WhatIsLinux

Welcome to WhatIsLinux, this webpage is meant to be a guide for people trying to understand what is Linux, from 0 knowledge of how computers work, it will cover the essential information you need to know, both theorically and practically, using examples as the most easy way to understand how linux operative systems work. Documentation and manuals are useful for technical information, this guide is for people who want to understand how linux works from a very low level perspective.

This small guide is meant to teach you how to understand what is Linux, what is a linux distribution, what are the layers of an operative system, why and when use linux, as well as the philosophy behind it. Then I will provide basic documentation on how to install an operative system, a cheat sheet on the most essential command line commands and useful documentation, as well as some youtube channels that I recommend.

Linux is a family of open source (specifically Libre software, more on that later) operative systems distributions based on the UNIX operative systems, created by Linus Torvalds in 1991. Which use GNU core utils created by Richard Stallman in 1983 and implemented into linux distributions in the mid 90's.

Linux is actually the kernel of the operative system, developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991. The kernel is the component of the operative system that communicates the user with the physical hardware of the computer (more detailed information about the layers of an operative system will be discussed later on in this guide). Linux is usually packaged with the GNU core utils in distributions made by different groups of people trying to achieve different goals in their projects.

some examples of these distributions are:

Gentoo: A linux distribution known mostly because of the versatility and customization of the whole operative system. As well as it's own package manager that makes it easier to compile programs directly from their source code. And USE flags, that make the user totally in control of the packages that run on their operative system
Debian: One of the first GNU/Linux operative systems. Stable, versatile, easy to use. It is the base for a lot of other operative systems, OS's, created from other OS's are called "forks", Debian based forks include: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, MXLinux, Devuan, and Kali Linux.
Kali linux: Kali linux is a specialized linux distribution, it is used as a tool for cibersecurity. It is useful to understand this as your perspective on operative systems should not be only limited to a proxy for programs that work with the internet and store data in your hard drive. This operative system is meant for being used as a temporal tool equiped with tools meant for boot recovery, pentesting programs, digital forensics, network administration and much more. It is usually installed on a pendrive and configured for it to be bootable using the pendrive as it's own hard drive.

As you can see these are only three out of hundreds of distros that exist nowadays, I have choosed these because they are fundamentally the same thing, same kernel (Kali linux is actually based on debian), same gnu core utils, but different approach, Gentoo linux could be used for servers, minimalist desktops, or personal projects. Debian is the most neutral distribution, that's why it is forked a lot into other independent distributions, marketed generally to a more newbie userbase. And Kali linux is actually a tool for cybersecurity analysts.

You shouldn't worry about using one distro or another, you should understand that there are hundreds of distros and some of them are made for specific purposes and others are just forks or personal projects made by different individuals. You should remember that:

A linux distro is only as good as you make it

You should focus on using a distro that fullfills your needs and then configure it to your personal preferences. With all the tools and the freedom that linux distributions offer you, you can change all the programs, macros, window managers, all to your personal needs.

With a PC, I always felt limited by the software available. On Unix, I am limited only by my knowledge.

-Peter J. Schoenster

	Gentoo	A linux distribution known mostly because of the versatility and customization of the whole operative system. As well as it's own package manager that makes it easier to compile programs directly from their source code. And USE flags, that make the user totally in control of the packages that run on their operative system
	Debian	One of the first GNU/Linux operative systems. Stable, versatile, easy to use. It is the base for a lot of other operative systems, OS's, created from other OS's are called "forks", Debian based forks include: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, MXLinux, Devuan, and Kali Linux.
	Kali linux	Kali linux is a specialized linux distribution, it is used as a tool for cibersecurity. It is useful to understand this as your perspective on operative systems should not be only limited to a proxy for programs that work with the internet and store data in your hard drive. This operative system is meant for being used as a temporal tool equiped with tools meant for boot recovery, pentesting programs, digital forensics, network administration and much more. It is usually installed on a pendrive and configured for it to be bootable using the pendrive as it's own hard drive.