Pronounced lee-nucks or lih-nucks. A freely-distributable open source operating system that runs on a number of hardware platforms. The Linux kernel was developed mainly by Linus Torvalds. Because it's free, and because it runs on many platforms, including PCs and Macintoshes, Linux has become an extremely popular alternative to proprietary operating systems. (from www.webopedia.com)
La parola Linux e' comunemente utilizzata per indicare il sistema operativo basato sul kernel monolitico di tipo Unix sviluppato da Linus Torvalds. Tutto ebbe inizio con questo messaggio postato da Linus Torvalds su Usenet nell'agosto del 1991:
"I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional...) for AT clones... It's not portable and it probably [won't ever] support anything other than AT hard disks, as that's all I have:-(."
La parola Linux e' l'unione del nome del suo creatore, Linus, con la parola Unix, che identifica una serie di sistemi operativi ai quali Linux si ispira. (from it.wikipedia.org)