Section 1.13. Linux Features

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1.13. Linux Features

Here is a recap of the features that Linux provides:

• It allows many users to access a computer system at the same time.

• It supports the creation, modification, and destruction of programs, processes, and files.

• It provides a directory hierarchy that gives a location to processes and files.

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• It shares CPUs, memory, and disk space in a fair and efficient manner between competing processes.

• It allows processes and peripherals to talk to each other, even if they're on different machines.

• It comes complete with a large number of standard utilities.

• There are plenty of high-quality, commercially available software packages available for most versions.

• It allows programmers to easily access operating features via a well-defined set of system calls, which are analogous to library functions.

• It is a standard, portable, open source operating system, and thus is available on a wide variety of platforms.

Because it provides all the features expected of a modern operating system, doing it in a way that is well documented, accessible, and adheres to a defined standard, and because its implementation is open source and freely available, Linux has made, and will continue to make, its mark on modern operating system design.

Throughout this book references to web sites are listed for various specific topics relevant to the topic at hand. In addition to all future specific references, there are a number of useful web sites containing a great deal of valuable information about Linux (Figure 1-6).

Figure 1-6. Useful Linux web sites.

http://www.kernel.org/	The Linux Kernel Archives
http://www.li.org/	Linux International
http://www.linux.org/	The Linux Home Page at Linux Online
http://www.linuxhq.com/	Linux HeadQuarters
http://www.linuxjournal.com/	Linux Journal
http://www.tldp.org/	The Linux Documentation Project