Question

Linux Basics

1.In Linux what is a Window Manager –name a window manager that is commonly used?

2.If you were in a organisation that wanted to run a commercially backed distribution of Linux which one would you pick?

3.After the kernel is invoked at boot time, describe what happens?

4.Why is it common practice to use a boot loader?

5.Name two loaders used in Linux?

6.What is systemd? How is it used?

7.What does systemdreplace? Why was the choice made to replace the more traditional ways?

Answer 1

1.In Linux what is a Window Manager –name a window manager that is commonly used?

   Window managers in linux to manage the system windows which bring up with the application. Usually when you start an application, you will get a manager for your window which usually runs in the background and for the appearance and placement, these are responsible.

   Examle:
       Awesome WM- Its a Linux window managers that allow you to port the asynchronous XCB Library instead of the XLib
       This can be configurable, Rearranging and re-sizing panels are also available via the mouse.
       Multiples tags are allowed for keeping the workspace organized with the Awesome WM,
       and it is entirely extensible with the LUA.

2.If you were in a organisation that wanted to run a commercially backed distribution of Linux which one would you pick?
   I will pick CentOS, a distribution derived from the same sources used by Red Hat, maintained by a dedicated volunteer community of developers with both 100% Red Hat-compatible versions and an upgraded version that is not always 100% upstream compatible.

3.After the kernel is invoked at boot time, describe what happens?

   After kernel is loaded, it immediately initializes and configures the memory and different hardwares attached to the system, including processors, I/O subsystems, and storage devices. It then looks for the compressed initrd image in a predetermined location in memory, decompresses it, mounts it, and loads all necessary drivers.
   Then, it initializes virtual devices related to the file system, such as LVM or software RAID before unmounting the initrd disk image and freeing up all the memory the disk image once occupied. The kernel then creates a root device, mounts the root partition read-only, and frees any unused memory in the system.

4.Why is it common practice to use a boot loader?
   Bootloaders is used as a separate program in the program memory that executes when a new application needs to be reloaded into the rest of program memory. The bootloader will use a serial port, USB port, or some other means to load the application. Frequently a bootloader will always execute on restart to check if a new program is to be loaded or if the application is to be run.

5.Name two loaders used in Linux?
   1.LILO (LInux LOader)
   2.LOADLIN (LOAD LINux)

6.What is systemd? How is it used?
   1.Systemd is a Linux initialization system and service manager.
   2.It includes features like on-demand starting of daemons, mount and automount point maintenance, snapshot support, and processes tracking using Linux control groups.
   3.Itprovides logging daemon and utilities to help with common system administration tasks.

7. What does systemdreplace? Why was the choice made to replace the more traditional ways?
   Systemd init process starts serially like one task starts only after the last task startup was successful and it was loaded in the memory. This often resulted into delayed and long booting time. However, systemd was not designed for speed but for getting the things done neatly which in turns avoid all the UN-necessary delay.