The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel

used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating

systems. It is one of the most prominent
examples of free and open source software.

The Linux kernel is released under the GNU

General Public License version 2 (GPLv2), (plus
some firmware images with various licenses),
and is developed by contributors worldwide.
Day-to-day development takes place on the
Linux kernel mailing list.
The Linux kernel was initially conceived and
created by Finnish computer science student
Linus Torvalds in 1991. Linux rapidly
accumulated developers and users who
adopted code from other free software
projects for use with the new operating
system. The Linux kernel has received
contributions from thousands of
programmers. Many Linux distributions have
been released based upon the Linux kernel.
History
of
Linux
In 1991, in Helsinki, Linus Torvalds began a project
that later became the Linux kernel. It was initially a
terminal emulator, which Torvalds used to access
the large UNIX servers of the university.

He wrote the program specifically for the hardware

he was using and independent of an operating
system because he wanted to use the functions of
his new PC with an 80386 processor. Development
was done on MINIX using the GNU C compiler,
which is still the main choice for compiling Linux
today (although the code can be built with other
compilers, such as the Intel C Compiler)
As Torvalds wrote in his book Just for Fun, he eventually
realized that he had written an operating system kernel.
On 25 August 1991, he announced this system in a
Usenet posting to the newsgroup "comp.os.minix.“

Hello everybody out there using minix –

I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't

be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.
This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get
ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike
in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same
physical layout of the file-system (due to practical
reasons) among other things).
I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and
things seem to work. This implies that I'll get something
practical within a few months, and I'd like to know what
features most people would want. Any suggestions are
welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)
Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)
PS.
Yes – it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-
threaded fs. It is NOT portable (uses 386 task switching
etc), and it probably never will support anything other
than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.

—Linus Torvalds
 The name
Linus Torvalds had wanted to call his invention
Freax, a portmanteau of "freak", "free", and "x"
(as an allusion to Unix). During the start of his
work on the system, he stored the files under
the name "Freax" for about half of a year.
Torvalds had already considered the name
"Linux," but initially dismissed it as too
egotistical.
In order to facilitate development, the files
were uploaded to the FTP server
(ftp.funet.fi) of FUNET in September 1991.
Ari Lemmke, Torvald's coworker at the
University of Helsinki who was one of the
volunteer administrators for the FTP server
at the time, did not think that "Freax" was
a good name. So, he named the project
"Linux" on the server without consulting
Torvalds. Later, however, Torvalds
consented to "Linux".
The designation "Linux" was initially used by
Torvalds only for the Linux kernel. The kernel
was, however, frequently used together with
other software, especially that of the GNU
project. This quickly became the most popular
adoption of GNU software.
In June 1994 in GNU's bulletin, Linux was
referred to as a "free UNIX clone", and the
Debian project began calling its product
Debian GNU/Linux. In May 1996, Richard
Stallman published the editor Emacs 19.31, in
which the type of system was renamed from
Linux to Lignux.

This spelling was intended to refer specifically

to the combination of GNU and Linux, but
this was soon abandoned in favor of
"GNU/Linux".
This name garnered varying reactions. The
GNU and Debian projects use the name,
although most developers simply use the
term "Linux" to refer to the combination.

Torvalds announced in 1996 that there would

be a mascot for Linux, a penguin. Larry Ewing
provided the original draft of today's well
known mascot based on this description. The
name Tux was suggested by James Hughes as
derivative of Torvalds' UniX
Kernel
There are many other well-known
maintainers for the Linux kernel beside
Torvalds such as Alan Cox and Marcelo
Tosatti.

Cox maintained version 2.2 of the kernel until

it was discontinued at the end of 2003.
Likewise, Tosatti maintained version 2.4 of
the kernel until the middle of 2006.
Andrew Morton steers the development
and administration of the 2.6 kernel,
which was released on 18 December 2003
in its first stable incarnation. Also the older
branches are still constantly improved.
Community

The largest part of the work on Linux is

performed by the community: the thousands
of programmers around the world that use
Linux and send their suggested improvements
to the maintainers.

Various companies have also helped not only

with the development of the Kernels, but also
with the writing of the body of auxiliary
software, which is distributed with Linux.
It is released both by organized projects such
as Debian, and by projects connected directly
with companies such as Fedora and openSUSE.

The members of the respective projects meet

at various conferences and fairs, in order to
exchange ideas. One of the largest of these
fairs is the LinuxTag in Germany (currently in
Berlin), where about 10,000 people assemble
annually, in order to discuss Linux and the
projects associated with it.
Open Source Development Lab and Linux
Foundation

The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) was

created in the year 2000, and is an independent
nonprofit organization which pursues the goal of
optimizing Linux for employment in data centers
and in the carrier range.

It served as sponsored working premises for Linus

Torvalds and also for Andrew Morton (until the
middle of 2006 when Morton transferred to
Google).
Torvalds works full-time on behalf of OSDL,
developing the Linux Kernels.

On January 22, 2007, OSDL and the Free

Standards Group merged to form The Linux
Foundation, narrowing their respective
focuses to that of promoting GNU/Linux in
competition with Microsoft Windows
Companies

Despite being open-source, a few companies

profit from Linux. These companies, most of
which are also members of the Open Source
Development Lab, invest substantial resources
into the advancement and development of
Linux, in order to make it suited for various
application areas.
This includes hardware donations for driver
developers, cash donations for people who
develop Linux software, and the
employment of Linux programmers at the
company.
Some examples are IBM and HP, which use
Linux on their own servers, and Red Hat,
which maintains its own distribution.
Likewise Nokia supports Linux by the
development and LGPL licensing of Qt,
which makes the development of KDE
possible, and by employing some of the X
and KDE developers.
Microsoft contributions

In July 2009 Microsoft contributed 20,000 lines

of code to the Linux kernel. The contribution
consisted of Hyper-V drivers, which improve the
performance of virtual Linux guest systems in a
Windows hosted environment. Microsoft
licensed its Linux Hyper-V drivers under the
GPL.
Microsoft was forced to make the code
contribution when Vyatta principal engineer
and Linux contributor Stephen Hemminger
discovered that Microsoft had incorporated
a Hyper-V network adriver, with GPL-
licensed open source components, statically
linked to closed-source binaries in
contravention of the GPL license.
Microsoft contributed the drivers to rectify
the license violation, although the company
attempted to portray it as a charitable act,
rather than one to avoid legal action against
it.
To put this contribution into perspective, in
2001, at Microsoft's Annual Financial
Analysts Meeting in Seattle, Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer said Linux has "the
characteristics of communism that people
love so very, very much about it"in a 2001
interview with the Chicago Sun-Times,
Ballmer stated "Linux is a cancer that
attaches itself in an intellectual property
sense to everything it touches."
The Microsoft-contributed drivers were not
supported by Microsoft and this left them at
risk of being dropped from the kernel at
version 2.6.33.

The prospect of the drivers being dropped

did briefly result in Microsoft developers
conducting more work to maintain the code,
but their effort did not endure and their
code is slated for removal as of kernel
version 2.6.35.
Versions
and
Features
 Linux 0.01 (1991 Sept.)

•Still needs Minix and special gcc compiler

•230 kbyte source code
•incl. scripts and header files
•minimal version,
•with floppy
•keyboard and serial driver software
•ext file system
•386 CPU support
•UNIX-Shell bash
 Linux 0.02 (1991 Sept. )

•bash and gcc were ported by

MINIX

•needs 4 mbyte RAM for

compiling software
 Linux 0.03 (1991 Oct.)

•small user group

• gcc can compile himself on Linux

•only needs 2 mbyte RAM for

compiling software
 Linux 0.11 (1991 Nov.)
•international development team
• first fixed disk driver software
• mkfs/fsck/fdisk program
•Hercules/MDA/CGA/EGA/VGA graphic
•US/German/French/Finnish Keyboard
•console can beep
• Linux now has his own development
environment
 Linux 0.12 (1992 Jan.)
•for the first time page-to-disk function built-
in
•Linux is put under the GPL
•virtual memory
•Hard-disk caching
•POSIX job-control
•more persons programming linux
•multi-threading file system
 Linux 0.96 (1992 April)

•programmer and user group raised

up

• X Window system from the MIT is

used for the first time
 Linux 1.0 (1994 Märch)
•4,500 kbytes source code
•incl. scripts and header files
•more than 170,000 lines of source code
•approx. 100 developers
•approx. 100,000 users
•first SCSI and sound driver software
•for the first time networkable
•ext2 file system
 Linux 1.2 (1995 Märch)
•250,000 lines source code

•about 50% are hardware driver

•porting to alpha

•MIPS and SPARC CPUs

•extended network functions like IP-

Forwarding and NFS, IPX, AppleTalk
 Linux 2.0 (1996 June)
•20,300 kbytes source code
•incl. scripts and header files
•approx. 800,000 lines of source code
•porting to m68k and PowerPC CPUs
•multi-processor capable up to 16 CPUs
(experimental)
•symbol figure "Tux the penguin" was born
 Linux 2.1.32 (1997 April)

•after a trademark right dispute

Torvalds lets register Linux as a
trademark
 Linux 2.2.0 (1999 Jan.)
•269 developers works on linux

•approx. 10 million users

•improved SMP support

•IPv6 support as first operating system

•extended software support by companies

like Star Office, Netscape
Linux Kernel 2.0.39 (2001 Jan.)

•contains bug fixes for security holes

 Linux 2.4.0 – 375 (2001 Jan.)

•375 developers works on linux,

•approx. 15 million users,
•runs on altogether 13 hardware plate forms
• improved network support
•improved performance for memory
transactions
• extended hardware support
Linux Kernel 2.2.25 (2003 Märch)

•Better CD-ROM support

•Sound support

•support x86 processor

Linux 2.4.21 - Kernel 2.4.20 to 2.4.21
(2003 June)

•1738 code changes

 Linux Kernel 2.6.0 (2003 Dec.)
•optimized for big file storage devices and
high data transfer rate
•TCP/IP optimized
•improved memory access and process
scheduler
• improvement in the threadings
• improved Advanced Linux Sound
Architecture (ALSA)
•contains Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux)
Linux Kernel 2.0.40 (2004 Feb.)

•It eliminates an information leak

via ICMP messages.
Linux Kernel 2.2.26 (2004 Feb.)

•contains bug fixes for security holes

•last release of the 2.2 branch

Linux Kernel 2.6.4 (2004 March)

•HFS rewrite and HFS+ support

•Add SOCK_SEQPACKET for Unix

domain sockets

•Support for the Intel "ia32e" arch

 Linux Kernel 2.6.8 (2004 Aug.)
•support for 64-bit Super-H hardware
•New "CPU mask" implementation
•Support for new Apple Powerbooks
•Asynchronous I/O support for USB gadgets
•Removal of the (non-functional) "fastroute"
networking option
•And many more
 Linux Kernel 2.6.11 (2005 March)

•Conversion to 4-level page tables

•New Pipe implementation
•Simplify readahead code
•Remove bitmaps from the buddy allocator
•AMD Dual-core support
•DebugFS
•SATA support for Intel ICH7
 Linux Kernel 2.6.12 (2005 June)

•I/O barrier support for serial ATA drives

•Hot-pluggable parallel ports
•Add timing information to printk messages
•Device mapper multipath support
•Multilevel security implementation for
SELinux
•Hot-pluggable parallel ports
 Linux Kernel 2.6.16 (2006 March)
•support the moving of the physical location of pages between
nodes in NUMA systems
•support for the Cell processor
•cpufreq support for G5s plus thermal control for dualcore G5s
•improved power management support for many devices and
subsystems (libata, alsa...)
•mutex locking primitive
•high-resolution timers
•64-to-32-bit ioctl compatibilty for the v4l2 subsystem
•IPv6 support for DCCP
•New TIPC protocol (Transparent Inter Process Communication,
used for intra-clustering communication )
•ACL support for CIFS filesystem
•support for running executables from v9fs (plan9 9P distributed
filesystem)
 Linux Kernel 2.6.18 (2006 Sept.)
•This release includes lightweight user space priority
inheritance support
•a "lock validator" debugging
•a new power saving policy for multicore systems,
• a much improved SATA layer
•swapless page migration
•per-zone VM counters, per-task delay accounting, a new per-
packet access control for SELinux called 'secmark
• randomized i386 vDSO
• a few new drivers
•additional device support for many existing drivers
•many bug fixes and many other small improvements.
 Linux Kernel 2.6.20 (2007 Feb.)
•This release also adds initial Sony Playstation 3 support
•UDP-lite support
•better per-process IO accounting,
•support for using swap files for suspend users
•relocatable x86 kernel support for kdump users
•a generic HID layer, DEEPNAP power savings for PPC970
•lockless radix-tree readside
•shared pagetables for hugetbl, ARM support for the AT91
and iop13xx processors
•full NAT for nf_conntrack and many other things.
 Linux Kernel 2.6.22 (2007 July)
•new and much better wireless and firewire stacks
•a new architecture called Blackfin,
•a LVM-for-flash-storage-devices called UBI, event
notifications through file descriptors
•IPV6 Optimistic Duplicate Address Detection,
AF_RXRPC socket support,
•relocatable x86-64 kernel support,
• improvements to the CFQ I/O scheduler,
• more process footprint information in /proc,
• various new drivers and many other
improvements.
 Linux kernel version 2.6.25 Released (17 April 2008)
•includes support of a new architecture (MN10300/AM33)
and the widely used Orion SoCs,
•a new interface for more accurate measurement of process
memory usage,
•realtime group scheduling
•an alternative MAC security framework called SMACK, an
ext4 update, BRK and PIE-executable address space
randomization, RCU preemption support, FIFO spinlocks in
x86, EFI support in x86-64,
• a new network protocol called CAN, initial ATI r500 DRI/DRM
support, the beginning of the end for tasks stuck in D state
•improved device support and many other small
improvements.
 Linux 2.6.27 Released (2008 October)
•It adds a new filesystem (UBIFS) for "pure" flash-based
storage,
•the page-cache is now lockless,
•much improved Direct I/O scalability and performance,
delayed allocation support for ext4,
• multiqueue networking,
•data integrity support in the block layer, a function tracer, a
mmio tracer,
• sysprof support,
•improved webcam support,
•support for the Intel wifi 5000 series and RTL8187B network
cards,
•a new ath9k driver for the Atheros AR5008 and AR9001
chipsets, more new drivers
 Linux Kernel 2.6.35 (Aug. 2010)
•Support for transparent spreading of incoming network
traffic load, across CPUs;
•Btrfs filesystem improvements;
•Delayed logging for XFS filesystem;
•Kernel debugger (KDB) frontend;
•perf improvements;
•Intel graphics improvements;
•Memory compaction;
•Multiple multicast route tables support;
•Support for L2TP v3 (RFC 3931);
•Support for the CAIF protocol;
•APEI (ACPI Platform Error Interface) support.
 Person
Involved
Linus Benedict Torvalds
Linus Benedict Torvalds
(born December 28, 1969 in Helsinki, Finland) is
a Finnish software engineer best known for
having initiated the development of the Linux
kernel and git revision control system.

He later became the chief architect of the Linux

kernel, and now acts as the project's
coordinator.
Richard Matthew Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman (born March 16,
1953), is an American software freedom activist
and computer programmer. In September 1983,

he launched the GNU Project to create a free

Unix-like operating system, and has been the
project's lead architect and organizer.

With the launch of the GNU Project, he

initiated the free software movement; in
October 1985 he founded the Free Software
Foundation.
 Linux
Advantage
Low cost: You don’t need to spend time and
money to obtain licenses since Linux and much
of its software come with the GNU General
Public License.

You can start to work immediately without

worrying that your software may stop working
anytime because the free trial version expires.

Additionally, there are large repositories from

which you can freely download high quality
software for almost any task you can think of.
Stability: Linux doesn’t need to be rebooted
periodically to maintain performance levels.

It doesn’t freeze up or slow down over time

due to memory leaks and such.

Continuous up-times of hundreds of days (up

to a year or more) are not uncommon.
Performance: Linux provides persistent high
performance on workstations and on networks.

It can handle unusually large numbers of users

simultaneously, and can make old computers
sufficiently responsive to be useful again.
Network friendliness: Linux was developed by a
group of programmers over the Internet and
has therefore strong support for network
functionality; client and server systems can be
easily set up on any computer running Linux.

It can perform tasks such as network backups

faster and more reliably than alternative
systems.
Flexibility: Linux can be used for high
performance server applications, desktop
applications, and embedded systems.

You can save disk space by only installing the

components needed for a particular use.

You can restrict the use of specific computers by

installing for example only selected office
applications instead of the whole suite.
Compatibility: It runs all common Unix software
packages and can process all common file
formats.

Choice: The large number of Linux distributions

gives you a choice. Each distribution is
developed and supported by a different
organization.

You can pick the one you like best; the core
functionalities are the same; most software
runs on most distributions.
Fast and easy installation: Most Linux
distributions come with user-friendly
installation and setup programs.

Popular Linux distributions come with tools

that make installation of additional software
very user friendly as well.

Full use of hard disk: Linux continues work

well even when the hard disk is almost full.
Multitasking: Linux is designed to do
many things at the same time; e.g., a
large printing job in the background
won’t slow down your other work.
Security: Linux is one of the most secure operating
systems. “Walls” and flexible file access permission
systems prevent access by unwanted visitors or
viruses.

Linux users have to option to select and safely

download software, free of charge, from online
repositories containing thousands of high quality
packages.

No purchase transactions requiring credit card

numbers or other sensitive personal information are
necessary.
Open Source: If you develop software that
requires knowledge or modification of the
operating system code, Linux’s source code
is at your fingertips.

Most Linux applications are Open Source as

well.
Disadvantage
of
Linux
1.There’s no standard edition of Linux. Whereas
Microsoft offers several different editions of
each version of Windows, there are countless
variations of Linux. For a new user it can be
confusing to work out which is best for you.

2.Linux has patchier support for drivers (the

software which coordinates your hardware
and your operating system). This means you’ll
sometimes find it trickier to get a new device
set up.
3.Linux is, for new users at least, not as easy to use as
Windows. That’s largely because Linux gives you more
control, but does mean you’ll have to spend some
time getting used to the way it works.

4.Because Linux is neither as popular as Windows, nor

a commercial product, support works in a different
way. You may have to look harder to find the answer
to a problem and, while Linux supporters are more
likely to offer help, it may not always match your own
level of technical understanding.
5.Many of the programs you are used to in Windows
will only run in Linux through a complicated emulator.
These programs aren’t guaranteed to work perfectly,
and in some cases may be noticeably slower.

6.While Linux can be suitable for an individual user, its

small market share means it’s much harder to
introduce in a corporate setting. With most office
workers already familiar with Windows and Microsoft
programs, there’ll likely be a notable time cost in
converting staff to using a Linux system.
7.While there are perfectly passable alternatives to
many popular Windows programs (such as the various
Office components), some high-end applications such
as Photoshop don’t have as close equivalents in Linux.

8.Fans of PC gaming may find Linux offers them a

much more limited range. That’s partially because the
latest games are nearly always a commercial
operation and much harder to reproduce in Linux
because they are much more individual than, for
example, office software.
9.While there’s no specific reason why this
should be the case, in practice quite a few users
report finding printing can be troublesome to
set up in Linux.

10.Because Linux is a free, open source system,

there are no legal comebacks if you find
software isn’t up to scratch or if it causes a
problem. While there’s no guarantee you’d win,
you do at least have some right of complaint
with commercial products such as Windows.
Screenshots