372 lines
10 KiB
HTML
372 lines
10 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
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<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>History</TITLE
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><META
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
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REL="HOME"
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TITLE="Introduction to Linux"
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HREF="index.html"><LINK
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REL="UP"
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TITLE="What is Linux?"
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HREF="chap_01.html"><LINK
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REL="PREVIOUS"
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TITLE="What is Linux?"
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HREF="chap_01.html"><LINK
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REL="NEXT"
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TITLE="The user interface"
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HREF="sect_01_02.html"></HEAD
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><BODY
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CLASS="sect1"
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BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
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TEXT="#000000"
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LINK="#0000FF"
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VLINK="#840084"
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ALINK="#0000FF"
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVHEADER"
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><TABLE
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SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TH
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COLSPAN="3"
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ALIGN="center"
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>Introduction to Linux: </TH
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="chap_01.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="80%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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>Chapter 1. What is Linux?</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="sect_01_02.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect1"
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><H1
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CLASS="sect1"
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><A
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NAME="sect_01_01"
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></A
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>1.1. History</H1
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="sect_01_01_01"
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></A
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>1.1.1. UNIX</H2
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><P
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> In order to understand the popularity of Linux, we need to travel back in time,
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about 30 years ago...
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</P
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><P
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>Imagine computers as big as houses, even stadiums. While the sizes of
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those computers posed substantial problems, there was one thing that made this
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even worse: every computer had a different operating system. Software was
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always customized to serve a specific purpose, and software for one given system
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didn't run on another system. Being able to work with one system didn't
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automatically mean that you could work with another. It was difficult, both
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for the users and the system administrators.
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</P
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><P
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>Computers were extremely expensive then, and sacrifices had to be made
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even after the original purchase just to get the users to understand how they
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worked. The total cost per unit of computing power was enormous.
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</P
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><P
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>Technologically the world was not quite that advanced, so they had to live
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with the size for another decade. In 1969, a team of developers in the Bell
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Labs laboratories started working on a solution for the software problem, to
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address these compatibility issues. They developed a new operating system,
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which was
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</P
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><P
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></P
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><OL
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TYPE="1"
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><LI
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><P
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>Simple and elegant.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Written in the C programming language instead of in assembly
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code.
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</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Able to recycle code.
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</P
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></LI
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></OL
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><P
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>The Bell Labs developers named their project <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"UNIX."</SPAN
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></P
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><P
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> The code recycling features were very important. Until then, all commercially
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available computer systems were written in a code specifically developed for one
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system. UNIX on the other hand needed only a small piece of that special code,
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which is now commonly named the kernel. This kernel is the only piece of code
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that needs to be adapted for every specific system and forms the base of the
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UNIX system. The operating system and all other functions were built around
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this kernel and written in a higher programming language, C. This language was
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especially developed for creating the UNIX system. Using this new technique, it
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was much easier to develop an operating system that could run on many different
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types of hardware.
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</P
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><P
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>The software vendors were quick to adapt, since they could sell ten times
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more software almost effortlessly. Weird new situations came in existence:
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imagine for instance computers from different vendors communicating in the same
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network, or users working on different systems without the need for extra
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education to use another computer. UNIX did a great deal to help users become
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compatible with different systems.
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</P
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><P
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>Throughout the next couple of decades the development of UNIX continued.
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More things became possible to do and more hardware and software vendors added
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support for UNIX to their products.
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</P
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><P
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>UNIX was initially found only in very large environments with mainframes
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and minicomputers (note that a PC is a <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"micro"</SPAN
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> computer). You had
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to work at a university, for the government or for large financial corporations
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in order to get your hands on a UNIX system.
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</P
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><P
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>But smaller computers were being developed, and by the end of the 80's,
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many people had home computers. By that time, there were several versions of
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UNIX available for the PC architecture, but none of them were truly free and more important: they were all terribly slow, so most people ran MS DOS or Windows 3.1 on their home PCs.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="sect_01_01_02"
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></A
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>1.1.2. Linus and Linux</H2
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><P
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>By the beginning of the 90s home PCs were finally powerful enough to run a full blown UNIX. Linus Torvalds, a young man studying computer science at the university of
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Helsinki, thought it would be a good idea to have some sort of freely available
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academic version of UNIX, and promptly started to code.
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</P
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><P
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>He started to ask questions, looking for answers and solutions that would
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help him get UNIX on his PC. Below is one of his first posts in comp.os.minix,
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dating from 1991:
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</P
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><TABLE
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BORDER="0"
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BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
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WIDTH="100%"
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><TR
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><TD
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><FONT
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COLOR="#000000"
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><PRE
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CLASS="screen"
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> From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
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Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
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Subject: Gcc-1.40 and a posix-question
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Message-ID: <1991Jul3.100050.9886@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
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Date: 3 Jul 91 10:00:50 GMT
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Hello netlanders,
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Due to a project I'm working on (in minix), I'm interested in the posix
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standard definition. Could somebody please point me to a (preferably)
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machine-readable format of the latest posix rules? Ftp-sites would be
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nice.
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</PRE
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></FONT
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><P
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>From the start, it was Linus' goal to have a free system that was
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completely compliant with the original UNIX. That is why he asked for POSIX
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standards, POSIX still being the standard for UNIX.
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</P
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><P
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>In those days plug-and-play wasn't invented yet, but so many people were
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interested in having a UNIX system of their own, that this was only a small
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obstacle. New drivers became available for all kinds of new hardware, at a
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continuously rising speed. Almost as soon as a new piece of hardware became
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available, someone bought it and submitted it to the Linux test, as the system
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was gradually being called, releasing more free code for an ever wider range of
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hardware. These coders didn't stop at their PC's; every piece of hardware they
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could find was useful for Linux.</P
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><P
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>Back then, those people were called <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"nerds"</SPAN
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> or
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<SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"freaks"</SPAN
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>, but it didn't matter to them, as long as the supported
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hardware list grew longer and longer. Thanks to these people, Linux is now not
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only ideal to run on new PC's, but is also the system of choice for old and
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exotic hardware that would be useless if Linux didn't exist.
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</P
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><P
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>Two years after Linus' post, there were 12000 Linux users. The project,
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popular with hobbyists, grew steadily, all the while staying within the bounds
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of the POSIX standard. All the features of UNIX were added over the next couple
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of years, resulting in the mature operating system Linux has become today.
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Linux is a full UNIX clone, fit for use on workstations as well as on
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middle-range and high-end servers. Today, a lot of the important players on the
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hard- and software market each have their team of Linux developers; at your
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local dealer's you can even buy pre-installed Linux systems with official
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support - eventhough there is still a lot of hard- and software that is not supported, too.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="sect_01_01_03"
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></A
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>1.1.3. Current application of Linux systems</H2
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><P
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>Today Linux has joined the desktop market. Linux developers concentrated
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on networking and services in the beginning, and office applications have been
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the last barrier to be taken down. We don't like to admit that Microsoft is
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ruling this market, so plenty of alternatives have been started over the last
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couple of years to make Linux an acceptable choice as a workstation, providing
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an easy user interface and MS compatible office applications like word
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processors, spreadsheets, presentations and the like.
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</P
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><P
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>On the server side, Linux is well-known as a stable and reliable platform,
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providing database and trading services for companies like Amazon, the
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well-known online bookshop, US Post Office, the German army and many others.
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Especially Internet providers and Internet service providers have grown fond of
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Linux as firewall, proxy- and web server, and you will find a Linux box within
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reach of every UNIX system administrator who appreciates a comfortable
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management station. Clusters of Linux machines are used in the creation of
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movies such as <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"Titanic"</SPAN
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>, <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"Shrek"</SPAN
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> and others. In
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post offices, they are the nerve centers that route mail and in large search
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engine, clusters are used to perform internet searches.These are only a few of
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the thousands of heavy-duty jobs that Linux is performing day-to-day across the
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world.
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</P
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><P
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>It is also worth to note that modern Linux not only runs on workstations,
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mid- and high-end servers, but also on <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"gadgets"</SPAN
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> like PDA's,
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mobiles, a shipload of embedded applications and even on experimental
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wristwatches. This makes Linux the only operating system in the world covering
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such a wide range of hardware.</P
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></DIV
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
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SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="chap_01.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="index.html"
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ACCESSKEY="H"
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>Home</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="sect_01_02.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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>What is Linux?</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="chap_01.html"
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ACCESSKEY="U"
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>Up</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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>The user interface</TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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></DIV
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></BODY
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></HTML
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> |