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In April 1991, the Finn Linux Benedict Torvalds designed a system kernel, Linux 0.01, based on MINIX, which could run on low-end machines, but without using any MINIX or UNIX source code. He announced through USENET (that is, newsgroups) that this was a free system, mainly for use on x86 computers, hoped everyone would help improve it together, and placed the source code on a Finnish FTP site for free download. Originally he wanted to call this system freax, but the FTP staff thought this was Linus's MINIX, so they stored it under the subdirectory Linux, and thus it became “Linux.” At that time Linux only had the kernel program and could not yet be called a complete system, but because many professional users (mainly programmers) voluntarily developed its applications and, with the help of the Internet, put them out for everyone to modify together, more and more surrounding programs appeared, and Linux itself gradually grew stronger.

The hardware requirements to run Linux are not high, it supports many kinds of PC peripherals, and such a powerful piece of software is completely free, with its source code fully open for anyone to use. At this point, some of you may wonder whether something is hidden behind this “free”? Would the author really be willing to put it out there without taking a single cent? In fact, it represents another concept in software development: that is, the GNU copyright system.

Copyright was established to protect the rightful interests of authors, but today it has also created certain obstacles to the development of science and technology. For example, the current rampant spread of viruses is because Microsoft refuses to make the source code of Windows public. Antivirus software companies have no choice but to study the OLE structure themselves. Also, in order to preserve its dominant position, Intel established one hardware standard after another that other manufacturers were not allowed to use, causing many developers to spend money and time not on advancing technology but on compatibility, thus creating confusion and monopoly in scientific development. To change this situation, Richard M. Stallman founded in 1984 an organization aimed at producing free software -- the Free Software Foundation (FSF). He believed that software companies keeping source code closed for their own interests would hinder the progress of human civilization, and that truly good software exists to solve people's problems and should be distributed to those who need it. He launched a project called GNU, and its first software was GNU Emacs (a powerful editor on the UNIX platform). Anyone could get this software and its source code for free, so many people voluntarily modified it and added functions. To clarify GNU standards, Stallman published the GNU General Public License and GNU Library General Public License. According to these declarations, all GNU software may be downloaded, sold, copied, and modified by anyone, but the program source code must be provided, or users must be told where to obtain it! But whether free or paid, anyone who gets this software has the same rights as the provider and may give it away or sell it. Because of this license, GNU software grew like a snowball, becoming more numerous and more powerful. Of course, doing things this way also has bad effects: if developers' profits are reduced, then no one will be willing to seriously develop software, since after all people still need to eat. But with the popularity of the Internet, people can more and more easily obtain all kinds of software, and most of it is only needed temporarily; after using it once, they will basically never use it again, so the usable life of a piece of software is greatly shortened. Under such circumstances, the traditional electronic publishing industry should make corresponding adjustments.

The copyright of the Linux kernel belongs to Linus himself, while other applications belong to their respective authors, but under the GNU license, anyone may distribute Linux either for a fee or free of charge, and make modifications in accordance with the terms of that license. This led to a large number of free programs being ported to Linux, including classic software such as GNU Emacs, XFree86, and Mozilla, and it is still growing. Because the source code is open, any Linux user who adds new hardware can write drivers for it themselves, so Linux support for new hardware has already surpassed many professional UNIX systems. The success of Linux would have been impossible without the Internet, because Linux is in fact the result of joint development by many programmers around the world.

After several revisions (including kernel upgrades and improvements to surrounding programs), Linux has now developed into a pure 32-bit multitasking operating system that follows the POSIX standard, and a 64-bit version is also under development. Linux is compatible with most UNIX systems; many UNIX programs can run in a Linux environment without modification or with very minor changes. It has built-in TCP/IP protocol support and can connect directly to the Internet for use as a server or terminal; it has a built-in JAVA interpreter and can directly run JAVA source code; it is capable of programming language development, text editing and typesetting, database processing, and more; it provides the X Windows graphical interface; it is mainly used on x86-series personal computers, but also has versions for other hardware platforms, and supports all currently popular hardware devices.

In terms of performance, it is no weaker than Windows or even UNIX, and with emulation programs it can also run Windows applications. It has tens of thousands of various application programs, not inferior to Windows in quantity, including commercial profit-making software developed by companies. Most valuable of all: it is a true UNIX system, one that professional users and people who want to learn UNIX can use on their own personal computers. Linux is a very flexible system, and compared with Windows it is also a comparatively difficult system to use, just as most users are not used to the one-button mouse of MacOS. If you want to handle Linux skillfully, you must understand some related knowledge, hardware and software configuration, and preferably know a little programming, because no one is obligated to provide you with technical support; aside from communicating with other users, you must solve problems yourself. Of course, if you only want to use it for daily applications, then it does not need to be that complicated. Linux can likewise provide you with a perfect operating environment; all you need to do is change your habits and preconceptions.

Early operating systems had no graphical interface. Since Apple released System 1.0 in 1984, personal computers finally achieved a true GUI (Graphics User Interface), and from then on computers became more user-friendly and easier to use. The graphical side of Windows began with Windows 3.1/3.2, and it was not until the appearance of Windows 95 that the multimedia era truly arrived, after which computers became able to talk and sing. Linux began with UNIX, yet surpassed blue from which it came, and likewise has a refined graphical user interface, more stable performance, and a more beautiful appearance, able to rival the most beautiful operating systems ever to have appeared in the world! Unlike today's XP, the Linux graphical interface is based on the Console, similar to how Windows 95 sits on top of DOS. What implements the graphical interface under Linux is the X Windows system (different from MS Windows).

X Windows is a window system for UNIX with extremely high portability, diverse handling of color, and operational transparency across networks. Its working principle is not the same as Microsoft's Windows, though both use graphical interfaces and window technology, so from the outside they look a little bit similar, but they are in fact hugely different. Actually, the X Windows interface is more diverse, more beautiful, and also efficient and fast. Just as Windows stands in relation to DOS, X Windows changes the monotonous text interface of UNIX/Linux and provides a friendly graphical user interface (GUI).

In 1984, Bob Scheifler, working at the MIT Computer Science Laboratory, was developing distributed systems, while DEC's Jim Gettys was also carrying out part of Project Athena at MIT. Both needed a graphical interface for use on UNIX systems, so the two began cooperating to develop X Windows. In 1987, MIT released the 11th version of X Windows and established the nonprofit “X Association” to develop and control the X Windows standard. So today's X Windows is not entirely a piece of software, but rather a protocol defining the functions a system must possess. Any system that satisfies this protocol and conforms to the other standards of the X Association may be called X Windows, and its source code is public. Because X Windows has a powerful device-independent structure, it provides a set of network communication protocols. As long as hardware provides the X protocol, it can execute application programs and display a group of windows containing graphics and text without recompilation. This device-independent characteristic means that applications developed according to the X Windows standard can work in different environments, greatly reducing compilation work across different platforms and making applications more portable.

The most commonly used X Windows on Linux is Xfree86, which is a port of MIT's X11R5 and uses the Openlook window management system, so Xfree86 is free. Xfree86 supports all current PC display cards, but does not necessarily support their Windows acceleration features, such as DirectX 9.

Up to now, Linux that supports Chinese is no longer a rarity, and Chinese software is steadily becoming more abundant. But some commercial software has still not been fully ported, for many reasons that will not be detailed here.



If the above counts as a technical article, then next let's talk about something practical, since after all not everyone is interested in these things. If you made it this far, power first thanks you for your support! If you are interested in Linux, or if you are a Linux user yourself, I hope you will offer corrections, and we can all learn from each other~~~



Obtaining Linux

The most direct way is to download it from the Internet. Many sites offer Linux and related programs, and the vast majority are free. Below are links to some more popular Linux distributions, for reference.

RedHat www.redhat.com

Red Flag Linux www.redflag-linux.com

Xteam Linux www.xteamlinux.com.cn

Slackware www.slackware.com

Debian www.debian.com

SUSE www.suse.com

Turbo Linux www.turbolinux.com.cn

Mandrake www.mandrake.com

Among them: Red Flag, Xteam, and Turbo all have Chinese versions; RedHat, Debian, and Mandrake also all support Chinese.
Answered by: juzhi - Xiucai Level 2 12-28 16:42
Questioner's evaluation of the answer:
Thanks, but unfortunately it didn't say what compiler Linux was written with.
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Comments on the best answer Total 2
Is there any graphical software from ten-odd years ago? Free vector graphics software
Commenter: atarzz - Menli Level 2
Nowadays most systems are basically written in C! Hehe, sorry for only telling you now!
Commenter: juzhi - Xiucai Level 2
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Good stuff

It just ought to be posted in the off-topic section.

Don't forget ubuntu, currently the best Linux desktop to use. PCLINUXOS still doesn't have Simplified Chinese.