Basically Linux is an open source Unix like operating system kernel created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 at the Univocity of Helsinki in 1991 when he was a 21-year-old computer science student, working towards his PHD.

Torvalds wanted to build an operating system that would mimic the proprietary Unix operating system. He open-sourced the code (share it with the public) and the rest is history.

Linux is now the most used OS ever, used in university’s labs all over the world. It is used to host most of the Web, and it is use in a shocking amount of the electronics and appliance. If you have a late model car, it is in that as well. Let’s not forget smart-phones. Android is Linux with some free and proprietary software.

Linux itself is just the kernel (software that acts as the interface between the computers hardware and the software). Together with free software developed by contributing developers Linux has become the basses for a myriad of distributions (the Linux kernel, with a combination of free software.) Some popular distributions are Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Chrome OS, and Linux Mint, to name a few.