Three big releases

These three days there have been much activity in the world of Linux. There have been three development releases and one distribution release. From OpenSUSE, Mandriva, Elive there have been development releases and not suitable for regular users but for testing purposes only.From Guardian Digital Engard have been released as a distribution. You guy's can check out the the release announcements on these release by clicking the links below.

• Release announcement for OpenSUSE.
• Release announcement for Elive.
• Release announcement for Mandriva Linux.
• Release announcement for Egard.
  

Using squid proxy as transparent

In transparent mode you don't need to give a specific port number. How to do that is listed here.

Using Squid proxy as an easy web filter.

You can use your squid proxy as small web filter. This article will guide you through please click here.

Very good free web hosting package

I came a cross an web site that allows free web hosting packages to the novice users who are still sniffing around. Best thing is they provide user sub domains for free but unlike other free providers there are no ads. And they give a very good real time cPanel that allows the user to manage there web site at an ease. They use Linux as there server operating system so it's very stable unlike other servers and have a 99% up time. So if you're interested click here to go to there home page.

OpenGEU New Beta is out

OpenGEU formerly known as Geubuntu has released there new beta version for testing. OpenGEU is based on the Ubuntu platform and used Enlightenment 0.17 to create a different desktop environment for the average user and it's very easy for person who is migrating from any other platform to this very easy. So take a peak at this new release.

Homepage : http://opengeu.intilinux.com/Home.html

Good site to down load Linux software

Go to this web site this contains over thousand of Linux software.
http://www.tuxsoftware.com/home/

Ubuntu v8.10 Alpha 4

Well known Debian based desktop Linux environment Ubuntu has released there alpha 4 of there next version 8.10 code named as "Intrepid Ibex" for testing purpose. This is not suitable for day to day use yet. To find out more about the new release click here.

Linux and GNU

After publishing the Linux kernel under a it's own share source licence. With the freely available GNU source he switched to GNU General Public Licence and he embedded Linux kernel into the GNU software and published the changed as version 0.12. Then in December 1992 he published the version 0.99 under GNU GPL.And this change made the Linux what we see to day. Very powerful contender for other gate's system.

The Name

At first Torvalds used "Freax" as the name for Linux. A portmanteau from "freek", "free" and "x" an allusion to Unix. But later he uploaded his file to a ftp server at the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) in September 1991. Ari Lemmke, the person who was responsible for the servers thought that "Freax" was not a very good name and he him self renamed the project as "Linux" with out the knowledge of Torvalds. But at first Torvalds protested but later he also accepted the renaming and it became generally accepted all over the world.

Lets look at the history of Linux

Actually before Linux came to planet earth there was another kernel called Unix and this was implemented in the 1960s and first released in 1970s. This was freely available and also because of it's portability Unix became a hit in the world of IT. Then after a while Unix became commercialized and was not free. So a person by the name of Richard Stallman created a project called GNU in 1983 to provide an Unix like operating system for free under GPL(General Public License). By the year 1990 everything was ready to created a full operating system but there was a problem the GNU kernel code named Hurd had failed to attract the interest of developers and was little unstable. And there was several other release from different creators but they also had smiler problems.

This led to a project in 1991 that began in Hesinki by Linus Torvalds that later became the Linux kernel. At beginning it was a terminal emulator that was used by Torvalds to access Unix servers. After a while Torvalds noticed that he has written an operating system kernel and on 25th of August 1991 he announced this to newsgroup "comp.os.minix" through Usenet. And later this became the famous Linux that we now today.

What is Linux really?

I'm going to start from the place where I left of in my first article. As you can remember I asked you a question is Linux a operating system or a kernel ?. Well most of them answered as it's an O/S but Linux is not a O/S, actually Linux is a kernel that have been gift raped with lot of free and good software's so normal people like you & me could work with in our home computer. OK, before I move on I like to give you a small idea about what is a kernel, So lets start.

What Is a Kernel?

Let me explain it like this, all mammals have a thing called the brain. By using the brain we process things what our other sensors take in and decides what to do with it. Lets presume that no had a brain what will happen? there want be any civilization. Just like that the kernel is the brain behind those big graphics and user interfaces. What kernel does actually it makes everything happen in a computer and this illustration will make it much more clear to you how the kernel works. I think now you might have little idea about what is a kernel and how it acts in the operating system.
(image is from Wikipedia)

information contained in this article was taken from Wikipedia.org

Welcom to sLinuxWorld Blog

I well come all you newbies to the world of linux (finally you guys made the right choice). This blog is based on my day to day experiences with the both operating systems. and I hope give you a little light toward the right direction until you guys get the hang of world of linux.If you've any problems or any help on linux or some distribution based on that format please don't hold back just ask me, I'm here to help.

By profession I'm a all round IT guy with knowledge on both the open sorce stuff and the ons with Bill's & Gates. I get to work with both platforms every day so I know up's and downs of both of them. And I love to see more and more people coming into the world of linux and leving bahind there old crashing memories. OK! that's enough about that I'm going to end this welcome note here and leave you guys a question.

Is Linux a operating system or a kernel ?