1.What Are the Current Stable Release Designation and Latest Release Designation of The

Full file at

Chapter 2

LINUX History

Problems

1.What are the current stable release designation and latest release designation of the LINUX kernel? (Hint: See online reference source 5 in Table 2.1.)

The latest stable version of the Linux kernel, found at was 2.4.9. The latest release designation found at that site was 2.4.9.

2.Browse some of the major computer manufacturers’ online product offerings, and list the companies and their models that offer LINUX as the preinstalled operating system. Do not include specialty Web server machines.

As of this writing, no major manufacturers offered home or office PC’s that came with LINUX pre-installed! This of course excepts server-class machines. This also excepts Internet appliances and pocket PC’s.

3.Read Eric Raymond’s The Cathedral and the Bazaar (listed as reference 9 in Table 2.1), and summarize the difference between development environments for software.

The essential difference in development environments is one of sharing of resources versus proprietary hoarding of them.

4.Go to the LINUX Documentation Project Web site, as listed in reference 1 in Table 2.1, and read their “Manifesto.” Describe the purpose of the project in your own words. Print out the FAQs, HOWTOs, and man page documents for later reference.

The Linux Documentation Project is working on developing free, high quality documentation for the GNU/Linux operating system. The overall goal of the LDP is to collaborate in all of the issues of Linux documentation. This includes the creation of "HOWTOs" and "Guides". They hope to establish a system of documentation for Linux that will be easy to use and search. This includes the integration of the manual pages, info docs, HOWTOs, and other documents. LDP's goal is to create the canonical set of free Linux documentation.

5.Go to the LINUXjournal Web site (see reference 2 in Table 2.1), click on the search button on the top of the page. You can enter any search criteria subject you want pertaining to LINUX, and you will get a listing of articles that are pertinent to this subject. Search for articles on Linux Torvalds. How many are there?

We found 74 articles, using Linus Torvalds as the search criterion.

6.Go to the Web site listed as reference 4 in Table 2.1. What is the name of the French distribution of Slackware LINUX?

LINUX-Kheops is a French version of the Slackware distribution.

7.Write a brief summary of the history of the minix operating system, with references to as many online documents as you can find.

Go to to get a good overview of minix and its history.

8.Browse the counter.li.org Web site and write down how many people around the world are using LINUX. How many countries in the LINUX community spread over? Write down the names of the three countries that have the most number of LINUX users.

Million is the guess as of August 17,2001. Approximately 150 countries have LINUX users registered in them, with 52241 registered in the U.S., 12467 in Germany, 8999 in Brazil, 8055 in France, 7344 in Canada, 6134 in Korea, and 5564 in Sweden.