Unix: write, cp, lpr, Is, mkdir, date, rm, man, grep, rwho, mv
| Action | VMS command | Unix command |
| List all the files in a directory Delete a file Rename a file Copy a file Send a file to a printer Obtain help Create a directory Show date and time Show users on system Talk to other users on system Search for a string in a file |
Task 11. Translate the following sentences into English. Mind grammar
1. , .
2. , , ' , - .
3. , , .
4. , , .
5. ' , .
TEXT 5B
Task 12. Find the answers to these questions in the following text
1. What did Linus Torvalds use to write the Linux kernel?
2. How was the Linux kernel first made available to the general public?
3. What is a programmer likely to do with source code?
4. Why will most software companies not sell you their source code?
5. What type of utilities and applications are provided in a Linux distribution?
6. What is X?
7. What graphical user interfaces are mentioned in the text?
LINUX
Linux has its roots in a student project. In 1992, an undergraduate called Linus Torvalds was studying computer science in Helsinki, Finland. Like most computer science courses, a big component of it was taught on (and about) Unix. Unix was the wonder operating system of the 1970s and 1980s: both a textbook example of the principles of operating system design, and sufficiently robust to be the standard OS in engineering and scientific computing. But Unix was a commercial product (licensed by ATE&T to a number of resellers), and cost more than a student could pay.
Annoyed by the shortcomings of Minix (a compact Unix clone written as a teaching aid by Professor Andy Tannenbaum) Linus set out to write his own 'kernel' the core of an operating system that handles memory allocation, talks to hardware devices, and makes sure everything keeps running. He used the GNU programming tools developed by Richard Stallman's Free Software Foundation, an organisation of volunteers dedicated to fulfilling Stallman's ideal of making good software that anyone could use without paying. When he'd written a basic kernel, he released the source code to the Linux kernel on the Internet.
Source code is important. It's the original from which compiled programs are generated. If you don't have the source code to a program, you can't modify it to fix bugs or add new features. Most software companies won't sell you their source code, or will only do so for an eye-watering price, because they believe that if they make it available it will destroy their revenue stream.
|
|
|
What happened next was astounding, from the conventional, commercial software industry point of view - and utterly predictable to anyone who knew about the Free Software Foundation. Programmers (mostly academics and students) began using Linux. They found that it didn't do things they wanted it to do so they fixed it. And where they improved it, they sent the improvements to Linus, who rolled them into the kernel. And Linux began to grow.
There's a term for this model of software development; it's called Open Source (see www.opensource.org/ for more information).
Anyone can have the source code it's free (in the sense of free speech, not free beer). Anyone can contribute to it.
If you use it heavily you may want to extend or develop or fix bugs in it - and it is so easy to give your fixes back to the community that most people do so.
An operating system kernel on its own isn't a lot of use; but Linux was purposefully designed as a near-clone of Unix, and there is a lot of software out there that is free and was designed to compile on Linux. By about 1992, the first 'distributions' appeared.
A distribution is the Linux-user term for a complete operating system kit, complete with the utilities and applications you need to make it do useful things command interpreters, programming tools, text editors, typesetting tools, and graphical user interfaces based on the X windowing system. X is a standard in academic and scientific computing, but not hitherto common on PCs; it's a complex distributed windowing system on which people implement graphical interfaces like KDE and Gnome.
As more and more people got to know about Linux, some of them began to port the Linux kernel to run on non-standard computers. Because it's free, Linux is now the most widely-ported operating system there is.
Task 13. Match the term with the definition.
| Table A | Table B |
| a Kernel b Free Software Foundation c Source code d Open Source e A distribution f X | i A type of software development where any programmer can develop or fix bugs in the software ii The original systems program from which compiled programs are generated iii A complete operating system kit with the utilities and applications you need to make it do useful things iv A standard distributed windowing system on which people implement graphical interfaces v An organisation of volunteers dedicated to making good software that anyone could use without paying vi The core of an operating system that handles memory allocation, talks to hardware devices, and makes sure everything keeps running |
Task 14. Mark the following statements as True or False:
1. Linux was created in the 1980s.
2. Minix was created by a university student.
3. Linux is based on Unix.
4. Minix is based on Unix.
5. Linux runs on more types of computer than any other operating system.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
REPORTED SPEECH
The sequence of tenses in the subordinate clauses:
|
|
|
| Main clause | Action | Subordinate clause | Examples |
| PAST | Simultaneous | The Past Indefinite or the Past Continuous (no matter which of the past tenses is used in the principle clause) | Mark was watching her while she was reading. |
| Preceding | The Past Perfect or the Past Perfect Continuous (no matter which of the past tenses is used in the principle clause) | He didnt know why she had left without leaving a note. | |
| Following | Future-in-the-Past (no matter which of the past tenses is used in the principle clause) | The note on the table said that she would not back. | |
| PRESENT | Simultaneous | The Present Indefinite or the Present Continuous (no matter which of the past tenses is used in the principle clause) | James has told me that he is too busy now. |
| Preceding | The Present Perfect, the Past Indefinite, the Present Perfect Continuous or the Past Continuous (no matter which of the past tenses is used in the principle clause) | I dont think we have met before. From your looks its clear that it has been raining hard. | |
| Following | Means of expressing future (no matter which of the past tenses is used in the principle clause) | I hope he will help me. | |
| FUTURE | Simultaneous | The Present Indefinite or the Present Continuous | They will find they have much to do there. |
| Preceding | The Present Perfect or the Past Indefinite | He will find that Mary has left. | |
| Following | Means of expressing future | Ill let you know what he will do. |
TENSE CHANGE - IN - INDIRECT SPEECH
Present Simple tense into Past Simple
Present Continuous tense into Past Continuous
Present Perfect tense into Past Perfect
Present Perfect Continuous into Past Perfect Continuous
Past Simple into Past Perfect
Past Continuous into Past Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect into Past Perfect
Future Simple, will into would
Future Continuous, will be into would be
Future Perfect, will have into would have
| DIRECT SPEECH | INDIRECT SPEECH |
PRESENT TENSE
