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For any R&D personnel, Linux is the most powerful operating system, bar none! Why do you say that, for the following reasons:

• Efficient: Simple and effective commands can efficiently complete a lot of daily development work
• Stable: The stability of Linux operation is perfect for background servers
• Security: Linux is open source and maintained by many developers, so there are very few exploitable vulnerabilities
• Open: Linux source code is open
• Multiple users: It is true that multiple users can work at the same time

So where does such a powerful system come from?

1. The Birth of GNU/Linux

In 1969, AT&T (Bell Laboratories, USA) had two people——Ken, Dennis developed the Unix operating system to adapt to their games , and abandoned assembly, invented C language by the way, and completed the entire operating system with C, and Unix is ​​the root of all evil in this topic~

In fact, Unix is ​​open source and free, because it is only a stand-alone version, which does not have much effect. After a period of time, the great TCP/IP protocol was born in UC Berkeley, which made all computers well connected. Unix It evolved into BSD, so that later FreeBSD, NetBSD, MacOS, iOS, etc…

But don’t forget, the origin of all this is Unix. Of course, it is impossible to see BSD being so popular. Unix has started to charge. There are also our group of hard-working students who want to learn to use Unix but can’t afford Unix, so Andrew Tnanebaum, a computer science professor in the United States, wrote the Minix operating system based on Unix for teaching. But Yulan, in 1991, a sophomore in the United States Linus Torvalds felt that Minix was not good enough, so he wrote a Linux kernel, but no matter how powerful it is, it is only a kernel~

Coincidentally, at that time, GNU (GNU is Not Uinx) was also a Unix-like operating system dedicated to freedom. It developed almost all software except the kernel, and createdGeneral Public License (GPL) —— Get the permanent right to use the source code for free, you can modify it arbitrarily, but you are obliged to disclose the modified code~
So, Linux and GNU hit it off, a match made in heaven In this way, a pair was born, joined forces, and evolved into the most powerful operating system – GNU/Linux.

2.GNU/Linux-derived distribution

Of course, the combination of Linux kernel and GNU is not enough. For users’ use, it should also include command line shell or desktop environment (KDE, GNOME, Unity, etc.), so many Linux distributions have been derived, mainly three Large branch:

• redhat
• debian
• openSUSE

If these distributions are divided according to application scenarios, there are two main categories:

• Server distribution based on command line shell: CentOS/RHEL, openSUSE, Ubuntu Server
• Desktop distribution based on desktop environment: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora

3. Embedded Linux

Standard Linux runs on a general-purpose computer or in the cloud. Although it contains many functions, it requires a relatively high hardware configuration. The system requirements required for the Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS release are as shown in the figure:

In an embedded system with extremely limited resources, obviously such performance is It is absolutely impossible to satisfy, so how to make the powerful Linux kernel applied in the embedded system?

Embedded systems have a very distinctive feature – usually they are for a specific application, so cut the standard Linux according to the situation, and only keep the required functions strong> (For example, Linux running on a router does not need interface functions), so it only needs a small amount of Flash and RAM to run perfectly on embedded devices.

4. Embedded Linux Knowledge Framework

5. How to learn Linux

For such a powerful and effective operating system, just choose one of your favorite distributions for learning purposes. My learning journey is:

First learn on a virtual machine:

• Can operate: basic Linux commands, Linux file system
• Programming: shell script programming, basic C programming, network programming, GUI programming

Then learn on the development board, choose ARM9 or ARM11:

• will start�: Transplanted and started successfully
• Can drive: Can write common drivers