An operating system is an interface between the user of a computer and the computer

hardware. It is a collection of software that manages computer hardware resources and offers
common services for programs of the computer. The short term of the operating system is OS.
And, it is, an essential component of the system software in a computer system. The main
purpose of an OS is to afford an environment in which a user can execute a program in an
efficient or convenient manner. This article gives an overview of what is the Linux Operating
System; the types of operating systems; their architecture and features.

Operating systems are categorized into six types based on the types of computers they control
such as single user single task operating systems, real time operating systems, single user,
multitasking operating systems, multiuser operating systems, distributed operating systems,
and embedded operating systems. The typical services that an operating system provides
include: a task scheduler, memory manager, disk manager, network manager, Other I/O services
and Security manager.

What is the Linux Operating System?

Linux operating system is one of the popular versions of the UNIX operating system, which
is designed to offer a free or low-cost operating system for personal computer users. It gained
the reputation as a fast performing and very efficient system. This is a remarkably complete
operating system, including a GUI (graphical user interface), TCP/IP, the Emacs editor, can
X Window System, etc.

The History of LINUX Operating System

The History of Linux began in the 1991 with the beginning of a personal project by a Finland student
Linus Torvalds to create a new free operating system kernel. Since then, the resulting Linux Kernel has
been marked by constant growth throughout the history.

 In the year 1991, Linux was introduced by a Finland student Linus Torvalds.
 Hewlett Packard UNIX(HP-UX) 8.0 was released.
 In the year 1992, Hewlett Packard 9.0 was released.
 In the year 1993, NetBSD 0.8 and FreeBSD 1.0 released.
 In the year 1994, Red Hat Linux was introduced, Caldera was founded by Bryan Sparks and
Ransom Love and NetBSD1.0 Released.
 In the year 1995, FreeBSD 2.0 and HP UX 10.0 were released.
 In the year 1996, K Desktop Environment was developed by Matthias Ettrick.
 In the year 1997, HP-UX 11.0 was released.
 In the year 1998, the fifth generation of SGI Unix i.e. IRIX 6.5, Sun Solaris 7 operating system
and Free BSD 3.0 was released.
 In the year 2000, the agreement of Caldera Systems with SCO server software division and the
professional services division was announced.
 In the year 2001, Linus Torvalds released the Linux 2.4 version source code.
 In the year 2001, Microsoft filed a trademark suit against Lindows.com
 In the year 2004, Lindo’s name was changed to Linspire.
 In the year 2004, the first release of Ubuntu was released.
 In the year 2005, The project, openSUSE began a free distribution from Novell’s community.
 In the year 2006, Oracle released its own distribution of Red Hat.
 In the year 2007, Dell started distributing laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed in it.
 In the year 2011, Linux kernel 3.0 version was released.
 In the year 2013, Googles Linux based Android claimed 75% of the smartphone market share, in
terms of the number of phones shipped.
 In the year 2014, Ubuntu claimed 22,000,000 users.
 Linux System Architecture

The Linux Operating System’s architecture primarily has these components: the Kernel, Hardware
layer, System library, Shell and System utility.

1. The kernel is the core part of the operating system, which is responsible for all the major
activities of the LINUX operating system. This operating system consists of different
modules and interacts directly with the underlying hardware. The kernel offers the required
abstraction to hide application programs or low-level hardware details to the system. The
types of Kernels are as follows:

 Monolithic Kernel
 Micro kernels
 Exo kernels
 Hybrid kernels
2. System libraries are special functions, that are used to implement the functionality of the operating
system and do not require code access rights of kernel modules.

3. System Utility programs are liable to do individual, and specialized-level tasks.

4. Hardware layer of the LINUX operating system consists of peripheral devices such as RAM, HDD,
CPU.

5. The shell is an interface between the user and the kernel, and it affords services of the kernel. It
takes commands from the user and executes kernel’s functions. The Shell is present in different types
of operating systems, which are classified into two types: command line shells and graphical shells.

The command line shells provide a command line interface, while the graphical line shells provide a
graphical user interface. Though both shells perform operations, but the graphical user interface shells
perform slower than the command line interface shells. Types of shells are classified into four:


Korn shell
 Bourne shell
 C shell
 POSIX shell

Features of Linux Operating System

The main features of Linux operating system are

Portable: Linux operating system can work on different types of hardware’s as well as Linux kernel
supports the installation of any kind of hardware platform.
Open Source: Source code of LINUX operating system is freely available and, to enhance the ability
of the LINUX operating system, many teams work in collaboration.
Multiuser: Linux operating system is a multiuser system, which means, multiple users can access the
system resources like RAM, Memory or Application programs at the same time.

Why use Linux?

This is the one question that most people ask. Why bother learning a completely different computing
environment, when the operating system that ships with most desktops, laptops, and servers works
just fine? To answer that question, I would pose another question. Does that operating system you’re
currently using really work “just fine”? Or are you constantly battling viruses, malware, slowdowns,
crashes, costly repairs, and licensing fees?

If you struggle with the above and want to free yourself from the constant fear of losing data or
having to take your computer in for the “yearly clean up,” Linux might be the perfect platform for
you. Linux has evolved into one of the most reliable computer ecosystems on the planet. Combine
that reliability with zero cost of entry and you have the perfect solution for a desktop platform.

That’s right, zero cost of entry...as in free. You can install Linux on as many computers as you like
without paying a cent for software or server licensing (including costly Microsoft Client Access
License – CALs).
 Let’s look at the cost of a Linux server, in comparison to Windows Server 2012. The price of the
Windows Server 2012 software alone can run up to $1,200.00 USD. That doesn’t include CALs, and
licenses for other software you may need to run (such as a database, a web server, mail server, etc).
With the Linux server...it’s all free and easy to install. In fact, installing a full blown web server (that
includes a database server), is just a few clicks or commands away (take a look at “Easy LAMP
Server Installation” to get an idea how simple it can be).

If you’re a system administrator, working with Linux is a dream come true. No more daily babysitting
servers. In fact, Linux is as close to “set it and forget it” as you will ever find. And, on the off chance,
one service on the server requires restarting, re-configuring, upgrading, etc... most likely the rest of
the server won’t be affected.

Be it the desktop or a server, if zero cost isn’t enough to win you over – what about having an
operating system that will work, trouble free, for as long as you use it? I’ve personally used Linux for
nearly twenty years (as a desktop and server platform) and have not once had an issue with malware,
viruses, or random computer slow-downs. It’s that stable. And server reboots? Only if the kernel is
updated. It is not out of the ordinary for a Linux server to go years without being rebooted. That’s
stability and dependability.

Linux is also distributed under an open source license. Open source follows the following key
philosophies:

 The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.

 The freedom to study how the program works and change it to make it do what you wish.

 The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbour.

 The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.

The above are crucial to understanding the community that comes together to create the Linux
platform. It is, without a doubt, an operating system that is “by the people, for the people”. These
philosophies are also one of the main reasons a large percentage of people use Linux. It’s about
freedom and freedom of choice.

Installing Linux
For most, the idea of installing an operating system might seem like a very daunting task. Believe it or
not, Linux offers one of the easiest installations of all operating systems. In fact, most versions of
Linux offer what is called a Live distribution – which means you run the operating system from either
a CD/DVD or USB flash drive without making any changes to your hard drive. You get the full
functionality without having to commit to the installation. Once you’ve tried it out, and decided you
wanted to use it, you simply double-click the “Install” icon and walk through the simple installation
wizard.

Typically, the installation wizards walk you through the process with the following steps (I’ll
illustrate the installation of Ubuntu Linux):

 Preparation: Make sure your machine meets the requirements for installation. This also may
ask you if you want to install third-party software (such as plugins for MP3 playback, video
codecs, and more).
 Select your type of installation and click Install Now.

 Location: Select your location from the map.

 Keyboard layout: Select the keyboard layout for your system.

 User setup: Set up your username and password.

That’s it. Once the system has completed the installation, reboot and you’re ready to go. For a more
in-depth guide to installing Linux, take a look at “How to Install and Try Linux the Absolutely Easiest
and Safest Way”, or download the Linux Foundation\'s PDF guide for Linux installation.

Installing software on Linux

Just as the operating system itself is easy to install, so too are applications. Most modern Linux
distributions include what most would consider an “app store”. This is a centralized location where
software can be searched and installed. Ubuntu Linux has the Ubuntu Software Centre, Deepin has the
Deepin Software Centre, some distributions rely on Synaptic, while others rely on GNOME Software.

Regardless of the name, each of these tools do the same thing – a central place to search for and install
Linux software. Of course, these pieces of software depend upon the presence of a GUI. For GUI-less
servers, you will have to depend upon the command line interface for installation.

Let’s look at two different tools to illustrate how easy even the command line installation can be. Our
examples are for Debian-based distributions and Fedora-based distributions. The Debian-based distros
will use the apt-get tool for installing software and Fedora-based distros will require the use of the
yum tool. Both works very similarly. I’ll illustrate using the apt-get command. Let’s say you want to
install the wget tool (which is a handy tool used to download files from the command line). To install
this using apt-get, the command would like this:

sudo apt-get install wget

The sudo command is added because you need super user privileges to install software. Similarly, to
install the same software on a Fedora-based distribution, you would first su to the super user (literally
issue the command su and enter the root password), and issue this command:

yum install wget

That’s it...all there is to installing software on a Linux machine. It’s not nearly as challenging as you
might think. Still in doubt? Recall the Easy Lamp Server Installation from earlier? With a single
command:

sudo tasksel

You can install a complete LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) server on either a server or desktop
distribution. It really is that easy.

More Resources
If you’re looking for one of the most reliable, secure, and dependable platforms for both the desktop
and the server, look no further than one of the many Linux distributions. With Linux you can assure
your desktops will be free of trouble, your servers up, and your support requests at a minimum.

If you’re looking for more resources to help guide you through your lifetime with Linux, check out
the following resources:

 Linux.com: Everything you need to know about Linux (news, how-tos, answers, forums, and
more)

 Linux.org: Everything about the Linux kernel (with plenty of beginner, intermediate, and
advanced tutorials)

 Howtoforge: Linux tutorials

 Linux Documentation Project: Plenty of documentation (some may be out of date)

 Linux Knowledge Base and Tutorial: Plenty of tutorials.

What is a “distribution?"
Linux has several different versions to suit nearly any type of user. From new users to hard-core users,
you’ll find a “flavour” of Linux to match your needs. These versions are called distributions (or, in the
short form, “distros.”) Nearly every distribution of Linux can be downloaded for free, burned onto
disk (or USB thumb drive), and installed (on as many machines as you like).

The most popular Linux distributions are:

 Ubuntu Linux

 Linux Mint

 Arch Linux

 Deepin
 OPERATING SYSTEM PROJECT

LINUX OPERATING
SYSTEM

NAME-VISHAL KUMAR
ROLL NO-IMH/10039/16
SUBMISSION DATE-15/04/2019