Starters for Linux - Part 1

Among our wonderful readers we bet there are some of you who would like to get to know a lot more about Linux but have nowhere to go or should we say, just too confused as to where to start. This series aim at helping you novices get a firm grip on the basics of Linux.

We believe that Linux is more than just an Operating System. It’s a movement to free the world from the shackles of third grade Commercial software. Linux is an extremely vast topic and it would not be possible for us deal with each and every aspect of it. We would therefore be sticking to the general aspects that would interest the average user.

Dealing with Linux consists of dealing with a whole gamut of issues, right from

Installing the Operating System, getting services up and running, installing the software of your choice, dealing with package managers, window managers, desktop environments, configuring the graphics environment to configuring your machine to connect to the Internet, configuring your machine to check mail and a whole lot of other tasks that you would like to perform with the same ease of use as you do on your existing Operating System.

Linux to owes it alliance to the Open Source community and to the legacy of the Unix Operating System. Linux has imbibed several aspects of various Unix systems that exist today. Most die hard open source fans however would argue, and so do we, Linux isn’t Unix. Though we would love to talk at length about the origins of Linux, it isn’t relevant in this article. So, in this few next paragraphs we would like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the various facets of Linux.

If you have worked or even seen other Unixes out there, one thing that immediately comes to your minds is perhaps the dark murky depth of the ocean? The scary black screen and the command line with strange white text flowing across? Give us an opportunity to lay your fears at rest. Of course the CLI (Command Line Driven Interface) is a popular method of interacting with your Linux box, but believe me, Linux comes with a very capable GUI. In fact due to the sheer customisability of the Linux GUI, it is extremely easy and fun to use…not like some other operating systems you might have encountered!