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Celebrating 20 Years of Linux
dmbkiwi writes "2011 is the 20th anniversary of the first release of the Linux kernel by Linus Torvalds. Since that time, the Linux kernel, together with the GNU tools and a whole host of software has been developed by enthusiasts and professional programmers into an operating system that runs on tiny embedded systems right up to the world's fastest supercomputers."
The Linux Foundation is hosting a celebratory gala at this year's LinuxCon.
What do you get for the kernel that has everything?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
If slashdot stops being broken so that I can click the link. Can't right click->open in tab in ff4, or left click either.... Great.
I didn't know Stallman had a Slashdot account...
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Click on the underlined "20th anniversary of the first release of the Linux kernel " and you go nowhere.
Holy crap, 20 years? I'm pretty sure I first installed it in '92 or '93, that really makes me feel old now.
I know it was a Slackware install with a 0.99a Kernel or something like that. I know there were an immense amount of floppy disks involved.
Wow, 20 years goes by fast.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
GNU dates from 1983. This is just the Linux kernel's anniversary.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
How come the first link doesn't do anything?
But it's hardly GNU - it's 20 years old
Correct or not, it's accepted convention, and more publicly recognizable if people just hear Linux. Yes, most of us know its origins ... this is Gnews for Gnerds.
Correct or not, it's accepted convention, and more publicly recognizable if people just hear Linux. Yes, most of us know its origins ... this is Gnews for Gnerds.
Slashdot is a place for overly critical aspies to get together and complain about things that don't really mater. Don't belittle my people damnit.
Linux is a kernel, and it's called Linux, and it's not part of the GNU project. A distribution that includes the GNU tool set and the Linux kernel is a GNU/Linux distribution. This is not a story about a GNU/Linux distribution, it's a story about the kernel. If you're going to be pedantic, get it right.
What a totally awesome system that was... Multi tasking and multi user. Window *still* can't get it right 20 years later.
Deleted
Though judging by your nickname, you might be Eric Raymond ;)
Linux is a kernel, and it's called Linux, and it's not part of the GNU project. A distribution that includes the GNU tool set and the Linux kernel is a GNU/Linux distribution. This is not a story about a GNU/Linux distribution, it's a story about the kernel. If you're going to be pedantic, get it right.
This proves my point... thank you kindly.
If I had to guess, it should have probably linked to this.
It's all about the MINIX microkernel & Prince of Persia!
I realize this is probably an attempt at humor, but it's not funny and a lot people still seem to be confused about the issue. Linux is 20 years old, but GNU is 27 years old. There are complete operating systems based on GNU (and not Linux) as well as those based on Linux with very little or no GNU components. The term GNU/Linux only makes sense when one is talking about an operating system based on both of them, which is by far the most common way to use either one of them.
The Free Software Foundation didn't create Linux. Linus Torvalds created Linux and decided to license his code with the GPL. This little fact is the main reason that I call Linux by "Linux" and not "GNU/Linux".
The OS kernel that should be tagged with "GNU" is Hurd since it is actually being created by the FSF therefore it should be called "GNU Hurd".
Before the flaming commences, I'd like to defend myself by saying that I promote GNU software in the workplace and support their hard work. I do have some minor ideological differences with RMS, but that doesn't stop me from using GNU software or supporting the FSF.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
Since the one in TFS is bogus -- I got this from the firehose:
Corrected Link
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
I didn't know Stallman had a Slashdot account...
There is no where on earth infidels can hide from the powerful musky hand of Stallmen.
It's already been 20 years?!?
Damn we're getting old.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
He just borrows one when he needs it.
Sad. It means that GNU will not live to see its 30 anniversary. #2012feelings.
(whops! this is not twittter!)
Click on "Log in" :
Error 503 Service Unavailable
Service Unavailable
Guru Meditation:
XID: 736098075
Varnish cache server
And in just 6 months, we'll all be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the first official release of OpenBSD.
Even if RMS has a Slashdot account, I doubt he'd find any fault with this story, which correctly describes the role both Linux and GNU have played.
That was the date of the birth announcement.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Linux is a lame operating system and only losers and posers use it.
SOLARIS RULES!
5.1% according to w3schools. http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp
Statcounter's statistics are skewed because they include virus information and AV update sites, which the average Windows user has to access about four times a day.
20 years back linux came out, 19 years ago i started downloading it from bbs's, 18 years ago I installed it.... thanks to SLS and 2400 bps modems!
No, that's ESR(3702).... He used to post here a while back...
I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
they seem like square guys? if members of the genuine public could get a look at the mess from the prospective of former unchosens, that could be very helpful to all of us, which these guys have already been a lot. thanks.
combined with the genuine native american elders rising bird of prey leadership initiative (teepeeleaks etchings), we've just about enough kode base to last out the never ending (until now) chosen ones eugenatical exterminitorial holycost.
No one insists on calling the Linux kernel "GNU/Linux". That's the name of a POSIX-compliant OS that uses a combination of Linux kernel and GNU userland utilities.
I bought a used 486 computer in 1997, booted it, saw that it had Windows for Workgroups on it, marvelled that people actually paid money for it, bought a Linux book at the local technical bookstore, loaded Slackware 3.3, and was off and running.
I've always liked the way Slackware doesn't try to hide the fact that it's a Unix clone. I also like the way you can build any sort of system you like with it, desktop, server, whatever.
...laura
Linux has come along way, it's now stable mature reliable and available in a million flavours from some slick looking desktops through to supercomputers. It's a testament to the millions of people who've writen and re-writen it over and over and never run out of fun broken-by-design things to fix, through countless millions of labour hours over a couple of decades to produce an OS almost as good as what a proprietary outfit can do with merely a few orders of magnitude less labour in a few years.
(If Linux every worked properly I'd have nothing to do and would probably quit IT and take up mosaic tiling or producing hand-copied phone directories).
Now all it needs is some users.
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
They seem to be a popular gift.
GP just insisted on that. It's the 20th Anniversary of the Kernel, not of its combination with the GNU userspace tools. Hatta is normally obnoxious about everything other than Slashdot being unusable if you leave Javascript enabled, but he's absolutely right about this.
The Free Software Foundation didn't create Linux. Linus Torvalds created Linux and decided to license his code with the GPL. This little fact is the main reason that I call Linux by "Linux" and not "GNU/Linux".
The OS kernel that should be tagged with "GNU" is Hurd since it is actually being created by the FSF therefore it should be called "GNU Hurd".
Before the flaming commences, I'd like to defend myself by saying that I promote GNU software in the workplace and support their hard work. I do have some minor ideological differences with RMS, but that doesn't stop me from using GNU software or supporting the FSF.
Google didn't create Linux either, but everybody uses the name Android. Your anti Free Software Foundation sentiment is dated. I use GNU+Linux+X+Gnome+Firefox daily The reality is I can swap out any of those components with very little change to my daily life. GNU/Linux is a more accurate poorer name for what I use on the desktop, but in reality The HURDS of developers include thousands of individuals, all of which will never get created with there name as Part of an OS. Seriously though I have some major ideological differences with Linus, but that doesn't stop me using the Linux Kernel, because what he and others have achieved is incredible.
W3Schools is the one that is skewed.
W3Schools is a website for people with an interest for web technologies. These people are more interested in using alternative browsers than the average user. The average user tends to the browser that comes preinstalled with their computer, and do not seek out other browser aternatives.
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
Enough propaganda already, Linux is around 1% and has been for years. Admitting this isn't going to change anything.
Popularity doesn't matter to me so much - as long as enough people use it so that there is software developed for it. I use Linux because it does what I want better than the alternatives.
It's the year of Linux (not on the desktop, tho).
...any of your old Linux distro CDROMs from the 1990's. They might come in handy as evidence of any prior art.
Anyway, back to the topic of SLS... my very first distro ever was SLS downloaded as floppy images from a BBS dialup connection, way back in 1993. Never could get it to install and run, but shortly afterwards, the first InfoMagic CDs came out and of the distros on the disk, I got Slackware installed and running on my i386 machine!
It is a superset of Linux 2.6. Its more open than most smartphone OSes, but not as open as Linux.
That's a horse of a different color. The Linux kernel is being used mostly as a bootstrap and a hardware layer for Dalvik. For all intents and purposes Android is an OS provided by Dalvik, I haven't seen any push for Gnu/Android.
What anti-FSF sentiment?
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
So far there are only two apps that actually have Linux versions: Guitar Pro 6, Firefox and Abiword. This may not be popular with the Linux crowd, but everything else that might be of interest to me is quite frankly NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
Sure there are plenty of server administration apps and tools, but I'm not interested in becoming an IT guy. Most of us aren't.
Sure, they want you to believe that it's 20 years old and born in Finland, but if that's true, why won't they make the birth certificate public?
Now, I'm not saying that it was necessarily created in the Soviet Union in the 60s as a communist plot, but you never know.
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
You sir, are one of my heroes. I'm sorry I was so harsh to you earlier over the stable abi stuff. But I still stand by my opinion that standard kernel abis are neither necessary nor good.
Nathan's blog
The fact that this article has only 120 comments 3.5 hours after it was posted suggests to me that Linux is not as popular anymore as it was 10 or 15 years ago. Every Linux-related article on /. would be flooded with comments back then. Am I right or is that a perception by me, and if so, why?
-- Cheers!
When I buy a car, I look at how good the car is. I don't look at the road to see whether it's the most popular car or not.
In fact, I would avoid the most popular models because they are more frequently targeted by carjackers.
If it wasn't for Linux, I wouldn't be here. I started of with Linux at 0.97 retrieve from comp.sys.linux. from floppy on a 16Mhz 386sx with 8Mb of ram! I didn't really get to use it until the network stack was ported to it. When X windows was running on my trident peacock card, I never looked back. Then it was slackware, with it's 10-1.44Mb floppies to install a functional system on a 20Mb Shutgard HD. Thank you Linus! Thank you thank you thank you. While all my other friends were chocking on DOS and Windows, I could actually compile and run stuff! Thank you Linux (and all of the heavy weight programmers and gurus) You made Linux cool, but Linus, thank you for bringing us innovation. Oh the days of comp.sys.linux.
Przemek Klosowski talks about Linux, Open Source software and DCLUG
I'll be able to take you all out for a free beer! Wait, no, I mean gratis! Hold on, that doesn't make sense. Let me think about this some more.
Signed,
Lin-, erm GN-, erm, GNU-Linux
P.S. We won't bother with WINE. I've so outgrown that.
Android phone users are not users ?
(old man voice) Back before we had id attributes, we sometimes used a elements with a name attribute and no href.
To celebrate, we need some food tied to this. I suggest a nice flamed penguin.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
1993. I wonder if I have anything left of all those distributions I tried back in the day.
No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!
to Linux.
That was mildly interesting the first 6 or 7 times you posted that link, but no longer.
Since I've already posted in this discussion, please accept a heartfelt "FUCK OFF ALREADY" in lieu of being downmodded.
I spent a full year trying to install redhat but never being able to see the full text menu as my monitor would only show the top left quadrant ! Finally the newer versions fixed themselves after a year and i got it to run. Next was being afraid of getting my monitors burning by editing x configuration files & setting wrong frequencies ! (at least that used to be the warning those days)
That's not linux, that's X, and if it's not already built in most of the time it's just a driver download away.
I'm pretty sure I saw that before 2000 with some Matrox cards.
Nice of you to join in but unfortunately this article is about something totally different to what you are writing about and you are wrong anyway. I hope the rest of your day goes better.
He doesn't like the whole password authentication thing so even if he was here he would be an AC.
Funny that we still had the silly LiGnuX or gnu/linux storm in a teacup even when the heading above was obviously written very carefully to avoid bringing that up. I'm not sure if the above was a very bad reading comprehension failure or just being obnoxious.
If half as much effort was put into gnu as has been put into the gnu/linux flames then hurd would be good enough that it would be irrelevant to claim ownership of linux with a silly prefix in the first place.
It's also the year of Linux on the Desktop! Have you tried Linux Mint 10?
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
I have used a lot of Linux distributions over the past few years. I recently download Ubuntu 4.10 (Warty Warthog), it really shows how far Linux has come...I think my VM was letting off vomit as I ran 4.10 in it. Linux will have something Windows and Mac OS X never will, a community that is ready to support software and be helpful. Since it's inception Linux has had software made for it...something you will never be short of in Linux is software. I love the idea that people make software then upload it for free, they enjoyed programming it and they are giving something back to the community and I think that is very healthy.
It would be nice if someone made a video of the Linux upgrade path as we've seen recently with Windows. Install Linux 1.0 -> ... -> Ubuntu 11.04 and show how applications continue working.
It just occurred to me! Isn't Linux, spelled backward (xuniL), suspiciously similar to the name "Xenu" that is important to the Church if Scientology?
I think this must be a conspiracy to subliminally "prepare" innocent people for indoctrination into a "xunil"-worship group. Who knows where it will go from there?
Oh, the humanity!
You bastards just reminded me that I'll be 40 this month! You insensitive clods!
There are two rules for success:
1. Never tell everything you know.
See subject-line above, & these "prime examples" below via links to the originals of WHY hairyfeet shouldn't have gone to "ITT Tech", in his TECHNICAL BLUNDERS, & more (regarding HOSTS files):
---
Static vs. Dynamic Adbanner addressing (lol, "according to hairyfeet"):
(Which even BestBuy Techs know!)
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2061048&cid=35681060
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DNS Client Cache turn off for HOSTS, a TECHNICAL Blunder by Hairyfeet:
(Which even BestBuy Techs know also (just like the one above!))
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2061048&cid=35686054
---
Hairyfeet's single solutions SECURITY FAILURES? See inside:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2064694&cid=35690260
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Your sources on "security" vs. mine (actual security people) (AND myself, a source on it):
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2064694&cid=35690328
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Lastly, as to your LIBEL of myself (w/ arstech):
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2061048&cid=35668740
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The defeat of hairyfeet by APK (video analogy - hilarious, BUT, apt):
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2064694&cid=35690536
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They say it all, & usually vs. hairyfeet's own words quoted! I wouldn't pay him too much heed, especially after you read the above b.s., lies, changing figures, & even LIBEL of others that hairyfeet likes to do. After all - he's from "ITT Tech" (student)...
Worst part of ALL, here?
Hairyfeet just clearly doesn't even understand how HOSTS files benefit you for:
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1.) ADDED Reliability (vs. DNS going down, or being 'poisoned', & even DNSBL (DNS Block Lists))
2.) ADDED "layered" Security online (vs. known bad sites &/or servers (botnet C&C) + maliciously scripted adbannners by BLOCKING them out)
3.) ADDED Speed (not loading adbanners, and hardcoding your fav. sites into it)
4.) Even more ADDED 'anonymity' online (vs. DNS request logs)
(Even server admins might NOT mind having the load on their DNS servers lightened up also, bonus!)
---
APK
P.S.=> Personally though - because hairyfeet is only a "techie"? I suspect he doesn't want people to know about HOSTS files' added LAYERED SECURITY benefits to the end-user: Why?? Because if users stop getting so much "malware-in-general" which layered security (and HOSTS) give you added layered protection against, he's out money...apk
Andrew Tanenbaum did not know any better, but made a horrid error. He Let Prentice-Hall own the copyright to Minux. This made improvements impractical, the patches got bigger then the original. Linux wins with the copyleft. This allowed sending out the new version. With Minux giving a copy to your friend was stealing.
I might add that Andrew was a Professor. His ambition was/is to teach, not maintain an OS.
Seems in in April 2000 Minux became Open Source, but that was 10 years to late for Minux.
As for the Minux Micro kernel vs the Linux monolithic kernel. Minux was for Teaching. But the message passing was slow. Linux ran much faster, for the rest us us.
So, you're absolutely sure the W3 number is more skewed than all the statcounter statistics coming from Windows-only download/software sites (whereas 99%+ of Linux downloads are handled via repos and source control systems)?
1% of all the PCs in the world doesn't even equal the install base of Ubuntu - just one of the available Linux distros. Stop with your own propaganda.
You throw the banana seed, the monkeys start growing palm trees...
Happy birthday : )