Design and Uses Linux OS

The Linux operating system, developed through a process of evolution, is a Unix-like OS that draws inspiration from the design principles es...

The Linux operating system, developed through a process of evolution, is a Unix-like OS that draws inspiration from the design principles established by Unix in the 1970s and 1980s. At its core is the Linux kernel, a monolithic kernel responsible for managing file systems, peripheral access, networking, and process control. Device drivers are either directly integrated into the kernel or loaded as modules when the respective devices are active.

A typical installed Linux system consists of the following components:

1. Bootloader: This program, such as systemd-boot, SYSLINUX, LILO, or GNU GRUB, loads the Linux kernel into the computer's main memory after the firmware initialization process.
2. Init program: The init program, which can be traditional sysvinit or newer alternatives like Upstart, OpenRC, or systemd, is the first process launched by the Linux kernel and serves as the root of the process tree. It handles essential tasks like spawning login prompts and system services in both terminal and graphical modes.
3. Software libraries: Linux systems include software libraries that provide code to be utilized by running processes. The dynamic linker, known as ld-linux.so on Linux systems with ELF-format executable files, handles the usage of dynamic libraries. Header files are also provided to define the interface of installed libraries when the system allows users to compile their own software. The GNU C Library (glibc) is the most commonly used software library on Linux systems, but there are other libraries like Mesa and SDL.
4. C standard library: To execute C programs on a system using the GNU C library as the standard, the C standard library is required. Alternatives such as uClibc, EGLIBC, and musl have been developed, but the first two are no longer actively maintained. Android uses its own C library called Bionic.

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User Interface:

The user interface in Linux is known as the shell and can be a graphical user interface (GUI), a command-line interface (CLI), or controls specific to embedded systems. The default user interface for desktop systems is usually graphical, provided by desktop environments like Xfce, Pantheon, LXDE, Cinnamon, MATE, GNOME, and KDE Plasma. However, the CLI is also available through terminal emulator windows or isolated virtual consoles.

CLI shells are text-based interfaces that utilize text for both input and output. The dominant shell in Linux is bash (Bourne-Again Shell), originally developed for the GNU project. Many low-level components and userland parts of Linux rely exclusively on the CLI, which facilitates task automation and inter-process communication.

GUI shells are the most common user interfaces on desktop systems and are bundled with various desktop environments. Most of these user interfaces are built on the X Window System, often referred to as "X." X provides network transparency, allowing a graphical application running on one system to be displayed and interacted with on another. However, certain X Window System extensions do not function over the network. The X.Org Server is the most widely used reference implementation of the X display server.

Video Input Infrastructure:

Linux supports two kernel-userspace APIs for handling video input devices: the DVB API for TV reception and the V4L2 API for radio and video streams. As the diversity and complexity of video input devices increase, along with the numerous standards and formats they manage, the video input infrastructure needs to evolve to accommodate these devices. A robust userspace device library is essential to enable userspace applications to work with all supported formats.

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Uses of Linux OS:

Linux has found applications in various domains, and its success is attributed to factors such as freedom, low cost, reliability, and security from vendor lock-in. Some notable uses of Linux include:

1.  Web servers: Linux is widely used as the operating system  for web servers. According to W3Cook's statistics based on the top 1,000,000 Alexa domains, around 96.55% of web servers use Linux.
2. Laptops and desktops: Linux has a market share of approximately 2.5% on desktop computers as of May 2022. Microsoft Windows dominates with around 75.5% market share, followed by macOS with approximately 14.9%.
3. Mobile devices: Android, which is based on the Linux kernel, is the leading operating system for smartphones worldwide. As of July 2022, around 71.9% of smartphones connected to the internet used Android. Android is also popular for tablets, accounting for more than 60% of tablet sales in 2013.
4. Film production: Linux has been widely adopted in the film industry. Major studios such as Industrial Light & Magic, Weta Digital, Pixar, and DreamWorks Animation have transitioned to Linux, with the film Titanic being one of the first movies rendered on a Linux server in 1997.
5. Government use: Linux distributions have gained popularity in national and local governments. For example, the state of Kerala in India mandates the use of Linux in all state high schools. China has also embraced Linux as the OS for its Loongson processor family to achieve technology independence. Linux distributions are extensively used in official and educational institutions in regions like Spain, Germany, and France. North Korea has developed its own Linux distribution called Red Star OS, based on Fedora Linux.

Linux's diverse applications and continuous growth in the market indicate its significance and impact in various industries and computing domains.