1.1. Why Linux?
In 1991, Linus Torvalds, a Finnish college student, developed a UNIX-compatible operating system kernel at the University of Helsinki, Finland. It was designed to be UNIX on a PC. What started as one man's hobby has become a full-fledged 32-bit operating system installed worldwide on an estimated 10 million computers. And the number of users is growing at a phenomenal rate. At first, Linux appealed to hackers who wanted an operating system that allowed them the freedom to get down to the kernel level, to tweak and probe at the code with the same freedom and enthusiasm shown by the UNIX hackers of the early '80s. Now, as with UNIX, Linux is no longer associated solely with college hackers and "geeks" but has exploded in popularity ...
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