History of the linux distro: The first 30 years: Part 2
Lindows/Linspire: The Linux distro for the general public.
July
2001 a company called Lindows,Inc. was formed by a man named Michael
Robertson. In January 2002 They begin selling their Debian based,
Lindows 1.0, with the goal of developing a Linux-based operating system
capable of running major Microsoft Windows applications. It based its
Windows compatibility on the Wine API. This approach is similar to what
valve is doing today with its proton, more on that later. Lindows later
gave up the idea of making programs written for windows to easily run
inside Linux. Their new idea, make Linux applications easy to download,
install and use. To this end a program named "CNR" was developed: based
on APT (Debian's Advanced Packaging Tool), it provided an easy-to-use
graphical user interface and a slightly modified package system for a
small annual fee. The first public release of Lindows was version 1.0,
released in late 2001. -check on that-
In 2002,
Microsoft sued Lindows, Inc. claiming the name Lindows constituted an
infringement of their Windows trademark. Microsoft's claims were
rejected by the court. Microsoft sought a retrial and after the trial
was postponed in February 2004, offered to settle the case. As part of
the licensing settlement, Microsoft paid an estimated $20 million, and
Lindows, Inc. transferred the Lindows trademark to Microsoft and changed
its name to Linspire, Inc. the Linspire distribution drew a lot of
heavy criticism from the free software community. This included
criticism for them including proprietary software like Macromedia Flash,
mp3 codecs, along with nVidia and ATI video drivers. In 2007, Linspire,
Inc. and Canonical Ltd, the lead sponsor and developer of the Ubuntu
operating system, announced plans for a new technology partnership, with
Linspire. Linspire version 6.0 was to be based on Ubuntu. There was
major uproar from the Linux community. Many of those open source
fanatics at the time did not want CNR to be added to the Ubuntu
repository because it was closed source (non-free/proprietary.) However
there was and still is an entire Ubuntu repository/multiverse dedicated
to non-free software. That repository was already populated with nVidia
and ATI proprietary video drivers. It also included Java and Macro media
Flash. Many in the open source community just didn't like fact that
The Linspire incorporation charged money for their distribution.
It
is true that the Linspire Linux distro was very controversial in its
time (2001-2008). However, there is little doubt it was the first Linux
distribution to give the average novice computer user the ultimate out
of the box experience. With the release of Linspire version 5.0, the
company lived up to its claim of ease of use, ease of install,
compatibility, and end-user software variety. Linspire Five-O, as it was
referred to, had the best out of the box experience of any Linux distro
then and now.
Note: Linspire, Inc (formerly
Lindows, Inc) no longer exist. The original distro was produced from
2001 to 2008. The current linspire distro is owned and operated by
PC/OpenSystems LLC.
Novell, open Suse project
In
November 2003, Novell acquired Linux OS developer SuSE, which led to a
major shift of power in Linux distributions. IBM also invested US$50
million to show support of the SuSE acquisition.
In
August 2005, Novell created the openSUSE project, based on SUSE
Professional. openSUSE can be downloaded freely and was also available
as boxed retail product
In August 2006, Novell
released the SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 (SLE 10) series. SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server was the first enterprise class Linux server to offer
virtualization based on the Xen hypervisor. SUSE Linux Enterprise
Desktop (popularly known as SLED) featured a new user-friendly GUI and
XGL-based 3D display capabilities. The release of SLE 10 was marketed
with the phrase "Your Linux is Ready", meant to convey that Novell's
Linux offerings were ready for the enterprise. In late September 2006
Novell announced a real-time version of SLES called "SUSE Linux
Enterprise Real Time" (SLERT), based on technology from Concurrent
Computer Corporation
November
2nd 2006 Novell made a deal with the devil. Microsoft and Novell
announced a joint collaboration agreement, including coverage of their
respective products for each other's customers. This did not go over
well in the open source world. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said of the
deal, "This set of agreements will really help bridge the divide between
open-source and proprietary source software." Richard Stallman, founder
of the Free Software Foundation, said in November 2006 that changes
coming with version 3 of the GPL would preclude such deals. When the
final revision of the third version of the GPL license was decided, the
deal between Microsoft and Novell was grandfathered in.
As
stated before.. Suse is a German acronym for “Software und
System-Entwicklung” which means “Software and systems development” in
English. Today SUSE is now a name, not an acronym. The official logo and
mascot of SUSE is a chameleon officially named “Geeko.”
As
2015, the openSUSE project is supporting two versions of OpenSuse, Leap
and Tumbleweed. Tumbleweed is a rolling release, so users always have
access to the newest Linux packages. Leap is openSUSE’s regular release,
with guaranteed stability. The openSUSE Tumbleweed distribution is the
rolling release version of openSUSE containing the newest stable
applications. The openSUSE Leap is more stable and only uses the
well-tested base of SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE). openSUSE Leap is a
community-based free of cost replacement for SUSE Linux Enterprise
Desktops (SLED).
Note: Linux Enterprise Desktop is subscription based and is offered across three pricing plans
Self Support: 1 year subscription at $50 and 3 year subscription at $135
Standard: 1 year subscription at $120 and 3 year subscription at $324
Priority: 1 year subscription at $220 and 3 year subscription at $600
Canonical Ltd. the rise of Ubuntu
Canonical
Ltd is a UK-based privately held computer software company founded and
funded by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. They're most
known for The Linux distribution called ubuntu. Ubuntu is named after
the Nguni philosophy of ubuntu, which Canonical indicates means
"humanity to others" with a connotation of "I am what I am because of
who we all are"
Mark Shuttleworth gathered
(and paid out of pocket) excellent developers, put his vision in their
minds. Ubuntu 4.10 (Warty Warthog) was introduced to the world on
October 20 2004. Ubuntu is based on Debian, but on the "sid" rolling
test release, not the stable, numbered releases, which are synchronised
every six months. For a time Mark Shuttleworth would Ubuntu Discs, for
free, anywhere in the world. That program ended when broadband became
readyly available. Ubuntu releases updated versions predictably every
six months, and each release receives free support for eighteen months
with security fixes.
Current long-term support
(LTS) releases are supported for five years, and are released every two
years. Since the release of Ubuntu 6.06, every fourth release receives
long-term support. The first LTS releases were supported for three years
on the desktop and five years on the server; since Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
Ubuntu
one of the most popular distributions in the world. A number of vendors
offer computers with Ubuntu pre-installed including system 76, Dell,
Lenovo, HP, and Acer. Ubuntu alone powers more web servers than
Microsoft Windows, which powers 28.2% of all websites. As of November
2020, Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS is used in a supercomputer on the TOP500 list,
currently the fifth fastest one in the world.
Steam 0S Proton/Steam Play and Steam Deck
December
13, 2013, Valve released Linux steamOS 1.0 gaming centric distro was
released to the world. SteamOS was a Debian-based Linux distro optimized
for the Steam client and designed from the ground up to deliver a
modern living room experience. It is optimized to work with a controller
and doesn’t need you to attach a keyboard and a mouse. Furthermore, the
UI is big and console-like, allowing you to operate it while lying on
your sofa easily. While they gave up on a steam machine, Valve continued
to manufacture and sell Steam Controllers until late November 2019. The
initial versions of SteamOS, versions 1.0 and 2.0, were based on the
Debian distribution of Linux. However SteamOS 3.0, is based on the Arch
Linux distribution. The SteamOS is a distribution that is open source
with some closed source components.
Valve was
founded in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike
Harrington. In 2004, Half-Life 2 became the first game ever first be
offered digitally on Steam and require installation of the Steam client
to play for retail copies. After Initially being developed exclusively
for Microsoft Windows operating systems, Steam client was announced
Linux in 2012. The company modified the Source engine to work natively
on Linux, based on the Ubuntu distribution. Valve also extended support
to any developers that wanted to bring their games to Linux, by putting
their games on Steam and getting those running on Gnu-Linux. Versions of
Steam working under Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux were released
by 2013.
By 2018 valve came out with its own
compatibility layer known as Proton/SteamPlay. Proton incorporates
several libraries that make it possible for games written for the
windows platform to work on Linux distros like steam OS. These libraries
include Direct3D-to-Vulkan translation layers, namely DXVK for Direct3D
9, 10 and 11, and VKD3D-Proton for Direct3D 12. Proton is a fork of
Wine and maintains very similar compatibility with Windows applications
as wine. But in general valves implementation of wine tends to lags
behind vanilla Wine base. Of course this being the open source world
there is an unofficial fork of proton called Proton GE (Glorious
Eggroll) developed by Thomas Crider, a senior engineer at Red Hat.
Proton GE is a Proton build with the latest releases from the vanilla
version of WINE. Basically Proton GE is the latest development version
of Proton, plus some custom patches and tools that aren't included in
valve version of Proton.
At the end of 2021
valve announced that it was getting into the PC console hardware
business with its Steam deck. The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming
computer developed by Valve. The first batch devices was shipped to the
public on February 25, 2022. Unlike other handheld PCs that were
released in the past. The Steam Deck runs a modified Arch Linux
operating system called SteamOS v3.0. The Steam Deck plays x86-64-v3
Linux native and Windows games via the Proton compatibility layer. Valve
even worked with Epic and BattlEye to make sure their versions of
anti-sheet programs worked on the steam deck if developers opt-in to
enable it.
posted by rebelsaid @ 9:00 PM
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