Linux for Librarians

1. Library 2.0 Linux for Librarians Nishtha Anilkumar Librarian nishtha@prl.res.in Physical Research Laboratory Ahmedabad

2. Library 2.0 Why Linux ? Most of the library system softwares like LibSys now run on Linux platform Digital Library Softwares like Greenstone and DSpace are available on Linux platform Open Source Integrated Library systems like Koha also run on Linux

3. Library 2.0 Understanding Linux • A story that goes back over 40 years to Bell Laboratories, where UNIX • was born

4. Library 2.0 Ken Thompson & Dennis Ritchie • Thompson developed the first • UNIX kernel • Ritchie developed the a • computer language ‘C’ • Portability, Modularity, Flexibility • made UNIX popular

5. Library 2.0 Richard M Stallman (RMS)‏ • Without Stallman’s contribution, Linux would have had a different quality • Member of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory • Culture of the Lab. was one of extreme openness

6. Library 2.0 Birth of GNU • Mission of RMS : Creation of free • UNIX like OS • GNU stands for ‘GNU is Not Unix’ • RMS’s formula for free software : • Freedom to run the program • Freedom to modify the program • Freedom to distribute copies • Freedom to redistribute the modified versions

7. Free Software • By 1991 ‘Minix ‘ was in circulation which • was a variant of UNIX • Linus Torvalds, a Finnish software engineer, • reacting to the limitations of Minix, took a • small bit of working code and Minix as a • guidelineto create a basic kernel Library 2.0

8. Library 2.0 Linus Torvalds • Linus released it under the GPL (GNU Public Licence) originated by RMS and the Free Software foundation • With very basic operating system built from Linus’s kernel and handful of GNU tools – • Linux was born!

9. Library 2.0 Another facet of Linux culture • One of the difficulties of getting a working • Linux machine was downloading all the needed bits and compiling them • Overcome by – Distribution or Distro • However, the term free software was being taken as something of inferior quality

10. Library 2.0 Eric S Raymond (ESR)‏ • Instrumental in removing this notion of “low quality or incomplete” • Led the way to market the name ‘Open Source software’ (OSS) as a new way of thinking The Cathedral and the Bazaar - CatB

11. Library 2.0 Current applications • Networking and services in the beginning • Today Linux has joined the desktop On the server side Stable and reliable platform providing database and trading service for companies First choice for firewall, proxy- and web servers

12. Library 2.0 Other applications • In large search engines, clusters are used to perform Internet searches • Linux also runs on • gadgets like • PDAs • Mobiles • Experimental • watches

13. Library 2.0 Challenges faced by organizations • Reducing the costs • Managing heterogeneous technology landscape • Ensuring sufficient support Basic needs to be met - Performance, Security & Standardization

14. Library 2.0 Linux pros and cons • Free • Portable • Made to keep running • Secure and versatile • Scalable • Short debug times • There are far too many distributions • Linux is confusing for beginners • Is an Open Source product trustworthy ?

15. Library 2.0 Direct benefits of adopting Linux • Flexibility to choose vendors • Alternative to costly proprietary OSs • Ease of migration • Security

16. Library 2.0 What is KDE, GNOME ? • The K Desktop • Environment (KDE) • and GNOME Desktop Environment are two • popular desktops • available

17. Library 2.0 Distributions • On top of an OS, there are many applications which provide complete environment e.g. Windows have tools like Word pad • Most Linux distributions also comes bundled with many applications • Examples – Red Hat, Debian, SUSE, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva

18. Library 2.0 Choosing the right distribution • 1) Purpose • 2) Software update life • 3) Feature Stability • 4) Package Selection

19. Library 2.0 1. Purpose Desktop usage : ease of adjusting settings, age of software, range of GUI applications Server usage : software life, security

20. Library 2.0 2. Software Update life • How often you want to upgrade to a new • distribution version ? • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Centos, Debian or Ubuntu LTS are good choices for longer life distribution

21. Library 2.0 3. Feature Stability Many distros have a policy of not upgrading software in mid-release Instead distro maintainers will backport a security fix to a older release and rename it Reason – if they upgraded to a new version, the features or configuration might have changed

22. Library 2.0 4. Package Selection Different distros have differing amount of softwares in their repositories Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux has a much smaller package offering than Debian

23. Library 2.0 Choice of distribution For servers, RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) For Desktop – Fedora or Ubuntu

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26. Library 2.0 Linux Users’ Group (LUG) LUG - a non-profit or not-for-profit organization that provides support and/or education for Linux users particularly for novices Online LUGs use mailing lists and bulletin boards for communication

27. Library 2.0 Some interesting links http://www.reallylinux.com http://www.wikipedia.org http://www.redhat.com http://hardware4linux.info/

28. Library 2.0 Thank you ! nishtha@prl.res.in