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.