At the outset I would like to tell you that this article is aimed at those

who have had previous installation experience on any distribution of

Linux. Even if you don't fall into that category, it still doesn't hurt to know a

little bit more about the OS of your choice. Now roll up your sleeves and

let's get started.

It was most likely that you installed your first Linux box from a bootable

CDROM. Maybe your motherboard didn't support booting from the

CDROM and you had to make a bootable floppy instead. Now that wasn't all

IBM has announced what it calls the biggest Linux deal ever. Big Blue will equip a Japanese convenience chain with 15,000 IBM servers running Hat Linux.

The Linux kernel is the heart of the operating system. This is the software that takes care of the programs that are currently running on your system as well as handling the interactions of those processes with your hardware. The kernel will decide how much CPU time and usage is allowed to the various programs.

Between its record-breaking IPO, its new position as the No. 2 provider of Linux servers in the U.S. , and its four successive quarters of incredible sales growth, VA Linux might be content to look ahead at clear sailing and a strong path to profitability in the near future. But in this industry, to sit still is to slip behind, and VA surely knows that as well as anyone else.

IBM has accused Sun of confusing customers with its Linux strategy and lacking sufficient understanding of the open source OS.

Linux is continuing its spread from the scrawniest to the burliest computing devices, with new products emerging this week for low-power chips all the way up to mainframes.

The number of applications when we went public, commercial software applications that ran on Red Hat Linux, were less than 50 on August 11, 1999. Now, there are over 6000 applications and growing by the hour running on the Red Hat Linux platform. So, I definitely think you'll find it in the consumer market.

Companies need to develop an open-source strategy if they want faster access to better software. Users aren't choosing open-source software because it's free. They're choosing it because it's better.

In a market overflowing with Internet-enabled applications, vendors increasingly are counting on the magic words "open source" to attract venture capitalist, partner and customer interest.

Microsoft has posted the first official beta release of the successor to Windows 2000 to the private Whistler Web site for beta testers. At the same time, Linus Torvalds posted to kernel.org the near-final release of the Linux 2.4 kernel.