Linux is a Unix-like operating system that is used and freely disseminated. It is a multi-user, multi-task, multi-thread and multi-CPU operating system based on POSIX and UNIX.
1. Origin and Application
It can run major UNIX tool software, applications and network protocols. It supports 32-bit and 64-bit hardware. Linux inherits the network-centric design philosophy of Unix and is a multi-user network operating system with stable performance.
The Linux operating system was born on October 5, 1991 (this is the first time the date was officially announced to the outside world). There are many different Linux versions of Linux, but they all use the Linux kernel. Linux can be installed on a variety of computer hardware devices, such as cell phones, tablets, routers, video game consoles, desktop computers, mainframes, and supercomputers.
2. Development history:
On October 5, 1991, the founder of the Linux operating system, Linus Torvalds, was born. The development and growth process always rely on five important Pillars: UNIX? operating system, MINIX? operating system, GNU Project, POSIX? standards and Internet network.
In 1981, IBM launched the IBM PC, a microcomputer.
In 1991, the GNU project had developed many tool software, and the most anticipated GNU C compiler had appeared. The core of GNU's operating system, HURD, had been in the experimental stage without any usability and was essentially unavailable. It failed to develop a complete GNU operating system, but GNU laid the Linux user base and development environment.
In early 1991, Linus Torvalds began to learn the minix operating system on a 386sx compatible microcomputer. In April 1991, Linus Torvalds began to think about and start programming his own operating system.
On April 13, 1991, he published on comp.os.minix that he had successfully transplanted bash to minix, and that he couldn't put it down and couldn't leave this shell software.
On July 3, 1991, the first Linux-related news was published on comp.os.minix (of course the name Linux did not exist at this time, when Linus Tovar What I am thinking about may be FREAX. The English meaning of FREAX is weird, monster, whimsical, etc.).
On October 5, 1991, Linus Torvalds posted a message on the comp.os.minix news group, officially announcing the birth of the Linux kernel (Freeminix-likekernel sources for 386- AT).
In 1993, about 100 programmers participated in the writing/modification of Linux kernel code, of which the core group consisted of 5 people. At this time, Linux 0.99 had about 100,000 lines of code, and there were about 100,000 users. Around 100,000.
In March 1994, Linux 1.0 was released with 170,000 lines of code. It was released under a completely free agreement, and then the GPL agreement was officially adopted.
In January 1995, Bob Young founded RedHat (Little Red Hat). With GNU/Linux as the core, it integrated more than 400 open source program modules and created a branded Linux. , that is, RedHat Linux, called a Linux "distribution" and sold on the market. This is a pioneering work in terms of business model.
In June 1996, the Linux 2.0 kernel was released. This kernel has approximately 400,000 lines of code and can support multiple processors. At this time, Linux has entered the practical stage and is used by approximately 3.5 million people around the world.
In February 1998, a group of young "Old Wildebeest Backbones" headed by Eric Raymond finally realized the essence of the industrialization path of the GNU/Linux system. It was not a liberal philosophy, but a Driven by market competition, the "Open Source Initiative" was founded under the banner of "revival" and launched a historic Linux industrialization movement in the Internet world.
In January 2001, Linux 2.4 was released, which further improved the scalability of the SMP system. At the same time, it also integrated many features to support desktop systems: USB, PC Card (PCMCIA) support , built-in plug and play, and other functions.
In December 2003, Linux kernel version 2.6 was released. Compared with kernel version 2.4, kernel 2.6 has great changes in system support.
In January 2004, SuSE married Novell, SCO continued to forcefully "beg for help" despite the infamy, and Asianux and MandrakeSoft also announced quarterly profits for the first time in five years. In March, SGI announced that it had successfully implemented the Linux operating system to support 256 Itanium 2 processors.