Open source development is based on the powerful idea that people can benefit by cooperating in software development. Until the late 1980's, shared files would have to be transferred by way of some physical medium. The growth of the Internet provides a mechanism for exchanging code which surprised all but a few 'true believers' in its utility. It's now easy to ship megabytes, even gigabytes of softare in minutes. This easy&fast data transfer has amplified the effectivness of distributed code development. Richard M. Stallman expressed the ideals and goals of this cooperative code development community when he developed the General Public License (GPL) during the development of the GNU(Gnu's Not Unix) system. Then Linus Torvalds stepped in to provide a kernel for an open source operating system.

I was first exposed to Linux in the early 1990s. Because I had been working in a Unix world since 1981, I found Linux to be a welcome alternative to what one would normally run on PC-like hardware. Therefore I grabbed the chance to "pay" for this software by making my own contributions.

These contributions have been modest, a few drivers for the Linux kernel, driver enhancements for XFree86, and some less widely distributed code. Nevertheless, it's been gratifying to know others have benefited from my work.

"Linux" refers to both the kernel and to the related environment (typically called the "system"). Linux systems are packaged in a multitude of different distribution kits. As part of my on-going support of Linux development, I've undertaken to maintain mirrors of Fedora 9, 10 and 11 systems on local servers with fast access. Visit the department's server to see what's available. These LOCAL COPIES have a number of Fedora Linux distibutions containing all kinds of good stuff.

The "Live" iso images found on the server can be downloaded, burned to CD, and then booted on your system. They'll load the Linux kernel into your memory and start running the system from the CD without touching your hard disk. It's a great way to explore the features of Linux without making any commitment to installation. (NOTE: there are versions for either a standard Intel based system, or the 64bit AMD based computer. The "KDE" in some titles refers to one of two screen management systems. The other system, Gnome, is the current default. The "alternative" versions use less memory.) I'm also maintaining links to older distribtutions:

Once you're ready to install Linux, you can do so from one of the above CDs (they have an Install command), or you can install a more complete version from one of the distribution DVDS.

These distribution DVDs contain a number of packages, where each package contains an application, subset of an application, or occasionally a suite of applications. One of the above distributions contains over a thousand packages.

But wait! There's more!
A single DVD can carry but a small fraction of the total software available. These local mirrors contain all sorts of additional software.

Where you're ready to upgrade packages or install new packages, package management tools help you. If you change some configuration files as shown on the server's page, the updates and new packages will be fetched from the same local server.

Here are some other interesting programs.