Linux

What is Linux?

Linux is an operating system that was invented by Linus Torvalds in 1991. It has been developed and released under the GNU Public License, which makes it available and free of charge to anyone who can download it.

How do I get it?

While some people may feel comfortable downloading the original source and bootstrapping the system into existence, most Linux installations are acquired through distributions, which are prebuilt sets of packages and a Linux kernel. Some popular distributions are Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat, SuSE, Slackware and Gentoo.

Most of these distributions are available free of charge and can be downloaded through BitTorrent. Note that nothing about the Linux license requires that they be free.

Will it support my hardware?

Distributions of Linux exist for almost all architectures imaginable. They also support almost all hardware that is available. However, the native support for a number of pieces of hardware in Linux is not yet optimized, so you may encounter some issues.

Is it hard to learn?

In a nutshell, yes. Some distributions are more friendly than others, but in general, learning to use Linux is a challenge. Once one does, however, these distributions become as fully functional as any other operating system.