Tux, the Linux Mascot

By Larry Ewing, lewing@isc.tamu.edu

What is Linux?
Seen as the ‘Brand Name’ of Open Source
(but that still means different things to different folks)

Linux? I mean: Kernel

Linux? I mean: GNU/Linux

Linux? I mean: licenses galore! (54 & counting)

Linux? I mean: FreeBSD!

Linux? I mean: Open Source, FLOSS

Linux? I mean free as in free speech, not free beer; libre, liberty

Distros (Flavors): Installation, Packaging & Updates

“There’s no there there” – Gertrude Stein, 1874-1946

Linux Time Line

1970s

MULTICS, UNIX developed

Arpanet, develops IP protocol

Email developed

Early 1990s

WWW and internet becomes ubiquitous

GUI becomes default user view

1980s

IBM PC developed (open hardware platform)

PC moves computers into the consumer realm

Late 1990s

Open Source alternatives evolve

BSD Unix

GNU License

Linux, 1991

RedHat 1993

Debian SC, 1997

OSI 1998

Netscape opens source 1998

Sharing code in academic & research community prevalent

A Little History

Richard M. Stallman, Google: RMS

GNU Manifesto, 1983, GNU, 1984;

Free Software Foundation, 1985

Free as in Freedom, 2002

Linus Torvalds, Google: Linus

Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Minix

Linux, 1991

TUX (the mascot)

Open Source Development Labs, 2000, Google: OSDL

Free, as in Freedom
not as in Free Beer

Software may be copied and redistributed

Source code must be included

Improvements may be made, and the resulting version distributed, so long as the GPL license is preserved

Can’t add restrictions

The Linux Ecosystem

Users

Kibitzers

Developers

Sponsors

Tux, the Linux Mascot

By Larry Ewing, lewing@isc.tamu.edu

Why (for Users)

Reliability, Performance, TCO

License relief

Granularity on the cheap

ABM: Anything But Microsoft

Platform flexibility

Cheap

Source code: control, support resources, customization, leverage

Why use Open Source?
(from a user perspective)

Cost in Time, not Dollars

(Good for folks with more time than money)

Control and Security

(Less bugs, faster patches, responsive community)

Options, options, options

(but these can be overwhelming)

Potential performance increase

(again, this may be a time vs. money issue)

Corporate Adoption Doughnut

Intranet

(Corporate)

Desktop

(user)

Internet /

Extranet /

WWW

Productivity Services

Email Servers

Anti-Virus

Anti-Spam

File and Print Servers

Backup

Authentication

Security

Application and Suites

Word Processing

Spreadsheet

Publishing/Layout

Graphics/Photo

Gateway Services

Web Services

Firewall/Routers

VPN Appliances

Proxy Servers

Content Filtering

Linux is moving into the enterprise from the “outside” where it’s operation is more anonymous to the “inside” where it’s operation is more apparent and obvious.

Why (for Developers)

Solve a ‘personal problem’

Ego & Charity

ABM: Anything But Microsoft

Enlist development resources

Scalability, Security

Assure project continuity, support, security, etc.

Cheer section a potent marketing force

The Open Source
Business Model

Profits based on service

Reliability, Security, Performance

Custom solutions fit better

Support options: where, when, what you need

License freedom

Key Attribute Decisions for Linux Distros

desktop vs. server (or both)

look & feel = desktops/WMs

many applications choices ...

vendor packaging&integration

support and services

release cycles / stability

“free” vs. subscription

size: memory, disk, CPU

> consolidate or specialize ?

> appl integration or speed ?

> how many hammers/nail ?

> best of breed /solution mix ?

> commercial or community ?

> scheduled or resource dep ?

> spend time / budget money ?

> honking hardware or reuse ?

Virtualization Overview

Single OS image: Ensim, Vservers, CKRM

Group user processes into resource containers

Hard to get strong isolation

Full virtualization: VMware, VirtualPC

Run multiple unmodified guest OSes

Hard to efficiently virtualize x86

Para-virtualization: UML, Xen

Run multiple guest OSes ported to special arch

Arch Xen/x86 is very close to normal x86

Xen 2.0 Architecture

Event Channel

Virtual MMU

Virtual CPU

Control IF

Hardware (SMP, MMU, physical memory, Ethernet, SCSI/IDE)

Native

Device

Driver

GuestOS

(XenLinux)

Device

Manager &

Control s/w

VM0

Native

Device

Driver

GuestOS

(XenLinux)

Unmodified

User

Software

VM1

Front-End

Device Drivers

GuestOS

(XenLinux)

Unmodified

User

Software

VM2

Front-End

Device Drivers

GuestOS

(XenBSD)

Unmodified

User

Software

VM3

Safe HW IF

Xen Virtual Machine Monitor

Back-End

Back-End

Xen Today : 2.0 Features

Secure isolation between VMs

Resource control and QoS

Only guest kernel needs to be ported

All user-level apps and libraries run unmodified

Linux 2.4/2.6, NetBSD, FreeBSD, Plan9

Execution performance is close to native

Supports the same hardware as Linux x86

Live Relocation of VMs between Xen nodes

Roadmap for Xen 3.0

Better cluster management tools

Manage pool of VMs across a set of nodes

Better tools for QoS control

New GUI management tool

Improved hardware compatibility

Graphics cards, ACPI, APM

Open Source Software Repositories

kernel.org

SourceForge.net

debian.org

freshmeat.net , rpmfind.net , atrpms.net

Additional Resources

www.gnu.org

www.opensource.org

www.openoffice.org

www.k12linux.org

Most of the cost benefit is for license relief, as software licenses are the largest on-going cost of most ‘end users’.

Control and security claim is based on lower numbers of bugs and less exploits and attacks on non-windows machines. This comes at a cost of knowing what you are running.

Performance increase is for very compute intensive stuff, normal ‘word and email’ users won’t see any noticeable difference unless they have very old hardware. Even if performance is better for these users, unfamiliarity with the applications may make perceived performance worse than a Microsoft centric solution.

POPF doesn’t trap if executed with insufficient privilege

Commercial / production use

Released under the GPL; Guest OSes can be any licensce

2005-05-05T10:36:52