , 2005

Due to the very nature of Linux 's functionality and availability , it has become quite popular worldwide and a vast number of software programmers have taken Linux 's source code and adapted it to meet their individual needs . At this time , there are dozens of ongoing projects for porting Linux to various hardware configurations and purposes . Linux has an official mascot , the Linux Penguin , which was selected by Linus Torvalds , it 's developer to represent the image he associates with the operating system he created (http /www .linux .com

Features of LINUX Operating System

No matter what version of LINUX one use , every OS can offer one the following features

Multitasking . One can have many programs running at the same time on LINUX . Besides meaning that users can have lots of programs going at once , it also mean that LINUX itself can have lot of programs running in the background . Many of these system process make it possible for LINUX to work as a server , with these background daemon processes listening to the network for request to log in to system , view a web page , print a document , or copy a (http /www .linux .com

Multi user . Not only can one have many user accounts avail on a Linux system , but one can also have multi-user logged in and working on the system , at the same time . Users can have their own environment arranged the way they want them : their own name directory for storing s and their own desktop interface (with icons , menus , and app arranged to suit them

Graphic Universal Interface (GUI . The power full frame work for working with graphical application in Linux is refereed to as the X windows system simply X . X handles the function of opening X-based GUI applications and displaying them on X server process (that manages screen mouse and keyboard . On top of X , one use an X-based window manager to provide the specific look and feel GUI (icons , menus , window frames and colors . There are also dozens of desktop managers one can choose from though open Linux most often uses the KDE desktop environment (http /www .linux .com

Hardware support . One can configure in support for almost every type...