Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

By Kenny Williams
One of my best friends is a network developer
in Atlanta. About two years ago he started speaking praise of a new operating
system called Linux (“LYNN-ucks�). He prophesized that this operating system
was going to make Mr. Gates re-think the way he does business. It seems as if
Charlie knew what he was talking about. Today his prophecy is now fact. Linux
is making great strides into the Microsoft dominated world.
Linux is a free
UNIX clone written from scratch by Linus Torvalds and a team of programmers
over the Internet. It contains all of the features that you would expect in
any Operating System. Linux has developed a reputation of being both faster
and more reliable than Windows. Until recently, Linux was only popular among
high-end computer nerds. However, today there are over 20 million users and
Linux now comes as a standard operating system in many new computers.
Linux has many features that make it desirable.
First and foremost, Linux is free. Linux also offers true multitasking and
virtual memory. Linux’s TCP/IP drivers are the fastest available, making it
the best operating system web servers. The multi-user capabilities of Linux
are also unmatched. Hundreds of people can use one Linux computer over a network,
the Internet, or on laptops/computers (or terminals connected to the serial
ports of those computers) at the same time. Linux runs fully in protected mode
(unlike Windows) and supports fully fledged 32-bit and 64-bit multitasking.

Linux comes in a few different flavors, but almost
all of them use a system that looks and feels like Windows. This allows for
an easy transition from windows. A transition from Windows to Linux would require
a little planning and practice. The transition would be similar to switching
from Macintosh to Windows without the software conflicts.
I am not recommending every one go out and switch
operating systems on their main computer. However, if you have a second computer
sitting around you may want to consider trying Linux. If you would like to find
out more about Linux visit www.screaming-penguin.com.
This site can get a little technical at times, but it has great information
and links to many other Linux oriented sites.
I have had a few requests to put together a computer
club. If you are interested in finding out more about the club, email me with
a request. We have also come close to filling all the spots for the Digital
Imaging class. If you are interested and have not emailed me with a request
for information, please do so ASAP. I will be emailing the class detail to everyone
that has requested them this week.
My email address is observernews@usa.net.