As lot of people here seem to be new to GNU/Linux and I've seen quite a lot misunderstandings, I decided to write a little Frequently Asked Questions to raise general knowledge about the system. I tried to include only the very basics. I hope you will find this useful.
Q: What is Linux?
A: Linux is a free operating system released under GPL (General Public Licence), originally developed by Finnish student Linus Torvalds in 1991 for hobby. It is freely available and can be modified by anyone as long as modified version is made freely available as well. "Free as a free beer" and/or "Free as in freedom" are commonly used expression for freedoms provided by GPL. Linux is a Unix clone, which is based on Minix, also Unix clone.
Q: You used expression GNU/Linux. What's that?
A: Essentially, Linux is only a kernel of a operating system. The core that interacts between applications and hardware. Most of its basic toolsets and GUI's (Graphical User Interfaces) have been developed under GPL licence as a part of GNU (GNU is Not Unix) project, founded by Richard Stallman in 1983. GNU project just happened to get its kernel from Linus who also used GNU tools & programs to make his kernel useful. Commonly, Linux while only being the kernel is referred to as a complete operating system. I use that expression in this text as well.
Q: Whoa, I thought Linux is Unix?
A: It's not. Unix was originally developed at Bell Labs in 1960s by AT&T. The Open Group has trademark of UNIX®. Clones of Unix are called "Unix-like system". Most common Unix-likes are Linux, OS X & BSD systems.
Q: What about Ubuntu and Yellow Dog Linux then? What are they?
A: Those are called Linux distributions, or "distros". They share the Linux kernel and base system while providing some of their own specialties and functionality.
Q: What's the difference between distros?
A: Depends. Most distros, however, can be roughly divided to Debian-based and RedHat-based distros depending on the package management system they use. Debian uses APT while RedHat uses RPM. Those are the two major package management systems. Then there are few distros with unique package management systems, most notably Gentoo Linux which uses Portage (and some Gentoo derivatives).
There's hundreds of Linux distributions, from few megabytes firewall distros to complete multi gigabyte desktop enviroments. Check out http://distrowatch.com/ to find your own!
Q: Package management? Seems like a big deal, but what's that?
A: If you're familiar with Windows or OS X type of installations of software, package management is one of the difficultiest things to understand. Basically good package management works like this:
Code:
sudo apt-get install thunderbird
Command above tells operating system to fetch Thunderbird email client from nearest server, check if Thunderbird needs any additional packages like libraries and get those too. Then when it has downloaded needed components and Thunderbird itself, it installs those and clears unneeded trash and possibly inserts icon into your window manager of choice. No need to browse the internet to find software you neeed! Most modern desktop distros (like Ubuntu) have graphical interface for package management (like Synaptic).
Q: "Window manager of choice?"
A: Yes, you can use multiple GUI's for your distro. Gnome & KDE are complete desktop enviroments (DE), but then there are window managers (WM) that do just that - manage windows of X11 programs. You can even install multiple DE's or WM's at once and change between those at will without need to reboot. WM's are generally lighter but require more command line usage for configuration. Examples of WM's are Fluxbox, Beryl, Window Maker and Enlightement.
Q: What was that "sudo" btw?
A: I don't know any Linux distribution that makes first user account that user uses to sign in a root account. sudo is a command to invoke use of roots power. Essentially every change made to root directories requires authorization by root (sudo, chmod) or action by root itself (logging in as root). root has complete control over computer, and it's very dangerous to use that alone since it easily leads to trashed system. Writing something like rm -rf * in / (root directory) when root simply erases all your files and most of the operating system from computer! If you're not root, you just get prompt saying "permission denied". It's safety method. Windows has problem of creating every user as a "root" by default and this causes confusion among many new Linux users since suddenly they can't do something without typing in root password.
Q: Ok, I think I understand some basic principles now. But why should I use Linux?
A: If you're satisfied with Windows or OS X you don't have any valid reasons why you should use Linux. "Should" is wrong word anyway and only leads to pointless flame wars. "Could" is better since it costs nothing but a little time to try it out which I warmly encourage. Everything else is subjective and "should" is to be discovered self.
Q: Sounds great. Where do I get it? What does it cost?
A: Linux costs nothing as stated before. Definately the best place to start looking is http://www.distrowatch.com which has basic information about possibly every Linux distro known to mankind, mirrors & links to distro homepages.
Other good resource is http://iso.linuxquestions.org/ which lists massive amount of mirrors but has less distros and information.
Q: Whoa! Now there's a lot of distros! Which one should I put in my PS3?
A: For newbies like you, Yellow Dog Linux would be the most complete and most functional out-of-box on this particular platform right now.
If you really want to learn a lot about Linux quickly when time, eyestrain or patience aren't problems in order to get a functional system, I warmly suggest trying Gentoo.
Q: Now that I installed Linux in my PS3, where do I look for info about it?
A: First and foremost, learn to use man-pages. Start by writing man man in terminal of your new system and off you go.
Read the documentation for your distro! Check distros homepage.
Then go to page http://tldp.org (The Linux Documentation Project) and bookmark it immediately!
Buy or loan "Linux For Dummies" or something similar.
Remember that Google is your friend!
Then when all else fails, use message boards like this. I warmly recommend the following:
http://www.linuxquestion.org/questions for everything Linux. I hang there, too! ^-^')
http://www.yellowdog-board.com/ for YDL, de facto distro for PS3 right now.
http://forums.gentoo.org/ for those who like it dirty.
Q: How do I play Windows games using awesome Cell+RSX powers?
A: You don't. RSX is locked thanks to PS3's "hypervisor" and the only Windows compatibility layer available - WINE - works only on x86 processors and Cell is PPC64 derivative.
Hope this was an educating read! Suggestions, corrections? PM me!
from grifer
