this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Used to be, each year-ish computers got faster AND cheaper. So, it doesn’t “always” have to be that way.
That’s not happening anymore due to real world constraints, though. Dennard scaling combined with Moore’s Law allowed us to get more performance per watt until around 2006-2010, when Dennard scaling stopped applying - transistors had gotten small enough that thermal issues and other current leakage related challenges meant that chip manufacturers were no longer able to increase clock frequencies each generation.
Even before 2006 there was still a cost to new development, though, us consumers just got more of an improvement per dollar a year later than we do now.