Mastering the Lingo


Remember that part in Airplane! when the two guys are talking and the stewardess doesn't understand them? Then the Mom from "Leave It to Beaver" stands up and says, "Stewardess, I speak Jive." I've got your June Cleaver right here. I would never name my son Beaver Cleaver, but I can help out with the Linux Jive. Figure 1.1 shows the relationship of the terms. You can find more definitions in the Glossary, but here are a few of the most common terms.

Figure 1.1. Everyone likes charts. Here is a breakdown of the relationship of some Linux lingo from a user's point of view.


Linux

Linux is commonly used as a term for the whole operating system, for the desktop, for the community, for lots of things. Linux is actually just the kernel. "What's the kernel?" you are asking. Don't think about corn. There's no corn involved. You can think of the kernel as the engine of your operating system. The kernel is the "Little Engine That Could" that runs underneath it all. The Linux kernel is responsible for security, allocation of resources, and the lowest-level hardware interfaces. The name Linux comes from the UNIX operating system and a man from Finland, Linus Torvalds. There are lots of interesting stories about the name Linux, but none of them will help you get online or check your e-mail, so I will leave that interesting history for you to look up online.

If people want to argue over whether it is proper to use the term Linux to mean the whole operating system, they might want to find more interesting things to do with their lives. Language is flexible, and Linux has become the common term for an operating system based on the Linux kernel.

Distribution (Distro)

Distribution: The act of dispersing or the condition of being dispersed; diffusion.

www.dictionary.com

The regular definition of distribution also applies to a Linux distribution. There is no central corporation behind Linux to put everything together for us. Open source software programs are often developed independently from one another. I know I don't want to sit at my computer gathering and installing every single program that I will need on my computer. You probably don't want to do that, either. Thus, we have the distribution, or distro. A Linux distribution includes the Linux kernel, the X Window System, an installer, and a collection of programs all put together for you on a neat little CD (or multiple CDs), to use as an operating system. There are more distributions than . . . here's where I get stuck trying to find the right cliché for the situation. There are more distributions than stars in the sky? Rats in the sewers? Lint in my dryer? More distributions than you can shake a monkey at? Anyway, there are lots of distributions.

For-profit companies, such as Mandrake and Red Hat, make some distributions; others, such as Debian and Gentoo, are part of a community effort. Organizations and individuals create even more distributions. Each of the distros has its merits, its oddities, its champions, and its detractors.

X

X is the name of the specification for windowing operations in Linux; it's also called the X Window System. X is what runs your graphical user interface (GUI). X can run on many operating systems besides Linux. Many distributions have used the XFree86 program for years. Newer distributions are also starting to use a new offshoot of XFree86, X.org. Which version of X you have will usually not matter to you while performing everyday tasks. You will need to know only what version of X you are running if you run into an issue that requires you to start the X Window System from the command line or to edit your configuration file.

Desktop Environment

The next important term is desktop environment. This is a place where we fork off from the structure you are used to in Windows or Mac OS. One of the cool things about Linux is that you always have choices. Your desktop environment is the GUI that you will be looking at. It's all the eye candy. Unlike in other operating systems, you can choose the desktop environment in Linux. You can choose to have a simple or complex desktop environment. Whereas the two main environments, KDE and GNOME, will look familiar to you because they're similar to what you are used to, many other desktop environments will give you a more innovative experience.

Window Manager

The window manager is just what it says it is: It controls those windows that programs pop up in. I don't need to tell you this. You're smart. You can guess and figure out this stuff. The reason you even need to know this term is that you also can choose which window manager to use in Linux. Until you are ready to experiment more, it's best to stick with the window manager that came with your desktop environment.

Widget Set

The widget set is the set of check boxes, buttons, scrollbars, menus, and other things that make up the controls of any window that you are in. Let me give you the strict, technical definition: It's the stuff you can click on to make things do stuff. Again, you have a choice of which widget set to use. You can change from the default that comes with your desktop environment, or you can play around with other themes. Now you know a new term, and now you're smarter. We all feel better about that.

Spoofkata

Okay, I made up spoofkata, but I can define my made-up word. You might be a messy person or a neat person. The messy people have a layer of random junk, food, spilled beverages, sticky notes, or papers on their desks. That's spoofkata. You might have trouble finding your mouse on your desk some days. You might have to cut through the sticky notes on the edges of your monitor like you are chopping out a trail in the Amazon jungle, and I don't mean the online Amazon. I usually have only a medium level of spoofkata, consisting of an empty glass and lots of burned CDs. When using Linux, please sweep the spoofkata aside, for optimum results.

Programs

You know what programs are. Hey, I put the term in the cool little diagram that I wanted to make, so it deserved to get a heading all its own.

You

This is a carbon-based life form with opposable thumbs (though I suppose that's not required), at least a modicum of logical reasoning ability to figure out problems that come up, and a damned fine judge of buying books. You bought this, so you must be smart.



Linux Desktop(c) Garage
Linux(R) Desktop Garage
ISBN: 0131494198
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 141

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