Performance Support

A+ Practical: Linux

Transcript
Now let's take a moment to talk about another operating system that is available to us in the world.
It's not all Windows and it's not all Mac. There is a third party out there often ignored by the majority
of the users, and that is called Linux. Now Linux is an open sourced operating system – that means
nobody really owns Linux. It can be altered by anyone who get their hands on it, and anyone can
create their own version of Linux. Now Linux was originally created by Linus Torvalds in 1991. And
Linux was based on UNIX, which was an old server operating system that many of us have been used
to.

I know I shouldn't say old – it was an aged operating system used on servers. So it is currently the
largest installed base for any general purpose computing. So tablets, phones, things like that, most all
of them are running some version of Linux or some custom version of Linux. You'll also see a lot of
custom applications built on a Linux operating system backbone. So even though we don't see it from
the end user perspective and we don't see it in our everyday lives, in the background, Linux is actually
the largest installed base. If we take into account, phones and tablets and just general computing, it's
number one.

It's what is driving our computing in the world right now. Windows is the largest upfront base when we
talk about desktops and laptops and servers. But Linux on the backend is what keeps everything
moving. Now several Linux distributions are available. That's what it's called when we have a different
version of Linux – it's called the distribution. These would be like Ubuntu, Red Hat, Fedora – those are
all different versions. And they are so different, they are different operating systems using that Linux
base, okay. So the Linux base is actually what makes up that operating system.

But when you compare them, Ubuntu to Red Hat, they're completely different operating systems.
That's…remember because this is an open source operating system. I could grab a version of Linux
today, start working on it, and call it Russ Linux. And Russ Linux can be completely different than the
other distributions of Linux out there. I can even have Russ Linux version 1, Russ Linux version 2, and
so on. And then, you know, Red Hat could have several versions which they do but they are completely
different, they are different distributions – that's the main point I want you to understand. There are
thousands of different types of distributions of Linux.

There are so many that we can't go into them all in this course – that's for sure. But that is again
because it is open source. The code can be used or modified by anyone. This can be used commercially
or noncommercially. And moreover, you have access to this free – free access to the Linux base. You
can do anything you want, once you get access to that free version. Now does that mean that all Linux
distributions are going to be free? No, it doesn't. It means that initially it's free. People do things to
that Linux operating system, change it, make different options available, and then they maybe able to
charge but most Linux distributions at the desktop level are free for use.

So, if you have an end user who is interested in something a little bit different, Ubuntu is a perfect,
perfect example of a free Linux operating system. Now how different is this Linux operating system?
Well, it's GUI based, so it's going to be fairly familiar. You'll see a desktop on that. It will have icons
available to it. So it's not going to be completely strange. It's not like an alien world you're using there.
There are icons, desktops, you have access to the Internet. There are many applications built for Linux
but Windows applications and Mac OS X applications are not just going to port over natively.

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You may have to use some type of emulation program in order to get Windows applications to work.
And oftentimes, they don't work perfectly. So make sure you understand that most of them for the end
users are GUI based for desktops and laptops, but it does depend on the distribution. You could
definitely run into a server Linux operating system that is completely command line interface based.

Again, not covered in this course deeply, but I want you to understand what is out there and what you
might see. So, if you go out there and you just start downloading different Linux distributions, if you
find one without a GUI, don't yell at me, don't throw at the screen. Remember, I said not all Linux
distributions have a GUI. You will see mostly, there will be available for desktop and laptop editions. A
GUI will be made available on most distributions. For server-based distributions, you may not get a
GUI at all.

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