History of Linux

[mahrkpat]

1991
Finnish student called Linus Torvalds created the kernel that would
become Linux (originally named Freax).
Linux evolved into a fully-blown OS, with the Manchester computing
Centre creating one of the first distributions that used a combined
boot/ root disk, named MCC Interim Linux.

1992 to 1994
Slackware, Red Hat and Debian the three founding fathers of all modern
Linux distros, along with the Linux kernel growing to become 0.95 - the
first to be capable of running the X Window System.
As Slackware evolved, companies sprung to life that supported the
software. One that appeared in 1994 was the Software und System-
Entwicklung, or as it was more commonly known, S.U.S.E Linux.
Another distro that also came in 1994, was called Red Hat
Commercial Linux.
On 14 March, 1994, Linux 1.0.0 was launched.

1995 to 1999
The spawning of linux began.
Jurix Linux was the base system used for creating the SUSE Linux
that we use today.
The Red Hat-based branch of Linux OSs Caldera, Mandrake,
TurboLinux, Yellow Dog and Red Flag.
Debian-based Linux OSs Libranet, Storm, Finnix and Corel Linux.
Linux operating system becomes the server OS of choice for IT
professionals the world over.
Linux kernel 1.2.0 to 2.2, desktop environments KDE and Gnome
became into being and made Linux become popular, Oracle and Sun
announced official support for Linux versions, as the OS became
increasingly popular.

2000 to 2005
The next five years saw an incredible surge of Linux-powered
computers hitting the media, with further improvements to the
kernel, heaps of new applications and the appearance of the first live
distro.
Knoppix, a friendly Debian-based distro developed by Klaus
Knopper, was also one of the most popular of its time. It was
noteworthy for many reasons, but the main one was the fact that it
could boot directly from the CD!
Knoppix set a benchmark for live distros and many followed after it,
ones that are still used today.
In 2000 the Linux Foundation was formed to sponsor the work of
Linus and the developing community, in making and improving Linux,
but also to defend it and keep it within the core values of freedom,
collaboration and education.
Linux kernel 2.4 contained support for USB, PC Cards, ISA Plug and
Play, and went on to add Bluetooth, RAID and EXT3. In fact, 2.4.x
was the longest-supported kernel, ending with 2.4.37.11 in 2011.
Red Hat Linux OS split into two commercial Red Hat Enterprise
Linux and Fedora Core for the community distribution.
Red Hat makes the source code available freely on its FTP servers
and led people downloading and creating their on distros notable
ones are CentOS, Oracle Linux, CERN and Scientific Linux .
Another important distro was CRUX extremely lightweight and
focused on the developer as opposed to the end user, it is also
the base for Arch Linux.
Based on Debian, Ubuntu's aim was to create an easy-to-use Linux desktop
that could be updated to include the latest offerings by the end user with very
little experience in Linux it came into being on 20 October, 2004.

2006 to 2012
Of the many differing distros that were launched from 2006 onwards,
one has become the fourth most-used operating system in the world
is Linux Mint.
Linux Mint 1.0, Ada, was released in 2006 with a heady mixture of
FOSS and proprietary software. This 'works-out-of-the-box' Linux
distro briefly followed the Ubuntu base and later the Debian base as
well.
Linux Mint has adapted itself to embrace, and offer, the newest
technologies while still keeping an ear to the ground and listening to
its users.
In 2008 one of the most popular Linux based OS was launched
although 90% of it's users don't know this and that OS is Android.
Version 1.0 was launched with the HTC Dream and could do
everything you'd expect from a modern smartphone, but it was
buggy. Version 1.1 fixed most of the bugs, but it wasn't until version
1.5 Cupcake that Android really started to get interesting and pave
the way for smartphones the world over.
Common uses for Linux OS include that of a home desktop computing system,
or more commonly for a server application, such as use as a web server, or mail
server. You can even use Linux as a dedicated firewall to help protect other
machines that are on the same network.
Today Linux is still going from strength to strength from servers to
desktop market and now smart phones to tab pc's.

[bonilla]

Re: History of Linux

Thanks for the information.
Don"t forget to mention the future as it's gonna be difficult for them:
hxxp://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/flash-linux-future.html

The simple truth is, there's too much Linux. 90% of everything in life is useless, and so are 90% of all distributions out there. Unneeded, unnecessary, one-man projects with no goal, no vision, completely personalized for a corner-case of computing usage. If you ask me, I would axe the list down to maybe 5-6 distros, at most. The same goes for desktop environments. The same goes for music players and everything else.

Unless Ubuntu creates a miracle, there will be no Linux desktop revolution. The wheel of inertia will keep spinning, and you will continue to have half-baked, half-assed efforts come out of the oven every six months, each offering exactly the same, and none providing the users with what they need. There's also the question of hope. How long can one hold their breath? You can be enthused about Linux making it big in 2008 and 2009 and 2010, but years go by and nothing changes. If you ask me, what's the best thing that really happened in the Linux world recently, something that really made me excited? It's CentOS, which was never meant for desktops and which runs on a kernel released three years back. But that's perfectly all right, because normal people don't care about that. Other than that, it's a sorry soup of ego and blind, obtuse persistence.

[joseram2000]

Re: History of Linux

The problem with Linux is that many versions have come out that manufacturers in general barely support it

[mahrkpat]

Re: History of Linux

The problem with Linux is that many versions have come out that manufacturers in general barely support it

I must completely disagree with you the beauty of linux is that it is open source
and manufacturers can adapt it to their needs, what do you thing is at the heart
of your satellite receiver, washing machine and other electronic hardware, just
imagine if manufacturers had to pay a licence fee to MS for a windows based OS
the prices would be high.
You may say you were talking about actually using the linux OS but if you have
a android mobile phone then you are using a linux based OS, even when a big
manufacturer like Samsung talk about moving away from android they are talking
about using their own version of linux based OS, China are going to be producing
a cheap smart phone also which will use it's own flavour of linux.