Linux FAQ

What is Linux?	How much does it cost?
Are there any programs on Linux not allowed by TAMUG?	Where can I get Linux?
Why should I get Linux?	Is it really better than Windows?
What's clustering?

A. Linux is an operating system that was initially created as a hobby by a young student, Linus Torvalds, at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Linus had an interest in Minix, a small UNIX system, and decided to develop a system that exceeded the Minix standards. He began his work in 1991 when he released version 0.02 and worked steadily until 1994 when version 1.0 of the Linux Kernel was released. The current full-featured version is 2.2 (released January 25, 1999), and development continues.

Due to the very nature of Linux's functionality and availability, it has become quite popular worldwide and a vast number of software programmers have taken Linux's source code and adapted it to meet their individual needs. At this time, there are dozens of ongoing projects for porting Linux to various hardware configurations and purposes.

Linux has an official mascot, the Linux Penguin, which was selected by Linus Torvalds to represent the image he associates with the operating system he created.

Although many variations of the word Linux exist, it is most often pronounced with a short " i " and with the first syllable stressed, as in LIH-nucks.

A. Linux is developed under the GNU General Public License and its source code is freely available to everyone. This however, doesn't mean that Linux and it's assorted distributions are free -- companies and developers may charge money for it as long as the source code remains available. Linux may be used for a wide variety of purposes including networking, software development, and as an end-user platform. Linux is often considered an excellent, low-cost alternative to other more expensive operating systems. -JM

A. Most of the distributors have a free download page. With the exception of Corel Linux, this download is the full version availible in stores. In most cases the store bought versions have additional application CD's as well. A good place to start would be with this page: http://www.linux.org/dist/index.html. If you have a macintosh that you would like to use Linux on, then you have only one option at this time: Yellow Dog Linux. (I just got an older PowerBook that I will be installing Yellow Dog on in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on the Linux Guys pages for updates on this project.) -JM

A. Well, there are quite a few reasons to get Linux. The favorite answer from most of the Linux users I've met is, "It's so I'm not paying Bill Gate's paycheck anymore." Of course these people usually are running a dual boot with Windows 9x/NT anyway, so I just have to scratch my head when they say that. As for me, it's because Linux is much more stable than Windows (in my experience at least). For example, my Linux server at home has been up and running constantly and without a reboot for the past year, which is more than I can say for most of the servers here on campus. It has never locked up on me and I have never gotten the now infamous "Windows Blue Screen of Death" from my Linux Box. (Okay, Okay, so Linux doesn't have blue screens of death, but you get the idea.) For all you techies out there, you might check out this comparison between increasingly common OS's. It's got a lot of typo's and only talks about NT but you can catch the drift of what they're saying. For the final words on "Why Linux?" Go here, it is a little out of date now. (Oh, and it also drives most of my co-workers nuts when people come in with Linux problems. *grins*) -JM

A. That depends on what you use it for. For me, it's a lot better for several reasons. 1) It gives me practice with a Unix operating system. 2) by using Star Office I can work with Linux, Macintosh, and Windows documents in most formats (including Microsoft Office). (I will admit that there is a pretty slow learning curve with Star Office though. At least for me.) 3) I automatically get Network Administration experience on my home computer. 4) It doesn't crash... Of course I probably just jynxed myself by saying that.

If you want to use your computer for playing games though, stick with Windows. Installation is much easier and you don't have to mess with Windows' source code to get your games to run. (There are ways around this though... Such as VMWare, a Virtual Machine system for Linux and NT. VMWare allows one to run a "computer within a computer" type system.) -JM

A. Clustering, also called Beowulf or Brahma, is when you have several separate computers linked together so that when you run a program on one, it is distributed over the cluster to increase the speed and power of the processing. Here's a description from one of the many Beowulf FAQ's out there:

What's a Beowulf? It's a kind of high-performance massively parallel computer built primarily out of commodity hardware components, running a free-software operating system like Linux or FreeBSD, interconnected by a private high-speed network. It consists of a cluster of PCs or workstations dedicated to running high-performance computing tasks. The nodes in the cluster don't sit on people's desks; they are dedicated to running cluster jobs. It is usually connected to the outside world through only a single node. Some Linux clusters are built for reliability instead of speed. These are not Beowulfs.

I'm currently working on this sort of thing at home and will let you know when I learn more. -JM

A. YES!!! At this time we are discussing further restrictions on Linux platforms. However, for now, the following programs and services are not permitted:

If you have questions on whether the program or service is permitted, please stop by and we will discuss it. -JM