Coupla questions 'bout Linus...

1) No.
2) Working on Linux.
3) Yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds

Just wonderin'. It seems like he's not the egotistical kind of guy like some are in the OSS community.

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Original post by Cipher3D Just wonderin'. It seems like he's not the egotistical kind of guy like some are in the OSS community.

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"My name is Linus, and I am your god." (1998)

I love that. [grin]

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Original post by Cipher3D Just wonderin'. It seems like he's not the egotistical kind of guy like some are in the OSS community.

Can you ever really know what someone is like via published reports? I mean, he could be egotistical - perhaps even more so than RMS - but savvy enough to understand the value of "humility" and "modesty" in advancing his cause.

Just a thought.

Well, at least he doesn't rub off as the egotistical kind of guy. If that furthers his cause, then all the better (for him). Well, there are some things that irritate me, such as his comment about never having used Windows. That strikes me as irrational aversion towards something that's opposite your cause.

Or maybe he grew up on Unix, and by the time Windows was usable (~1995) he had his own operating system :D.

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Original post by Cipher3D Well, at least he doesn't rub off as the egotistical kind of guy. If that furthers his cause, then all the better (for him). Well, there are some things that irritate me, such as his comment about never having used Windows. That strikes me as irrational aversion towards something that's opposite your cause.

It's not an aversion though, unlike most people, he probably wasn't forced to use Windows or needed to avoid it. He started Linux as a replacement for Minix, not as a competitor for Windows.

It's not an aversion for windows any more than my friend who used a Sun Blade as a desktop, because he spends all his time using them at work.

How does he contribute to Linux? Does he still write code? Or is he just some manager overseeing what comes in to Linux? I'm still very confused about how Linux works. From what I've heard and what I've been force fed, it seems like "Linux is the creation of millions," but I know that's impossible. Is there a company out there that just turns out code for Linux and does consulting?

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Original post by Cipher3D How does he contribute to Linux? Does he still write code? Or is he just some manager overseeing what comes in to Linux? I'm still very confused about how Linux works. From what I've heard and what I've been force fed, it seems like "Linux is the creation of millions," but I know that's impossible. Is there a company out there that just turns out code for Linux and does consulting?

He writes code and has a magor say on what patches/code/drivers/other stuff gets put into the kernel.
It is a combined effort of thousands of people, alot of those pathches and drivers and other things are written by diffrent people.

[Edited by - Ainokea on June 20, 2005 2:42:53 PM]

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Original post by Cipher3D How does he contribute to Linux? Does he still write code? Or is he just some manager overseeing what comes in to Linux? I'm still very confused about how Linux works. From what I've heard and what I've been force fed, it seems like "Linux is the creation of millions," but I know that's impossible. Is there a company out there that just turns out code for Linux and does consulting?

Hmm, gee, I wonder if anyone's ever asked such questions before?

1. I don't know about now, but IIRC at one point when he was working at Transmeta his stock options there were valued at over a million.
2. linux related stuff
3. yes

If you're interested, you might want to read his autobiography Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary.

Also in interesting bit of trivia, in his words "My main machine these days is a dual 2GHz G5 (aka PowerPC 970)--it's physically a regular Apple Mac, although it obviously only runs Linux." Though this might have changed since the story came out.

The man is a saint (literally).

What disrto does he use? (Probly his own custom one)
What Windows manager does he use? (If any)
How old is he?

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Original post by lethalhamster What disrto does he use? (Probly his own custom one)

I know he has a few PPCs with Yellowdog. I don't know if he has x86 machines, or what distro they have, though.

I read somewhere that he needs to use MAC OS for his new job, but I'm still looking for the source so I can back it up

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Original post by lethalhamster What disrto does he use? (Probly his own custom one) What Windows manager does he use? (If any) How old is he?

1) Mac OSX Tiger(develops linux on it ;) ) and redhat + something else at home
2) KDE
3) Around 35 I think.

i doubt very much he has to or is using OSX, as he a) is working for OSDL so he can focus on linux development and b) has said publicly he does not like the mach kernel. he just likes the mac hardware (and says he is helping represent the PPC users in the development process).

the word is SUSE at home, but i doubt that anyone running in our internet circles knows for sure.

Yeah, I forgot about him switching to a ppc linux distro on the mac. :/ Sorry to misinform.