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+<title>An Introduction to Slackware Linux</title>
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+<table summary="Header navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0"
+cellspacing="0">
+<tr>
+<th colspan="3" align="center">Slackware Linux Essentials</th>
+</tr>
+
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+<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 &#8220;Linux&#8221; 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, &#8220;If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders
+of giants.&#8221; 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 &#8220;GNU's Not Unix&#8221;. 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">&nbsp;</td>
+<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">What is Slackware?</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+