Linux History

A Brief History (I do mean brief)

The word Linux actually refers to only the kernel of an operating system that is most accurately described as GNU/Linux. The kernel of an operating system is the code that loads programs, manages memory and resources, provides hardware abstraction for applications, and provides basic file management ability. Development of the Linux kernel began in 1991 as the brainchild of a University of Helsinki student named Linus Torvalds. The word Linux, which is usually pronounced lynn-nucks, is a combination of the author's name and Minix, the name of a small Unix clone. The official mascot of Linux is the penguin.

Hey, what's your name?

Despite many reports to the contrary, Linux is technically not Unix. It is a Unix clone that uses many of the same file system conventions and commands, giving it the same "feel" as commercial UNIXes. It also implements the POSIX standard for system calls, which makes it easy to port software to Linux from UNIX. Officially, however, Linux contains no code from any commercial or academic UNIX projects, making it a UNIX-clone.

GNU? Isn't that a Yak or something?

The GNU Project (GNU is a recursive acronym for GNU's not Unix) has provided the set of utilities that give the operating system a greater functionality. Examples included C libraries, the gcc compiler, many file system tools, and Emacs, a text editor that can be enhanced to the point where it almost constitutes it own operating system. These programs are not found on only Linux, but on many commercial operating systems as well. GNU is pronounced Guh-New.

As GNU/Linux has grown in popularity and press coverage, the term Linux has been adopted to describe the entire operating system. Although I will undoubtedly incur the wrath of many flamers for the substitution, I will use "Linux" throughout this article in the interest of simplicity.

What about games?

Quake III Arena Test, Myth II, Civilization: CTP, and KingPin are some of the popular commercial games currently available as native Linux programs. Many more are on the way, including Unreal Tournament and possibly Tribes 2. Linux has a decent Windows emulator called WINE that is widely used to play StarCraft and other non-CPU-intensive games. Due to non-optimized drivers from graphics card manufacturers and several bottlenecks inherent in the X graphical system (which I discuss later in the article), performance of games under Linux is currently not up to the standards set by their Windows counterparts. However, most of these problems are being addressed with by the Mesa OpenGL project and the next version of the XFree86 system.