Interesting facts about Linux

In the 20 years since Linux 1.0 first appeared, the open source operating system has become one of the major winners in the enterprise data center, alongside Microsoft Windows. Linux also has a presence on the public Internet and in public cloud services.

1. "LINUX", is a directoryname on FUNET

Linux Torvalds wanted to name his kernel "Freax". Well the name is a combination of words "freak" and "free", and then the final X to represent its similarity with the Unix operating system. When the initial code was uploaded to an FTP server, the server administrator didn't like the name Freax, and he suggested the name Linux and gave a directory on the ftp server. The directory on the ftp server was called "linux".

2. Linux is only the kernel

Linux is not an OS, but it is the kernel, GNU Linux is the OS and it comes in several hundred flavours.

3. Microsoft Contributes to Linux Kernel Development

Yes the company whose main philosophy rests on proprietary software development, also contributes to Linux. It even went ahead of Canonical once, in the number of lines of code contributed to kernel. But, do not think that Microsoft is contributing to kernel development for improving the kernel. Its for better support of Hyper-V hypervisor on Linux.

4. Most of the Supercomputers use Linux

More than 90 percent of the world's fastest computer uses Linux. Linux has become a choice for high-performance computing. It was only 1 to 2 percent adoption in 1998 and in the last 15 years it grew up to more than 90 percent.

5. Linux Kernel start with 10239 lines of code

A Standard Linux Kernel of today has over 10 Million lines of code and it grows at the rate of 10% every year. About 4500 lines of codes are added and 1500 lines of code are changed every day. Initially, in 1991, Linux kernel version 0.01 was released with 10239 lines of code.

6. Android Operating System is based on Linux

The operating system is primarily based off of Linux kernel and Google has made several changes to make it go above and beyond the original basis of the Linux kernel.

7. Linux good for graphics design

Oscar-winning visual effects of the Titanic by James Cameron came from machines with Linux and Avatar was one the rich graphics movie completely developed in 3D Applications on Linux platform using Foss Software.

8. Linux asteroid

Linus Torvalds has been honored by naming an asteroid after his name.

9. Linux distro

There are over 300 distributions GNU / Linux activities ranging from the well known Debian or Fedora distributions through the governmental or educational level. And this list seems to grow with regional and personal distros being added frequently.

10. Minix operating system inspired Linus Torvalds for making Linux

Minix is very much similar to Unix, was created by Andrew S. Tanenbaum. Most of the people know him by a very famous book "Design and Implementation" which he wrote on Operating System.

11. Apache Web Server made more people adopt Linux

Many of the early companies that used Linux for Apache web server. In 1993, when Linux was nearing version 1 with many thousand users. Back in those days if you compare hosting websites using NT and hosting things using Apache Linux, building a server farm with Apache on Linux was cheaper. And Apache steadily gained the web server market share.

12. More than 10 Mobile Operating Systems are based on Linux

Normally, people think Android is the only operating system that's based on Linux. But, there are more than 10 mobile operating system's based on Linux. Such as OpenZaurus, Firefox OS, Sailfish OS, Ubuntu Touch, Ubuntu Mobile, Mobile etc are a few apart from Android.

13. Google has its own Linux Distribution called Goobuntu

Goobuntu is based on the normal Ubuntu versions but is used by internal employees of Google. It's not currently available for general public.

14. There are 20,323,379 lines of code in the Linux kernel as of 2018

That might sound like a lot but it’s actually the smallest the kernel has been for some time! Even so, despite the recent reductions, the huge line count means Linux remains the single largest open source project on the planet.

15. Linux is used by every major space programme

In the world, including NASA and the ESA, Private space companies like SpaceX also leverage it, with the latter having completed 65 space missions (and counting) with the assistance of a fault-resistant Linux system in their powerful Falcon 9 rockets.

16. Maximum Linux contributions come from big enterprises

Today, over 80% of Linux contributions come from developers paid by big enterprises. Intel tops the list of contributors. Microsoft too is also among the biggest contributors to the Linux kernel.

17. Top sectors prefer Linux

Linux is favored by the tech giants as well. For the web and cloud services, Linux is the first choice for Google, Amazon, and Facebook. You can run Microsoft Windows and the Linux kernel side by side on the same computer using a software called Cooperative Linux.

18. Linux is everywhere

U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Navy Submarine Fleet, Federal Aviation Administration, Tamil Nadu for education purpose, Japan’s bullet trains, traffic control of San Francisco, the New York Stock Exchange, CERN, many air traffic control systems or control of nuclear reactors of submarines and ships, Russia, Brazil and Venezuela for interoperable management, cost-efficient and technologically independence, Google, Cisco, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Toyota, TiVo, server hosting the website of the White House (Drupal), federal government of Brazil etc. favours Linux operating systems over all others in its PCs.

19. The bullet trains use Linux

In Japan, the bullet trains use Linux to maintain and manage the advanced Automatic Train Control system. The Linux platform is also used in the In-Vehicle-Infotainment technology (IVI) in Toyota and the other automobiles.

20. Over 95% of Linux written in C

Linux is written over 95% of in C language, according to data by the openhub.net website.