Some interesting facts about GNU/LINUX.

1) The GNU/ LINUX operating system is called the Linux operating system by people. Actually it is a mistake. While Linus Trovalds only created the Kernel of the Linux Operating System as his final year project a the University of Helsinki. Much before that in 1985 Dr Richard Stallman started the Free Software Foundation and embarked on a mission to create a completely Free Operating System[Free in terms of Freedom not necessarily in terms of price. ] By the early 90s most of the operating system was complete but it lacked the Kernel. The Hurd Kernal that was being made for the GNU OS was far from completion at this time Linus released the Linux Kernal under Free License  and thus GNU/LINUX came into existence. 

2) GNU/ LINUX has lots of different distributions viz: Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Debian, Kali etc.  The creator of Debian Ian Murdock(there were other developers as well they were all communicating and sharing and delivering code over the internet) actually named it after his the then girlfriend Debra and his name Debra+ Ian = Debian.

3) Majority of the servers of the world use Linux as their Operating System. The reasons for that being .

   i) Linux is a FREE operating system. People are free to study , modify and distribute the source code of the operating system (both the original and modified versions). Because of this companies have the freedom to change the source code of the operating system as per their needs and requirements. 

   ii) Linux is far more stable than its competitor Windows. While Windows operating systems crash frequently there is hardly anyone who has seen a Linux Operating System crash.

 iii) Linux is far more secure than Windows , primarily because it is a multiuser Unix like Operating System and only the Administrator or the Root User has the administrative privileges and and few users and applications have the privilege to access the kernel . Because of this Linux is modular and well protected. 

     Unlike Windows there are hardly any issues with viruses on GNU/LINUX .

iv) The cost of ownership of Linux even the Enterprise version is far less than that of Windows. 


4) Different distributions of Linux are available for computers with different levels of hardware and again being Free OS it can scaled down to fit the requirements of a lower end computer. Take Raspberry PI for example, for  the lower processing power and RAM of the $ 20 computer, developers have come out with modified version of Debian and Fedora like Raspbian and Pidora operating systems. 

5) The world's most popular smartphone and tablet operating system Android has a kernel that is a modified version of the Linux Kernel. Firefox mobile OS is also a version of Linux. There are other versions of Linux based mobile OS coming up like Jolla Sailfish and Tizen.

Android and Free Software

Google's Android operating system has had tremendous success in the last few years , there are now over a a billion active devices that use Android Operating System. The success of Android has been wonderful for Free and Open Source software although Android is not totally FREE, some of the device drivers are proprietary . However it is big step into moving towards the free software regime.

We have come to a time when smart phones have become as powerful as computers that existed a decade ago. For ordinary users who are not developers or coders , whose computing needs are limited to surfing the Internet and creating a few documents, watching videos , capturing videos and taking pictures, smart phones and tablets are more than enough. Smart phones and tablets are cheaper and easier to carry around.

Android now is the most popular Operating System for smart phones and tablets. The Android can be considered a version of Linux considering the fact that it uses a modified version of the Linux Kernel. The source code of Android is available to users after the release.

However its runs on select devices and does not come with the code of the device drivers of certain components that are proprietary. One can download Android from the website free of cost, Google makes money from Android by selling apps made by developers on Google Play store. Not all apps are priced but for those apps that have a price tag to it, Google takes 30% of the amount.

      While Android is enjoying its day in the sun very soon it will have competition from the likes of Ubuntu touch, Tizen, Firefox OS and Jolla SailFish . Firefox OS maybe the real FREE software(free in terms of freedom ) that Android may have to contain with. The beneficiary of this competition will be the users around the globe .

One can clearly see that smart phones and tablets are converging towards desktops, as the processing power goes up and the RAM and storage increase. So in the future one may be using GNU/LINUX or the GNU operating system (with the HURD kernal ) directly from his/her tablet or smart phone.

Currently Google recommends 512Mb of RAM for Android operating system, in 2004 that is 10 years ago desktops used to have 256Mb of RAM , we have quadracore and octacore ARM processors  with over 1Ghz of clock speed. So it is clear from this that mobile devices are closing in on laptops and desktops.



Also android is the operating system of Google Glass the gadget that promises to change the way we use mobiles and computers. One can visit Google Play and find huge number of apps as on June 2014 one can find 1.2 million apps there, both paid and free.



With tablets and smart phones that run on Android or will run in the near future in any one of the above mentioned Free operating systems , the digital world is now successfully coming out of slavery of Microsoft Windows. 

For two and half decades the users were not being able to use any other operating system other than Microsoft Windows and before that MS – Dos. GNU/LINUX was then considered to be only for Geeks and not for ordinary users.



Its wonderful to see that with Android the world has taken a big step towards usage of Free Software and the above mentioned operating systems particularly Firefox OS will have more freedom associated with it , in real terms it can be called a Free Software. Bringing the the vision Free Software Foundation to reality. 
         
[Note when Free Software is mentioned it means software that is free in terms of freedom not necessarily free in terms of price.]

Tablet Computers - IMPACT

Steve Jobs introduced the first Tablet Computer to the world as an iPad

and since then it has become a rage among people since its introduction in 2009 millions of iPads have sold in USA and across the world. The tablet computer is an easy to use keyboard less minicomputer with a touch screen and has a mini operating system with which one can surf the internet,take photographs,create documents,view pictures ,view and make videos and do all the basic computing. The screen sizes normally begin with 7 inch and go up to about 10.1 inch. The iPad though had a 10.1 inch screen and used the iOS operating system which also happens to be the operating system of Apple's iPhone. Introduction of iPad sprang up the Tablet revolution across countries iPad was expensive alright but various other companies around the world came out their own version of Tablet computers which used Google's open source Android as its operating system.

                

                       This tablets are much cheaper than a standard desktop or a

laptop and easier to carry around all of them are WiFi enabled for internet access also they have dongle support. There are tablets which can be used as a mobile phone with a sim and internet access is possible through 3G connection. These tablets are a boon to developing and low income countries where PC penetration is still low. They can be a great aid for education,being flat book like structure it can be used to store books in pdf forms or as ebooks. Thus a single SD card can store thousands of books thus one does not need lots of cupboards or space at home to set up a library all

one needs to do is to download a book from the internet and store it in an SD card or a pen drive. This book can have web links that can open on a single click one can embed Youtube videos in such books, at the same time saving lots of paper and saving lots of trees from being cut. Power management is a major issue of this tablet computers but with the increase in the processing power of the ARM processors which consume very very little power as compared to Intel and AMD processors they have become standard processors in all mobile devices and tablets however Intel with its Atom processors is also looking to enter the market.

                In the next few years Tablets are expected to replace the laptops the processing power of the low energy consuming ARM processors is bound to go up it would be interesting to see how INTEL and AMD respond to this challenge but one thing is for sure the Tablet computers by its light weight,low price with easy to use and cute features would go a long way in ending the digital divide the exits in the world.

                                                                                             Rakesh Mallick