barefoot cyborg_
the synergy of humanity and technology
(Or, why you might want to learn more about Linux.)
Can something that is free truly change the world?
Yes it can, and it is happening right now, all around us.
Linux is a free operating system that can be installed on just about any computer – free to download, free to use, free to distribute, free to modify.
You can use it to create products and services that can be sold, and give nothing back in return to the people who created it, in a financial sense – this is one reason why Linux is changing the world.
Whether you realize it or not, you have used Linux, you are using it right now, and you will be using it more going forward – this blog site is hosted on a Linux server, and if you have your own blog, it might be hosted on Linux too.
We are in good company – Google is a heavy user of Linux, from in-house development to huge server farms.
And they are not alone.
Some well-known entertainment companies use Linux, for instance.
Pixar recently released the movie Cars 2 – apparently it took 12,500 processor cores around 11-1/2 hours to render each frame of the movie (!) – and this was done on Linux-powered computers.
Here is the Pixar Renderfarm:
In a similar way, Weta Digital out of New Zealand has been using Ubuntu Linux for many years to create special effects in movies such as Lord of the Rings.
There are more serious applications for Linux, as well – the Large Hadron Collider at CERN uses Linux.
(CERN, incidentally, was the birthplace of the World Wide Web, running on a predecessor to the modern Apple Mac OS X operating system, NeXTSTEP.)
Other companies and countries around the world are or will be using Linux to great effect:
France’s Gendarmerie Nationale adopts Ubuntu Linux
India’s BOSS Linux
China’s Red Flag Linux
Russian Government to transition to Linux by 2015
On a smaller scale, if you use an Android-powered smartphone or tablet, you are running a customized version of Linux - Android, by the way, is under the Google umbrella.
The future will be interesting for computers and technology, and it won’t necessarily be an Intel/AMD and Windows/OS X future…
Expect to see more new computers – especially laptops and netbooks – running Linux on ARM and MIPS processors.
Here is an ARM-based netbook running Ubuntu Linux – the EFIKA MX Smartbook.
This is available right now for $199, direct from the manufacturer. It has a single-core ARM processor that would be fast enough for most online work.
And have a look at this – a MIPS-based laptop that looks a lot like an Apple MacBook Pro, also running Linux:
In spite of being a bit of a clone design-wise, I can really appreciate the internals – the Chinese-designed Loongson Godson 3A MIPS processor is quad-core and runs at 1 GHz, so you could really do a lot with it.
You can expect to see more devices running on Linux – computers, tablets, smartphones, all kinds of digital devices.
Already many of us are using Android-powered smartphones and tablets, and a variety of Chromebooks are just coming out on the market, running a custom version of Linux – Chrome OS – developed by Google.
Due to the free nature of the software, it is even possible to download and install an unofficial version of Chrome OS to make your own Chromebook (I will detail how to do this in a future post).
Remember – just because something is free, doesn’t mean that it isn’t as good or better than what is commercially available.
Linux is a prime example of this, as you can see.
And it is changing the world.
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(The picture at the top? That partially explains where I have been lately – working very hard on some Linux-related projects for one of my businesses – stay tuned.
That is a screenshot of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS running on my Apple PowerBook G4. Ubuntu is, of course, a version of Linux.
Apple will not be supporting the PowerPC architecture used in the older PowerBooks going forward, however, there are other free open source operating systems to fill that gap – including Linux.
So, Linux can also be used to extend the life of an otherwise abandoned platform.
How well does it run?
VERY well.)
Hi Brett.
I still get the gist that that is a lot. Wow! It boggles my mind.
Well first off, I have to say that I love the logo on the first picture. How perfect is that? The stats for the move Cars 2…? Although that bit flew over my head
What I appreciated reading here is that “Linux can also be used to extend the life of an otherwise abandoned platform.” I like the sound of that.
Hi Davina,
Glad you like it – I found that wallpaper years ago and have always enjoyed using it on my Linux machines.
The fact that it is actually on an Apple PowerBook makes it just that much better
Yes, the old machine soldiers on, so well in fact that I wonder sometimes if I shouldn’t just move everything else to Ubuntu. Windows 7 sometimes makes my new ThinkPad X120e chug a bit when it resumes from sleep, and it has 8 GB of memory and a solid-state drive.
That should *not* be happening, and I can’t imagine it would with Linux. I’ll have to investigate further…
I want to see Cars 2 with my kids but since my wife also wants to see it (and *does not* want to see Transformers 3D with our oldest), I’ll be watching Cars 2 via “my favourite video store” on my TV at home