A Brief History of Linux Operating Systems
A
Brief History of Linux Operating Systems
While 99% of us were going through
the ordeal of trying to work with either the Microsoft horizontal monopoly or
the Apple vertical monopoly, there has been a third option growing in the
weeds. Free open source tools, such as Linux, began in the early 1990s when
some very forward thinking computer programmers insisted on freedom from the
rigid patent structure imposed by commercial outfits like Microsoft and Apple.
The free software movement began in 1984 when Richard Stallman left MIT and
founded GNU in order to create free software programs. GNU is an acronym for
“Gnu is Not Unix.” Richard Stallman stated that GNU is a “technical means to a
social end.” The social end was freeing knowledge from the clutches of private
corporate monopolies – much like Thomas Jefferson advocated for our public
schools as being an essential foundation of our Democracy.
Richard was also following the
example of Henry Ford, who challenged the patents that were used in 1911 to
monopolize the development of the automobile. After overcoming this patent
restraint on innovation, the automobile was able to develop rapidly. Richard
Stallman argued that the same freedom from patent restrictions would lead to
innovation in the software industry which would benefit everyone. Richard
argued that scientific advances were best accomplished in a process of openness
and cooperation rather than corporate secrecy. Richard’s goal was to bring a
free software operating platform into existence. Stallman wanted computer users
to be free to study the source code of the software they use, free to share the
software with other people, free to modify the behavior of the software, and
free to publish their modified versions of the software. In 1989, GNU published
the first General Public License (GPL) under which software is legally shared
freely.
Linus Torvalds Provides the Missing
Link
One thing missing from the GNU project
was a stable “kernel” or core which is at the heart of the operating system.
The kernel can be thought of as the foundation of a house. GNU made all the
components of the house, such as the walls and the roof and the plumbing and
electrical devices. But the foundation they built it on – a kernel called HURD
– was too complex and too unstable. In 1991, a simple, stable kernel was
created by Linus Torvalds. The kernel was called Linux since it was based in
part on the Unix operating system. The Unix operating system was a private
system owed by AT&T which for many years had allowed folks to use their
program for free, but in 1979 AT&T decided to start charging to use their
UNIX program. Most programmers paid the fee. But some, including Linus Torvalds,
decided to create their own operating system.
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Quote
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I believe Open Source is the right
thing to do the same way I believe science is better than alchemy. Like science,
Open Source allows people to build on a solid base of previous knowledge,
without some silly hiding... you can never do as well in a closed environment
as you can with open scientific methods.
Linus Torvalds 2007 |
The proper name for the Linux
operating system is GNU/Linux. However, as this is difficult to say and
remember, most people simply refer to it as Linux and refer to the project
which supports much of what goes into it as the GNU project.
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Quote
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We worked very hard on creating a
name that would appeal to the majority of people, and it certainly paid off:
thousands of people are using Linux just to be able to say “I've got
Linux. What a cool name.
Linux Torvalds, 1993
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Richard Stallman protests that
calling GNU/Linux just Linux fails to recognize the role that GNU plays in
building the entire operating system. However, in this book we will use the
simple term Linux as our goal is to spread the use of this operating system and
a simple term is more likely to spread usage than a complex term.
BSD, another free open source
operating system is developed – and also paid for by the public
While Linux was the world’s first
free open source operating system, it was soon joined by another free operating
system called BSD which stands for the Berkeley Software Distribution. This
project started in the 1980s with a nearly finished free open source operating
system released in June 1991. It was also based in part on the Unix operating
system and therefore was a cousin of the Linux operating system. However,
lawsuits by similar commercial operating systems, held up release of BSD until
1994 when a court decision held that over 99% of the BSD system did not violate
any patents. There are currently several versions of the BSD free operating
system.
What is important to understand
about both the Linux and BSD operating systems is that both of them were
initially funded primarily by public tax payer dollars. The BSD project was at
the University of California at Berkeley. Nearly all the funding therefore came
from taxes paid by the citizens of the State of California with some help from
the US federal tax payers. Linux Torvalds also points out that the only reason
he was able to devote several years to creating the Linux operating system was
that the citizens of Finland paid for his college education. In Finland,
citizens can attend college for only $500 per year. Linus spent 8 years getting
his Master’s Degree (and working on the operating system). So we really should
thank the citizens of Finland for the fact that we all can now benefit from the
world’s safest operating system.
Microsoft and Apple take advantage
of free open source operating systems
While Microsoft and Apple have both
accused each other of violating each others patents, the irony is that they have
both used free open source components to improve their own operating systems.
The Apple operating systems in particular is based almost entirely on the BSD
operating system. Thus, Apple is a close cousin of the Unix and Linux operating
system. Because BSD and Linux are shared over the Internet, both projects had a
strong interest in developing the Internet networking portion of their free
operating systems. As the importance of the Internet grew in the 1990s,
Microsoft adopted most of this free open source networking code into its own
commercial operating system. Therefore, regardless of the operating system you
are currently using, you are already using some free open source code.
There are many other examples of
technological development paid for by the public. The entire Internet was built
by public universities with public taxpayer dollars. The wireless Wi-Fi system
was also created using public taxpayer dollars. Even current development of
open source programs is done largely by programmers at public universities who
want to share code with programmers at other public universities. The only
question is why any of us should continue to pay for products which were all
created by our tax dollars. When products are created by the public, they ought
to remain free and in the public domain. There is clearly something wrong with
the current system: the public pays the costs of technology development but
private monopolies take the profits.
Open Source Initiative versus the
Free Software Foundation
Despite the fact that the GNU/Linux
operating system was free and was the safest and most versatile operating
system in the world, adoption and refinement of the GNU/Linux operating system
grew slowly. The first complete version, Linux 1.0, was not released until
1994. Ironically, there is a drawback to the word “free.” Businesses and the
general public tend to think of the word “free” as in no cost or “cheap” or
“not very good.” Richard Stallman tried valiantly to clarify that the term
“free” meant free as in “freedom” and that freedom from patent restrictions is
important. But businesses and the public failed to recognize that their freedom
was being taken away by the Microsoft and Apple monopolies. Unfortunately, many
business owners thought that free open source programs meant a communist attack
which threatened their belief in capitalism.
To encourage wider adoption of the
Linux operating system, a group split off from the Free Software Foundation in
the mid-1990s and formed the Open Source Initiative. Instead of emphasizing the
fact that the software was free, they pointed out the benefits of the software
being open source – meaning that the source code was free of patent
restrictions and could be freely shared. This change in focus led to businesses
such as Google, Amazon and Facebook adopting version of the Linux open source
operating system. These groups then devoted some funds back to the further
development of open source operating systems. However, the emphasis on this new
open source transparent code (rather than freedom) led to a split between
Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds – a difference of opinion which still
exists today.
Two Desktop Interfaces… The First
Fork in the Road
One problem with the Linux operating
system in 1992 was that you had to know computer programming to use it.
Therefore several groups began working on open source Graphic User Interfaces
or GUIs so that a person could simply click on a series of buttons with a mouse
rather than typing a bunch of computer programming with a key board – thus
making Linux more user friendly. The interface appears on a computer screen
which is also called a desktop. At some point, this interface became called a
“Desktop Environment” or DE.
The first open source desktop
interface, called KDE for K Desktop Environment, was started in 1996.
However, because some parts of KDE were not open source, a second and fully
open source operating system, called GNOME, was started in 1997. GNOME
stands for GNU Object Modeling Environment. This was the first major fork in
the road for the Linux operating system. Even today, there are still Linux
Systems based on GNOME and others based on KDE. A branch off of the Linux tree
is called a fork:
Linux takes over the Web Server
Market
Because any computer programmer can
do whatever they want with Linux, there quickly became many forks of Linux.
Most of these forks were special branches intended to run servers. Servers are special
computers that host websites and control traffic on the Internet. The main
reason most servers use the Linux operating system is that it is safe and
dependable. Unlike a personal computer, which is usually on only a few hours a
day, web servers are typically on 24 hours a day. You therefore need an
operating system that does not crash regardless of what it is confronted with.
You also need an operating system which is safe from viruses and hacker
attacks. Because servers are built and run by experienced computer programmers,
most of them chose to use Linux. But they also forked Linux into highly
specialized versions which are not that appropriate for the average person to
use to run their own personal computer.
GNOME 1 and 2 Shells
The GNOME project developed a free
open source graphic user interface which is used to display the free open
source Linux operating system on a normal personal computer. Gnome 2 was
started in about 2002 to improve the appearance and structure of Gnome 1. These
incredibly smart people were interested in long term cutting edge innovation
more than short term quarterly profits. For years, Linux had been a tool used
mainly by Geeks and computer programmers who would build their own computers
from scratch. It is actually easier than you might think to throw together a
few computer components and create a low cost high powered computer. Because
they wanted freedom, they would also install their own operating systems –
which were nearly all offshoots of Linux. But to use these early Linux
operating systems, you pretty much had to be good with computer programming.
While some of the computer could be controlled using the GNOME interface, many
functions still required entering computer commands into a portion of the GNOME
interface called the “terminal.” Think of terminal as in deadly illness.
Requiring any computer programming at all eliminates 99% of us who will never
learn computer programming. I personally know several computer programming
languages and have taught computer programming. So I am not really talking
about myself. I am talking about my students. It takes real focus and
dedication to get good at computer programming and most people simply do not
have the time or interest to really learn it.
Distributions – also known as Distros
Distributions are packages of free
open source programs that are built on top of the Linux foundation. The package
includes a word processing program, an image processing program and any of
thousands of other possible programs. Some distributions use the Gnome Shell,
some use the KDE shell and/or several different shells. When you download a
Linux operating system, what you are really downloading is one of the many
distributions of Linux. The oldest of these distributions is Debian – which
began in 1993 using a very early version of the Linux operating system. Fedora
was introduced a couple of years later. This distribution is sponsored by a
commercial Linux based company called Red Hat which has revenue of over one
billion dollars per year. Below is a 2017 November list of the five most
popular distributions (or open source software packages) based on number of
page hits per day according to distrowatch.com:
Linux Mint is the first Linux
distribution to average over 2,500 page hits per day. It has been the leading
Linux distribution for the past two years. Ubuntu is a fork of Debian that was
started in 2004 to offer a consistent release and update cycle. It was the most
popular distribution until about 2011 when it was replaced by Mint. Mint is a
fork of Ubuntu that was started in 2006 to offer users a more Windows-like
operating system.
Linux Distributions Family Tree
Linux Ubuntu
Ubuntu was started in 2004 by a
South African businessman named Mark Shuttleworth. His company is called
Canonical and his goal was to create a more user friendly operating system. He
chose the “Debian” version of Linux as his base and added more friendly user
interfaces over time. Like Debian, Ubuntu is based on the Gnome shell.
While Ubuntu and Mint are
technically called “distributions” or “distros”, they can also be thought of as
“skins” with Linux as the brain. Ubuntu released a version called Warty Warthog
in 2004. This was the first widespread public adoption of an operating system
other than MS Windows and Apple Mac. The main benefit of Ubuntu back in 2005
was that it was free. It was therefore used in cheap computers in schools and
in poor countries, which often could not afford hundreds of dollars per student
every year for Windows based operating systems and related software. Sadly,
Ubuntu was not very stable and it crashed a lot. It was also not very easy to
use. Many of the functions are hidden and the file structure is not very
logical. Worst of all, to really use it, you still had to learn a series of
computer programming commands to operate their “terminal.” This meant that
Ubuntu was not a good choice for most beginners. But the worst aspect of Ubuntu
is its blatant promotion of a mega corporation - Amazon. In October 2012,
Ubuntu released version 12.10 which, for the first time, featured a link to
Amazon.com in its main menu. Below is the Linux Ubuntu Start Screen:
It is easy to delete this link. But
what angered many Ubuntu users is that Ubuntu now collects data on user desktop
activity and forwards it to Amazon. Many Ubuntu users are now bombarded by ads
from Amazon after using the Ubuntu Search Box (which is now linked to Amazon).
Richard Stallman has described the
integration of Ubuntu with Amazon as “spyware.” See the following 6 minute
Youtube video for a fuller explanation of Richard Stallman’s concerns about the
Amazon/Ubuntu invasion of your privacy:
One of the advantages of free
software is that users historically have been able to protect themselves from
malicious features. To recover our right to privacy, we have to either convince
the Ubuntu developers to stop spying on us - or we need to move away from
Ubuntu towards a project like Linux Mint which does not spy on us. I should add
that even if Ubuntu stopped spying on us, I would still recommend Linux Mint
because it has a much better file manager. Also Ubuntu has a problem in that,
like Windows 8, many important commands are hidden from view. You can navigate
the Dash with your mouse, but it is incredibly complicated for beginners,
hiding a lot of your apps under expandable menus and small icons. That means
browsing for apps is a pretty bad experience when you are using Ubuntu.
The Linux Mint Project starts in
2006
In 2006, a group of programmers, led
by Clem Lefebvre, split off from Ubuntu and began the Linux Mint project. The
Mint interface and file structure are much more like the Windows interface and
file structure. This was a huge improvement over Ubuntu – but nowhere near as
mature as Windows XP, which had a 10-year lead over Linux Mint. Just as Rome
was not built in a day, it took several years for the Linux Mint team to create
a stable reliable product. Development, appearance and user friendliness
accelerated in 2009 with the introduction of the Ubuntu Software Manager. This
new tool, used by both Ubuntu and Mint, would eventually put open source
operating systems ahead of commercial operating systems which lack this
feature. Their latest version, Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon, featuring Libre Office
5, is in many ways substantially better than Windows 10. We will review these
benefits in the next section on Linux Mint. Even ignoring the fact that Mint is
free, it is better than Windows – and can work with either Windows based
programs – or with thousands of free open source programs, such as Libre
Office, which easily converts Microsoft Office documents.
Linux Mint comes in four different
flavors or versions.
In addition, Linux Mint is available
in two more versions. These are the KDE project’s version of Linux and the XFCE
version of Linux:
For many years, I had recommended
Mint Mate over Mint Cinnamon because Mate was less cutting edge and therefore
more stable. However, Cinnamon has improved greatly in the past six years and
is now very stable. It also offers many features not available on any other
Linux distribution. I therefore now recommend Mint Cinnamon for any computer
that has at least 2 GB of RAM. Mint XFCE is not very good because its file
manager is limited. However, Mint KDE is interesting in that it is similar to
Mint Mate. If this sounds confusing, it is. One of the drawbacks of Open Source
is that anyone is free to do whatever they want. So there are lots of options
and you will need to get use to a diversity of options and opinions if you want
the benefits of open source programs.
Understanding Linux Diversity
One of the perceived drawbacks of
Linux is complexity. Linux comes in many different flavors which are called
distributions (or distros for short). This is actually a good thing since there
is strength in diversity and because diversity helps promote innovation. There
are also many versions of Windows and Mac Operating Systems. But with Windows
and Mac, the main purpose of their version changes seems to be to force their
customers to pay them for the update to the new version – which is often worse
than the old version. With Linux, diversity is more related to meeting
different needs – not to create more profits.
Below are just a few of the many
branches off of the Linux tree:
A key difference between the various
Linux options is the Graphic User Interface. Other differences include the File
Manager (each has a different one) and the other free programs that come
packaged with each option. We will handle this complexity by recommending what
is currently the simplest, most stable and most powerful interface – Linux
Mint Cinnamon.
Its screens look quite similar to
Windows 7 and Windows XP screens – so if you have been using Windows 7 or XP,
you will feel right at home. In my opinion, Linux Mint Cinnamon is
currently the best and most stable operating system in the world. It uses a
very easy file manager called Nemo.
Reasons to Choose Linux Mint
Cinnamon
What is important to understand
about Linux operating systems is that there is really no need to upgrade or get
updates unless you really want to. Some folks have expressed concerns about the
rapid release cycles with open source programs such as Linux Mint Cinnamon. New
versions are released about every six months. Novices fear it will be difficult
keeping up with all the updates and new versions. However, unlike Windows,
which leaves the back door open to hacker attacks, Linux does not leave the
back door open. Thus, there is no need for a monthly “update” and there is no
need for an annual “upgrade” just to have a safe and secure operating system.
Linux
Mint Cinnamon Desktop with Start Menu open
The only reason to upgrade is if you
want some new features. Because a lot of people want the most recent version,
Linux Mint Cinnamon offers a way to back up and copy all of your data whenever
you want to update to a newer version. While free open source operating systems
like Linux Mint are still less than 3% of all current personal computer users,
the trend is clearly going in their direction.
Free Software
Another huge advantage of Linux Mint
is there free Software Center which allows us to download any of hundreds of
programs with just the click of a button:
Linux Mint Community Forum
A final reason to choose Linux Mint
over other Linux distributions is the Linux Mint Forum. Because Linux Mint was
developed specifically for those who were used to the Windows operating system
- but wanted to move away from Microsoft, the Mint Community Forum is run by
people who are kind, understanding and aware of the challenges that a Linux
novice faces in making the jump from Windows to Linux.
Spend some time reading the
questions and answers on this forum and you will quickly see that Linux Mint is
not merely an operating system. It is a community. Feel free to ask them any
questions you have about Linux or Linux Mint. Here is a link to the Linux Mint
Community Forum. https://forums.linuxmint.com/
Linux Mint Cinnamon is Easy to Learn
In our books and courses, we
recommend Linux Mint Cinnamon mainly because it looks and works much like the
Windows XP and Windows 7 operating systems. It is thus a very easy way for
Windows refugees to learn and use Linux. Mint also has an excellent community of
supporters who answer questions asked by “nu bees” on the Linux Mint forum. We
also recommend Mint because it can be easily customized into a powerful tool
for writing books, courses and websites.
Tipping Points and the Structure of
Scientific Revolutions
In the book, The Structure of
Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn explains that revolutions do not happen
gradually. People are highly resistant to change. They cling to existing
beliefs until something drastic, a triggering event, forces them to consider something
new. That triggering event may be the Double Whammy of Microsoft ending support
for Windows XP and at the same time trying to force users to adopt the
fundamentally flawed Windows 10 operating system. Once 10% of the people
become aware that there is a better option – which is also free – and an option
where they can continue to safely use their current computers and current Word
documents, change can spread like wildfire to the rest of the
population.
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