Linux

1991 → today · Linux & Unix

The free kernel that Linus Torvalds began in 1991.¹ It is the foundation of Android,⁵ and new versions still come out as of November 2026.⁶

Info only Sources Try it in Tiny Core Linux

Announced: 25 August 1991¹
Started by: Linus Torvalds, a student in Helsinki^{1, 8}
License: The GNU copyleft, from 1 February 1992^{1, 3}
Newest kernel: 7.3, as of November 2026⁶

Just a hobby

On 25 August 1991, Linus Torvalds, a student at the University of Helsinki, told MINIX users that he was writing a free operating system: "just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu".^{1, 8} He had learned from MINIX and its book, and he built his kernel under MINIX.^{2, 8} Version 0.01 was source code only.¹

Close-up of gray text on a black screen: 'Partition table ok.', counts of free blocks and inodes, the buffer space and free memory, ' Ok.', then '[/usr/root]# pwd', '/usr/root' and the prompt again with a cursor. — Illustration · not a screenshot Close-up of our drawing of Linux 0.11: the bash shell waits for a command at the prompt [/usr/root]#. See the real screen

Free to share

At first, Linux's license allowed no money at all to change hands. With version 0.12, Torvalds moved it to the GNU copyleft from 1 February 1992, which allows selling copies too.^{1, 3} Version 0.12 was also the first to be partly written by other people.¹ Linux 1.0 came out in March 1994.⁴

Gray text at the top of a black screen: 'Partition table ok.', '38912/62000 free blocks', '19514/20666 free inodes', '3462 buffers = 3545088 bytes buffer space', 'Free mem: 12582912 bytes', ' Ok.', then the bash prompt '[/usr/root]#' with the command pwd, its answer '/usr/root', and the prompt again. — Illustration · not a screenshot Our drawing of Linux 0.11, from December 1991, drawn from a real screen in an emulator. Just after it starts, the kernel reports the disk and memory, then the bash shell waits for a command.¹ See the real screen

Linux today

As of November 2026, the newest Linux kernel is version 7.3.⁶ Android is built on the Linux kernel.⁵ Nokia Bell Labs calls Linux the most popular descendant of Unix and says it powers the vast majority of servers.⁷ Our Tiny Core Linux lesson lets you try a small, modern Linux.

Black text screen. At the top, Tiny Core's penguin drawn with characters and the line 'Core is distributed with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. www.tinycorelinux.net'. Below, at the tc@box:~$ prompt, the command version answers 16.2, and the command cal prints a calendar for November 2026. — Linux today, in our Tiny Core lesson: Tiny Core 16.2 in our virtual PC shows its version and a calendar.

Key moments

1991 On 25 August, Linus Torvalds announces his free system on the comp.os.minix newsgroup.¹
1991 On 5 October, he announces version 0.02, which can already run bash and gcc.¹
1992 From 1 February, Linux is shared under the GNU copyleft.^{1, 3}
1994 Linux 1.0 comes out in March.⁴