Who is credited with inventing the linux kernel

Since it was quite difficult to get software in Finland, he wrote his own assembler and editor for the computer. He also developed a few games, including a Pac-Man clone called Cool Man. Torvalds learned about UNIX for the first time in In the initial phase of development, Torvalds wanted to name his invention Freax, which is an amalgamation of Free, Freak, and the letter X as an allusion to Unix.

He even stored the files under the name Freax for about six months. Later, however, Torvalds consented to this name. This forced Torvalds to step in. He clamped down on these individuals with help from Linux International and was granted the trademark of Linux.

The protection of the trademark was later handled by the non-profit Linux Mark Institute. In , Torvalds established certain rules for the assignment of the licenses. Anyone who offers products or services with the name Linux has to purchase the license. It has also been adopted as the mascot of the Linux kernel. The logo of the operating system, a plump penguin, is an open-source image, and no one owns it. It was designed by Larry Ewing in and further refined by Linus Torvalds.

In , Torvalds was teaching basic computer lessons at the University of Helsinki. He instructed his students to send him an email as a test yes, composing email was a big deal then. One of his students named Tove Monni responded with an email asking for a date. Fast forward to a couple of years later, they got married and have three daughters. The reboot system call of the Linux kernel accepts their dates of birth entered in hexadecimal as magic values.

Jobs wanted him to work at Apple and drop the on-going Linux project. Torvalds turned down the offer and continued to work on Linux. The Linux OS was used by Spacewatch and many other asteroid surveys for their data collection and analysis. To honor Linus for this creation, the asteroid Torvalds was named after him in In , an asteroid moon Linus was named after him, which orbits a large M-type asteroid 22 Kalliope.

The name was also meant to honor the Peanuts comic strip character, Linus van Pelt. He accepted and three years later the first of their three daughters was born. He has numerous awards to his name, including an asteroid named Torvalds.

Linux is a trademark registered with Linus Torvalds. Della Croce, Jr. Torvalds sued him in return and in , the case was settled. Linus refused the lucrative offer and continued to work on the Linux kernel. Most people know Linus Torvalds for creating the Linux kernel. But he also created Git , a version control system that is extensively used in software development worldwide.

Till , then proprietary service BitKeeper was used for Linux kernel development. When Bitkeeper shut down its free service, Linus Torvalds created Git on his own because none of the other version control systems met his needs. Though Linus works full time on the Linux kernel, he hardly writes any code for it anymore.

In fact, most of the code in the Linux kernel is by contributors from around the world. He ensures that things go fine at each release with the help of kernel maintainers. He has been very vocal about it. A few years ago, Linus told that he found Debian difficult to install. He is known to be using Fedora on his main workstation. Linus Torvalds loves scuba diving. He even created Subsurface , a dive logging tool for scuba divers.

Torvalds is known for using mild expletives on the Linux kernel mailing list. This has been criticized by some in the industry. In , Torvalds took a break from Linux kernel development to improve his behavior. This was done just before he signed the controversial code of conduct for Linux kernel developers. And when he does, he prefers to sit down and be interviewed by the host. In this article, you will learn what Linux is, where Linux came from, what a Linux distribution is and some of the reasons that Linux is favored for certain applications and projects over other operating systems.

First and foremost, Linux is an operating system. An operating system is simply a collection of software that manages hardware resources and provides an environment where applications can run. The operating system allows applications to store information, send documents to printers, interact with users and other things.

Linux is also a kernel. However, it can refer to just the Linux kernel as well. The Linux kernel is the core or the heart of the operating system. However, to have a useful operating system, you need other components in addition to the kernel.

These components can include system libraries, graphical user interfaces, email utilities, web browsers and other programs. Linus Torvalds created Linux when he was a student at the University of Helsinki studying computer science.

Driven by the desire to run a UNIX-like operating system on his personal computer, he set out to create Linux. Linus and over developers worked on Linux over the next couple of years and in March of , version 1.

Linux is open source software. This means that anyone can use, copy, study and change the software in any way they chose so long as the source code is openly shared with others. To date, thousands of people have made improvements to Linux. With Linux being free and open source software, it has led to the rise of Linux distributions. In every case, the source code is free, but in some cases, the distribution is not free — the binaries, the compiled code is not free.

For example, you have to pay a license in order to run Red Hat Enterprise Linux. However, Red Hat releases their source code for anyone to download.