Learning Old School Linux Read online

Preface

  I have many fond memories of writing for ComputorEdge magazine.

  In 2003, and for many years ComputorEdge magazine could be found for free beside every supermarket checkout or convenience store in Colorado. It was the place to go for light-hearted local technology news, and to find local stores with the best deals on computers.

  I first started writing for ComputorEdge after returning with my family from some time abroad. I had been working as a telecom consultant in London. The work was exciting, and involved learning a number of new technologies, including lots of Visual C++ work. I found London to be incredibly exciting and fun, but also outrageously expensive. Money seemed to evaporate from my wallet at an unexpected rate, and yet we were living a lifestyle far less extravagant than American life in Colorado.

  At the time, the technology magazine industry was in its final flourish. The internet was new and google still young. We had not yet formed the habit of looking up everything on-line. Professionals in the IT industry looked to magazines to stay current and expand our skills. Magazines like Byte and Dr Dobbs Journal were extremely useful and very widely read. There were (and still are) magazines for every segment of the tech market.

  Needing money, I started supplementing my income by writing for various magazines, first in the UK, then in America. In those days one could easily make over $1000 for a good technical article, even in the second-tier of magazines. And they were all so hungry for content!

  As a contrast to the more technical magazines, ComputorEdge offered several attractive features for me. It was weekly, with shorter, lighter articles. Heavy technical content was not what the editor wanted - he wanted entertaining writing for a readership who were not all computer programmers, but rather people with other professions who nonetheless enjoyed learning a little about these amazing machines.

  At ComporEdge I was one of a number of writers who addressed the world of Linux. In those days Linux was still the province of computer-geeks. It was just entering the lexicon of the mainstream computer user. Together with the other ComputorEdge writers, I helped explain what was going on under the hood. What was Linux, where did it come from, and where is it going? These were the sorts of questions we answered for our readers.

  Writing for ComputorEdge became my most fun writing gig. I got a chance to look up all sorts of historical oddities and wonders, and I learned a lot. I also took the chance to experiment with different writing styles, ranging from straigh-up instructional to humor.

  This collection of ComputorEdge articles provides an easy-to-read ntroduction to the world of Linux as it developed. I think they are still relevant, entertaining, and informative, and I hope you will too.

  Putting together this material as an ebook also provides yet another technology learning adventure. The means of production have truly been placed in the hands of the people - one person, working alone, and produce a book in a few hours. What will this do for our information based civilization?

  Historical Notes

  The articles in this section relate primarily to two giants of computer science: Richard Stallman and Donald Knuth. These two men have, with the work of their minds alone, fundamentally changed how we use computer systems. The articles below are written with the greatest respect.

  Richard Stallman: Innovative Genius or Tinfoil-Hat-Wearing Nutcase?

  Richard Stallman is one of the most influential and productive computer programmers alive today. He may also be one of the oddest.

  Stallman's claim to programming fame began when he wrote a text editor called "emacs." The emacs text editor is more than just an editor. It was, in fact, the first (and still the best) integrated development environment—the perfect tool for programmers in any of the many programming languages used in the UNIX world.

  Emacs is still one of the most popular programming tools in use today, and would alone have ensured Stallman's fame. But it was what he did afterward that was destined to have a far greater impact on the world: Richard Stallman founded the "free software movement."

  Stallman is famous for his devotion to careful terminology. He has acknowledged that his use of the term "free software" has caused a lot of confusion. Free software doesn't mean software for zero cost; it means software that you have the freedom to use fully—to modify, to inspect, and to give to your colleagues and friends.

  As Stallman put it: Free as in freedom of speech, not as in free beer.

  If you buy software from Microsoft, you have only the company's word for what the software does (if it even tells you).

  When you use free software, you have the source code. Just look and see for yourself what the software does. If you don't like it, or find a mistake, you can change the software directly.

  These pragmatic reasons for preferring free software have been persuasive enough to convince many hard-nosed corporate executives to depend upon (and contribute to) many free software packages.

  But these are not the reasons that inspired Richard Stallman. His motives are more idealistic.

  The Idealism Behind Free Software

  Stallman's ideas of software freedom were inspired more by the "golden rule" than any attempt to improve the software-development lifestyle. As explained in the original announcement of the GNU Project, Stallman said that he wanted programmers to work together to benefit society, not to work against each other in a quest for profit.

  Stallman never objects to people working for a profit—merely to the way in which the proprietary software industry currently makes a profit: by restricting the freedom of users to fully use the software.

  Stallman's idealism led him to break with the direction of software development in academia and industry. His GNU Project was so far from the norm that few knew what to make of it. No one could have predicted the effect that Stallman's efforts would have.