What is The program Linux?

Question

see there are Videos on youtube on How to put Linux on a PS3 but i was wondering what linux was Please help.

Answer 1

Linux is the kernel of an Operating system. The kernel is the interface between the user interface and the machine. Linux is compiled with and uses the GNU Tools, an attempt at an operating system begun in the eighties to provide a complete operating system called GNU/Linux, but which is generally just called Linux these days. Ubuntu is one distribution of it. So is Gentoo, which I'm told is pretty popular on the Playstation 3.



Sony originally wanted to take advantage of a tax break in England which they could get by calling the Playstation 3 a computer, so they hired Yellow Dog Linux to port their version of Linux onto it. Yellow Dog was happy to because their Linux was originally for the Power PC which Apple had just dropped from their macbooks. The Cell was the linear descendent of the PowerPC so porting it over was so easy that soon everybody was doing it. Just one problem: Sony got a cut of Yellow Dog Linux. It didn't get a cut of the other distros' versions. Since their business model required them to get a cut of everything they could to make up for selling the Playstation 3s at a loss (yes at those prices) they just dropped the Linux Option from the new models. The tax break isn't worth it to them.

Answer 2

Linux is basically a term which is a reference to all of the unix-like operating systems which use a linux kernel. Mostly, they're things like Ubuntu, Debian, Suse, LinuxMint etc.



It's possible to put it onto a ps3, but i don't know how to do it personally, however it has been done, like you say. Basically, it gives you a different way of using your ps3 other than just for games, music and tv (as in, putting linux on it could probably end up letting you use a word processor on it)

Answer 3

Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Basically its an operating system!!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_on_the_PlayStation_3