The name 'Linux', is that of an Operating System kernel (core). This is used at the heart of many different Linux distributions - collections of essential programs, tools, applications and desktops.

It was started in 1991 and originally developed as a hobby by a student named Linus Torvalds. He wanted to create a UNIX like operating system. Source code for it was released under the GNU General Public License, making it possible for anyone to add and modify it. Linux, including all the GNU programs used on Linux based systems are being developed all the time.

Linux has come a long way over the years. It is now a very stable networking operating system that many big businesses use, from web hosting to databasing, in fact, all kinds of server applications, and now it's making a mark on the desktop world, with many office productivity applications freely available. Highly recommended is OpenOffice.org (available for Linux, Windows and other platforms).

It has also been ported to many different types of computer (architectures), such as PC's, Apple Macintosh machines Sun Sparc workstations, many mainframe and supercomputers, television set-top boxes, handheld PDA's like the Compaq Ipaq and Sharp SL-5500, and many more... Sony have even ported Linux to the Playstation II!!

Hopefully you've arrived at this site because you want to try out Linux for yourself. You can download most Linux distributions from their websites, but for people without the bandwidth on their internet connection, dial-up for instance, we provide CD copies of these distributions at very low prices. This service is ideal for trying many different distributions to see which one suits you best.

As I sit here typing out this page using KDE in an excellent web development program called Quanta on Mandrake 9.0 I can confidently say that once tried, you'll want to keep using Linux.