1. Every Thing You Should Know About Linux
Prabhaker Mateti
Department Of Computer Science and Engineering
Wright State University
May 2008

2. Are you sure you have not used Linux already?

3. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
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4. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
Linux runs on …
PDA? Smart Phone?
GPS?
TiVO?
Router? Wireless AP?
Wrist watch?
Car? Airplane?
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5. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
Linux Cell Phones
Motorola Rokr E8
Quad GSM/GPRS
Multi-codec music player
Full HTML browser
Jan. 10, 2008
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6. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
Linux Cell Phones
Open source hardware
Free CAD files
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Linux on iPods
uCLinux + podzilla
iPOds to 5.5G
iPod Nano 1G
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One Laptop Per Child
Runs on Linux
Sugar “desktop” promotes sharing and learning.
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9. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
Google Linux Clusters
GFS: The Google File System
thousands of terabytes of storage across thousands of disks on over a thousand machines
150 million queries per day
Average response time of sec
Near-100% uptime
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10. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
Smallest Linux System
Mar. 28, 2005
DigiConnect ME
RJ-45 Plus
0.75 x 0.75 x 1.4 in
18 grams
uClinux
32-bit ARM7TDMI
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11. Overview of the Rest of theTalk
Linux Internals
Distributions
Desktop Environments
Linux Clusters
Security
Open Source Software
Important Applications
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12. Linux Internals

13. Academic Def: An OS consists of
File Systems
Virtual Memory Management
Process Management
Network Layer
Input/Output Subsystem
User Management
(Booting the OS)
[Collection of System Programs]
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14. Academic Definition of Kernel
OS are expected to be implemented as Layers
Kernel is the inner most layer
Layers are architecturally supported by CPU privilege modes.
Micro-kernel architecture
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“Linux kernel”
The OS as we defined – boot – SysPrgs
Monolithic
As Files
/boot/vmlinuz single file
/boot/initrd single file
/lib/modules/* about 3500 files
4 Million lines of code
Several thousand contributors
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16. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
Linux Kernels
Numbering Scheme: Major.Minor.Release
2.2 (1999)
2.4 (2001)
2.6 (2003)
Current Source Code Versions:
linux tar.bz2 10-May MB
linux tar.bz2 07-May MB
linux tar.bz Feb MB
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17. “Linux” as used in this Talk
Linux Kernel
System Programs: /sbin, /usr/sbin UI
Desktop Env: X11, KDE, Gnome, …
Shells: Bash, csh, ksh, …
Utilities
/bin, /usr/bin, …
Applications
Publishing: TeX, MetaPost, PS, PDF, …
Multimedia: Audio, Video
Sotware Development: Perl, Python, Ruby,
Servers
Web
File
Compute
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18. K Desktop Environment (KDE)
4 Million lines of code
Over 800 contributors help to develop KDE.
The translation team: about 300.
KDE has about 20 official WWW mirrors in 12 countries.
KDE has more than 106 official FTP mirrors in over 39 countries
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KDE Components
aRts: Analog realtime synthesizer and sound daemon. KDE 4.0 uses Phonon
KDE-Libs: Various run-time libraries
KDE-Base: window-manager, desktop, panel, Konqueror
KDE-Network: KNode, KNewsticker, Kppp, ...
KDE-Pim: KMail, KAddressbook, KOrganizer, KPilot, ...
KDE-Graphics: Graphics applications such as KDVI, KGhostview, KPaint, KFax, ...
KDE-Multimedia: Noatun, KMidi, KSCD, ...
KDE-Accessibility: applications to improve computer access for disabled people...
KDE-Utilities: KEdit, KCalc, KHexEdit, KNotes, ...
KDE-Edu: Edutainment applications
KDE-Games: KAsteroids, KPat, KTetris, ...
KDE-Admin: Various tools to aid system administration
KDE-SDK: Script and tools which simplify development of KDE applications
KOffice: Integrated office suite
KDevelop: C/C++ Integrated Development Environment
KDE-Bindings: bindings for various languages (Python, Ruby, Perl, Java...)
KDEWebdev: Web Development Tool
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20. Native Linux File Systems
Extended File System
Ext2
Ext3
Ext4
Other Journaling File Systems
ReiserFS
SGI XFS
IBM JFS
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21. Linux Non-Native File Systems
NTFS5: Full read/write operations
Native File Systems of every major OS fully supported:
FAT, FAT16, FAT32 of Windows
MacOS
Solaris
BSD
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22. Distributed File Systems
Classic DFS
NFS
AFS
Samba for Windows
Linux is a rich test bed for DFS research
KOSMOS
Ceph
Many encrypted file systems
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23. Linux Distributions

24. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
Linux Distributions
Define “distribution”!
Major Distributions
Debian, Ubuntu
RedHat, Fedora
Novell SuSe, Open Suse
Mandriva
Slackware
Minor Distributions
1000+
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25. How Do Distributions Differ?
What is included in the default installation
Operating System UI
Shells
GUI
Utilities
Selected Applicatins
Patches provided by the Distro
Installing New Components/Applications
Updates
Security
New versions
Browsing for Available Software
Look and Feel of the Initial Install
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26. How Do Distributions Differ?
Versions of installed libraries
/lib/
/usr/lib/
Configuration
Location of Files
Syntax
GUI/command line tools
Distributions from Scratch
Build it from Source
Gentoo
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Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a derivative of Debian
“Ubuntu will always be
“free to download,
“free to use and
“free to distribute to others.”
Desktop Edition
Server Edition
X86-32, x86-64, and Mac
Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, …
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Linux Live CD/DVD
fully writable root filesystem
hardware auto-detection
can be installed to local hard disk
can be installed on USB MSD
Automated scripts to make a LiveDVD from any distro
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Knoppix LiveDVD
General Purpose Linux
Try it without installing on HDD
Excellent hardware detection
Large collection of applications
KDE, …, fluxbox
Open Office, Emacs, gcc, …
Web browsers, …
Uncompresses on the fly
Several GB of software
Relatively Slow
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Damn Small Linux
About 50 MB
Can run without a HDD
X11 Desktop
Many useful applications
Office
Web surfing
Multimedia
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Linux on a USB Drive
Install on a USB MSD as a HDD
Install a Live Image on USB MSD
On the fly uncompression
Fast installation
Relatively slow execution
Lab on Installing Linux on a USB Drive
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32. Scientific Linux LiveDVD
By Fermilab, CERN, and other labs and universities
LiveDVD 32bit/64bit with Gnome/KDE/Icewm desktop
5.1 for i386 and x86_64 released on
RedHat Enterprise Linux
Fully writable root filesystem
Hardware auto-detection
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Embedded Linux
uCLinux (Micro Controller Linux)
Linux kernels 2.0, 2.4 and kernel 2.6
collection of user applications
libraries and
tool chains
uCLinux ported widely
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34. Linux Clusters

35. Cluster Characteristics
Commodity off the shelf hardware
Networked
Common Home Directories
Open source software and OS
Support message passing programming
Batch scheduling of jobs
Process migration
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36. Why are Linux Clusters Good?
Low initial implementation cost
Inexpensive PCs
Standard components and Networks
Free Software: Linux, GNU, MPI, PVM
Scalability: can grow and shrink
Familiar technology, easy for user to adopt the approach, use and maintain system.
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Example Clusters
July 1999
1000 nodes
Used for genetic algorithm research by John Koza, Stanford University
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38. Largest Cluster System
IBM BlueGene, 2007
DOE/NNSA/LLNL
Memory: GB
OS: CNK/SLES 9
Interconnect: Proprietary
PowerPC 440
106,496 nodes
478.2 Tera FLOPS on LINPACK
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39. Message Passing Interface (MPI)
MPI
MPICH: by Argonne National Laboratory and Missisippy State University
LAM:
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40. Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM)
PVM enables a heterogeneous collection of networked computers to be used as a single large parallel computer.
Older than MPI
Large scientific/engineering user community
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41. Kernels Etc Mods for Clusters
Dynamic load balancing
Transparent process-migration
Kernel Mods
CLuster Membership Subsystem ("CLMS") and
Internode Communication Subsystem
GlusterFS: Clustered File Storage of peta bytes.
GlusterHPC: High Performance Compute Clusters
Open-source software for volunteer computing and grid computing
Condor clusters
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42. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
OS Share of Top 500
OS Count Share Rmax (GF) Rpeak (GF) Processor
Linux %
Windows %
Unix %
BSD %
Mixed %
MacOS %
Totals %
Nov 2007
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43. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
Security of Linux
Security flaws are largely due to
Network protocol design flaws
Sloppy programming by software authors
Poor configuration
Number of exploits, number of advisories similar to those of other OS
Worms, not viruses
Compromised crypto
Buffer overflows
Considerable research analysis of Linux source code
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44. Security Hardened Linux
Portions of Linux replaced, re-designed, enhanced for improved security
Stack top randomization
Prevention of data page execution
Linux Security Modules (LSM)
SELinux
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45. Security Tools on Linux
Penetration Testing
Network analysis (e.g. nmap, tcpdump)
Password cracking
Disaster recovery (e.g. gparted, gpart, partimage, testdisk, recover)
Virus scanning (Clam Antivirus, the GUI xfprot for F-Prot)
computer forensics (e.g. chkrootkit, foremost, rootkit hunter)
Backtrack3
STD
INSERT
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46. Important Applications

47. A Few Ubuntu/Debian packages
Electric
custom IC layout (ASICs), schematic drawing, hardware description language specifications, and electro-mechanical hybrid layout.
ViPEC
analysis of high frequency, linear electrical networks. ViPEC supports lumped elements as well as distributed networks
Kicad
Electronic schematic and PCB design software
QCad 2
A professional CAD System with ISO-texts and DXF-files.
PythonCAD
drafting program scriptable with Python
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48. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
Example Applications
kmail, evolution, sylpheed, thunderbird
Surfing: konqueror, firefox, galeon, opera
Software Development: compilers for nearly all known languages
Drawing: dia, graphviz, kchart, inkscape
Music: amarok, gnupod
Games: Sauerbraten, Savage, Doom
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49. Applications on Publishing
TeX/LaTeX
Kyle
Lyx
TeXmacs
MetaPost drawing language
GraphViz
Scribus
Office Suites
Abiword
Koffice
OpenOffice
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50. Matlab :: Scilab, Octave, Rlab
Not 100% compatible with m-files.
Matrix-based programming languages.
Built-in support for complex numbers.
Powerful built-in math functions and extensive function libraries.
Extensibility in the form of user-defined functions.
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51. Computer Algebra Systems
Manipulation of symbolic and numerical expressions, including differentiation, integration, Taylor series, Laplace transforms, ordinary differential equations, systems of linear equations, polynomials, and sets, lists, vectors, matrices, and tensors.
Maple on Linux: commercial product
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52. Software Development on Linux
Develop software for Linux on Linux
Develop software for other OS on Linux
Every well-known PL has compilers/ interpreters on Linux
Excellent Debuggers
Virtualization
Team Support Environments
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C and C++ on Linux
These are the “native” languages.
Compilers
GNU compilers
Intel compilers
IBM compilers
Sun Studio compilers
Princeton LCC
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GNU Compilers
Fortran
Fortran 95 standard
a few Fortran 2003 features
Java
compilation to machine code
as well as byte code
Objective-C, Objective-C++
Ada and Pascal
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55. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
Virtualization
Run multiple virtual machines on a single host.
VMware
XEN
QEMU/KVM
VirtualLogix
lguest
OpenVZ
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56. LiMo Foundation Platform
Open, hardware-independent, Linux-based OS for mobile devices.
January 2007
Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung and Vodafone
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57. Specific Uses of Linux

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Linux DIY Servers
Home MultiMedia/File Server
LAMP Server
LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP
WordPress
Blog server
server
spam assassin
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59. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
Linux Firewall
Take a standard PC and install one of these:
IPcop
Smoothwall
Firestarter
Kaladix
STD
EnGarde
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60. Linux Digital Video Recorders
“In compliance with the GPL version 2, we are pleased to provide our modifications to the Linux Kernel, as well as a few new commands, and some tools to get you into the code.”
MythTV
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61. Linux Installation Issues
Linux-only PCs
Newbies should be able to install
Multi-boot PCs Problem Areas
Partitioning of the hard disks
Installation of OS Boot Loader
Mix and Match Distributions
Impractical to mix and match
Best to Compile from Source Code
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62. Linux Installation Issues
Device Drivers Unavailable for
Latest Graphics cards
Latest Wireless cards
Other devices are OK
Tainted/Restricted Drivers
Not “fully open source” drivers
ndiswrapper
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63. Mateti-Everything-About-Linux
Linux Links
distrowatch.com/ – Distributions news
kernel.org/ Kernel source code
tldp.org/ -- Linux Documentation Project
linux-live.org/ – LiveDVD build tools
linuxsecurity.com/ - Linux security portal
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