Linux

Linux is catching on fast, but perhaps not fast enough. Those of us who are purely Windows or Mac users sometimes get lost when a conversation involves Linux fans. Now you can at least try and hold your own end up in such situations…

BASH: The Bourne-Again Shell is the default shell (command line interface) in most Linux distributions.

Console: When you log into Linux in text mode (command line) from the X Window System, you are said to be in the console.

Daemon: A program that runs actively in the background.

GNOME: The GNU Network Object Model Environment is a Windows-style desktop window manager.

GNU: A recursive acronym, GNU stands for “GNU’s Not Unix”. It is a project that was launched in 1984 to develop free Unix-like OSes.

GPL: The GNU ‘General Public License’ is a licensing that requires software coders to make the source code (for programs they create) available freely, in order to qualify for the certification. The Linux kernel and most of the bundled applications in Linux have this license.

KDE: A window manager similar to GNOME.

Man: Short for ‘manual’, it is the user manual that accompanies most GPL software.

Open Source: Software that distributes its source codes openly, such as all software under the GPL.

Usage: “I reinstalled the Linux kernel the other day. Something happened to GNOME and KDE though, I rebooted and all I got was the BASH prompt! I looked at all the man pages available online, but nothing! Sometimes I feel Open Source isn’t all it’s cracked up to be!”

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