Hey,

I've just recently became interested in linux and was wondering if you guys could explain some terms used in linux to me. I've tried looking on Google but the definitions arn't very clear. Here are the words:

Kernal
GUI
Bash
Bin

Thank you

Kernel : it's the first program to load, from which others (and hardware usability) depends.
Bash : Bourne again shell, a program that permits to interact with computer. Has many software implemented and allows to write small ones called scripts.
Bin : binaries, software executable by computer. These are compiled to become executables.
GUI : graphic user interface, opposed to CLI (aka command line interface). Something with basically windows and hability to click with mouse. (not really for mouse as ncurse guis usually don't provide mouse interface...)

when i studied computer tech in the 90s, the word "GUI" meant "Guided user interface", but i agree that these days the G stands for graphics alone.

Maybe to expand a little bit on the above, the kernel is Linux, it's the interface between the hardware and the software, the manager. All the rest of the system is programs and utilities that you use to do whatever it is you need or want to and all of them interact with the kernel.

The Linux kernel was developed by Linus Torvalds so that he could have a system that looked and worked like the Unix system (which was developed at Bell Labs by a bunch of really smart guys). The whole story is the kid that didn't have money to license Unix so he rolled his own and the rest is history. Go look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds for the complete story.

Oh, yeah, Linus is a really smart guy too.

The shell, be it BASH, Bourne, C-Shell, KornShell and whatever others, is the interface between you and the kernel when you're executing commands in a terminal window or writing shell programs ("scripts") to do useful work. The first shell program, the Bourne Shell, was created by Steven Bourne at Bell Labs as a command and programming language in 1977. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourne_shell.

The Korn Shell, an expanded and enhanced Bourne shell developed by David Korn at Bell Labs in the early 1980's. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korn_shell. The Korn Shell is the one that I prefer and have since the 1980's when it became available.

BASH, the Bourne Again Shell, was written by Brian Fox for the GNU Project and released in 1989. It has become the default shell program for Linux and OSX systems. As far as I can tell (and this is my opinion), BASH is pretty much Korn Shell functionality (most Korn Shell programs will run in BASH and vice-versa without much, if any, fooling around with code).

The GNU project? You may have seen the critter (a Gnu) but the letters mean GNU's Not Unix (it's pronounced "new," the G is silent). Richard Stallman is a smart, dedicated (and funny) guy -- I leave it to you to look him up at Wikipedia).

Now, almost every utility you use in Linux is a port of the same program from Unix -- not a copy, not including any Unix system code -- but a complete rewrite using the manual page and writing software to reproduce the functions of the original Unix program. Examples would be ls, grep, and pretty much everything else. If you get good at Linux, you'll find that Unix-based systems (such as Solaris) will be comfortable right off the bat (and vice-versa).

GUI nowadays (as mentioned above) stands for Graphic[al] User Interface. Think Click 'n' Drool here. (Sorry, I'm a snob.)

Bin means "binary." The bin directory[ies] on your system contain complied code executable and shell programs (shell programs are not compiled). If you create a shell program, you make it executable by "chmod 755 program_name" the you can run it just by typing the name (that's the beauty of Linux and Unix -- no silly-assed extensions such as .exe and the like).

There's a lot of history and mystery in the development of Unix and Linux, thousands if not millions of programmers writing code and giving it away, dedicated people making it possible to simply download a complete operating system and all of the software to use it for free.

Hope you have some fun.

wow a random list of words that are not connected other than being terms used with a computer


and WHAT is not clear from a search ???