Linux is a <EM>free</EM> *(UNIX)<sup><font size=1>TM</font></sup>
compliant *(OS) implementation written by <A HREF
  ="http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/05.08.97/cover/linus-9719.html"
  >Linus Torvalds</A> and lots of people on the Internet.

Though it was originally developed for 32 bit intel PCs,
it now also runs on (at least) the
<A HREF="http://elks.sourceforge.net/"
  >16-bit i8086</A> (_(aka) ELKS: The Embeddable Linux Kernel System),
<A HREF="http://www.linuxalpha.org/"
  >Compaq Alpha AXP</A>, Sun <A HREF="http://www.ultralinux.org/"
  >SPARC</A> and <A HREF="http://www.ultralinux.org/"
  >UltraSPARC</A>, <A HREF="http://www.linux-m68k.org/"
  >Motorola 68000</A> (<A HREF="http://www.mac.linux-m68k.org/"
  >Mac</A>, <A HREF="http://www.black.linux-m68k.org/"
  >NeXT Cube</A>), <A HREF="http://penguinppc.org/intro.shtml"
  >PowerPC</A>, <A HREF="http://linuxppc64.org/"
  >PowerPC64</A>, <A HREF="http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/"
  >ARM</A>, <A HREF="http://linuxsh.sourceforge.net/"
  >Hitachi SuperH</A>,
<A HREF="http://oss.software.ibm.com/linux390/index.shtml"
  >IBM S/390</A>, <A HREF="http://oss.sgi.com/mips/howtos.html"
  >MIPS</A>, <A HREF="http://www.parisc-linux.org/"
  >HP PA-RISC</A>, <A HREF="http://www.linuxia64.org/"
  >Intel IA-64</A>, <A HREF="http://linux-vax.sourceforge.net/"
  >DEC VAX</A>, <A HREF="http://www.x86-64.org/"
  >AMD x86-64</A> and <A HREF="http://developer.axis.com/software/linux/"
  >CRIS</A> architectures and various <A HREF="http://www.uclinux.org/"
  >microcontrollers</A> (aka uClinux -- Embedded Linux Microcontroller Project)
without a Memory Management Unit (_(MMU)).




Some canonical Linux WWW pages:
<A HREF="http://www.linux.org">linux.com</A>,
<A HREF="http://www.linux.org">linux.org</A>,
<A HREF="http://www.linux.org.uk">linux.org.uk</A>,
<A HREF="http://www.debian.org">debian.org</A>,
<A HREF="http://www.redhat.com">redhat.com</A>.


Documentation can be found from
<A HREF="http://www.tldp.org/"
  >The Linux Documentation Project</A> (LDP),
an effort to produce a series of books/articles/manuals to document Linux
(the LDP page also has many links to other Linux related sites).

<A HREF="http://www.sonic.net/cgi-bin/man">Linux Manual pages WWW access</A>.



For Kernel Hackers, the online
<A HREF="http://www.redhat.com:8080/HyperNews/get/khg.html"
  >Kernel Hacker's Guide</A>,
<A HREF="http://www.kernelnotes.org"
  >kernelnotes.org</A>,
<A HREF="http://kernel.org"
  >The Linux Kernel Archives</A>.

If you seek help on Linux,
you should first check all the documentation above.
Also, individual packages have READMEs, FAQs,
and local documentation that you should check
(sometimes only available in the source distribution,
not in binary packages).

If you still don't succeed after carefully reading
the docs many times, you might ask for help
on one of the IRC networks:
<A HREF="http://openprojects.nu"
  >Open Projects Network</A> (channel #Linpeople),
<A HREF="http://www.undernet.org"
  >Undernet</A> (channel #Linux),
<A HREF="http://efnet.org/"
  >EFnet</A> (channel #Linux),
<A HREF="http://www.dal.net/"
  >DALnet</A> (channel #Linux),
etc.

If you want to toy with both Linux and Open/Net/FreeBSD, a lot of
useful information is available in the
<A HREF="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/mini/Linux+FreeBSD.html"
  >Linux+FreeBSD mini-HOWTO</A>.


<A NAME="GGI"></A>
Finally, people who want to develop a graphics system
on their OS should definitely have a look at the
Linux project and standard to be,
<A HREF="http://www.ggi-project.org/"
  >GGI</A> (the Generic Graphic Interface).


Linux is not <em>just</em> a fun *(OS).
it has lots applications in the so-called Real-World,
such as <A HREF="http://www.cantrip.org/leap.html"
  >LEAP (GNU/Linux-Equipped Astronauts Project)</A>, rendering for the movie
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=2494"
  >Titanic</A>, or running <A HREF="http://www.tux.org/mclinux/results.html"
  >mission-critical servers</A>. Not even mentioning running
a growing number of
<A HREF="http://leb.net/hzo/ioscount/data/top.domains.9901.linux.txt"
  >internet servers</A>, and just as much in large companies such as
<A HREF="http://www.netcraft.com/Survey/Reports/199902/developers/apple.html"
  >Apple</A> or
<A HREF="http://www.netcraft.com/Survey/Reports/199902/developers/novell.html"
  >Novell</A>.