Science Friday > Archives > 2004 > August
> August 27,
2004:
Hour Two: ABCs of Linux / Why Planes Fly
This week, Microsoft released its mega-patch, Service Pack 2, for the Windows XP operating system. But many computer users didn't have to bother. In this hour, we'll look at the ABC's of Linux, an open source alternative rapidly gaining in popularity. Begun around 13 years ago as a personal project by a young Finnish programmer named Linus Torvalds, the idea of Linux caught on among coders worldwide. In a collaborative effort, they helped to create a set of tools and code that can now be found running on internet servers, consumer devices such as the Tivo video recorder, and even pre-installed on inexpensive computer systems at WalMart. We'll talk about how to tell if the time is right for you to switch to Linux, and what you'll need to make the transition.
Plus, a fifty-year-old myth dies hard: we'll talk about why airplanes fly, and why what you've been told about Bernoulli may not be accurate. Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255 (3-4 Eastern), and share your opinions online in our Listeners' Lounge (registration required).
Guests:
Bill McCarty
Author, "Learning
Red Hat Enterprise Linux & Fedora, 4th Edition" (O'Reilly, 2004)
Associate Professor of Management Information Systems
School of Business and Management
Azusa Pacific University
Azusa, California
Wade Roush
Senior Editor
Technology Review
San Francisco, California
*******
David Anderson
Co-author, "Understanding
Flight" (McGraw Hill, 2000)
Former Physicist, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
This segment produced by Ira Flatow
Archived Audio:
Linux
listen
in RealAudio format
listen
in Windows Media format
flight
listen
in RealAudio format
listen
in Windows Media format
streaming
audio help from NPR
Related Links:
The
Linux Home Page at Linux Online
Linux
Online - Getting Started with Linux - Introduction
DistroWatch
LinuxISO.org
- A place to learn about, download, and discuss Linux.
A
Physical Description of Lift
Bernoulli
Principle -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Physics
Howstuffworks
"How Airplanes Work"
Flights
of Inspiration
Books/Articles Discussed:
"Learning Red Hat Enterprise Linux & Fedora, 4th Edition" by Bill McCarty. O'Reilly, 2004.
"Understanding Flight" by David Anderson and Scott Eberhardt. McGraw Hill, 2000.
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