Linux

It is widely believed that the reason Windows is so prone to viruses is due to its popularity on the desktop, as Windows powers approximately 87% of the world's desktop computers. While this is true, there is actually much more to it than that, and it really has to do with the basic architecture of the operating system itself.

Windows, as well as DOS before it, was designed to be a single-user operating system. This means that the operating system is designed to let the user have free reign over the entire system. However, the system has no way to tell who's doing what on the system, and no means of enforcing who can do what. As such, virus-laden code can all too easily sneak in via the Internet without your knowledge or permission.

Some versions of Windows, such as Windows NT, 2000, XP Professional, Server 2003, Server 2008, and Vista, have multiple user logins. However, Microsoft chose to preserve compatibility with programs designed for other versions of Windows, such as Windows 95, 98, or XP Home Edition, because those programs were used to having the whole computer all to themselves. As such, they had to do some fancy hacks to pull all that off, and in the process, they still left even Server 2003 and Server 2008 full of holes for hackers to exploit.

Apple's Mac OSX and Linux do not suffer from this problem. This is because they are designed from the ground up with security in mind, whereas Microsoft Windows was created for convenience with security being little more than an afterthought. Mac OSX and Linux both use a filesystem that has a strictly-enforced set of permissions that are attached to every file and folder in the system, and they spell out specifically who is allowed to do what with each file or folder.

In Windows, for a virus to infect your system, it first has to install itself onto your system. As previously stated, it's very common for viruses to do this without your knowledge or permission. But with Mac OSX or Linux, you have to have administrative privileges in order to install or uninstall a program. On Mac OSX or some Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, all you do to install or uninstall a program is enter your password when prompted to do so before you will be allowed to proceed (quite a few other Linux distributions have you enter a root password instead, requiring you to remember two passwords, one for yourself, and the other for the all-powerful root account). If, in the case of Mac OSX or Ubuntu, you don't have administrative privileges, or in the case of other distros, you don't know the root password, you simply can't do it. And that's a good deal of why Mac OSX and Linux are way more secure than Windows -- because viruses simply don't have the authorization to do install themselves behind your back with Mac OSX or Linux.

Well linux is free so you never have to pay when a new versions comes out, its also faster and less hardware demanding for an example i installed puppy linux on a old windows ME machine and puppy linux only used 68mb of ram and 87mb of ram when i used skype and web browser, and was able to do everything id normally do on newer hardware.

It depends on which shell program you are using. The 'set' command may be used in some shells, and the 'env' command may also be used. Just be aware that some of the commands will only show you variables that have been exported to the environment, whereas other commands will show all variables in the environment, whether they were exported or not.

Yes. Many Linux distributions were created that target PowerPC Macs (Yellow Dog Linux especially; Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora also have ports). Any modern distro for PCs can also be used on an Intel Mac. Debian has / had a version for 68k Macs as well, but this is no longer well-maintained, and many programs lag behind the other ports in their versions.

Software such as Virtual Box allow you to create a virtual Linux computer on your Mac. (See links below)

Yes. A new Linux server will happily found this article you assemble together with your glass windows computer's desktop to the globe. Only avoid front page, or OR language or Database SQL server and you will possibly be very good. You will not employ those ideas by mistake: will not be anxious. For more on POwer Up Hosting

It depends on what specific ssh server software you're using, but generally there's a configuration file where you can specify users that are allowed to use ssh.

For example, with OpenSSH, the file is probably /etc/ssh/sshd_config, and the line you would want in that file would be

AllowUsers Archie

Hmm... Slitaz is a minimalist Linux distro if I'm not mistaken. If you have your distribution media you should be able to at least recreate your /var directory structure.

If the /var directory structure is re-created, it shouldn't be too difficult to get most everything else working.

There are several applications available for recording your desktop (screencasting) in Linux. The most popular method is recordmydesktop, with both KDE and GTK frontends. Some other, less popular applications for this purpose include XVidCap (useful because you can select a specific area and size to record) and VLC. KDE 4 includes an application for recording the desktop built-in, although the output file isn't very compatible with most media players and will need to be converted.

NFS directory hierarchies are mounted by root and NFS maps users on the client to usres on the server. A Samba share is mounted by a nonroot user an all accesses to that share occurs as in that user's name.

Most new users of open source try several distributions (distos) before settling on one main operating system. Linux Mint is simply one of many that it is recommended a new user try out.

It depends on the shell interpreter you are using, but in general the I/O redirection operators are >, >>, |.

/etc/hosts

Only root can change it, users can view it

The Linux boot process can be divided into six steps which are as follows: # Kernel loader loading, setup, and execution: In this step, the bootsect.s file is loaded into the memory by the BIOS. When the bootsect.s file sets up, it loads the rest of the kernel into the memory. # Parameter setup and switch to 32-bit mode: When the kernel has been loaded, the boot.s file sets up a temporary IDT and GDT and handles the switch to 32-bit mode. # Kernel decompression: The head.s file decompresses the kernel. # Kernel setup: After the kernel is decompressed, the real GDT and IDT are created by the head.s (second file). # Kernel and memory initialization (main.c): In this step, the kernel sets up all memory constraints and virtual memory is completely set up. # Init process creation (main.c): In the final step of booting, the init process is created, which switches a Linux computer to different run levels. Ref: http://www.ucertify.com/article/what-are-the-various-steps-of-the-linux-boot-process.html

Windows is often considered buggy, and the registry system is inefficient and dangerous. Linux is stable and nearly bug-free, but often requires more knowledge to operate than the other two. Mac OS X has very few problems, but Apple ignores it's security because "mac's don't get viruses".

ls | sort -r

Use ls command to list all files, in the present directory. Then pipe '|' the output of the ls command to sort -r. The -r option will reverse the sort.

A Linux Distribution (distro) is lika a flavour.

For example:

You can go to a dairy bar and ask for ice cream, but you need to specify which kind of ice cream. Chocolate ice cream, strawberry, bubble gum, etc...

You can run Linux, but you need to pick a specific type of Linux such as Ubuntu, OpenSuse, Fedora Core, Gentoo, Debian, Slackware, etc..

Different distros are generally suited for different things.

There are desktop distros like Ubuntu and Mint, that are focused on end users and doing your day to day stuff like browsing the internet, writing a report for work or school or MSNing your friends.

Some Linux distros are meant for running servers. These would be things like RedHat, Debian and Slackware. These will run your company website or an email server.

The initial main goal of Linux (as a kernel) was as a hobby and for fun. Even today as a kernel and operating system family, it still predominantly targets hobbyists and enthusiasts in the consumer sector while in the enterprise industry it's gained a major following for being one of the most reliable Unix-like operating system families.

Unlike Microsoft Windows, you don't need a license to download, use, copy or give away Linux or the many distributions associated with it. Linux is actually the kernel (the heart) from which many distributions of open source operating systems radiate outwards. Ubuntu, Linux Mint, are just two of many popular operating systems that are entirely free.

Icon is not an abbreviation or initialism. An icon, in the historical sense, was an object used to represent something else, usually a god or spirit. In today's usage, an icon is a representation of a program or file in a GUI (graphical user interface).

There is no official standard, but currently most Linux distributions use either ext3 or ext4. Btrfs is looking to be the next de facto standard filesystem for Linux, but seems to be trapped in a very slow development cycle.

At the command prompt, type 'man [command]' (removing the brackets and substituting the command for which you need information).

The only disadvantage there would be is the write and read speed. Most of FTP is based on networking so your network connection would be the most focused part on FTP servers. Otherwise it's the drive and you want an SSD for a file server because it will read faster but not get used as much as writing to the disk.

The command 'pwd' will identify the full path of the present working directory.