Concepts Overview

This article and this section outlines the concepts of Linux, GNU, and UNIX concepts.

What is Linux?

Linux is technically an open-source kernel which provides core functionalities to an operating system and an interface between programs and hardware. Ultramarine itself is built on Linux.

Linux is not a complete operating system by itself. Operating systems that ship the Linux kernel, are usually packaged along with a separate suite of programs known as GNU. This kind of operating system is often referred to as GNU/Linux, or Linux for short; a branded operating system shipping the GNU software collection, the Linux kernel and other extra software (which are sometimes built and distributed using a custom packaging system), and/or containing specific default configurations/features, is said to be a GNU/Linux distribution, or a distro for short.

An abridged video of this article can be found here:

What is the GNU in GNU/Linux?

Main article: GNU Core Utilities from Wikipedia

GNU (AKA The GNU Core Utilities, or just coreutils) is a collection of utilities that make up the GNU operating system.

It is a package of various common apps and utilities like ls and mv.

Ultramarine is currently experimenting with dropping GNU from the system. It’s highly experimental and we may not continue development in the future.

What are Linux Distributions?

A Linux distribution is an operating system that is built on top of the Linux kernel. It is a collection of packages that are packaged together to make a complete operating system.

A Linux distribution may come in many different forms, and made for different kinds of use cases.

There are many different Linux distributions, and each one has its own unique features and benefits, such as:

  • Ubuntu
  • Pop!_OS
  • Linux Mint
  • Fedora Linux
  • Enterprise Linux (Red Hat, CentOS, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, etc.)
  • Arch Linux
  • Android
  • Ultramarine Linux
  • etc.

Ultramarine Linux itself is a Linux distribution that is based on Fedora Linux, and many concepts that apply to Fedora Linux are also applicable to Ultramarine Linux.

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