Transcript Lecture_01
C151 Multi-User Operating Systems
Linux History
Open Source Programming
Open source programming: 1983, Richard Stallman
started the GNU Project (GNU = Gnu is not Unix), a
software movement to provide free and quality software.
1984 – Stallman started to write the GNU C compiler
(gcc), considered as one of the most efficient and robust
compilers ever created.
Open source programs are released under the GNU
General Public License.
Linux History
Minix, the first open source operating system, written
by Andrew S. Tanenbaum in C, about 12000 lines of
code.
1991, first Linux kernel written in C by Linus Torvalds,
University of Helsinki, Finland. First message about it
posted on August 25, first release in September.
It was developed with the contribution of many
programmers around the world.
It is functionally similar to Unix (a clone).
Linux Development
1993 – FreeBSD 1.0 (Berkley Unix)
1994 – RedHat Linux is introduced.
1999 – Linux available for PowerPC (Apple)
Now – adopted by many companies and most
universities, third world countries.
Standard for parallel and high performance computing
(Beowulf clusters).
Available for most computers, including PDA, supports
graphical user interfaces, networking, and has many
applications.
Why Linux
It's free! – the source code is also available and anybody can write
their own Linux as long as they include the source code in the
distribution.
Most users consider it a more stable and reliable OS than
Windows.
It's an alternative to Microsoft's dominance of the software
market.
It is multi-tasking, multi-user. Good support of multiple CPUs.
Many utilities and APIs are now included in most distributions,
like the g++ compiler, OpenGL, MPI, pthreads, etc.
Mac OS now has an integrated shell and can run X11, Linuxspecific applications.
Linux Components
The kernel – the core of the OS that controls the
resources.
A hierarchical file system (FHS)
Shells – applications that interpret the commands from
the user. They are active in the textual mode or terminal
mode. Shells can also execute script files. Examples:
bash, tcsh, zsh, sh, etc.
Graphical interfaces – the X window system. Desktop
interfaces: Gnome, KDE, fvwm, etc. Specific libraries:
X11, gtk-glib-gnome, Qte, etc.
Layered View of Linux Operating
System
Layered View of Linux Operating
System
Reading Assignment
Textbook: Chapter 1 and Chapter 2
Linux History on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVTWCPoUt8w