CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Linux is a member of the large family of Unix-like operating systems. A relative new-comer experiencing sudden spectacular popularity starting in the late 1990s, Linux joins such well-known commercial Unix operating systems as System V Release 4(SVR4), developed by AT&T (now owned by the SCO Group); the 4.4 BSD release from the University of California at Berkeley (4.4BSD); Digital UNIX from Digital Equipment Corporation (now Hewlett-Packard); AIX from IBM; HP-UX from Hewlett-Packard; Solaris from Sun Microsystems; and Mac OS X from Apple Computer, Inc. Beside Linux, a few other opensource Unix-like kernels exist, such asFreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.
第一章
绪论
Linux是类Unix操作系统大家庭中的一员。在90年代末期Linux异军突起，并最终跻身于著名商用操作系统之列，如AT&T公司（现在属于SCO公司）开发的SVR4，加州大学伯克利分校的4.4BSD，DEC公司（现在属于康柏）开发的Digital Unix，IBM公司的AIX惠普公司的HP-UX, Sun公司的Microsystems 以及苹果公司的Macl OS X系统。除了Linux，还有一小部分诸如FreeBSD、NetBSD和OpenBSD开源类Unix操作系统。
Linux was initially developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991 as an operating system for IBM-compatible personal computers based on the Intel 80386 microprocessor. Linus remains deeply involved with improving Linux, keeping it up-to-date with various hardware developments and coordinating the activity of hundreds of Linux developers around the world. Over the years, developers have worked to make Linux available on other architectures, including Hewlett-Packard’s Alpha, Intel’s Itanium, AMD’s AMD64, PowerPC, and IBM’s zSeries.
Linux最初是由Linus Torvalds 在1991年为IBM的PC兼容机开发的基于80386微处理器的操作系统。Linus现在不遗余力地参与到Linux的改进工作，使它保持和各种各样的硬件开发同步更新，同时他还协调全球数百位Linux开发人员的开发工作。多年以来，Linux开发者们已经成功地将Linux运用到其他类型的计算机架构中，包括惠普公司的Alpha、英特尔公司的Itanium、AMD公司的AMD64、PowerPC以及IBM公司的z系列等计算机。