So, I’m a Finn, and have heard many times that we prefer Android because it’s “built on a Linux kernel” (I know just enough to know the Linux dude is a Finn). But *what* is “a kernel” and how “Finnish” does this make Android? Can Linus Torvalds be credited in any way for Android?
In: Technology
Very simply, a kernel is what makes the software of a computer and the hardware of a computer interact. The kernel manages things like allocating ram, CPU cores, that kind of thing. A lot of operating systems have their own proprietary kernels, but the Linux kernel is open-source, meaning free to use by anyone, so some operating systems (like android) take it to use as their own. That’s why some hardcore linux users might refer to themselves as using “GNU + Linux”, because the linux part itself is not usually the part people associate with a linux operating system. So, yes, Linus Torvalds can be credited in Android for creating the way the Android software works with the phone’s hardware, but its not the first thing that people think of when they think of Android.
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