Ci sono 10 tipi di persone: chi capisce il sistema binario e chi no!! :)
STORIA

La storia del pinguino

La fantastica storia del rivoluzionario sistema operativo Linux nasce nel 3 luglio 1991, quando Linus Torval, allora ancora studente presso l'università di Helsinki, posta questo messaggio su Usenet:


From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Gcc-1.40 and a posix-question
Message-ID: <1991Jul3.100050.9886@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
Date: 3 Jul 91 10:00:50 GMT
Hello netlanders,
Due to a project I'm working on (in minix), I'm interested in the posix
standard definition. Could somebody please point me to a (preferably)
machine-readable format of the latest posix rules? Ftp-sites would be
nice.



Nel giro di qualche mese (il 5 ottobre) esce già una seconda versione ( 0.2 ) con i primi supporti hardware; Linus la presenta alla rete con un famoso annuncio ormai passato alla storia (come quelle frasi dei grandi conquistatori):

From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Free minix-like kernel sources for 386-AT
Message-ID: <1991Oct5.054106.4647@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
Date: 5 Oct 91 05:41:06 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki
Do you pine for the nice days of minix-1.1, when men were men and wrote
their own device drivers? Are you without a nice project and just dying
to cut your teeth on a OS you can try to modify for your needs? Are you
finding it frustrating when everything works on minix? No more all-
nighters to get a nifty program working? Then this post might be just
for you :-)
As I mentioned a month(?) ago, I'm working on a free version of a
minix-lookalike for AT-386 computers. It has finally reached the stage
where it's even usable (though may not be depending on what you want),
and I am willing to put out the sources for wider distribution. It is
just version 0.02 (+1 (very small) patch already), but I've successfully
run bash/gcc/gnu-make/gnu-sed/compress etc under it.
Sources for this pet project of mine can be found at nic.funet.fi
(128.214.6.100) in the directory /pub/OS/Linux. The directory also
contains some README-file and a couple of binaries to work under linux
(bash, update and gcc, what more can you ask for :-). Full kernel
source is provided, as no minix code has been used. Library sources are
only partially free, so that cannot be distributed currently. The
system is able to compile "as-is" and has been known to work. Heh.
Sources to the binaries (bash and gcc) can be found at the same place in
/pub/gnu.
ALERT! WARNING! NOTE! These sources still need minix-386 to be compiled
(and gcc-1.40, possibly 1.37.1, haven't tested), and you need minix to
set it up if you want to run it, so it is not yet a standalone system
for those of you without minix. I'm working on it. You also need to be
something of a hacker to set it up (?), so for those hoping for an
alternative to minix-386, please ignore me. It is currently meant for
hackers interested in operating systems and 386's with access to minix.
The system needs an AT-compatible harddisk (IDE is fine) and EGA/VGA. If
you are still interested, please ftp the README/RELNOTES, and/or mail me
for additional info.
I can (well, almost) hear you asking yourselves "why?". Hurd will be
out in a year (or two, or next month, who knows), and I've already got
minix. This is a program for hackers by a hacker. I've enjouyed doing
it, and somebody might enjoy looking at it and even modifying it for
their own needs. It is still small enough to understand, use and
modify, and I'm looking forward to any comments you might have.
I'm also interested in hearing from anybody who has written any of the
utilities/library functions for minix. If your efforts are freely
distributable (under copyright or even public domain), I'd like to hear
from you, so I can add them to the system. I'm using Earl Chews estdio
right now (thanks for a nice and working system Earl), and similar works
will be very wellcome. Your (C)'s will of course be left intact. Drop me
a line if you are willing to let me use your code.
Linus
PS. to PHIL NELSON! I'm unable to get through to you, and keep getting
"forward error - strawberry unknown domain" or something.



Già da subito, venne rilasciato il codice in rete, seguendo la filosofia lanciata da Stallman (la GPL general pubblic licence), e Linus tenne per se solo il copyright. In questo modo molti sviluppatori hanno potuto (e lo fanno ancora) contribuire al miglioramento del kernel del sistema operativo.

Dopo un estenuante lavoro, (davvero enorme.. Linus lo giustificherà in seguito dicendo che non poteva permettersi un sistema operativo commerciale) uscì nel 1994 la versione 1.0, la quale diede vita a progetti (le famose distribuzioni ancora presenti oggi) come Debian, Red Hat e Suse.

Due anni dopo nasceva già la versione 2.0 del kernel e contemporaneamente vedeva la luce per la prima volta anche la mascotte più famosa del mondo: TUX (che dà finalmente un simbolo a questo nuovo sistema operativo).

Nel corso degli anni, oltre al continuo miglioramento del kernel (oggi - 2005 - arrivato alla versione 2.6), gli utilizzatori di Linux sono cresciuti esponenzialmente e questo sistema operativo è stato adottato da industrie potenti come IBM (che ne promuove l'utilizzo oltre che adottarlo su varie piattaforme), come la NASA che lo ha adottato sullo Shuttle, vari governi di tutto il mondo, sui palmari ecc..
Il resto è storia moderna..

» Torna »
(Ultima modifica: January 17 2008 09:27:25)
NOPROFIT