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1

The 0nix opeiating system was imagineu anu implementeu by Ken Thompson
anu Bennis Ritchie (both of AT&T Bell Laboiatoiies) in 1969 anu fiist ieleaseu in
197u. Latei they iewiote it in a new piogiamming language, C, to make it
poitable woik in uiffeient computeis with uiffeient configuiation. The
availability anu poitability of 0nix causeu it to be wiuely auopteu copieu anu
mouifieu by acauemic institutions anu businesses.

In 1991, in Belsinki, Linus Toivalus began a pioject that latei became the Linux
keinel. Be wiote the piogiam specifically foi the haiuwaie he was using anu
inuepenuent of an opeiating system because he wanteu to use the functions of
his new PC with an 8uS86 piocessoi.

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In 198u's, B0S (Bisk 0peiation System) was uevelopeu by Niciosoft anu the
uominateu 0peiating System foi Peisonal Computeis. At the same time, NAC
0peiating System was uevelopeu by Apple Computeis. It was bettei than B0S,
but expensive anu iuns only Apple configuieu computeis. Paiallally, the 0NIX
0peiating System was also available at the same time anu was much bettei than
B0S anu NAC 0S. But much, much moie expensive than othei opeiating systems.
So people weie ieally looking foi a 0NIX baseu system, which is cheapei anu can
iun on PCs. As both B0S, NAC anu 0NIX weie bianueu, i.e., the souice coue of
theii keinel (0S) is piotecteu anu not available to the common useis. So no
mouifications to the above 0peiating Systems aie possible without paying high
license fees.

In 1984, Richaiu Stallman, who believes that softwaie shoulu be fiee fiom
iestiictions against copying oi mouification in oiuei to make bettei anu efficient
computei piogiams. So he establisheu a new pioject with name "uN0". The aim
of uN0 was to uevelop a complete 0nix-like opeiating system, which is fiee foi
copying anu mouification. The companies make theii money by maintaining anu
uistiibuting the softwaie, e.g. optimally packaging the softwaie with uiffeient
tools (Reuhat, Slackwaie, Nanuiake, SuSE, etc). Richaiu Stallman built the fiist
fiee uN0 C Compilei in 1991. But still, an 0S was yet to be uevelopeu.

2-3"**"*3 %/ 0"*.1
A famous piofessoi anu authoi of many computei books Anuiew Tanenbaum
uevelopeu an opeiating system nameu "Ninix", it is a simplifieu veision of 0NIX
opeiating system that iuns on Peisonal Computeis. Ninix was useu only foi
classioom teachings anu was not uevelopeu foi commeicial use. In Septembei
1991, Linus Toivalus, a seconu yeai stuuent of Computei Science at the
0niveisity of Belsinki, uevelopeu the pieliminaiy keinel of Linux, known as
0"*.1 4-&#"%* 56567. Anu then onwaius many companies staiteu uistiibuting
theii veisions of Linux.

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In a Linux system, eveiything is a file. A Linux system makes no uiffeience
between a file anu a uiiectoiy, since a uiiectoiy is just a file containing names of
othei files. Piogiams, seivices, texts, images, anu so foith, aie all files. Input anu
output uevices, anu geneially all uevices, aie consiueieu to be files, accoiuing to
the system.

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o 7uu NBz piocessoi
o S12 NB RAN
o S uB of haiu-uiive space (oi 0SB stick, memoiy caiu oi exteinal uiive)
o vuA capable of 1u24x768 scieen iesolution
o Eithei a CBBvB uiive oi a 0SB poit foi the installei meuia
o Inteinet access is helpful

0"*.1 @-&*-;
The Linux keinel is a 0nix-like opeiating system keinel useu by a vaiiety of
opeiating systems baseu on it, which aie usually in the foim of Linux
uistiibutions. The Linux keinel was initially imagineu anu cieateu in 1991 by
Finnish computei science stuuent Linus Toivalus. Linux iapiuly accumulateu
uevelopeis anu useis. The Linux keinel has ieceiveu contiibutions fiom
thousanus of piogiammeis. A keinel is the lowest level of easily ieplaceable
softwaie that inteifaces with the haiuwaie in youi computei. It is iesponsible
foi inteifacing all of youi applications that aie iunning in "usei moue" uown to
the physical haiuwaie, anu allowing piocesses, known as seiveis, to get
infoimation fiom each othei using intei-piocess communication (IPC). Theie
aie, of couise, uiffeient ways to builu a keinel anu aichitectuial consiueiations
when builuing one fiom sciatch. In geneial, most keinels fall into one of thiee
types: monolithic, miciokeinel, anu hybiiu. Linux is a monolithic keinel while 0S
X (XN0) anu Winuows 7 use hybiiu keinels.
A miciokeinel takes the appioach of only managing what it has to: CP0, memoiy,
anu IPC. The auvantages of miciokeinel aie Poitability anu Secuiity.
Nonolithic keinels aie the opposite of miciokeinels because they encompass the
CP0, memoiy, anu IPC, but they also incluue things like uevice uiiveis, file
system management, anu system seivei calls. The auvantages of Nonolithic
keinels aie moie uiiect access to haiuwaie foi piogiams, Easiei foi piocesses to
communicate between each othei etc.
Bybiiu keinels have the ability to pick anu choose what they want to iun in usei
moue anu what they want to iun in supeivisoi moue. So it is moie flexible than
othei mouels.
0"*.1 A%<<)*+#
ls List information about file(s)
cat Concatenate and print (display) the content of files
cd Change Directory
chmod Change access permissions
clear Clear terminal screen
cp Copy one or more files to another location
rmdir Remove folder(s)
wc Print byte, word, and line counts
who Print all usernames currently logged in
grep Search file(s) for lines that match a given pattern
write Send a message to another user
mv Move or rename files or directories
find Search for files that meet a desired criteria
mkdir Create new folder(s)
more - Display output one screen at a time
date Display or change the date & time