What is Linux?

Linux is an operating system that is now gaining popularity and competing against the Operating System giant, Microsoft. In 1993, a student in Finland, Linus Torralds, created Linux. Both home PCs as well as network Computers need an Operating System to function. Both home users and companies spend millions of dollars in purching these operating systems such as Microsoft Windows or Unix. How nice it will be if we can get a free Operating System. Well, Linux is a free open source Operating System that anybody, home user or companies can download and use it freely.

Linux is based on the Unix operating system. Linux solves all your needs. You can linux in a single computer or in a networked enviroment where there are thousands of computers.
But home users still have many doubts and questions about Linux. In this section we will see some of the frequently asked questions about linux.

There are many advertisements selling Linux. Isn't Linux Free?

Linux is totally FREE. You can download Linux from Internet. But if your internet connection is slow, then it may take several hours or even days to download linux and its related applications using your dial-up connection. Just calculate the phone charges and the internet connection charges for this time. If you have a high speed broadband then you will find no problem to download linux from the internet directly.

But to solve the issue for 'dial-up' users many companies download linux and copy it into CDs and sell them. The cost of the CD disk, the cost for sending the CD to your house, and for the service they provide, these companies may charge a meagre amount for the Linux CD. But if you directly download from Internet, it is totally free.

What is Redhat, SuSe?

These are names of companies that market and sell Linux. The heart of the Linux OS is its Kernel. These companies add many utilities and applications based on this kernel and sell it. There are many such companies such as RedHat, Mandrake, Debian, SuSe etc. The linux offered by these companies are called Linux Distributions or simply 'Distros'. The Kernel in all these Distros will be the same. But the utilities and applications may be different in different distros.

Can I copy the linux CD from my friend and install it in my computer?

By all means, Yes. You can make as many copies of the Linux CD of your friend. It is legal.

Is it very difficult to use Linux?

If you learn and know the linux commands then it is easy to operate your computer. The Character User Interface in Linux requires you to know and remember the commands. But using the 'Graphical User Interface' of Linux, anybody can use Linux without the need to learn and remember the commands. You can use desktop environments such as 'Gnome' or 'Kde' to get the graphical user interface. This GUI environment will be similar to the Windows environment.

Do all hardware work with Linux?

Some old hardware may not work with linux. But all the recent and new hardware works well in linux. A common hardware problem is with the 'winmodem'. If you are using this type of internal winmodem, then you may have to buy the latest modem.

Are there applications for Linux? Are they free?

There are plenty of applications for linux. Most of them are free. Open Office, GIMP, Real Player, MTV, Doom are some examples.

I do not want to stop using Windows. Can I still use Linux?

Yes you can. This is called Dual booting or Multibooting. You can install linux in a separate partition. Whenever you boot, you can select whether you want to boot from windows or linux.