PureBasic Forums - English

Why Utterly Jaw Dropping?

• 1: Seems to be flavour of the month title .. and ..
  2: Nobody could be this ignorant, right ..?

I was wondering about all the parts of linux. I get lost in jargon, and confuse distros/dependencies/kernel, etc.

Would the real linux please stand up. Alternatively, could some kind people put me on track. Is this right:

A: Linux itself is the the os, and drivers, and the first level of interface with the user, ie, dos-ish prompt and things like grep. Nothing more?
B: Several organisations have taken (A) and packaged it up or build on it to create distros. These distros contain the os (unmodified?) and extras
C: The extras in (B) are:
.. C1: API type and Gui type stuff
.. C2: Tools and utilities
.. C3: Applications? Things like X-windows?
D: Packages and applications (eg, star-office, gimp) are outside of (A) to (C) above except when they are not.

Is it possible to get an "unflavoured" linux distribution, that is, the real linux, and add things from other distros, etc, etc, or do the distros try to do an MS and make their stuff propriety? (albeit Open Source)

Can "pure" linux be seen as a dos-like OS, and be used as such. Eg, has simple utilities for things like files but no gui or higher-level stuff?

RedHat Enterprise is commercial. Is this the distro or can they close-source linux core or their mods (if any) of same. And are there any other linux distros that could see you break some law or become liable for some licencing fee through confusion over GPL and RH-ish commercialisation of linux?

Thanks!

From what I read and everything, Linux is a kernal which contains the basics to build an OS.. it is pure command-line. no graphics,. nothing. The different distros builds ontop of the bugger, adding graphics and some such..

It's really nothing special really

Linux is only the nacked os kernel. AFAIK a kernel provides all the basis for the os, kernel space and user space. Programs can have access through these 2 spaces. Normal programs use only user space. Kernel space is used by drivers and such. There are some drivers under linux that can be compiled into the kernel as module, but there are also drivers outside the kernel. On top of the kernel there needs to be a shell, like command.com under DOS/Win9x or cmd.exe under WinNT/Win2x/WinXP. There are several shells for linux, but mostly 'bash' is used. Through bash the user can type in commands etc. Without a shell the normal user can't make use out of linux, the kernel, at all.

Without all the little gnu programs linux could not survive in userland. So actually the os is mostly gnu stuff, and linux is only the kernel. You could change the linux kernel with another kernel that works with the gnu system, like 'the hurd', and still have a full functioning os (supposing the hurd is now working 100%...). This said, the linux kernel and a bunch of gnu tools are actually a full working os without a graphic system.

If you need a graphic windowing system you will need X, or DirectFB or etc. Mostly X is used. On top of X are window managers that help you move/resize windows etc. And than you have some sort of desktop on top of it to organize your mess on the screen.

If you want to start from scratch than you could go with 'core linux' or 'linux from scratch' or etc. But be aware: it's a lot of work starting from scratch. The nice thing about starting from scratch is you learn a lot about the underlaying system, how things work etc. You can build a GNU/Linux OS with a footprint of a few meg to several gigabyte, depending on your needs.

Feel free to correct me if I messed up

This might help...

http://liw.iki.fi/liw/texts/linux-the-big-picture.html

this is an interesting read....

http://www.educ.umu.se/~bjorn/linux/mis ... story.html

and for the low down on Tux....

http://www.sjbaker.org/tux/index.html

Shannara wrote:It's really nothing special really

- hehe - nor am I, unfortunately.

@fsw - thanks for the detail, it helped. And yes, I think I agree that starting at the core and learning is the best way - also the most painful way, perhaps, but dividends later.

@dontemailme - thanks for the links, will chase through them.

I found http://www.linuxiso.org/ which also has/leads to some good info for my level, and links to ISOs for zillions of flavours of linux.

I have some new gear, now have dedicated 95,98,me,win2k,xp and linux boxes (some old units) and 2 units with HD racks that can be any OS (thinks ReactOS down the track). Just don't have a lot of room around my desk

Did some researching here in Aus and I think now is the linux time.

For eg, in Aus (and extrapolating from numerous sources) small/medium business desktop market is worth a few million shy of 1 billion dollars this year. By 2006 projected as 2.4 bil. Almost 100% windows.

About 47% of windows users (decision makers) say they are never going to change.
About 21% of windows users (decision makers) say that they will switch completely or partially to linux in next two years.
Rest (roughly 32%) unsure.

The 21% is of interest.
The 30+% also, especially if they can be shown some benefits.

Also trialled linux installs (various flavours) and some are easier than windows. There are lots of business apps now available. So it can be user friendly and user-oriented.

So - There is an emerging market, even if only 25% of expectation actually eventuates, it is still a big market just here in Aus. I have a business model, some market niches and a game plan mapped out, and a desire to win.

Now to do it.

WooHoo.