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Birth
Linus Torvalds is born to Anna and Nils Torvalds in Helsinki, Finland Torvalds, Linus; Diamond, David (2001). Just For Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary. New York, New York, United States: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-662072-4 -
GNU Project is Started
Richard Stallman and the GNU Project started at MIT believed in the freedom of Computer Programmers to be able to use their computer devices and software in an open and free way. One of the main ideas of this project is that in order for that to truly happen, there had to be a truly free operating system. Little did they know, Linus Torvald would help create the first free operating system 7 years later. Richard Stallman. "new Unix implementation". -
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Linus Torvald's Time in University
Linus majors in Computer Science at the University of Helsinki in Finland. And although Linus joins the military for a year of mandatory service, he graduates with his MS in Computer Science in 1996
(Torvalds, 29). -
Richard Stallman Creates the GPL
In 1989 as part of the GNU Project, Richard Stallman creates the GPL (General Public License). This is a "copyleft" license that allows anyone to download, alter, and distribute software with the GPL license. It bolstered open-source software and enabled Linux to become such a successful operating system. “Gnu.org.” [A GNU head], www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-1.0.html. -
Linus is exposed to UNIX
In 1990 during his years in university, Linus is first exposed to UNIX, an operating system leased by most universities. UNIX will be the system that Linus bases his Linux off of (Torvalds, 53). -
Linus Starts Working on Linux
After using UNIX, Linus decides to create an open source version of UNIX -
Softlanding Linux System released
The most comprehensive distribution of Linux for about a year. It included the main Linux kernel, substantial libraries, and the X Window System. It was created by Peter MacDonald
Linux Distribution Timeline. futurist.se/gldt/wp-content/uploads/11.04/gldt1104.svg. -
Slackware Distribution is Released
Slackware, another solution to SLS not being maintained, is released. The purpose of Slackware was to be used as the most UNIX-like distribution of Linux and was created by Patrick Volkerding -
Debian Distribution Released
At this point, SLS, the most comprehensive distribution of Linux was not being maintained very well, so Ian Murdock created a distribution of his own. Debian is a distribution still used today and is actually used by NASA laptops on the ISS. -
Linux Version 1.0 Released
Although prototypes of Linux was available as early as 1991, the very first completely working distributed version of Linux was released.
Torvalds, Linus. “Index of /Pub/Linux/Kernel/v1.0/.” Index of /Pub/Linux/Kernel/v1.0/, www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v1.0/. -
Linus Graduates at University of Helsinki
Linus Torvalds graduates with his MS in Computer Science with his masters thesis being titled: Linux: A Portable Operation System, which he started in early 1990. Coincidentally, when turned into an acronym, it reads Linux: A P.O.S. -
Tux is Created
Tux, the mascot of Linux is created by Larry Ewing and later added to the Linux mailing list by Linus in 1996. Tux has been used to represent Linux since then and other distributions of Linux depict the mascot in different styles. Tux helped, in a sense, market and raise awareness for Linux. -
ArchLinux Distribution is Released
ArchLinux was created by Aaron Griffin in 2002 and is actively developed by the community. As opposed to some of the distributions offered by companies such as Red Hat Enterprise, Oracle, and SUSE, ArchLinux is mainly developed by volunteers. -
Fedora Distribution is Released
Created by the Red Hat volunteer group and sponsored by the company Red Hat, Fedora is a distribution of Linux created to test software created by Red Hat before software is migrated over to Red Hat Enterprise Linux for official release. Nottingham, Bill (6 November 2003). "Announcing Fedora Core 1". Fedora Project announce (Mailing list). -
NASA Installs Linux on Columbia Supercomputer
NASA decides to migrate from Windows and use Linux for their Columbia supercomputer.
NASA, NASA, www.nas.nasa.gov/hecc/resources/columbia.html. -
Ubuntu Distribution is Released
British company Canonical derives a version of Linux called Ubuntu from Debian's source code. It is a version of Linux used by some students in Computer Science learning how to use databases for PHP/Web Development. -
NASA Switches Operating Systems on ISS from Windows to Linux
In attempts to make their systems more reliable and stable, in 2013 NASA switches the operating systems on the laptops on the International Space Station from Windows to Linux. This is a prime example of Linux being solidified as a reliable tool for something so sensitive as space missions.
