Writing
Tagged “linux”
47 articles
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The History of Tux!
Linux's mascot lost every logo contest it entered, was drawn in a pre-1.0 release of the GIMP, and owes its existence to a zoo in Canberra and a claymation studio in Bristol. The real story of the penguin, and why a…
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Comparing top, htop, and glances: Usage and Benefits
Three tools for the same question, "what is this box doing?", and the keys and numbers that actually answer it. How to read load average, memory and iowait without fooling yourself, plus the one tool on the list that…
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Why Choose a Debian Server for MS SQL Over Windows
SQL Server has run on Linux since 2017, and there are good reasons to run it there. There's also a catch most articles skip. Debian isn't on Microsoft's supported list, and the Windows license isn't where the money…
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The History of AMD64 aka x86-64
Intel planned to take the PC to 64 bits with Itanium, a clean break from x86. AMD bolted 64 bits onto x86 instead, and won so completely that Intel had to license its rival's design. How that happened, what AMD64…
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The History of ARM Architecture
A two-person design team at a British home computer maker built a processor so frugal it ran on leakage current. Forty years later its descendants are in nearly every phone on Earth, Amazon's data centers and, as of…
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The History of Unix and Its Relationship to Linux
Unix was written in a month on a cast-off minicomputer, spread because an antitrust ruling stopped AT&T from selling it, and splintered the moment AT&T could. Linux shares none of its code and most of its ideas. How the…
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The Linux Foundation: Pioneering Open Source Innovation
The Linux Foundation pays Linus Torvalds, hosts Kubernetes, and has become the place where companies send a fork when a license changes under them. What it actually is, what it does well, the fair criticisms, and why…
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What is Linux?
Linux is a kernel, an operating system, a license and a habit, depending on who's asking. A plain explanation of what it is, the parts that make up a distribution, where it already runs in your life, and how to pick…
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Apache2 vs Nginx: Pros and Cons
Most of what people repeat about Apache being slow and nginx being hard is ten years out of date. How the two actually differ in 2024, where each one still wins, what this year's nginx fork means, and the setup I'd…
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Least Privilege Principle
Every big breach this year turned on an account that could do more than it needed to. The least privilege principle is fifty years old and still the cheapest security control there is. What it means in practice on…
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The Importance of Switching from IPv4 to IPv6
The world ran out of IPv4 addresses thirteen years ago, and this year Amazon started charging rent on every one. What IPv6 actually fixes, which of its selling points are myths, the mistakes that bite sysadmins turning…