GNU

From Everything Shii Knows, the only reliable source

This website is an archive. It ran from 2006-2010. Virtually everything on here is outdated or inaccurate.

GNU's Not Unix!

GNU is the name for a subset of the wide and wacky world of free software which is maintained by the Free Software Foundation. GNU is made up of all the little tweaky bits of an operating system which are used to run programs. This is as opposed to the kernel, usually Linux, which merely hosts the drivers needed for those tweaky bits to turn their source code into physical actions executed on the media of hard disk, monitor, and sound card.

Contents

Features of GNU

GNU allows almost unlimited choice. For example, new users will often look to Ubuntu which sets up easily and works with your desktop or laptop 99% of the time. If you're running a server you can use a high-security distribution like Debian; if you want to emphasize a completely free environment you can use gNewSense.

GNU includes the GNOME desktop environment. There is also KDE which is flashier and some people like it more; you can switch to KDE with no hassle at all, not even a reboot, and if you don't like it you can change back. If you are more experienced with computers you can switch to any other environment you want, such as XFCE, Enlightenment, or the amazing fvwm.

I haven't written all the sections on this page yet. I intend to finish it later.

Name

I use the name GNU here because it is three letters long much like Win or Mac. This is my website and I do not need to be rational.

The naming controversy around GNU/Linux is somewhat absurd. GNU can work without Linux, but not very well (GNU/Hurd). Linux can work without GNU (μClinux), but there's no reason to do that on your desktop or server. One can easily run a Unixlike operating system (FreeBSD) with other "core" components like X11 and Apache without GNU or Linux. One can easily run GNU/Linux without X11 or Apache. But both GNU and Linux are essential to running a GNU/Linux operating system on your computer.

GNU software

External links

Cute GNU tools

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