What is Linux History?
1. 1969 Unix:
Creators: UNIX was conceived by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and others at Bell Labs.
Motivation: The development of UNIX was motivated by the need for a more efficient and flexible operating system for the PDP-7 minicomputer, which was being used to develop software at Bell Labs.
Design Principles: UNIX was designed with a few fundamental principles in mind:
1. Simplicity and Modularity: It was designed to be simple, with small, single-purpose utilities that could be combined to perform more complex tasks.
2. Hierarchical File System: Files were organized in a hierarchical directory structure, which was a departure from the flat file systems of the time.
3. Multi-User and Multi-Tasking: UNIX supported multiple users and allowed them to run multiple processes concurrently.
4. Impact: UNIX had a profound influence on operating system design. Its ideas and principles heavily influenced the development of subsequent operating systems, including Linux, macOS, and the various versions of Microsoft Windows.
All modern operating systems have their roots in 1969 when Dennis Ritchie and Ken
Thompson developed the C language and the Unix operating system at AT&T Bell Labs.
They shared their source code (yes, there was open source back in the Seventies) with the
rest of the world, including the hippies in Berkeley California. By 1975, when AT&T started
selling Unix commercially, about half of the source code was written by others. The hippies
were not happy that a commercial company sold software that they had written; the resulting
(legal) battle ended in there being two versions of Unix: the official AT&T Unix, and the
free BSD Unix.
Development of BSD descendants like FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly BSD and
PC-BSD is still active today.
1980s
In the Eighties many companies started developing their own Unix: IBM created AIX, Sun
SunOS (later Solaris), HP HP-UX and about a dozen other companies did the same. The
result was a mess of Unix dialects and a dozen different ways to do the same thing. And
here is the first real root of Linux, when Richard Stallman aimed to end this era of Unix
separation and everybody re-inventing the wheel by starting the GNU project (GNU is Not
Unix). His goal was to make an operating system that was freely available to everyone, and
where everyone could work together (like in the Seventies). Many of the command line tools
that you use today on Linux are GNU tools.
1990s
The Nineties started with Linus Torvalds, a Swedish speaking Finnish student, buying a
386 computer and writing a brand new POSIX compliant kernel. He put the source code
online, thinking it would never support anything but 386 hardware. Many people embraced
the combination of this kernel with the GNU tools, and the rest, as they say, is history.
2015
Today more than 97 percent of the world's supercomputers (including the complete top 10),
more than 80 percent of all smartphones, many millions of desktop computers, around 70
percent of all web servers, a large chunk of tablet computers, and several appliances (dvd-
players, washing machines, dsl modems, routers, self-driving cars, space station laptops...)
run Linux. Linux is by far the most commonly used operating system in the world.
Linux kernel version 4.0 was released in April 2015. Its source code grew by several hundred
thousand lines (compared to version 3.19 from February 2015) thanks to contributions of
thousands of developers paid by hundreds of commercial companies including Red Hat,
Intel, Samsung, Broadcom, Texas Instruments, IBM, Novell, Qualcomm, Nokia, Oracle,
Google, AMD and even Microsoft (and many more).
The history of Linux is a remarkable journey that began in the early 1990s. Here's a detailed overview:
1. Pre-Linux Era (1980s):
- In the 1980s, UNIX, developed at Bell Labs, was a powerful operating system but was expensive and proprietary. This led to a desire for an open alternative.
2. GNU Project (1983):
- In 1983, Richard Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and initiated the GNU (GNU's Not Unix) Project. The goal was to create a free, UNIX-like operating system.
3. GNU Tools (1980s-1990s):
- Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, the GNU Project developed essential components for an operating system, including the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), the GNU C Library (glibc), and various utilities.
4. The Missing Kernel (Early 1990s):
- By the early 1990s, GNU had nearly all the components for a complete OS, but lacked a kernel (the core component managing system resources). Minix, a small UNIX-like OS, inspired Linus Torvalds.
5. Linux Kernel (1991):
- In 1991, Linus Torvalds, a Finnish student, began work on the Linux kernel as a hobby project. He released the first version (0.01) in September, and it was licensed under the GPL, making it free and open-source.
6. GNU/Linux (1992):
- GNU developers combined their tools with the Linux kernel, creating a complete, functional operating system. This combination is often referred to as "GNU/Linux."
7. Growth and Expansion (1990s):
- The Linux community grew rapidly. More developers contributed to the kernel, and distributions like Slackware (1993), Debian (1993), and Red Hat (1994) began packaging Linux for users.
8. Open Source Movement (Late 1990s):
- The late 1990s saw the coining of the term "open source" to emphasize the practical benefits of free software. This movement gained momentum, with Linux as one of its flagships.
9. Enterprise Adoption (Late 1990s - Early 2000s):
- Linux gained traction in the enterprise market, with companies like IBM and Oracle offering support for Linux-based solutions. This period saw significant investments in Linux infrastructure.
10. Linux in Embedded Systems (2000s):
- The lightweight nature of Linux made it a popular choice for embedded systems in devices like routers, set-top boxes, and IoT devices.
11. Linux on Mobile (2007 onwards):
- Android, based on the Linux kernel, was introduced by Google in 2007. It became the dominant operating system for mobile devices, leading to widespread use of Linux in smartphones and tablets.
12. Linux in Supercomputing (2010s):
- Linux became the dominant OS in the world of supercomputing. Many of the world's fastest supercomputers run Linux-based operating systems.
13. Containers and Cloud Computing (2010s):
- Technologies like Docker and Kubernetes revolutionized containerization and orchestration, with Linux as the underlying platform. Cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure heavily rely on Linux.
14. Linux Today (2020s):
- Linux has become a pervasive force in computing. It's used in servers, desktops, mobile devices, embedded systems, IoT, supercomputers, and more.
The Linux kernel continues to be actively developed and is maintained by a large community of contributors worldwide. Its open-source nature and robust development model have solidified Linux as a cornerstone of modern computing.
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