ASSOCIATED TECHNOLOGY

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for desktops, laptops and servers. It is based on debian GNU/Linux. Ubuntu aims to provide an up-to-date yet stable operating system for the average user, and features a strong focus on usability, regular releases, and ease of installation. Ubuntu is sponsored by Canonical Ltd , owned by South African entrepreneurMark Shuttleworth.

The name of the distribution comes from the southern African concept of ubuntu which may be rendered roughly as "humanity toward others", "we are people because of other people", or "I am who I am because of who we all are", though other meanings have been suggested.. This Linux distribution is named Ubuntu as it is expected to bring the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world. Ubuntu is free software and users can share it among each other.

Kubuntu and Xubuntu are official subprojects of the Ubuntu project, aiming to bring the KDE and Xfce desktop environments, respectively, to the Ubuntu core (Ubuntu uses GNOME for its desktop environment). Edubunut is an official subproject designed for school environments, and should be equally suitable for children to use at home.

Gobuntu is an official subproject that is aimed at adhering strictly to the Free Software Fondation's Four freedoms The newest official subproject is JeOS. Ubuntu JeOS (pronounced "Juice") is an efficient variant of the popular desktop and server operating system, configured specifically for virtual appliances.

HISTROY / BACKGROUND

The first computers did not have operating systems. By the early 1960s, commercial computer vendors were supplying quite extensive tools for streamlining the development, scheduling, and execution of jobs on batch processing systems. Examples were produced by UNIVAC and Control Data Corporation , amongst others.

Mainframes

Through the 1960s, many major features were pioneered in the field of operating systems. The development of the IBM system/360 produced a family of mainframe computers available in widely differing capacities and price points, for which a single operating system OS/360 was planned (rather than developing ad-hoc programs for every individual model).

Microcomputers

The first microcomputers did not have the capacity or need for the elaborate operating systems that had been developed for mainframes and minis; minimalistic operating systems were developed, often loaded from ROM and known as Monitors. One notable early disk-based operating system was CP/M, which was supported on many early microcomputers and was closely imitated in MS-DOS, which became wildly popular as the operating system chosen for the IBM-PC.

Microsoft Windows

The Microsoft windows family of operating systems originated as an add-on to the older MS-DOS operating system for the IBM-PC Modern versions are based on the newer WindowsNT kernel that was originally intended for OS/2 and borrowed from VMS Windows runs on x86,x86/64 and itanium processors.

Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas Mcllroy at bell labs designed and developed the C programming language to build the operating system Unix. Programmers at Bell Labs went on to develop plan 9 and inferno , which were engineered for modern distributed environments. Plan 9 was designed from the start to be a networked operating system, and had graphics built-in, unlike Unix, which added these features to the design later.

Unix and Unix-like operating systems

The unix-like family is a diverse group of operating systems, with several major sub-categories including Systemv,BSD, and linux The name "UNIX" is a trademark of the open group which licenses it for use with any operating system that has been shown to conform to their definitions. "Unix-like" is commonly used to refer to the large set of operating systems which resemble the original Unix.

Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a line of proprietary graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple inc., the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently shipping Machintosh computers. Mac OS X is the successor to the original Mac OS, which had been Apple's primary operating system since 1984. Unlike its predecessor, Mac OS X is a UNIX operating system built on technology that had been developed at NeXT through the second half of the 1980s and up until Apple purchased the company in early 1997.

Windows 95

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented grasphical-user-interface –basedoperating system . It was released on August 14,1995 by Microsoft , and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products. During development it was referred to as Windows 4.0 or by the internal codename Chicago.

Windows 98

Windows 98 (codenamed Memphis) is a graphical operating suystem released on june 25,, 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid 16-bit/ 32-bit monolithic product based on MS-DOS.

Windows XP

Windows XP is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use ongeneral-purpose-computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. The name "XP" stands for eXPerience.

Windows Vista

Windows Vista is a line of operating system developed by microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tabletpc’s, and media centers Prior to its announcement onjuly 22, 2005, Windows Vista was known by its codename "Longhorn". Development was completed on November 8,2006; over the following three months it was released in stages to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers, and retail channels.

On January 30,2007 , it was released worldwide to the general public, and was made available for purchase and downloading from Microsoft's web site.The release of Windows Vista comes more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows.

Introduction about Operation System

An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer and provides programmers with an interface used to access those resources. An operating system processes system data and user input, and responds by allocating and managing tasks and internal system resources as a service to users and programs of the system.

Common contemporary desktop OSes are Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Solaris. Windows is most popular on desktops, Linux is most popular in servers environments. However many Linux distributions are gaining in popularity on desktop personal computers. Linux, Mac OS X and MS Windows all have server and personal variants.

With the exception of Microsoft Windows, the design of each of the aforementioned OSs were inspired by, or directly inherited from, the Unix Operating System. Unix was developed at Bell Labs beginning in the late 1960s and spawned the development of numerous free and proprietary operating systems

Linux distribution, often simply distribution or distro, is a member of the Linux family of Unix-like computeroperating systems. Such systems are built from the Linux kernel and assorted other packages, such as the X windw suystem and software from theGNU project. Acting like several CPUs in one, the Cell will be able to power multiple operating systems at once, as well as bear the heavy computing load that a single system can place on the CPU. These past couple years have also seen significant shifts in the direction that computers and their operating systems are to take.

Phones, computers, gaming systems, and entertainment centers are becoming more complex, more integrated with each other, and the distinction between these devices are becoming more and more blurred. Modern operating systems are reflecting this shift as well, supporting VoiP, integrating audio and video with IM and email, etc.

With the maturity of the cell processor, tech manufacturers have the opportunity to combine these functions completely on a single home machine, with dedicated processors or cores for each task, and perhaps dedicated operating systems--or environments--to enhance task performance and simplify the interface

As hardware complexity increases, a simpler, more elegant and straightforward computing interface will likely emerge, separating media from computing, design and multimedia work from office work, with all tied to the Web. With multimedia and gaming relegated to their own places--all of which can operate simultaneously without interfering with one another (thanks to Cell)--there is no need for one beastly, complicated interface to control them all.

Each environment can have its own simple, straightforward interface, and the Cell will ensure ease of mobility between environments without disturbing the workflow of any particular environment.