The Operating System Linux

        The operating system Linux was released on October 5th, 2015 as a kernel for other OS, by a Finnish man named Linus Torvalds. It was developed for Intel x86 based personal computers, but today it is used in mobile phones, tablets, televisions, and video game consoles. Google’s Android mobile OS uses a Linux based kernel. Being an open sourced OS you can pick it up for free and run it on any Intel, AMD, x86, or x64 computer. When Torvalds was naming his operating system he wanted to call it Freax. All of the files were actually saved under a folder names “Freax”. When Torvalds uploaded his files to a FTP server the administrators thought the name wasn’t a good one so Linus decided to uses Linux, and the name remains.

        Because of the flexibility of Linux it is used in many supercomputers, embedded systems, and servers. Some of the most recent uses of Linux include Google's Chrome OS and in the use of wearable technology. Microsoft’s Windows is the most popular operating system for games but with Valve, creator of Steam, showing support for Linux it might not be too long before we start to see the free OS being used more and more by developers and gamers. Linux though is not just for the people who know code. Using and navigating around Linux does take a little bit of a learning curve but once you start to get into the operating system you will see that the basics of Linux is very much like Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s Mac OS. When you first boot up into Linux you will see a desktop with icon similar to Windows. Downloading and installing different application software is just as easy on Linux as it is on Windows, but it requires administrator access before you can install it. This will increase security by using a password before continuing. Getting into the customization of Linux you get a lot more than with windows. You can change the font, colors, backgrounds, sounds, themes, key shortcuts, accessibility options, and security. When when the time comes to update your system Linux organizes all of your programs into one place. Using this you can update Linux and all of the third party software with one click of a mouse.