By the way, why is Linux called Linux?

Windows or MacOS are the two most popular operating systems, but many prefer Linux. You may be part of the community that uses it, but do you know where his name comes from?

Before even talking about its origin, it should be noted that the name "Linux" does not officially designate the famous operating system. In fact, it is called GNU Linux, the second part of the name referring only to its kernel, the part that manages the resources of the computer and allows components to communicate with each other.

The term "GNU" comes from a project, started by Richard Stallman in 1983, which aimed to create a new free operating system. It is finally only in 1991 that it will become the known system of all thanks to the arrival of the Linux kernel.

To understand where the name of Linux comes from, we must look at its creation. In 1991, the Finnish student Linus Torvalds can not use his new computer as he wishes because of the low availability of Unix servers (an operating system) of the University of Helsinki. So he decides to develop a kernel to create an independent system. He is inspired by Minix, a reduced version of Unix created by Professor Andrew Tanenbaum so that his students learn the basics of programming faster.

As Linus Torvalds explains in his book Just for Fun, Minix did not serve as a source of inspiration for programming. At the beginning of his project, he named his core "Freax", a mix between the word "freak" (unusual) and the "x" common to Unix and Minix operating systems.

While it was "only a hobby" so far, Linus finally publishes the results of his work on the Usenet forum on August 25, 1991. His system meets a nice success and so he decides to make available the kernel files on the servers of his university. This time, it is called "Linux", the name of its inventor with "x" instead of "s".

This choice does not come from the creator, but from Ari Lemke, one of the administrators of the servers: "He hated the name Freax" explains Linus Torvalds in his book. "He preferred the other name I had found, but did not use because I thought he was too selfish. Finally, this name is now known worldwide.