Linux's Witness Ministry
The Personal Web Pages of Chris X. Edwards

Linux, GNU, and Freedom
A Discussion of Free Software

Objectives

Mine! I would like to:

...work as an expert in an area that I'm enthusiastic about.
I would therefore like to generate interest in free software.
I do that by EDUCATING...

Yours! You would like to:

...get the most out of your valuable time and computer resources.
The computer world changes faster than any field of endeavor.
The only way to pursue your goal is by constantly LEARNING...

Set the mood - features of "proprietary software"

Weak support
Dearth of technical information
Functional impossibilities
Unreliable performance and crashes
Unjustifiably high expense
Extortive abuses of monopolistic power
Inappropriate tools for the job

Introducing freedom as it relates to software

What is the Free Software Foundation? (www.fsf.org)
Answer: An organization started by Richard M. Stallman to promote and coordinate the creation, and distribution of free software.
What is the GNU Project? (www.gnu.org)
Answer: A project started by the Free Software Foundation to create full-featured, completely free clone of the Unix operating system that was not a real Unix - GNU's Not Unix.
What is Copyleft?
Answer: An intellectual property concept designed to protect people from having any rights or freedoms abridged or restricted with relation to a work in the public domain.
What is the General Public License?
Answer: An explicit license agreement mechanism that legally establishes the ideal of the Copyleft concept.
What is the difference between "free" and "open-source" software?
Answer: Free software under the GPL grants full rights to everyone regardless of circumstances as long as the rights of others are not compromised. Open-source software, on the other hand, is merely, as the name implies, software whose source code is available for review. With open-source software, you may or may not have further rights to, for example, modify the code or reuse it. With GPL software, you do.
What is the Open Source Initative (www.opensource.org)
Answer: This is an organization that certifies software that complies with some of the components of free software, namely that the source code is open and freely available. It exists to provide encouragement to commercial software enterprises to grant as much freedom as possible to the users of their software.
What is the difference between "commercial" and "proprietary" software?
Answer: Commercial software can be free - it is just tied to commercial activities such as support licenses or installation fees or somesuch. Proprietary software has fundamental rights witheld from the users. Proprietary doesn't necessarily mean commercial (though it usually is) and commercial doesn't necessarily mean proprietary (though that too is usually true.)
Who writes this stuff? Where does it come from?
Answer: College students, system administrators, professional programmers, even commercial software vendors occaisonally - basically anyone who's ever had a software itch that they could only scratch by writing their own code is a potential free software contributer.
Why should we care about this?
Answer: As Richard Stallman says, "Free software makes you free." By removing the artificial inhibitions to arriving at the optimal solution, that solution can be realistically aimed for.

Introducing GNU/Linux

What is Linux? (How does one pronounce it?)
Answer: Linus Torvalds, Linux's maintainer and original author, does not pronounce it as Line-Icks. He says it much closer to Lynne-Ucks as in LINear and flUX. Linux is technically speaking an operating system kernel. Generally, Linux has come to be associated with the entire phenomenon of open source and free software. Linus wrote it in 1991 as a student at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He submitted it for peer review using the Internet and through excellent user and co-developer feedback was able to build Linux into a world-class OS.
What is an "operating system kernel"? (BSD, Hurd)
Answer: Basically, the OS kernel serves the same function as a manager in a company - allocate resources and assign tasks.
What are some features of the Linux OS Kernel?
Answer: It is a true 32 bit, multi-tasking, threaded kernel. It supports a huge array of hardware, protocols, filesystems and configurations.
What hardware architecture does GNU/Linux run on?
Answer: Theoretically, anything that can compile a C program has a good shot at being able to run a GNU/Linux system. Practically, the Intel x86 architecture is best supported, including multiple processors, IA64 and other weird details. Other interesting ports include Sparc, Alpha, m68k (Macs), SGI MIPS, Transmeta Crusoe, HP9000/300, IBM RS/6000, and even the Palm Pilot!
What is a "distribution"?
Answer: A distribution (aka distro) is a collection of programs that collectively form a viable and useful system. The Linux OS kernel is a relatively small percent of a typical Linux distribution (maybe 3%). Approximately %25 of a normal distribution's software are GNU project utilities and applications. The rest are various programs that the distribution's maintainers thought appropriate or useful.
How many GNU/Linux distributions are there?
Answer - Well over 100! (Slackware, Red Hat, SuSE, Debian, Corel, Caldera, Mandrake, Storm, Stallion, TurboLinux....)
What are the differences between them?
Answer - Language support, size, installation facilities, included software.
Who can I get to support this?
Answer: This is a major competitive aspect among various distributions. Each major distribution offers some sort of support service. These support packages vary widely.
Why are there sometimes different versions of the same distribution?
Answer: Some vendors produce different packages of their main distribution. Red Hat, for example, has a $30 package, an $80 package and a $150 package. Besides the support arrangements, there is little functional distinction.
How big is a distro?
Answer: It depends. Anywhere from 1.4MB (Hal91) to 6GB (Full SuSE).

Got Linux?

Ok, it's free as in freedom, so how much does it cost?
Where does one obtain GNU/Linux?

Functionality

What other kinds of software are freed by the GPL? How much exists?
Answer: Heaps of software! WAY, WAY too much for any single person to even know about. A good place to find out about the incredible deployment of free software is to search www.freshmeat.net.
Can GNU/Linux run my ______? <----- The #1 question!
Answer: Maybe. Consider DOSEMU, Wine, VMWare or a native application.
Is GNU/Linux just like the ______ OS in these ways: ________?
Answer: Maybe. Some developers are creating programs fast and furious that attempt to mimick the behavior and "feel" of popular proprietary OS interfaces (crashes to crashes, bugs to bugs... :-).
Just because your software can't deal with GNU/Linux doesn't mean that GNU software can't deal with your OS! GNU software at any level of deployment can be a powerfully effective solution.
Can a GNU/Linux system read my legacy _____ formated files?
Gooooood chance of it. Linux deals with over 20 file systems (msdos, VFAT, iso9660, HPFS, NTFS, ext2 ......)
Can GNU/Linux interoperate with a heterogeneous network of other OSes?
Gooooood chance of it. Linux supports many network protocols (TCP/IP, SMB, IPX, Appletalk .....)
What hardware works with GNU/Linux?
If the hardware is over 6 months old and was not obscure (the more popular, the better), then there is a good chance that GNU/Linux deals with it fine. Be warned that brand-new whiz-bang gadgetry is seldom supported right away - volunteers have to figure the device out and write their own drivers!
I heard that GNU/Linux will run well on an old 486. Is this true?
Sure. I have a nice Internet server for my LAN on a 486-33 with 8MB ram. This box has no video, removable media or input devices. Just two ethernet cards. Works great. BUT, if you expect to get such a humble machine to be a multimedia powerhouse, you'll be rather disappointed. Such a machine can run a GUI, but clumsy applications such as Netscape are a bit much for such a system.

A sampling of GNU/Linux pros and cons

+ The Linux kernel has especially powerful network features.
- The presumtion of a full time Internet connection can be tiresome.

+ GNU/Linux is a robust multi-user system.
- Many stand-alone PC users consider security features a nuisance.

+ GNU/Linux inherits thousands of traditional Unix programs.
- Some extremely popular proprietary office software is not ported to Linux and may never be.

+ GNU/Linux has excellent support for filesystems and network protocols of other operating systems and integrates easily.
- All limitations of the guest protocol are obviously inherited.

+ Older hardware is used to maximum possible advantage.
- Brand new hardware is seldom supported since volunteers must figure out how to write drivers for everything - and then do it.

+ The Unix style of system is extremely powerful.
- Users can very quickly and powerfully get themselves into trouble.

+ GNU software has a huge following of enthusiasts on-line ready to help.
- GNU software has a less established commercial support structure.

+ Gigabytes of documentation freely available. (Feel free to write some!)
- Finding the answers to specific questions is often a treasure hunt.

+ GNU/Linux has excellent foreign language and locale support.
- If you're American, USA-centric software may seem like a good idea.

+ Options, options, options, infinite customization potential.
- Inconsistent user interface which can be a chore to fine tune.

+ Many ways to "skin a cat". (Such as: cat foo, cat <foo, cat foo | cat).
- Replication of packages and options can be overwhelming.

+ Open source software tends to see more frequent updates than closed.
- Staying current and on top of things becomes a challenge.

+ GNU is very open - it enjoys intense peer review.
- Crackers can find weaknesses. (+ And admins can reenforce them!)

+ GNU software is costless.
- It is difficult to become a multi-billionaire from GNU software.

+ GNU/Linux is reliable and stable.
- Admins forget to set-up startup scripts properly. (+ They never reboot!)

+ GNU software is proof against obsolesence. You can recompile from source anytime, anywhere without fear of future restrictions.
- The entire concept of software as we know it could be obsolete soon.

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Chris X. Edwards ~ March 2000

Linux's Witness Ministry The Personal Web Pages of Chris X. Edwards

Linux, GNU, and Freedom A Discussion of Free Software