Epilogue on Linux Fundamentals

Epilogue on Linux Fundamentals

This book was intended to be under 100 pages but went off the target by many a miles. The reason being the technicalities are so immense and summarizing even the fundamental is a daunting task.

In conclusion, I must say one need a map or sketch for one to start with Linux. The idea that one can learn from the YouTube, even though feasible is not the right way. 

YouTube tend to generalize things much more than it ought to be or should be. 

Trying to compress the content into to tight time frame, like a political speech in not the right way.

That is the very reason this book came in to existence.    

 My earlier books on Linux were about running a Linux distribution and using it including partitioning of the hard disk. The intention of the book is to put Linux in correct perspective and not to make money by selling the book. 

If anybody who has delved into Linux and wanted to write a book on particular aspect of Linux, I have given the perspective of writing a book from free and open software in the opening chapter. 

I have written lot more in my Google Blog spot.

What I see is, even the Linux is bitten by the bug of commercial capitalism. 

I have never intended to make a video on YouTube and I will never do that in my life time. 

I do not want to ask for some subscription fee  or contribution to a web letter or any of my blog post. 

I have never earned a cent from Google Ad Sense. Its total contribution to me, as of today is less than ten dollars. 

The intention of the blog post was never to make money but to share Linux information on almost weekly basis. 

I wanted to stop it abruptly but there are still a few visitors and I will continue to post relevant information with an eye on simple honesty.

I have not said anything about Linux games in this book except making a passing reference to the connection of PSP3 and PSP4 to Sony to BSD. 

I am keeping a close look at the Steam Deck and Dock, simply because it has the Steam Distribution3 (expensive for me to buy) and a desktop to work with. 

It was a huge march forward by Valve. 

I have steam 1 DVD (32 bit) which won’t boot on a live session. 

I looked at the Linux Tracker Archive and there is no recent Iso image there.

However, I support Sparky Linux Game Over and still, I have not downloaded it. 

It will be my Christmas Treat.

I have Sparky Linux (Cinnamon and Mint) installed in my PC and has a few problems with ESP and GRUB boot loader.

Development Strategy of Linux

Simplified history of Unix-like operating systems. Linux shares similar architecture and concepts (as part of the POSIX standard) but does not share non free source code with the original Unix or MINIX. The primary difference between Linux and many other popular contemporary operating systems is that the Linux Kernel and other software components are free and open source. 

Linux is not the only such operating system, although it is by far the most widely used. Some free and open source software licenses are based on the principle of copyleft, a kind of reciprocity; any work derived from a copyleft piece of software must also be copyleft itself. 

The most common free software license, the GNU General Public License (GPL), is a form of copyleft and is used for the Linux Kernel and many of the components from the GNU Project.

Linux-based distributions are intended by developers for Interoperability with other operating systems and established computing standards. 

Linux Systems adhere to POSIX, SUS, LSB, ISO and ANSI Standards where possible, although to date only one Linux distribution has been POSIX.1 certified,Linux-FT.

 

Linux is NOT a Operating System but a Kernel and the distributions are built on top of this kernel.

 

Free software projects, although developed through collaboration, are often produced independently of each other. The fact. that the software licenses explicitly permit redistribution, provides a basis for larger scale projects that collect the software produced by stand alone projects and make it available all at once in the form of a Linux distribution.

Many Linux distributions manage a remote collection of system software and application software packages available for download and installation through a network connection. This allows users to adapt the operating system to their specific needs. Distributions are maintained by individuals, loose knit teams, volunteer organizations, and commercial entities. A distribution while depending on the kernel is responsible for the default configuration of the installed distribution, general system security, and more generally, integration of the different software packages into a coherent whole. 

Distributions typically use a package manager such as apt, yum, zypper, pacman or (portage in the case of BSD) to install, remove and update all of a system's software from one central location.

By the way, BSD is a complete operating system with its own Unix-like kernel and software. 

It was not meant to be for personal computers but one can install in on a PC with XFS file system on a compatible Intel Hardware.