Linux

Tux, the
Linux mascot

Linux® is a family of complete open-source freeware operating systems, that run on the Intel and compatible processors used in ordinary PCs, and on other processors. Linux is similar to the older Unix multi-user OS.

The Linux kernel was first available in 1991. Originally you had to download the free kernel and other relevant free software, and assemble a functional operating system on your own, and in theory you could still do that. After a couple of years there were ready-to-install Linux distributions available on CD. Ever since then, choosing a distribution has been the normal way to get started using Linux.

On Linux, to be safe, you should always unmount any writeable removable drive before you disconnect it. This mostly applies to USB drives and memory cards. In Ubuntu, right-click the drive and select Unmount Volume. (In Lucid: Safely Remove Drive.)

Apple's amusing Mac & PC TV ads (2006-2009) implied those are the only choices. Linux today is a viable zero-cost third alternative. There's a user-friendly distribution called Ubuntu that's the most popular, with a large user community and lots of books and online resources. There are even vendors who can sell you a new computer with Linux already installed, and any hardware or configuration issues already resolved for you.

I've been using Ubuntu installed on a netbook (regular desktop Ubuntu, not UNE) for most of a year. Here's what I've found to be different.

Linux stuff is really, really stable. After years of Windows experience, it's a terrific relief. You can force Linux to screw up, if you really want to, usually by trying to make a LiveDistro boot do stuff you shouldn't. The Geany editor, installed on Ubuntu, will freeze and turn gray if I try to make it open more than about 30 files simultaneously, but it doesn't seem to affect anything else. In normal usage, in my experience, Linux is like a rock.
I think Ubuntu Linux is easier for users than Windows. It's a little different, but everything is very consistent and logical. If you can cope with Windows, you can cope with Ubuntu. Don't be shocked if you like it better.
Getting new Linux software is different. When you need something new, you just look in your distribution's package manager's thousands of free apps. That gets you a trouble-free version that's already tested, in Ubuntu not just against your distro but your specific release.
Running Windows software on Linux hasn't been that important. I have Wine installed and a couple Windows apps, but there are native Linux apps available to do everything I used to do on a Windows box, as well if not better. If you do find there's a Windows app you need, for which there isn't a satisfactory Linux replacement, it'll probably be something specialized.
The Linux command line is more powerful and more dangerous than the feeble DOS window. You can compile downloaded source code and stick it into the Linux kernel, the core of the OS, from the prompt. In fact, to fix certain issues, you have to do that. When you learn the ropes including shell scripting, you can make your computer do anything. But before that, when you get instructions involving the terminal window, be very careful.

Wikipedia:
Comparison of
Windows and Linux

Many places have local Linux user groups that meet regularly.

People say Linux is like LEGO®. In the Microsoft-against-Apple corporate confrontation, your operating system choice enforces which software tools you can use and which you can't. In the Linux world, it doesn't matter so much which distribution or environment you start with. Mostly you can get anything to snap together with anything, if you want to bad enough, and things are getting more and more interoperable. Although if you'd rather keep things simple and stable at first rather than tinker, you may want to stick to one distro (Ubuntu) one desktop environment (GNOME) and only install software from the package manager.

Linux is commonly used on servers at ISPs and Web hosting companies, on supercomputers, and is actually dominant at state-of-the-art computer animation companies such as Pixar and ILM. The global desktop usage share for Linux is probably between one and two percent. It sounds a bit uninspiring when you say it that way, but one to two percent of all desktop computers on the planet is a lot of computers. The first netbooks ran Linux, and many netbook models still do.

You'll hear people pronounce Linux different ways; don't worry about it too much. I think it's reasonable to pronounce it the way most people around you do. The way I've heard most people say it, here in the US, is first syllable, with emphasis, to rhyme with "tin," second to rhyme with "ducks." Linus Torvalds was a college student in Finland when he created the Linux kernel in 1991. Most people in Finland speak Finnish, but there's a 5% Swedish-speaking minority, including Torvalds. They don't pronounce the name Linus there the way we do in English, and that's the source of part of the confusion.

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I'm going to spill the beans here on what may be all the Linux geeks' little joke on all Linux newbies. When you start learning to use the command line, you find out that every command has a plain-text man page that explains it. For example, ls ("list") is the Linux equivalent of DIR in a DOS window, to see what's in a directory. So you can type man ls to find out what you can do with ls. The kicker: nowhere in formal documentation, that I can find, do they tell you how to exit from a man page more gracefully than clicking the X button to close the terminal window. Just press the Q key, case doesn't matter. I had to dig that out of forum posts.

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