Linux

Overview
This page contains information about the Linux operating system.

Linux in a nutshell
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system. It is highly customisable and can be very small (size wise), often able to run in computer memory (RAM) alone. There are many distributions (flavours) available, ranging from mobile phones to super computers. It is very stable and designed to run on machines that don't get turned off, i.e. servers. It is the leading operating system on servers. Other operating systems that are built on a Linux base include Apple OSX and Android.

Linux Distributions
Linux has come along way in the last few years at being more user friendly. Most distributions can be run from the CD/DVD, only running in your system memory (RAM), so you can try it before you install it. If you haven't played around with Linux yet, here is a short list of distributions you can try.

Ubuntu
Ubuntu is fairly easy to use and very easy to install. It has the largest amount of users at the moment and there is plenty on help available on their forums.

Linux Mint
Linux Mint is designed to be very user friendly. It comes with most of commonly used applications already installed.

Debian
Debian is like the mother of most other distributions. If you want to jump in the deep end and get your hands dirty, give this one a try.

Of course there are many other distributions out there, this is just a starting point. If you would like to start learning about the others, a read on the Linux distribution Wikipedia page.

Resources
Interactive map of GNU/Linux OS and FOSS (n.d.)

Also edited by

 * Nicholas.sj Sprake-Jones, NC. 11:15, 23 August 2011