Operating System Proposal - Literature review Example

Operating system proposal Introduction Linux was incepted in 1991 and has since become a force in computing. It currently powers everything including the New York Stock Exchange, consumer devices, supercomputers and mobile phones. Kernel that is the core of Linux operating system was built by Linus Torvalds a Fin computer science student. Though Linux Kernel alone could not make an operating system, it is matching with GNU tools marked the starting point for the current Linux operating system (Carns, Ligon, Ross, & Thakur, 2000). Though Linux has enjoyed incredible achievement since the first request of Torvald in 1981, it is in numerous ways still at the start of its potential. What is Linux? Linux simply refers to an operating system. Linux is software on the computer that allows computer operator and applications to get to devices on the computer to carry out required roles. The operating system transmits directives from an application to the processor of the computer. The instructed task is performed by the processor and through the operating system relays the results back to the application. In this manner, there are several similarities between Linux and other operating systems like OS X and Windows (Raymond, 2001). Linux is an open operating system that has been developed through collaboration. This means that no individual company is exclusively responsible for its ongoing support or development. Companies involved in the economy of Linux share development and research costs with their competitors and partners (Raymond, 2001). Development burden spreading amongst companies and individuals has culminated into an efficient and large ecosystem as well as unheralded innovation of software. Differences between Linux server and Linux workstation Linux workstation refers to a personal computer that is meant for high-end applications like video editing, CPU and RAM intensive programs, graphic design, CAD, and 3-D design. Linux workstation contains fast processor, top of the line, a lot of RAM memory and multiple hard drives. The workstation may also possess special video, audio or processing cards used to do special editing work. While a Linux server is mainly a utility device, the Linux workstation is marketed to professional users by computer manufacturers (Raymond, 2001). Linux server and Linux workstation differ in their use and functions but are both part of the networking architecture. Linux servers keep files like images, applications, video and HTML which are available online. Linux servers also permit several computers to share internet connections or applications. The Linux workstation’s role is to finish high-end applications like video editing and graphic design (Carson & Santay, 2003). Cost of Linux Linux has witnessed strong popularity growth among UNIX developers, and this is attributed to its free software license, similarity to UNIX and portability to many platforms. Several commercial developers at the turn of the century started to distribute Linux including TurboLinux, Red Hat, Mandrakelinux, VA Linux and SuSEGMbH. Growth of Linux was boosted by the decision of IBM 2000 to invest $2 billion in Linux sales and development. With governments and companies worldwide taking advantage of flexibility and security of Linux’s operating system, its industry is currently is a multi-billion dollar. Companies running into thousands in their daily activities use Linux, and the main attraction is the lower support and licensing costs (Carson & Santay, 2003). Linux is being deployed by governments around the world to save time and money, and some of the governments have gone to the extent of commissioning their own Linux versions. Training End users also make treasured contributions to Linux development. Online communities like LinuxQuestions, Linux.com and the several and varied communities hosted by applications and distributions give Linux users a vocal base that positively advocates and offers guidance for Linux operating system. Linux community is not only present online but there are local groups referred as Linux Users Group (LUGs) that usually convene meetings to deliberate on matters relating to Linux operating system. Other local users are offered with free technical trainings, installfests, trainings and demonstrations (Carson & Santay, 2003). Linux operating system comprises of many diverse development languages. Majority of that distribution’s code is written in either C++ (25.56%) or C (52.86%) languages. The remaining codes code falls into one digit percentages with Lisp, Perl and Java constituting the remaining of the top five languages. Linux kernel has more prevailing C presence whereby more than 95% of kernel code being written in C and C++ language. But Linux kernel is also made up of other languages that make it more heterogeneous in comparison to competitor operating systems. The kernel community has developed its unique operating ways that enable them function smoothly producing high-quality products in a busy environment where many lines of code undergo changes daily. This is an indication that the process of Linux kernel development greatly differs from methods of the propriety development (ROUSSET, 2008). The process of kernel development may at times come across as intimidating and strange to new developers; however solid experience and good reasons are behind it. A developer who lacks understanding of the ways of the kernel community will experience frustrating moments. Though the development community is helpful to those learning, it has little time for the new developers who do not care or listen to the process of development (Raymond, 2001). A big number of Linux developers still make use of text-based tools like Vim or Emacs in developing their code, Anjuta, Netbeans and Eclipse all offer a development environment that is more robust for Linux. Support More than 1000 developers from more than 100 different companies donate to release of every kernel. More than 3200 developers from 200 different companies in the last two years alone have donated to the kernel. Linux is as well distinctive from other OS since it has no lone owner. Torvalds still runs the advance of the Linux kernel, but business and private developers add other software to form the complete Linux operating system. Development of Linux Kernel is still managed by Torvalds, but private and commercial developers donate other software create the complete Linux operating system (ROUSSET, 2008). Linux can easily be accessed by developers; any person who possesses requisite skills can advance Linux and impact its development direction. Propriety products will never give such kind of openness, a feature of free software process. Communities developing Linux can volunteer to support and maintain whole distributions like the Gentoo or Debian projects. The main supporter for Linux kernel is its developer community and also the most active and largest free software projects that exist. A kernel development cycle taking three months can involve more than 1000 developers that work for more than 100 different companies or individuals working for no company. Growth of Linux has seen a rise in the number of developers as well as companies wishing to take part in its development. Vendors of hardware always want to ensure that their products are supported well by Linux thus make their products attractive to those using Linux. Embedded system vendors that make use of Linux as a constituent in the combined product need Linux to be well suited to the duties at hand (Carns, Ligon, Ross, & Thakur, 2000). Software vendors and distributors whose products are based on Linux have a lot of interest in the performance, reliability and capability of Linux kernel. Other developer communities are keen on various environments and applications that run on Linux, like OpenOffice.org, KDE, GNOME, and Firefox. IDC analyst Al Gillen in 2008 cited Linux industry’s growth rate at close to 24% yearly. The companies like Fujitsu, IBM, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Novell, NEC, and Hitachi are involved in Linux. All the companies have invested talent, resources, and time to improving Linux on their own. Though Linux is free of cost, the time and cost that users use to download all the code as well as putting it together in a functional and cohesive manner is high. In order to avoid the learning curve and time sink needed to complete such a task, users pay distribution maker to avoid building a free Linux from scratch. Individual users and business users benefit from the expertise of distributors in putting all the free Linux code in a set of packages that are easy-to-use. Ongoing commercial support of Linux is an additional source of revenues for companies. Performance Linux is presently showing up on internet devices that are mobile like PDAs, netbook devices, and smartphones (Carns, Ligon, Ross, & Thakur, 2000). Linux naturally fits the growth of cloud computing that runs many web servers of the internet. Cloud services like Amazon’s A3 are enabled by Linux to work with greater ability to deliver online information and applications to users. Related to the growth of Linux in cloud computing is its evident success on supercomputers both in high-availability (HA) and high-performance computing (HPC) areas, where academic-related research in bioengineering and physics and firms in energy and financial industries require scalable and reliable computing power to reach their targets. In Linux, the menus, windows, and dialog boxes which are always thought to be part of the operating system are separated into desktop environment and windowing system layers. The layers offer the human-oriented graphical user interface (GUI) which make it possible for users to work with applications easily in the operating system and installation of third party applications on the operating system. The distribution is Linux operating systems’ highest layer. It is a container for all the previously mentioned layers. Those making distribution must have decided the kernel to use: environments, operating system tools, applications to include and ship to users. Commercial entities and private individuals maintain distributions (Carns, Ligon, Ross, & Thakur, 2000). A CD that holds distribution-specific software for preliminary system configuration and installation can be used to install a distribution. Most popular distributions provide application management systems that are mature that enables users with just a few mouse clicks search, find and install firsthand applications. At the concluding count, more than 350 distinct Linux distributions were available. Reliability Though Linux is currently useful on numerous kinds of devices, it is also moving towards many technological areas even as server and desktop development continues to grow quickly than other operating systems. Installation of Linux on the system BIOS of notebook and laptop computers is ongoing and will make it possible for users in a matter of seconds turn on their devices and this will bring up a Linux environment that is streamlined (Shotts, 2012). Internet connectivity tools like an email client and a web browser will be in this environment and will allow users carry out any activity on the internet without booting into the primary operating system of their device even if one is using Windows as the operating system. Trendy Web 2.0 products on the internet like YouTube, Linked In, Twitter, and Google rely on the operating system of Linux. Linux will play a very important role in the arrival of new web services in the future because it will be the driving platform for the new technologies. Linux provides a lot of choices for which desktop environment and windowing system can be used, and users are allowed by Linux to decide (Shotts, 2012). This application is not doable in Windows and is hard to do in OS X. Like in kernel and operating system, code libraries and tools are available that allows users developing applications to work readily with gtk+ for GNOME, Qt for KDE environments. Two kinds of applications exist in operating systems: applications that users install later and applications that are vital constituents of the operating system itself. Windows and OS X, which are closed operating systems, do not let developers choose and pick the vital constituents that they can use. For example windowing system and Microsoft’s compiler, must be used by Windows developers. A larger set of choices is available to Linux application developers to help them develop their application (Siever, 2009). This, therefore, gives more flexibility to Linux users to create an application, but it is necessary that a developer decides the Linux components to be used. Applicability Availability Applicability of Linux is one of its notable properties. OS X and Windows are mostly found on individual devices of computing like laptop and desktop computers. Operating systems like Symbian are found on smaller devices like PDAs and phones. Supercomputers and mainframes in major corporate and academic labs use AS/400 and the Cray OS which are specialized operating systems (Siever, 2009). Linux initially existed as a server OS and is currently used as a desktop OS and can also be used in supercomputers and wristwatches. Kernels are in all operating systems and are built around the architectural metaphor that central set of directives must be availed to direct device hardware, enclosed by several modular layers of roles. Linux kernel is flexible and unique since it is modular in nature. This nature of modularity is Linux ‘s significant success. The capacity to level up or down to address the requirements of a specific platform gives Linux advantageous grounds over competitor operating systems that are limited to a small number of likely platforms. Security and stability of Linux are also affected by modularity. This means that in case one piece of the kernel code fails to function, crashing of the rest of the kernel will not occur (Benvenuti, 2006). In addition to that, when one part of the kernel is illicitly attacked, the attacked part of the code might be hampered but the security of the whole device is not compromised. Like command lines and compilers found in GNU, developers need special tools to write applications that can communicate to the kernel. Applications and tools are also required to ease outside applications to get to the kernel upon writing and installation of the application. The operating system, therefore, constitutes a collective set of tools in combination with the kernel. Generally it is the lowest layer of the software of the computer that is accessed by average users. A general user accesses the operating system by getting to the command line (Benvenuti, 2006). Linux gives powerful tools for writing their applications: compilers, editors and developer environments are designed to take the code of the developer and change it to something that can get to the kernel and perform tasks. Just like the kernel, the operating system of Linux is modular (Raymond, 2001). Developers can choose and pick operating tools to provide developers and users with a flavor of Linux that is new and designed to do specific errands Conclusion Applicability of Linux is one of its notable properties. It initially existed as a server OS and is currently used as a desktop OS and can also be used in supercomputers and wrist watches. Though it is currently useful on numerous kinds of devices, it is also moving towards many technological areas even as server and desktop development continues to grow quickly than other operating systems (Bovet & Cesati, 2001). Linux will play a very important role in the arrival of new web services in the future because it will be the driving platform for the new technologies. References Benvenuti, C. (2006). Understanding Linux network internals. Sebastapol (California)[etc.: OReilly. Bovet, D. P., & Cesati, M. (2001). Understanding the linux kernel. Carns, P. H., Ligon, W. B., Ross, R. B., & Thakur, R. (2000). PVFS : a parallel file system for linux clusters. Carson, M., & Santay, D. (2003). NIST Net: a Linux-based network emulation tool. Computer Communication Review. doi:10.1145/956993.957007 Kuhn, D., Kim, C., & Lopuz, B. (2008). Linux recipes for Oracle DBAs. Berkeley, CA: Apress. Raymond, E. S. (2001). The cathedral and the bazaar: musings on Linux and open source by an accidental revolutionary. Information Research. ROUSSET, F. (2008). genepop’007: a complete re-implementation of the genepop software for Windows and Linux. Molecular Ecology Resources. doi:10.1111/j.1471-8286.2007.01931.x Shotts, W. E. (2012). The Linux command line: A complete introduction. San Francisco: No Starch Press. Siever, E. (2009). Linux in a nutshell. Sebastopol, Calif: OReilly Media. Read More