CHAPTER 2

Background Information and Resources

IN THIS CHAPTER

What    Is  Linux?

Why Use Linux?

What    Is  Ubuntu?

Ubuntu  for Business

Ubuntu  in  Your    Home

Getting the Most    from    Ubuntu  and Linux   Documentation

Ubuntu  Developers  and Documentation

Websites    and Search  Engines

Mailing Lists

Internet    Relay   Chat

As with any new thing, it’s worthwhile finding out a bit about its history.

Ubuntu is no different, and in this chapter you learn a little more about where
Linux and Ubuntu came from. In addition, this chapter gives you resources to
help you learn more on your own.

What Is Linux?

Linux is the core, or kernel, of a free operating system first developed and
released to the world by Linus Benedict Torvalds in 1991. Torvalds, then a
graduate student at the University of Helsinki, Finland, is now a Fellow at the
Linux Foundation (www.linuxfoundation.org). He is an engineer and
previously worked for the CPU design and fabrication company Transmeta,
Inc., before leaving in 2003 to work for Open Source Development Labs
(ODSL), a consortium created by many high-tech companies to support Linux