SuSE Linux 6.3 [antikvár]

Chapter 1 Introduction The Linux story reads like a modem-day fairy-tale: in 1991 the Finnish computer student, linus Torvalds begins programming his own version of Unix. In the rapidly spreading Internet he publishes not only the binaries, that is, the runnable programs in machine language, but also the source codes belonging to them. And indeed, hundreds of programmers from all around the world take up his invitation to work on the development of Linux - without payment and in their spare time. It is not driven by commmercial interest, but by the pleasure of solving problems alone and in a team, and of adding new functions to try and perfect the operating system. The only condition: the work - including the modified source codes - must be made available to the general programming public. The legal basis for this is provided by the GNU General Public License (GPL) printed out in appendix G. Whoever decides on Linux today usually has a whole series of good reasons for doing so: stability, security and performance are mentioned here first; but also its extensive networking capabilities, with whose help Linux is conquering the Internet and the entire server market. Linux insiders highly value the free source code and the independence and flexibiUty of the system which this implies. Because of the free sources, nobody is any longer helpless and at the mercy of a software manufacturer, but can carry out individual customiza-tions and extensions themselves. And it should not be forgotten, of course, that Linux can be without incurring license costs, irrespective of whether the operating system is used at home, for private use, or for any number of staff in the company. Apart from the sum of all these arguments, however, it is above all the huge demand and great interest on the part of Linux users that has encouraged many hardware and software manufacturers to actively support Linux. Siemens, IBM and Compaq - to name just a few "big" names, have at last discovered Linux as an operating system. In addition to countless free application programs, commercial application software is also becoming increasingly available for Linux: both database companies, such as Oracle, Informix, Software AG and Sybase, as well as providers of office solutions, such as Applix, Corel or Stardivision are also offering their products for Linux. Linux is good, is getting even better and costs nothing! If you take into consideration the Linux community, counting far over 10 million users, and continuing to grow rapidly, as well as their