Open sources and mobile operating system

Concept of open sources operating system

Open source is a methodology or approach towards the design and development of software with the intention of giving the user access to the source code. If you use open-source software, not only will you be able to use it, you will also be able to see how it works, debug it, modify it and redistribute it. Open-source software is licensed in a way that makes it legal to use as many copies of it as you want, and whenever you want. This software usually uses fewer resources than its commercial counterpart; because it doesn’t have any code for licensing, authenticating, promoting other products, the attached advertisement.

There is a core difference between open-source software and free software. They both represent the same core idea. The open-source allows the commercial utilization of the code with the motive of profit. Many companies such as Red Hat gain significant revenues from the sale, distribution, maintenance, and consultancy services provided on open-source software. However, free software cannot be used for commercial purposes. Being an open-source program, the program code for the open-source operating system is available. Users can modify those codes and develop new applications according to his/ her requirement. Some common examples of the open-source OS are Linux, Minix, Free BSD, Open BSD, Open Solaris, FreeDOS, FreeRTOS, E/ OS.

Introduction to Linux and UNIX

UNIX

UNIX is a powerful, flexible, and multipurpose able OS with good utilities and communication abilities. It is a multiuser, multitasking, and multiprocessing operating system. It was used in bigger size machines like the mainframe and minicomputers. It was developed by AT&T Bell Labs around 1979. The development of UNIX has given birth to many operating systems that can work on different types of size of computers. For example, Linux, and Solaris OS is developed from UNIX. UNIX is a flexible operating system and can be used for any type of processor. It can work on single and multi-processors. UNIX has developed in ‘C’ and assembly language. Many of the popular commercial operating systems e.g., Linux, Xenix, HP UNIX, SUN OS has inherited their main features.

Linux

Linux is an open-source, powerful UNIX-based OS. It is a 32-bit OS that runs on a variety of platforms, including Intel, SPARC, PowerPC, and DEC Alpha processors as well as multiprocessing systems. It was developed by Linux Torvalds at the University of Helsinki in Finland as a college project. He released the version of Linux, including all the source code. With the help of literally thousands of volunteers all over the world, Linux grew dramatically. It is a user-developed product, meaning the user around the world who ran the OS for its own use has developed many of its components and drivers. It is a multi-user, multitasking, multiprogramming OS, mainly popular for server systems. It is distributed through different distributions such as Red Hat, Mandrake, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, Slackware, Sabayon, Debian, PC-BSD, OpenSolaris, etc.

Linux Distributions

The users of Linux usually obtain their operating system by downloading one of the Linux distributions. Linux isn’t a complete operating system, it’s just a kernel. Linux distributions take the Linux Kernel and combine it with other free software to create complete packages. A typical Linux distribution comprises a Linux Kernel, GNU tools, and libraries, additional software, documentation, a window system (the most common being the X Windows System), a window manager, and a desktop environment.

Almost six hundred Linux distributions exist, with close to five hundred out of those in active development. Because of the huge availability of software, distributions have taken a wide variety of forms, including those suitable for use on desktops, servers, laptops, notebooks, mobile phones and tablets, as well as minimal environment typically for use in embedded systems.

There are commercially-backed distributions, such as Fedora (Red Hat), openSUSE (SUSE) and Ubuntu, and entirely commonly-driven distributions, such as Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, and Arch Linux. Most distributions come ready to use and pre-compiled for a specific instruction set, while some distributions are distributed mostly in source code form and compiled locally during installation.

Concept of mobile operating system

A mobile operating system (also called mobile OS) is an operating system that is specifically designed to run on mobile devices such as mobile phones, smartphones, PDAs, tablets, wearables, and other handheld devices.

The mobile OS manages the hardware and makes it possible for smartphones, tablets, and wearables to run apps and other programs in user-friendly way. It also manages mobile multimedia functions, mobile and internet connectivity, touch screen controls, Bluetooth connectivity, GPS navigation, cameras, speech recognition, and more.

Some of the common mobile OS is Android, iOS, Windows.