11 Things windows users might not know about Linux

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 23:43:00 +0000

As an avid Linux user for over 5 years, it still surprises me how many people don’t know basic things about Linux which make it so appealing to people like me. If you’re thinking about using Linux for the first time, or perhaps you’ve only just heard about it, here are a few things you might now know that might interest you:

1: Linux isn’t an operating system

Linux is actually the name given the “kernel” of one type of operating system. There are hundreds of thousands of Linux distributions for you to choose from. Linux draws its inheritance back from UNIX which was a proprietary operating system back in the 70s. We call the entire thing “Linux” because its easier and simpler for people who are new to Linux. Each one of those versions of Linux is referred to as a “distribution” or “flavour”. Ubuntu is a popular distribution of Linux, as is RedHat, Fedora, SuSE and Debian. Some people like to call linux GNU/Linux, because the operating system runs a suite of tools called the GNU toolkit on top of its self, in order for it to be complete.

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11 Things windows users might not know about Linux

1: Linux isn’t an operating system