Linux Chapter 1-1.

1.1 Linux is Everywhere

Hello and welcome to NDG Linux Essentials!
Linux is everywhere; Linux jobs are everywhere. There is a demand for Linux skills in just about every
industry and job category on the planet, and not enough Linux talent to meet this growing demand. It’s also fun
and rewarding to work with something that’s so much a part of our modern lives yet which so few people
understand.
If someone says they have Linux experience, it might refer to configuring systems, running web servers, or any
number of other services and programs that operate on top of Linux. Over time, Linux administration has
evolved to encompass just about every task that a modern business, educational institution or government
organization might use in their daily operations.
The journey of learning you are beginning today has no ending point. It can take you in a myriad of different
directions, from cybersecurity to application and game development, system administration, networking, big
data, and artificial intelligence; all of these fields are rooted in Linux.
Every time you execute a search on the internet, watch a video on your phone or order something online, that’s
likely Linux at work. It epitomizes a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, a vast undertaking, done
voluntarily, by some of the smartest people on the planet.
While your journey will be ongoing, be comforted that you are learning a set of technologies, commands, and
methods that have stood the test of time. Linux utilizes and expands upon many of the commands and ways of
accomplishing computing that UNIX(from google - Unix is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer
operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix), began, with a rate of change per year that’s
very manageable. Now, some 30+ years on, many of those learned commands are still active and used every
day by sysadmins, devops, and architects. Linux is a revolution of evolution, allowing you to learn the majority
once and keep up with the small percentage of changes in a continual learning process.
1.2 Linux is a Kernel
The definition of the word Linux depends on the context in which it is used. Linux means the kernel of the
system, which is the central controller of everything that happens on the computer.
When most people refer to Linux, they are really referring to a combination of software called GNU/Linux,
which defines the operating system. GNU is the free software that provides open source equivalents of many
common UNIX commands. The Linux part of this combination is the Linux kernel, which is the core of the
operating system. The kernel is loaded at boot time and stays running to manage every aspect of the
functioning system.
The story of Linux begins with UNIX, an operating system developed at AT&T Bell Labs in the 1970s. UNIX
is written in the C language making it uniquely portable amongst competing operating systems, which were
typically closely tied to the hardware for which they were written. It quickly gained popularity in research and
academic settings, as well as amongst programmers who were attracted to its modularity. Over time it was
modified and forked (that is, people modified it, and those modifications served as the basis for other systems)
such that at present there are many different variants of UNIX. However, UNIX is now both a trademark and a
specification, owned by an industry consortium called the Open Group. Only software that has been certified
by the Open Group may call itself UNIX.
Linux started in 1991 as a hobby project of Linus Torvalds, a Finnish-born computer scientist studying at the
University of Helsinki. Frustrated by the licensing of MINIX, a UNIX-like operating system designed for
educational use, and its creator’s desire not to make it a full operating system, Linus decided to create his own
OS kernel.
From this humble beginning, Linux has grown to be the dominant operating system on the Internet, and
arguably the most important computer program of any kind. Despite adopting all the requirements of the UNIX
specification, Linux has not been certified, so Linux really isn’t UNIX! It’s just… UNIX-like.
Prior to and alongside this development was the GNU Project, created by Richard Stallman in 1983. While
GNU initially focused on building their own operating system, they ultimately were far more effective at
building tools that go along with a UNIX-like operating system, such as the editors, compilers and user
interfaces that make a kernel usable. Since the source was all freely available, Linux programmers were able to
incorporate the GNU tools to provide a complete operating system. As such, many of the tools and utilities that
are part of the Linux system evolved from these early GNU tools.
Consider This
Linus originally named the project Freax, however, an administrator of the server where the development files
were uploaded renamed it Linux, a portmanteau of Linus’ name and UNIX. The name stuck.
GNU is a recursive acronym for “GNU’s Not Unix,” and it’s pronounced just like the African horned antelope
that is its namesake.
1.3 Linux is Open Source
Historically, most software has been issued under a closed-source license, meaning that you get the right to use
the machine code, but cannot see the source code. Often the license explicitly says that you may not attempt to
reverse engineer the machine code back to source code to figure out what it does!
The development of Linux closely parallels the rise of open source software. Open source takes a source-
centric view of software. The open source philosophy is that you have a right to obtain the software source
code and to modify it for your own use.
Linux adopted this philosophy to great success. Linus made the source programming code (the instructions a
computer uses to operate) freely available, allowing others to join in and shape this fledgling operating system.
It was not the first system to be developed by a volunteer group, but since it was built from scratch, early
adopters could influence the project’s direction. People took the source, made changes, and shared them back
with the rest of the group, greatly accelerating the pace of development, and ensuring mistakes from other
operating systems were not repeated.
Consider This
The source code may be written in any of hundreds of different languages. Linux happens to be written in C, a
versatile and relatively easy language to learn, which shares history with the original UNIX. This decision,
made long before it’s utility was proven, turned out to be crucial in its nearly universal adoption as the primary
operating system for internet servers.

1.4 Linux Has Distributions

People that say their computer runs Linux usually refer to the kernel, tools, and suite of applications that come
bundled together in what is referred to as a distribution.
Take Linux and the GNU tools, add some user-facing applications like a web browser and an email client, and
you have a full Linux system. Individuals and even companies started bundling all this software into
distributions almost as soon as Linux became usable. The distribution includes tools that take care of setting up
the storage, installing the kernel, and installing the rest of the software. The full-featured distributions also
include tools to manage the system and a package manager to help you add and remove software after the
installation is complete.
Like UNIX, there are distributions suited to every imaginable purpose. There are distributions that focus on
running servers, desktops, or even industry-specific tools such as electronics design or statistical computing.
The major players in the market can be traced back to either Red Hat, Debian or Slackware. The most visible
difference between Red Hat and Debian derivatives is the package manager though there are other differences
in everything from file locations to political philosophies.
1.5 Linux Embraces the CLI
There are two basic types of interfaces (GUI, CLI) available that allow you to interact with the
operating system. The typical computer user today is most familiar with a graphical user
interface (GUI). In a GUI, applications present themselves in windows that can be resized and
moved around. There are menus and tools to help users navigate. Graphical applications include
web browsers, graphics editing tools and email, to name a few.
Below is an example of a graphical desktop, with a menu bar of popular applications to the left, a
LibreOffice document being edited in the foreground and a web browser in the background.

The second type of interface is the command line interface (CLI), a text-based interface to the
computer. The CLI relies primarily on keyboard input. Everything the user wants the computer
to do is relayed by typing commands rather than clicking on icons. It can be said that when a user
clicks on an icon, the computer is telling the user what to do, but, when the user types a
command, they are telling the computer what to do.
Typically operating systems offer both GUI and CLI interfaces. However, most consumer
operating systems (Windows, macOS) are designed to shield the user from the complexity of the
CLI. The Linux community is different in that it positively celebrates the CLI for its power,
speed and ability to accomplish a vast array of tasks with a single command line instruction. The
virtual machines used for the chapters and labs in this course provide a CLI for you to practice
on without fear of damaging anything.
When a user first encounters the CLI, they can find it challenging because it requires memorizing
a dizzying amount of commands and their options. However, once a user has learned the
structure of how commands are used, where the necessary files and directories are located and
how to navigate the hierarchy of a filesystem, they can be immensely productive. This capability
provides more precise control, greater speed and the ability to easily automate tasks through
scripting.
Furthermore, by learning the CLI, a user can easily be productive almost instantly on ANY
distribution of Linux, reducing the amount of time needed to familiarize themselves with a
system because of variations in a GUI.