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What is Linux?
Linux, put simply, is an operating system. Without an operating system your computer would not run.
Linux is an open source UNIX cousin, which means it acts and looks a lot like UNIX. It can even run the same programs as most other flavors of UNIX with a little tweaking.
Linux was created from scratch, with ideas gained from UNIX, by a Finnish college student named Linus Torvalds, in 1990-1991. He released the first public version of it on the Internet in 1991. For free.
Since then, with support of literally thousands of programmers all over the world, using the Internet, Linux has grown immensely. Today it is used in many areas including business, sciences, academics, hobbies (including Ham Radio!) as well as for personal desktop systems.
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