Linux Operating System Full Detail
Linux Operating System is a Operating System like Windows but there is a lot of difference between windows and Linux like Linux there is a lot of operating systems globally present that is used by organisations and normal persons.
Linux is a open source operating system it is a family member of Unix operating systems it is based on linux kernel .Linux was firstly released on 17 September 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux treats all the files and software as a file. Linux was originaly develped for personal computers based on the intel x86 architecture, but has since been ported to more platforms than any other operating systems.
History
The Unix operating system was conceived and implemented in 1969, at AT&T's Bell Labs, in the United States by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna. First released in 1971, Unix was written entirely in assembly language, as was common practice at the time. In 1973, in a key pioneering approach, it was rewritten in the C programming language by Dennis Ritchie (with the exception of some hardware and I/O routines). The availability of a high-level language implementation of Unix made its porting to different computer platforms easier.
Cmponents of Linux :
Linux Operating System has primarily three components
Kernel − Kernel is the core of the all of the operating system.It controls all the system resources of the computer. It consists of various modules and it interacts directly with the underlying hardware. Kernel provides the required abstraction to hide low level hardware details to system or application programs.System Library − System libraries are special programs that use application and system resources which access the Kernel's features. System library programs enhance the operating systems functionalities and do not requires the Kernel module's code access.
System Utility − System Utility programs are responsible to do specialized, individual level tasks.
Features of Linux :
- Multiuser capability : Multiple users can access the same system resources like memory, hard disk, etc. But they have to use different terminals to operate the operating system.
- Multitasking : More than one function can be performed simultaneously by dividing the CPU time intelligently.
- Portability : Portability doesn't mean it is smaller in file size or can be carried in pen drives or memory cards. It means that it support different types of hardware.
- Security : It provides security in three ways namely authenticating (by assigning password and login ID), authorization (by assigning permission to read, write and execute) and encryption (converts file into an unreadable format).
- Live CD/USB : Almost all Linux distribution provide live CD/USB so that users can run/try it without installing it.
- Graphical User Interface : Linux is command line based OS but it can be converted to GUI based by installing packages.
- Application support : It has its own software repository from where users can download and install many applications.
- File System : Provides hierarchical file system in which files and directories are arranged.
- Open Source : Linux code is freely available to all and is a community based development project.
- Portable : Portability means software can works on different types of hardware in same way. Linux kernel and application programs supports their installation on any kind of hardware platform.
- Multiprogramming : Linux is a multiprogramming system means multiple applications can run at same time.
- Shell − Linux provides a special interpreter program which can be used to execute commands of the operating system. It can be used to do various types of operations, call application programs. etc.
- Security − Linux provides user security using authentication features like password protection/ controlled access to specific files/ encryption of data.
Architecture of Linux :
Kernel :
System Library :
Hardware Layer :
System Utility :
Related Topics :

