What is Linux?

Linus Torvalds, from Finland, released an operating system kernel under the name Linux in 1991. The word is a com­po­si­tion of his first name and the un­der­ly­ing model, Unix. This basic interface between software and hardware was, and still is, used as a basis for a variety of operating systems, which are often denoted as Linux. In addition to the free licensed Linux kernel, the Linux operating systems are mostly based on freely available GNU software. The kernel and software package are also called dis­tri­b­u­tions and continue to be popular among de­vel­op­ers. This is because they are quickly dis­trib­uted and can also be adjusted to as needed. In addition to the Linux kernel and free software programs, the dis­trib­u­tors can add pro­pri­etary ap­pli­ca­tions to the packages, e.g. Adobe Reader, as well as self-created programs (pro­pri­etary or free).

Through­out the years, countless dis­tri­b­u­tions and their de­riv­a­tives have been released this way. Debian, Ubuntu (its de­riv­a­tive), Mint, Gentoo, Fedora, Red Hat (En­ter­prise), openSUSE, and the smart­phone system, Android, are among the most well-known Linux operating systems.

It’s es­pe­cial­ly worth­while for private users to set Linux as an operating system for the PC when looking for a free, non-pro­pri­etary solution. Whereas new Windows systems usually have to be bought, Linux dis­tri­b­u­tions are developed and sup­ple­ment­ed by users and security updates.  Should this no longer apply to a certain system, you can easily switch over to another variant. It’s true that many private users find it difficult to get started with Linux. Even ex­pe­ri­enced Windows users planning on switching might need a while to get used to the un­fa­mil­iar en­vi­ron­ment and new ap­pli­ca­tions.

Using Linux as a server operating system is just as ben­e­fi­cial and con­sid­er­ably more wide­spread. Besides the ad­van­tages mentioned above–flex­i­bil­i­ty, security, and in­de­pen­dence from the man­u­fac­tur­er–the man­age­able hardware re­quire­ments and the con­sid­er­ably simpler licensing (in com­par­i­son to Microsoft) as well as the excellent Cloud support are some other rewarding benefits of the Linux operating system. When making your decision, you should also take the clients’ usage into con­sid­er­a­tion: while Linux excels at being a solution for web-based ap­pli­ca­tions like e-commerce or CRM systems, Windows takes the lead when it comes to client-based services, such as Office programs. Linux dis­tri­b­u­tions might present the most cost-effective solution as a server system; it’s often the case, however, that the support for free software will cost you.

If you have decided on a Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion, you’re now faced with setting up and managing the system. In order for you, as a user, to be able to com­mu­ni­cate with the computer, it’s rec­om­mend­ed to use the services of a shell. This interface passes your commands on to the system kernel. There are two types of shells to choose from: with the help of a graphic interface you can com­fort­ably operate your system with your mouse and by using symbols, control elements, and widgets. Command lines, on the other hand, can be managed by entering commands using the keyboard; cor­re­spond­ing user in­ter­faces are normally named ‘shell’. With Linux systems, it can also be referred to as a ‘terminal’.

Server ad­min­is­tra­tion via command input is a bit more complex, but it is also very efficient since all system changes can be carried out centrally. In order to give you a small insight into the ca­pa­bil­i­ties of the Linux terminal, we’ve put a short list together of all the important Linux commands used for server ad­min­is­tra­tion: