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P A R T I
C O N N E C T I N G T H E B O A R D
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THE MAJORITY OF modern Linux distributions are user-friendly, with a graphical user
interface (GUI) that provides an easy way to perform common tasks. It is, however, quite dif-
ferent to both Windows and OS X, so if you’re going to get the most out of your Raspberry Pi,
you’ll need a quick primer in using the operating system.
Linux: An Overview
As briefly explained in Chapter 1, “Meet the Raspberry Pi”, Linux is an open source project
that was originally founded to produce a
kernel that would be free for anyone to use. The
kernel is the heart of an operating system, and handles the communication between the user
and the hardware.
Although only the kernel itself is rightly called Linux, the term is often used to refer to a col-
lection of different open source projects from a variety of companies. These collections come
together to form different
flavours of Linux, known as distributions .
The original version of Linux was combined with a collection of tools created by a group
called GNU. The resulting system, known as
GNU/Linux , was basic but powerful. Unlike
many mainstream operating systems of the era, it offered facilities like multiple user accounts
where several users can share a single computer. That’s something rival closed-source operat-
ing systems have taken on board, with both Windows and OS X now supporting multiple
user accounts on the same system. It’s also still present in Linux, and provides security and
protection for the operating system.
In Linux, you’ll spend most of your time running a restricted user account. This doesn’t mean
you’re being limited in what you can do; instead, it prevents you from accidentally doing
something that will break the software on your Raspberry Pi. It also prevents
viruses and
other malware from infecting the system by locking down access to critical system files and
directories.
Before you can get started, it’s worth becoming familiar with some of the terms and concepts
used in the world of Linux, as defined in Table 3-1. Even if you’re experienced with other
operating systems, it’s a good idea to review this table before booting up your Pi for the first
time.