Linux is everywhere: It's in your phones, your thermostats, in your cars, refrigerators and televisions. It also runs most of the Internet, all of the world's top 500 supercomputers, and the world's stock exchanges. Android, is powered by the Linux operating system.
Open source is a term that originally referred to open source software (OSS). Open source software is code that is designed to be publicly accessible—anyone can see, modify, and distribute the code as they see fit. Being open source, users and developers can access and modify the source code as needed. This has resulted in a vast and active community of users and developers, who contribute to the development and improvement of the operating system. Most Linux distributions are Free.
Linux has a number of different versions to suit any type of user. From new users to hard-core users, you'll find a "flavor" of Linux to match your needs. These versions are called distributions or, in the short form, "distros". Nearly every distribution of Linux can be downloaded for free, burned onto disk (or USB thumb drive), and installed (on as many machines as you like).
If your computer skills are fairly basic, you'll want to stick with a newbie-friendly distribution such as Linux Mint or Ubuntu.
Who made Linux and why is it free?
Mint and Ubuntu come with several programs preinstalled. Libre Office, Firefox, Thunderbird are the main ones.
Installing programs on Linux Mint or Ubuntu may require use of the Terminal where you type commands like in the old days of DOS. Most programs are now available using the Software Manager where you don't use the Terminal.
Example of installing VLC Media Player using the Terminal:
- This page last updated on 17 October 2023