Linux® is a free, open-source operating system with over 300 distributions available for personal computers and servers. Distributions contain the operating system and other software packages, with varying levels of complexity. Linux® is constantly updated by programmers worldwide.
A Linux® distribution is a version of Linux® software that contains a combination of the Linux® computer operating system and a variety of other software packages, all bundled together. Linux® distributions come in varieties from very simplistic to fully functional operating systems and can be used on both personal computers and servers. The Linux® distribution was developed so that Linux® would be more accessible to users who were not Unix, another 1960s and 1970s operating system, experts.
Linux® is a free, open source computer operating system similar to UNIX®. “Open source code” means that the programmers have released the programming code that makes the software work. Programmers release the code so that other programmers around the world can customize and improve it. Generally, even the software of a Linux® distribution is open-source; however, some companies have proprietary software in their distributions and therefore do not release the programming code.
A computer operating system is the software that manages how a computer works. Many operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows®, are not open source.
There are about three hundred Linux® distributions out there. Each Linux® distribution is slightly different and caters to a slightly different computing need. Some of the most popular Linux® distributions are Red Hat, Ubuntu and Madriva. Each of these distributions has been bundled together, tested for stability, and then packaged for release. Computer users can download the distribution for free over the Internet, or they can pay a low price and purchase the Linux® distribution on CD.
Linux® distributions tend to have many software packages within them. The installer has the ability to install each package or customize the installation. An example of a package is a web browser. This is different from an operating system like Windows XP® from Microsoft which limits the degree of customization of the installation.
Because Linux® software is open source, it is constantly being updated, changed, and modified by computer programmers around the world. As new technologies and uses for Linux® are developed, software is updated and new distributions are created to release to computer users.
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