INTRODUCTION TO

LINUX
Operating Systems
• Every computer has two fundamental types of components – Hardware and Software.
• Hardware consists of the physical components inside a computer that are electrical in nature;
they contain a series of circuits that manipulate the flow of information.
• A computer can contain many pieces of hardware including the following:

• A processor (also known as the central processing unit or CPU), which computes
information
• Physical memory (also known as random access memory, or RAM), which stores
information needed by the processor
• Hard disk and solid-state disk drives, which store most of the information that you use.
• CD/DVD drives, which read and write information to and from CD/DVD discs.
• Flash memory card readers, which read and write information to and from removable
memory cards, such as Secure Digital (SD) cards
Operating Systems
• Sound cards, which provide audio to external speakers
• Video cards, which display results to the display screen
• Network adapter cards, which provide access to wired and wireless (Wi-Fi or Bluetooth)
networks
• Ports (such as USB, eSATA, GPIO, and Thunderbolt), which provide access to external devices
including keyboards, mice, printers, and storage devices
• Mainboards (also known as motherboards), which provide the circuitry (also known as a bus) for
interconnecting all other components
Operating Systems
• Software, on the other hand, refers to the sets of instructions or programs that allow the hardware
components to manipulate data (or files).
• Programs and data are usually stored on hardware media, such as hard disks or solid-state disks,
although they can also be stored on removable media or even embedded in computer chips.
• These programs are loaded into parts of your computer hardware (such as your computer’s
memory and processor) when you first turn on your computer and when you start additional
software, such as word processors or Internet browsers.
• After a program is executed on your computer’s hardware, that program is referred to as a
process.
• There are two types of programs:
• Applications, includes those programs designed for a specific use and with which you
commonly interact, such as word processors, computer games, graphical manipulation
programs, and computer system utilities.
• Operating system (OS) software, consists of a set of software components that control the
hardware of your computer
Operating Systems
◦ Turning on a computer loads the operating system into
computer hardware, which then loads and centrally
controls all other application software in the background.
◦ The user (the person using the computer) is free to
interact with the applications.
Operating Systems
• Each device driver tells the operating system how to use that a hardware device.
• The operating system also provides a user interface, which is a program that accepts user
input indicating what to do, forwards this input to the operating system for completion, and, after
it is completed, gives the results back to the user.
• The user interface can be a command-line prompt, in which the user types commands, or it can
be a graphical user interface (GUI), which consists of menus, dialog boxes, and symbols
(known as icons) that the user can interact with via the keyboard or the mouse.
• Finally, operating systems offer system services, which are applications that handle system-
related tasks, such as printing, scheduling programs, and network access.
• These system services determine most of the functionality in an operating system.
The Linux Operating System
• Linux is an operating system you use to run applications on a variety of hardware. Like other
operating systems, Linux loads into computer memory when you first power on your computer
and initializes (or activates) all the hardware components.
• Next, it loads the programs that display the interface.
• From within the interface, you can execute commands that tell the operating system and other
applications to perform specific tasks.
• Linux can manage thousands of tasks at the same time, including allowing multiple users to
access the system simultaneously. Hence, Linux is referred to as a multiuser and multitasking
operating system.
Versions of the Linux OS
• The core component of the Linux operating system is called the Linux kernel.
• The Linux kernel is developed continuously; thus, you should understand the version numbers
of the Linux kernel to decide which kernel version is appropriate for your needs.
• Because the Linux kernel is directly responsible for controlling the computer’s hardware (via
device drivers), you might sometimes need to upgrade the kernel after installing Linux to take
advantage of new technologies or to fix problems (also known as bugs) related to your
computer’s hardware.
Identifying Kernel Versions
• Linux kernel versions are made up of the following three components:
• Major number
• Minor number
• Revision number
• Let’s look at a sample Linux kernel version, 4.17.6. In this example, the major number is the
number 4, which indicates the major version of the Linux kernel. The minor number,
represented by the number 17, indicates the minor revision of the Linux kernel.
• Linux kernel changes occur frequently. Very minor changes are represented by a revision
number indicating the most current changes to the version of the particular kernel that is being
released.
• Modern Linux kernels that have a major, minor, and revision number are referred to as
production kernels; they have been thoroughly tested by several Linux developers and are
declared stable. Developmental kernels are not fully tested and imply instability; they are
tested for vulnerabilities by people who develop Linux software.
Identifying Kernel Versions
Identifying Kernel Versions
Licensing Linux
• Linux is freely developed and continuously improved by a large community of software
developers.
• For this reason, it is referred to as Open-Source Software (OSS).
• To understand OSS, you must first understand how source code is used to create programs.
Source code refers to the list of instructions that a software developer writes to make up a
program.
• After the software developer finishes writing the instructions, the source code is compiled into a
format (called machine language) that only your computer’s processor can understand and
execute.
• To edit an existing program, the software developer must edit the source code and then
recompile it.
• The fact that Linux is an OSS operating system means that software developers can read other
developers’ source code, modify that source code to make the software better, and redistribute
that source code to other developers who might improve it further
Licensing Linux
• Here are some implications of the OSS way of developing software:
• Software is developed rapidly through widespread collaboration.
• Software bugs (errors) are noted and promptly fixed.
• Software features evolve quickly, based on users’ needs.
• The perceived value of the software increases because it is based on usefulness
and not on price.
• Because the selling of software for profit discourages the free sharing of source code,
OSS generates revenue indirectly.
• Companies usually make money by selling computer hardware that runs OSS, by
selling customer support for OSS, or by creating closed source software programs
that run on open-source products such as Linux.
• The OSS development process is, of course, not the only way to develop and license
software. Table 1-2 summarizes the types of software you are likely to encounter.
Types of Open Source Licenses
• Linux adheres to the GNU General Public License (GPL), which was
developed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF).
• The GPL stipulates that the source code of any software published
under its license must be freely available.
• If someone modifies that source code, that person must also redistribute
that source code freely, thereby keeping the source code free forever.
• Another type of open-source license is the artistic license, which
ensures that the source code of the program is freely available yet
allows the original author of the source code some control over the
changes made to it.
• Thus, if one developer obtains and improves the source code of a
program, the original author has the right to reject those improvements.
Types of Closed Source Licenses
• Closed source software can be distributed for free or for a cost; either way,
the source code for the software is unavailable from the original developers.
Most of the closed source software is sold commercially and bears the label
of its manufacturer.
• Each of these software packages can contain a separate license that
restricts free distribution of the program and its source code in many ways.
• Another type of closed source software is freeware, in which the software
program is distributed free of charge, yet the source code is unavailable.
• Freeware might also contain licenses that restrict the distribution of source
code.
• Another approach to this style of closed source licensing is shareware,
which is distributed free of charge, yet after a certain number of hours of
usage or to gain certain features of the program, payment is required.
Linux Advantages
The following advantages are examined in the sections that follow:
• Risk reduction
• Meeting business needs
• Stability and security
• Flexibility for different hardware platforms
• Ease of customization
• Ease of obtaining support
• Cost reduction
Risk Reduction

◦ If a company chooses an OSS product and the original developers

became unavailable to maintain it, then the staff would be free to take
the source code, add features to it, and maintain it themselves provided
the source code was redistributed free of charge.
◦ Also, most OSS does not retire after a short period of time because
collaborative open-source development results in constant software
improvement geared to the needs of the users.
Meeting Business Needs

◦ If a company transitions to Linux, the staff will require little retraining,

and little of the custom software would need to be rewritten and
retested, hence saving money and minimizing impact on consumer
confidence.
◦ In addition, for companies that require a certain development
environment or need to support custom software developed in the past,
Linux provides support for most programming languages.
Stability and Security
◦ OSS is developed by people who have a use for it. This collaboration among
several developers with a common need speeds up software creation, and when
bugs in the software are found by these users, bug fixes are created quickly.
◦ Because Linux source code is freely available and publicly scrutinized, security
loopholes are quickly identified and fixed by several developers.
◦ In contrast, the source code for closed source operating systems is not released
to the public for scrutiny, which means customers must rely on the OS vendor to
provide security.
◦ A security breach unnoticed by the vendor can be exploited by the wrong person.
◦ Every day, new malicious software (destructive programs that exploit security
loopholes, such as viruses and malware) is unleashed on the Internet with the
goal of infiltrating closed source operating systems, such as Windows.
Flexibility for different hardware platforms
• Another important feature of Linux is that it can run on a variety of
computer hardware platforms frequently found in different companies.
Although Linux is most installed on the Intel x86/x64 platforms, it can
also be installed on other types of hardware, such as the POWER
platform from IBM that runs on many of the largest supercomputers in
the world.
• In addition to the platforms in the preceding list, Linux can be
customized to work on most hardware.
• Thousands of high-tech companies rely on embedded operating system
technology to drive their systems.
Ease of Customization

• The ease of controlling the inner workings of Linux is another attractive

feature, particularly for companies that need their operating system to
perform specialized functions. If you want to use Linux as a Web server,
you can simply recompile the Linux kernel to include only the support
needed to be a Web server. This results in a much smaller and faster
kernel.
Ease of Obtaining Support
• For those who are new to Linux, the Internet offers a world of Linux
documentation. Frequently asked questions (FAQs) and instructions
known as HOWTO documents are arranged by topic and are available
to anyone. HOWTO documents are maintained by their authors yet are
centrally collected by the Linux Documentation Project (LDP), which
has several hundred websites worldwide that allow you to search or
download HOWTO documents.
◦ Most Linux distributions provide professional telephone support
services for a modest fee, and many organizations give free support to
those who ask. The most common of these groups are referred to as
Linux User Groups (LUGs), and most large cities across the globe
have at least one.
Cost Reduction

• Linux is less expensive than other operating systems such as Windows

because there is no cost associated with acquiring the software. In
addition, a wealth of OSS can run on different hardware platforms
running Linux, and a large community of developers is available to
diagnose and fix bugs in a short period of time for free. While Linux and
the Linux source code are distributed freely, implementing Linux is not
cost free. Costs include purchasing the computer hardware necessary
for the computers hosting Linux, hiring people to install and maintain
Linux, and training users of Linux software.
 • Linux is based on the UNIX operating system developed by Ken
Thompson and Dennis Ritchie of AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1969 and
was developed through the efforts of many people as a result of the
hacker culture that formed in the 1980s.

The History
of Linux
Unix
◦ The UNIX operating system has roots running back to 1965, when the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), General Electric, and AT&T Bell Laboratories began
developing an operating system called Multiplexed Information and Computing
Service (MULTICS).
◦ MULTICS was a test project intended to reveal better ways of developing time-sharing
operating systems, in which the operating system regulates the amount of time each
process has to use the processor.
◦ However, Ken Thompson, who had worked on the MULTICS operating system,
continued to experiment with operating systems. In 1969, he developed an operating
system called UNIX that ran on the DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) PDP-7
computer.
Unix
• The UNIX operating system was rewritten in the C programming language, and by the
late-1970s, the UNIX operating system ran on different hardware platforms,
something that the computing world had never seen until that time. Hence, people
called UNIX a portable operating system.
• Throughout the 1980s, UNIX found its place primarily in large corporations that had
enough money to purchase the expensive computing equipment needed to run UNIX
(usually a DEC PDP-11, VAX, or Sun Microsystems computer)
• Today, UNIX still functions in that environment; many large companies employ
different flavors of UNIX for their heavy duty, mission-critical tasks, such as e-
commerce and database hosting.
• Common flavors of UNIX today include BSD, Hewlett-Packard’s HP-UX, IBM’s AIX,
as well as Apple’s macOS and iOS operating systems.
The Hacker Culture
• The term hacker refers to a person who attempts to expand his
knowledge of computing through experimentation. It should not be
confused with the term cracker, which refers to someone who illegally
uses computers for personal benefit or to cause damage.
• As more and more hackers worked together developing software, a
hacker culture developed with its own implied rules and conventions.
• The Hacker’s Dictionary, published by MIT in 1983, detailed the
terminology regarding computing and computing culture that had
appeared since the mid-1970s.
The Hacker Culture
• But it wasn’t until the publication of Eric S. Raymond’s The Cathedral and
the Bazaar, in 1999, that the larger world was introduced to this thriving
culture.
• Raymond, a hacker himself, described several aspects of the hacker
culture:
• Software users are treated as codevelopers.
• Software is developed primarily for peer recognition and not for money.
• The original author of a piece of software is regarded as the owner of that software
and coordinates the cooperative software development.
• The use of a particular piece of software determines its value, not its cost.
• Attacking the author of source code is never done. Instead, bug fixes are either made
or recommended.
• Developers must understand the implied rules of the hacker culture before being
accepted into it.
Linux
◦ A Finnish student named Linus Torvalds first developed Linux in 1991 when
he was experimenting with improving MINIX (Mini-UNIX, a small educational
version of UNIX developed by Andrew Tannenbaum) for the Intel x86
platform.
◦ The Intel x86 platform was fast becoming standard in homes and businesses
around the world and was a good choice for any free development at the
time. The key feature of the Linux operating system that attracted the
development efforts of the hacker culture was that Torvalds had published
Linux under the GNU Public License.
◦ This branding of Linux did not imply the fragmentation that UNIX experienced
in the late-1980s. All distributions of Linux had a common kernel and utilities.
Their blend of add-on packages simply made them look different on the
surface. Linux still derived its usefulness from collaborative development.
Linux Distributions
◦ A distribution of Linux is a collection or bundle of software containing the commonly
developed Linux operating system kernel and libraries, combined with add-on software
specific to a certain use. Well-known distributions of Linux include Red Hat, openSUSE,
Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, Linux Mint, and Arch.
◦ While Linux distributions use the same Linux kernel versions that are community
developed, they can modify those kernels in order to provide fixes and optimizations that
are specific to the distribution and used for long-term support. These are called
distribution kernels and list a patch version and distribution identifier following the
major, minor, and revision number.
◦ The core component of the GUI in Linux is referred to as X Windows. The original
implementation of X Windows on Linux was called XFree86 but has since been replaced
by X.org and Wayland. X.org is the latest implementation of X Windows based on the
original MIT X Windows project that was released as OSS in 2004, and Wayland is an
alternative to X.org that was designed to be easier to develop and maintain. In addition
to X Windows, several Linux window managers and desktop environments are available,
which together affect the look and feel of the Linux GUI.
Linux Distributions
◦ X Windows in combination with a window manager and desktop environment is referred to as a
GUI environment. The two main competing GUI environments available in Linux are the GNU
Network Object Model Environment (GNOME) and the K Desktop Environment (KDE).
◦ Although the differences between Linux distributions can help narrow the choice of Linux
distributions to install, one of the most profound reasons companies choose one distribution
over another is support for package managers.
◦ A package manager is a software system that installs and maintains software. It keeps track of
installed software, requires a standard format and documentation, and can manage and remove
software from a system by recording all relevant software information in a central software
database on your computer.
◦ One of the most widely supported package managers is the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM).
Most Linux software is available in RPM format, and the RPM is standard on many Linux
distributions that were originally derived from the Red Hat Linux distribution. The Debian
Package Manager (DPM) is also very common today; it offers the same advantages as the
RPM but for systems that were originally derived from the Debian Linux distribution.
Linux Distributions
◦ In addition to obtaining software in package manager format, you can
download software in tarball format. A tarball is a compressed archive
of files, like WinZip or RAR files, usually containing scripts that install
the software contents to the correct location on the system, or source
code that can be compiled into a working program and copied to the
system.
◦ Unfortunately, tarballs do not update a central software database and,
as a result, are very difficult to manage, upgrade, or remove from the
system. Traditionally, most Linux software was available in tarball
format, but package managers have since become the standard
method for installing software.
Common Uses of Linux
• Linux services can be used on a local computer workstation, or you can configure a service to
allow other computers to connect to it across a network. Services that are used on the local
computer are referred to as workstation services, whereas services that are made available for
other computers across a network are known as server services.
• Although you can use thousands of server and workstation services to customize Linux, Linux
configurations commonly used today include the following:
• Internet servers
• File and print servers
• Application servers
• Cloud systems
• Supercomputers
• Scientific workstations
• Office/personal workstations
• Cybersecurity workstations
• Mobile devices
Internet Services
◦ Linux hosts a wide range of Internet services, and it was from these services that Linux
gained its popularity in the 1990s. Linux contains hundreds of network services that
provide the framework for an Internet server; the most common of these services
include the following:
◦ Web services:
◦ DNS services
◦ DHCP services
◦ Time services
◦ Mail services
◦ FTP services
◦ Authentication services
◦ Certificate services
◦ Routing services
◦ Firewall and proxy services
◦ Advanced security services
Web Servers
• The community of servers that hosts information on the internet is
known as the World Wide Web (WWW), and a server hosting
information is known as a Web server.
• On a basic level, a Web server is just a server using Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP) to provide information to requesting Web browsers
running on client computers; however, Web servers can also process
programs known as Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts and
provide secure connections such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or
Transport Layer Security (TLS).
DNS Servers
• Each computer on a network needs a unique way to identify itself and to refer to
other computers. This is accomplished by assigning each computer a number
called an Internet Protocol (IP) address.
• An IP address is a long string of numbers that would be very hard for the typical
person to remember. Thus, IP addresses are often associated with more user-
friendly names. Servers are identified by names like www.linux.org. These are
known as Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs).
• Thus, before your browser can retrieve the requested information from the Web
server, it needs to know the IP address associated with the FQDN you typed into
the address bar. Your browser gets this information by contacting a server hosting
a Domain Name Space (DNS) service. The DNS server maintains a list of the
proper FQDN to IP mappings, and quickly returns the requested IP address to
your browser.
DHCP Servers
• Most computers on the Internet automatically receive an IP address and related
configuration from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server by
broadcasting an IP address request on the network. This is normally performed at
system startup and periodically afterward. Any Linux computer can function as a
DHCP server by adding and configuring the DHCP daemon, dhcpd.

Time Servers
• Most system components and network services require the correct date and time in
order to function properly. The BIOS (Basic Input Output System) on each computer
contains a system clock that stores the current date and time. Operating systems can
choose to use the time from this system clock or obtain time information from other
servers on the Internet or local network using the Network Time Protocol (NTP).
Mail Servers
• Email is distributed via a network of email servers, also known as Mail Transfer Agents
(MTAs). Many MTAs are freely available for Linux, including sendmail, postfix, and exim.
Before the user can access his email, it must be downloaded from an MTA; the service that
provides this is known as a Mail Delivery Agent (MDA). Linux also provides several of these
services; getmail and mpop are two of the most common. Finally, the user views her email
using a program known as a Mail User Agent (MUA). Common MUAs available for Linux
include mutt, Alpine, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Claws Mail.

FTP Servers
• The most common and efficient method for transferring files over the Internet is by using the
File Transfer Protocol (FTP). In addition, FTP is commonplace when transferring files on an
internal company network because it is very quick and robust. A user starts the FTP service on
her computer (now known as an FTP server) and allows users to connect; users on other
computers then connect to this server using an FTP client program and download any desired
files.
Authentication services
• To ensure that you do not need to enter your username and password on every network
computer that you access within your organization, you can configure your computer to log
into an authentication service on a network server using a protocol, such as Kerberos. After
you log into an authentication service using Kerberos successfully, you receive a Kerberos
ticket that your computer presents to all other computers within your organization to prove
your identity.

Certification Services
• Because public keys are transmitted across a network, a cracker could substitute her own public key in
place of another public key to hijack encrypted communications. To prevent this, nearly all public keys
are digitally signed by a trusted third-party computer called a Certification Authority (CA). Many
commercial CAs digitally sign certificates for a fee, including Verisign, GeoTrust, eTrust, and Comodo.
Alternatively, an organization can install its own CA to digitally sign public keys for use by its own
computers when communicating across networks and the Internet. Common CA software packages for
Linux include OpenSSL and OpenXPKI.
How encryption works
◦ Symmetric encryption algorithms are reversible; data can be decrypted by
reversing the algorithm using the same key that was used to encrypt it.
Unfortunately, it is difficult for two computers on a network to communicate this
key. As a result, network technologies typically use asymmetric encryption to
protect the data that travels across the network. Asymmetric encryption uses a pair
of keys that are uniquely generated on each system: a public key and a private
key.
◦ Say, for example, that you want to send an encrypted message from your computer
(host A) to another computer (host B). Your computer would first obtain the public
key from host B and use it to encrypt the message. Next, your computer will send
the encrypted message across the network to host B, at which point host B uses its
private key to decrypt the message. Because host B is the only computer on the
network with the private key that matches the public key you used to encrypt the
message, host B is the only computer on the network that can decrypt the message.
Routing Services
• Routing is a core service that is necessary for the Internet to function. The Internet is
merely a large network of interconnected networks; in other words, it connects company
networks, home networks, and institutional networks so that they can communicate with
each other. A router is a computer or a special hardware device that provides this
interconnection; it contains information regarding the structure of the Internet and sends
information from one network to another.

Firewall and Proxy services

• A computer firewall protects companies from outside intruders on the Internet. Most firewalls are
computers that are placed between the company network and the company’s connection to the Internet;
all traffic must then pass through this firewall, allowing the company to control traffic at the firewall,
based on a complex set of rules.
• Firewalls provide other services that allow computers inside the company easy access to the Internet. The
most common of these services are known as proxy services. A proxy server requests Internet resources,
such as websites and FTP sites, on behalf of the computer inside the company.
Advanced Security Services
◦ Today, organizations use specialized server hardware running Linux that may
provide routing, firewall, and proxy services alongside additional advanced
security services. These servers are called security appliances and are used to
provide security between an organization’s network and the Internet.
◦ Linux provide one or more of the following services:
◦ Malware and virus filtering
◦ Spam filtering
◦ Bot protection
◦ Intrusion detection
◦ Advanced traffic throttling
◦ Virtual Private Network (VPN) functionality
File and Print Services
• Networks were created to share resources, primarily printers and information.
• It is far easier and cheaper to install one central printer on a server and let multiple users print to
it across the computer network.
• Information must also be commonly available to users to allow them to collaborate on projects
or perform their daily jobs.
• Duplicating data on every user machine would consume too much hard drive space and
coordinating changes to this data would be nearly impossible.
• By employing a network, this information can be made available to all who need it and kept up
to date.
• Another benefit to this central storage of information is that a user can access data regardless of
the computer that he logs into.
• Linux can share information with other Linux, UNIX, and macOS machines using services such
as Network File System (NFS) and Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS), and share
resources with computers running other operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows.
Application Services
• An application server is a computer running a program that acts as an intermediary between a
client computer and the information, normally stored in a database, the client computer needs.
• A database is an organized collection of data that is arranged into tables of related
information. The client requests some data to change or view, and the application server
interacts with the database to manipulate and retrieve the required information.
• This is often described as a front-end/back-end relationship.
• Database management systems (DBMSs) are a collection of programs and tools designed to
allow for the creation, modification, manipulation, maintenance, and access of information
from databases.
• The most popular and widely used DBMSs available for Linux today are PostgreSQL,
MySQL (My Structured Query Language), and MariaDB (based on MySQL).
Cloud Services
• Cloud servers offer the advantage of accessing their data from anywhere on the Internet. Because the cost
of a data center can be shared by many organizations, data can be made fault tolerant at a lower cost.
• Organizations may even host their own private data center that is accessible to other computers across the
Internet; this is often called a private cloud, and the organization is referred to as a cloud provider.
• There are three main approaches to hosting data:
• Software as a Service (SaaS) refers to hosting a service (and the associated data) within a cloud
environment, where users can access the service across the Internet (Microsoft 365)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) differs from SaaS in that companies can create their own Web apps and
services that are hosted by another cloud provider. Example of a cloud provider is IBM Bluemix
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) differs from both SaaS and PaaS in that the cloud provider provides
the hardware and storage within a data center only, and companies install, manage, and access their own
virtualized operating systems within that data centre via cloud platform software.
Supercomputers
• Companies either buy computers with multiple processors or use specialized services to
combine several smaller computers in a way that allows them to function as one large
supercomputer. Combining several smaller computers is called clustering.
• The ability for a computer to increase workload as the number of processors increases is
known as scalability, and most computers, regardless of the operating system used, do not
scale well with more than 32 processors.
• The most common method of Linux clustering is known as Beowulf clustering.
• One way to implement a Beowulf cluster is to have one master computer send instructions to
several slave computers, which compute parts of the calculation concurrently and send their
results back to the master computer using a Message Passing Interface (MPI) software
framework such as OpenMPI.
Scientific/Engineering Workstations
Often, the programs that are required by the scientific and engineering community must be
custom developed to suit the needs of the people involved; however, many OSS programs,
which you can use or modify, are freely available in scientific and engineering fields, including,
but not limited to the following list:
◦ Physics, Astrophysics, and Biophysics
◦ Fluid Dynamics and Geophysics
◦ Biocomputation
◦ Materials and Polymer Chemistry
◦ General Mathematics and Optimization
◦ Data Mining
◦ Number Theory
Office/ Personal Workstations
• By definition, a workstation is a single-user computer, more powerful than a
typical home system; however, people often call any single-user computer that
is not a server a workstation. It is where users work and interact, running
programs and connecting to servers.
• Today, you find Linux on desktop and laptop computers running OSS packages
that allow the user to create, organize, and manipulate office documents and
graphic art, including but not limited to the following:
• Graphics editing software (such as Gimp)
• Desktop publishing software (such as Scribus)
• Media software (such as VLC)
Cybersecurity Workstations
• Organizations need security to protect their data on systems and networks.
• The technologies and processes used to analyze existing security and provide data protections are
collectively referred to as cybersecurity.
• Those who work within a cybersecurity field must use specialized tools to scan key computers and
networks for security vulnerabilities (called a vulnerability assessment) as well as attempt to break into
systems to test the strength of their security measures (called a penetration test).

Mobile Devices
• Following the introduction of the Apple iPhone in 2007, several Linux-based smartphone and tablet
operating systems started to appear on the market.
• The most notable of these was Google Android in 2008. Linux provides the core architecture used on
Google Android devices, and an additional Android framework provides for user functionality. Android
was acquired by Google in 2005 and is currently developed by Google’s Open Handset Alliance, which
consists of nearly 100 hardware and software manufacturers.