Talk:Linux (operating system)
Using archive pages automatically
name the archives Archive 1, 2 etc but with a space between them - they will be recognoized by the following template: {{archive box|auto=long}} Robert Tito | Talk 22:01, 1 May 2007 (CDT) Easy isnt it :)
- Yes, it is :P Thanks for letting me know about that template :D --Joshua David Williams 22:12, 1 May 2007 (CDT)
The big re-write
I've begun the big re-write, so don't freak out when you see the article is now a stub :-) I'll try to put all the information back in ASAP, so please bear with me. As a reference, I'm providing a link to the old revision here. --Joshua David Williams 15:14, 21 April 2007 (CDT)
- Linux is an open source operating system. By strict definition, it is rarely seen by the user, because its job is to be a layer between the user environment and the hardware. That strict definition should be for the Linux kernel article, don't you think? Linux should be the broad general intro. Stephen Ewen 20:32, 23 April 2007 (CDT)
True, but I thought it was important to clarify this to begin with. Perhaps we should move that part to the Linux controversy subsection of this article? --Joshua David Williams 20:42, 23 April 2007 (CDT)
Latest releases
I agree with Pat that we shouldn't display the latest stable releases. These change fairly often, so the article won't be a credible source for that information. -Joshua David Williams 21:25, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
about history
Linux was started in 1991 by a Finnish college student named Linus Torvalds. At the time, the majority of Unix systems were very expensive. The only affordable workstation environment was a proprietary system called Minix. Although the source code was included with this system, the license fee was still a bit pricey, and it was not as good as the systems the workstations in the universities were running. Actually the license for minix was FREE it was developed by a professor at the university where Torvald studied. Torvald used minix as base for linux and expanded it into a networked environment and only later into the open source - where being freely available for universities was his first primary goal. Solid stable and free to use. minix however was a very limited version of the two commercial unixes around (BSD and AT&T).
- monolythic kernels are used by a variety of variations of linux but also microkernel linux/unix are abundant. Robert Tito | Talk 21:58, 1 May 2007 (CDT)
- Well the Linux kernel may have been written by Torvalds, but the other 80% to 90% of the operating system stems from the GNU project of Richard Stallman. The impression that Torvalds did the whole thing should be avoided. Stallman deserves as much credit, if not more. --Ed Poor 17:41, 9 May 2007 (CDT)
Its probably important to mention about Ari Lemmke who was the person who named Linux and who first started the first Linux newsgroup, comp.os.linux[1]. --Lal Chandran
Rewrite needed
I rather think this article requires a rewrite - it should perhaps be reduced as to point to the Linux kernel, GNU project and the Linux controversy. Perhaps even better, just point it to the disambiguation page.
Also, I am not too fond of "Unix-like" as an OS family.
--Morten Juhl Johansen 06:15, 1 August 2007 (CDT)
Refresh / rewrite needed
I agree with the others who are calling for a rewrite. We should distinguish between the kernel and distributions. I made a small change tonight because Ubuntu Hardy Heron is already old news. But the article needs much more work. I'm willing to schedule some time to collaborate. -- Tim Chambers 01:12, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
History
Sorry if I went a little long on the history, but I consider it a pretty complete one now (minus refs to be added soon). I think I would like to see the linux page as VERY short page with links to where everything else is. For example, Linux is made of a kernel, compiler, etc. It is packaged by distributions with list of distributions. Then move the history to linux_kernel since it has more to do with what Linux actually is over what I think this page should be (what someone new to FOSS would think Linux is: an operating system). If people like the idea and agree with the way I write (see history not this confusing discussions post), I'd be happy to write something up. If not feel free to digress to before I made the changes. --John Altobelli 01:01, 6 March 2009 (EST)