Linux

Latest revision as of 18:48, 3 March 2010

Tux, the official Linux mascot.

A popular Open Source computer operating system, Linux (pronounced 'Lih-nucks') is the result of the collaborative effort of thousands of computer enthusiasts and companies worldwide. From its humble beginnings as a Minix clone developed by Linus Torvalds, Linux has grown to become one of the most popular UNIX platforms for both desktop and server computing due to its flexibility, stability and non-proprietary nature.

Whilst the name Linux is often used to describe the complete operating system, it is technically correct to call the system's kernel Linux, with the remainder of the operating system tools and applications being interchangeable. In fact, there are many such 'packages' known as distributions, some of which are listed below. Hence the term Linux does not imply a single operating system, rather a class of operating systems which are built around the Linux kernel.

You can discuss Linux on OCAU by joining the Other Operating Systems area of the forums.

The following content is based on the linux linkage - where to find stuff sticky from the OCAU forums.

[edit] Software

Note: The table of equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software in Linux.

Freshmeat
Rpmfind
RPM help
Sourceforge
Wine HQ - Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X and Unix. Frank's Corner has a list of Wine supported apps and games

[edit] Hardware

[edit] Distributions

Note: Information on LOTS of distro's at Distrowatch.

Ubuntu
Knoppix
Debian
SuSE
Slackware
Gentoo
RR4 & RR64 (Gentoo Live DVD)
Kororaa (Gentoo XGL Live CD)
Julex (Cool Live CD)
RedHat (popular in Enterprise/business environments)
Fedora (a subproject of RedHat, used as a testbed for RedHat Enterprise Linux)
Geexbox
KnoppMyth (Currently MythTV is the most mature project for a home grown PVR)
Clarkconnect (Popular Multipurpose Gateway)
Smoothwall (Popular Firewall)
Handehelds.org wiki Linux on handheld devices. Check if your PDA is supported here

[edit] Mirrors

Pacific mirror good Slackware-current tree
mirror
aarnet
Telstra
FTP Search - FTP search for all the free FTP servers (QLD)

Note: For the bandwidth limited - distro's for dial-uppers thread.

TLMP (The Linux Mirror Project) for bittorrent downloads:

[edit] Documentation / Help

The Linux Documentation Project
HOWTOs
Reading list HOWTO: The Linux Reading List
Newbie reading/forum
Kernel hacking
Got a question?
Simply Linux - distro install/config step by step guides
Wikipedia:Linux

Note: Need an answer FAST?

Server: irc.freenode.net
Channel: linuxhelp

[edit] Guides

Note: Courtesy of User:stmok's forum sig

[edit] Linux / Bsd at Google

[edit] Some X window managers / desktops

[edit] Desktop Themes

[edit] News

[edit] Want to help keep the not-for-profit organisations alive?

Donate to these guys:

[edit] More Links

@@ Line 117: / Line 117: @@
 *[http://www.fsf.org/ The Free (speech) Software Foundation]
 *[http://www.debian.org/ Debian Linux.]
+==More Links==
+* [[Software]], [[Other Operating Systems]]
+* [[Linux Newbie Guide]]
+* [[LinuxGuides]], [[Linux:Using Xorg with BenQ FP202W]]
+* [[Ubuntu]], [[DebianUbuntuGuides]]
 [[category:Software]]