IT Support | What is Linux?
Posted by Anthony Checchia on Tue, Dec 20, 2011
With the explosive growth of smart phones recently many more people are being introduced to the world of Android. Android is built off of Linux, which is a full operating system that can be used on many different computing devices, including desktop and laptop computers. Due to Linux being open source there are many different variations called “Distributions”. Many of these distributions cater to very specific markets. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is one such distribution. It is geared toward companies and enterprise environments, and they require a subscription plan for their technical support to ensure everything runs smoothly. There’s also Ubuntu which is currently one of the most popular distributions available and is targeting the average computer user with a home pc. Ubuntu is one of the more user friendly distributions available and has software included that most people will find useful.
There are also distributions available that are aimed at being more of a tool than a full time use operating system. One such distribution is SystemRescueCD. This one is useful for repairing operating systems that are unable to boot and also for recovering data from a crashed system. This can be booted as a live cd which means that the operating system is loaded into memory only. The great thing about this distribution is that it’s capable of repairing not just Linux but also Windows and it is capable of reading NTFS and FAT file systems.
The list could go on and on for all the different distributions available and what they’re capable of but this is a brief overview of what Linux is and what it offers. There are many different flavors and many different tools which can lead to difficulty in finding the perfect fit, but do a little research and you’ll find there is a wealth of information out there.
