For years now, Linux has been known primarily only to people in technology fields. While average home users may have heard of it, it is still surrounded in a cloud of mystery for the majority of people. When people think alternatives to the Windows operating system, they usually think of Apple's Mac OSX, but is it time to take a look at Linux?

Every time I visit eeeuser.com, new users always seem to pick a particular operating system for their Eee PC, then stick with it through to the end. I’m no different, I picked Xubuntu, and still use it to this day. It seems very few people actually stay with the default Xandros distro that comes with most Eee PCs.

I've heard for years how everyone is sick of Windows crashing and how Windows is a poorly made system. At the same time, I've heard about how much better a Macintosh is because it doesn't do any of these things. I've even heard that Linux is better than both of them.

Let me introduce you to Linux. A free Operating System that can replace Windows for a very good fee. FREE. Yes you heard me...FREE, NADA, ZIP, ZERO, ZILCH! What is the catch? Well you may have to give up a few things like native gaming but even that is a minor point.

"The Linux kernel (the core of the Linux operating system) The kernel package contains the Linux kernel (vmlinuz), the core of any Linux operating system. The kernel handles the basic functions of the operating system: memory allocation, process allocation, device input and output, etc."

I have been covering the Linux operating system for a long time now. There are moments when I take it for granted that everyone knows the basic terminology surrounding this operating system. Because this is obviously not the case, I thought it might be a good time to stop and explain some of the terms that many Linux users toss about every day.

Years ago I already played a bit with Linux (It was Redhat 5.0 on my 386). At that time I thought the operating system wasn't yet ready for the desktop and after a while I reinstalled Windows. Things changed when Ubuntu 5.04 was released. This was the first time I really enjoyed Linux; the most important things worked, it was easy and it was just great!

Linux user for a couple of years. Only Linux and I love it. Still, some things are wrong, they are wrong, and unfortunately, as I see it, they will always be wrong (yes I'm paid by Microsoft to say this; and yes I get the big bucks from them; and yes that's true, and unfortunately it seems like it's true for a long time now :(

If you sometimes wish that your favorite Linux distro should have a mascot, then you may like what I’m about to show you. But before that, let me give you a short intro. Some of you may have heard of the OS-tan. To those who haven’t, here’s a description taken from its wiki page: The OS-tans are an Internet phenomenon that started on Futaba Channel.