Before you looms one of the most complex and utterly intimidating systems ever written. Linux, the free operating system for the 80386 and 80486. Linux, the great accomplishment of the free software world. Linux -- the name is enough to strike terror into the hearts of men (and, of course, women, and perhaps small animals as well). Not only is it difficult to pronounce, it's almost impossible to comprehend.

Linux was produced by a mishmash team of UNIX gurus, hackers, and the occasional loon. The system itself reflects this complex heritage. The jungle is deep and dangerous. You are entering the realm of black magic and deep wizardry, of voodoo programming and subtle obfuscation...

Preface, "The Linux Bible"

Shades of "You are not expected to understand this code". Actually, Linux is actually reasonably easy to pronounce. The "i" is short, and the first syllable is stressed (LIH-nucks). After that, however, things do tend to get a bit hairy.

Linux is the brain-child of Linus Torvalds (Helsinki University, Finland). Having become dissatisfied with Minix, he started hacking up his own kernel. Minix is not freely redistributable, and is somewhat limited by comparison with full UNIX. Apparently, however, Linus' problems with Minix had less to do with any political or technical reasons than with a yearning for "real code" to hack. Consider this early posting to comp.os.minix:

Do you pine for the nice days of Minix-1.1, when men were men and wrote their own device drivers? Are you without a project and just dying to cut your teeth on a OS you can try to modify for your needs? Are you finding it frustrating when everything works on Minix? No more all-nighters to get a nifty program working? Then this post might be just for you.

Frustrated hackers responded, and started helping out. Others joined in, and the project quickly gained momentum (and code :-). There are already more than 150,000 readers of the Linux newsgroup, and the movement is still gaining speed.

Not surprisingly, there is a strong "hacker" flavor pervading Linux and its add-ons. If you're looking for the kind of cushy, reliable operating system promised by the commercial vendors, Linux may not be for you. (Whether the commercial vendors make good on the promise is, of course, another question.)

If, on the other hand, you're eager to swap jumpers, hack code, and boogie, Linux may be exactly what you want. In a sense, Linux is a step back to the old days of UNIX, before there were so many Fine Manuals to Read. Newbies were advised to "look in the source code" for definitive answers.

The current situation differs in a few respects, however. The source code is totally free to be examined, modified, and exchanged. No licensing fees, no institutional affiliations, and no (law-)suits. Just rampant, chaotic, exhilarating anarchy, moderated only by the Free Software Foundation's General Public License.

By inviting masses of random hackers to come and play, Linus Torvalds has unleashed a frenzy of creative interchange. Predictably, not everything is well-tested or even well-written. On the other hand, everyone seems to be having a good time, and you may, too...

Getting It

There are three major FTP archives for Linux material, along with a number of mirror sites. Linux applications can also be found on FTP archives around the net. Finally, there are several economical distributions of Linux on CD-ROM. Let's start with the major sites.

The principal Linux archive is located in ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/OS/Linux/. It is maintained by Linus Torvalds himself, and is therefore quite definitive. On the other hand, FTP users outside of Finland should try to use closer sites, lest this site (and its international connections) get overloaded.

It is probably worthwhile, however, to pick up the README file. This provides valuable contact information, a few notes from Linus, and pointers to Linux sites around the world.

The TSX-11 Linux archive is located in ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux. It contains binaries, distributions, documentation, packaged programs, source code, etc. The advertisements directory contains pointers to commercial distributions, magazines, and ancillary products.

The Sunsite archive, famous for its Sun-related holdings, also contains a great deal of Linux-related material. To get started, FTP to ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs, then get copies of INFO-SHEET and LSM.z.

Further Reading

The comp.os.linux USENET group is very active; check it out for up-to-date announcements, news, and gossip. Otherwise, there isn't a lot of published material on Linux. The Linux Journal (+1 206 524-8338, linux@fylz.com, which covers Linux-related topics in a monthly magazine format, seems to be a good bet.

"The Linux Bible: The GNU Testament" (Yggdrasil Computing, Inc.; +1 408 261-6630; info@yggdrasil.com is another. It contains more than 750 pages of Linux arcana, hints, and tips. No serious Linux user should be without it.