Linux is a free Unix-like operating system that was developed on the Internet. Linus Torvalds first created it, and then he put the source code on his web page. After that, hackers and programmers developed it. With time, it became a big organization and now it is a powerful, advanced operating system. It has important features that are not available with other operating systems. You can run Linux with other operating systems such as MacOS, DOS, Windows, Novell, or OS/2 on the same machine. This is an advantage of Linux so that a user can easily compare Linux with other operating systems.
Unix for Dummies) (Firstlinux. com) Unlike Windows, Linux is capable of running on a large variety of computer systems. One of them is Intel Based PCs. Most of the home users prefer Intel Based PCs, so they can run Linux on their computers (Windows can only run on Intel Based PCs). Because of this Linux has the potential to be more attractive to a larger number of users and a larger variety of users. (Linux. com) Linux has a powerful security system. It is almost impossible to write a virus for Linux because it must be 30-40 MB. Also, it has firewall system to protect the network from hackers.
This minimizes the number of viruses capable of affecting a Linux system. If we think about it, there are many viruses for Windows that can harm your system. Linux is a stable Operating System. You can kill an individual process that is not replying with kill command vs. shutting down your system in Windows. Linux has true multitasking properties. You can run up to twelve processes at the same time with no performance loss. Microsoft claims that Windows has the capability of multitasking but you cannot run two processes at the same time. Linux has virtual memory. That means that you can use your hard disk as memory.
You can make a swap partition on your hard disk and Linux uses it like memory. If you have 16Mb of ram and 64Mb of swap place that equals memory of 80Mb for Linux. So you can run Linux on only 8Mb of ram and 16Mb of swap place. Windows requires at least 16Mb of ram (32Mb is recommended). Users that have limited systems can use Linux, whereas they could not use Windows. Linux has all the features that you should expect from an operating system. (Linux. org) (Using Linux) The Internet features of Linux make it more popular. Linux was developed on the Internet so it has a wide support for Internet tools and protocols.
Free e-mail software called Pine comes with Linux. It was developed at University of Washington and it has all features of a mail program. There is also free software called Telnet. With telnet you can connect to a computer with its IP number through Internet. Also, the famous web browser Netscape comes with Linux free. It has all properties of the Windows based Netscape and it is just as easy to surf the Internet as in Windows. There is also a browser called Archie that comes with Linux free. Linux has support for FTP (File Transfer Protocol). You can use it by typing FTP on the command prompt.
FTP is the most common protocol that is used to get files from Internet. IRC (Internet Relay Chat), one of the most popular protocols on the Internet, is supported by Linux. You can download famous IRC software’s Mirc, Pirch or ICQ from the Internet. It is more secure to chat on Linux than Windows. You cannot be banned or nuked on Linux because there is a firewall in Linux and the viruses like Trojan, that can harm your Windows system are not effective on Linux. (Linux. com) (Linux. org) There are also features for administrators. A Linux system can be used as a WEB, FTP, or DNS server. Web servers are the main parts of the Internet.
Sites on the Internet are saved on these servers so you can surf the sites on the web. FTP servers have files that can be downloaded with file transfer protocol. DNS servers are the important part of the Internet. DNS servers allow us to use words as addresses (like linux. com). If there were no DNS servers, we would have to use numbers as addresses to connect to a site (like 225. 78. 8. 20). DNS servers look for the address if it has an IP number or not. If there is, it changes to it numbers. It is more complex and it is hard to remember. DNS servers help us to easily connect to a site.
A large part of administrators and Internet companies prefer a Linux system as a Web, FTP, or DNS server. (Linux. org) Linux is a Unix-like operating system. Unix is very expensive. Only some of the big companies can afford it. So Linux was developed for a free alternative to Unix. Unix is designed for networks and it has powerful network options, therefore Linux has powerful network options as well. It has NFS (Network File Service) and NIS (Network Information Service) support. NIS and NFS provides a shared user account. You save the user accounts in the server and after that they are reachable for the clients.
This is the basis of a network. If a user can’t login on a client, the system wouldn’t be called a network. By NIS and NFS, system administration became available. There are also LAN and WAN support. You can connect your local network to the Internet. It is very important for a company to communicate with its branch. These are impossible on Windows 95/98. (Redhat. com) (Linux. com) What makes Linux so successful? The software is free; there is no pressure to release it before it’s actually ready in order to achieve some sales goal. Every version of Linux is said to be finished only when it is really finished, that explains why it is so solid.