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diff --git a/slackbook/html/introduction.html b/slackbook/html/introduction.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..70bc4216 --- /dev/null +++ b/slackbook/html/introduction.html @@ -0,0 +1,122 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org" /> +<title>An Introduction to Slackware Linux</title> +<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7" /> +<link rel="HOME" title="Slackware Linux Essentials" href="index.html" /> +<link rel="PREVIOUS" title="Preface" href="book-preface.html" /> +<link rel="NEXT" title="What is Slackware?" href="introduction-slackware.html" /> +<link rel="STYLESHEET" type="text/css" href="docbook.css" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> +</head> +<body class="CHAPTER" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" +alink="#0000FF"> +<div class="NAVHEADER"> +<table summary="Header navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" +cellspacing="0"> +<tr> +<th colspan="3" align="center">Slackware Linux Essentials</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td width="10%" align="left" valign="bottom"><a href="book-preface.html" +accesskey="P">Prev</a></td> +<td width="80%" align="center" valign="bottom"></td> +<td width="10%" align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="introduction-slackware.html" +accesskey="N">Next</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" /> +</div> + +<div class="CHAPTER"> +<h1><a id="INTRODUCTION" name="INTRODUCTION"></a>Chapter 1 An Introduction to Slackware +Linux</h1> + +<div class="TOC"> +<dl> +<dt><b>Table of Contents</b></dt> + +<dt>1.1 <a href="introduction.html#INTRODUCTION-LINUX">What is Linux?</a></dt> + +<dt>1.2 <a href="introduction-slackware.html">What is Slackware?</a></dt> + +<dt>1.3 <a href="introduction-opensource.html">Open Source and Free Software</a></dt> +</dl> +</div> + +<div class="SECT1"> +<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="INTRODUCTION-LINUX" name="INTRODUCTION-LINUX">1.1 What is +Linux?</a></h1> + +<p>Linus Torvalds started Linux, an operating system kernel, as a personal project in +1991. He started the project because he wanted to run a Unix-based operating system +without spending a lot of money. In addition, he wanted to learn the ins and outs of the +386 processor. Linux was released free of charge to the public so that anyone could study +it and make improvements under the General Public License. (See <a +href="introduction-opensource.html">Section 1.3</a> and <a href="gpl.html">Appendix A</a> +for an explanation of the license.) Today, Linux has grown into a major player in the +operating system market. It has been ported to run on a variety of system architectures, +including HP/Compaq's Alpha, Sun's SPARC and UltraSPARC, and Motorola's PowerPC chips +(through Apple Macintosh and IBM RS/6000 computers.) Hundreds, if not thousands, of +programmers all over the world now develop Linux. It runs programs like Sendmail, Apache, +and BIND, which are very popular software used to run Internet servers. It's important to +remember that the term “Linux” really refers to the kernel - the core of the +operating system. This core is responsible for controlling your computer's processor, +memory, hard drives, and peripherals. That's all Linux really does: It controls the +operations of your computer and makes sure that all of its programs behave. Various +companies and individuals bundle the kernel and various programs together to make an +operating system. We call each bundle a Linux distribution.</p> + +<div class="SECT2"> +<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="INTRODUCTION-LINUX-GNU" name="INTRODUCTION-LINUX-GNU">1.1.1 A +Word on GNU</a></h2> + +<p>The Linux kernel project began as a solo endeavor by Linus Torvalds in 1991, but as +Isaac Newton once said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders +of giants.” When Linus Torvalds began the kernel the Free Software Foundation had +already established the idea of collaborative software. They entitled their effort GNU, a +recursive acronym that means simply “GNU's Not Unix”. GNU software ran atop +the Linux kernel from day 1. Their compiler <tt class="COMMAND">gcc</tt> was used to +compile the kernel. Today many GNU tools from <tt class="COMMAND">gcc</tt> to <tt +class="COMMAND">gnutar</tt> are still at the basis of every major Linux distribution. For +this reason many of the Free Software Foundation's proponents fervently state that their +work should be given the same credit as the Linux kernel. They strongly suggest that all +Linux distributions should refer to themselves as GNU/Linux distributions.</p> + +<p>This is the topic of many flamewars, surpassed only by the ancient vi versus emacs +holy war. The purpose of this book is not to fan the fires of this heated discussion, but +rather to clarify the terminology for neophytes. When one sees GNU/Linux it means a Linux +distribution. When one sees Linux they can either be referring to the kernel, or to a +distribution. It can be rather confusing. Typically the term GNU/Linux isn't used because +it's a mouth full.</p> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="NAVFOOTER"> +<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" /> +<table summary="Footer navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" +cellspacing="0"> +<tr> +<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><a href="book-preface.html" +accesskey="P">Prev</a></td> +<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="index.html" +accesskey="H">Home</a></td> +<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top"><a href="introduction-slackware.html" +accesskey="N">Next</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">Preface</td> +<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"> </td> +<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">What is Slackware?</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> +</body> +</html> + |