For me, the month of August has two defining birthdays. The first is\nthe birthday of the Republic of Indonesia on 17 August 1945. On that day\nof independence, which fell on a sacred Friday, our nation shouted\nloudly to the world, \u201cWe want to manage our own lives!\u201d We celebrate it\nwith ceremonies and various competitions.<\/p>\n
The second August birthday involves no ceremony. It happened in the\nworld of computers. On 25 August 1991, a Finnish student named Linus\nTorvalds wrote a message on the internet. He announced that he was\nmaking a computer system. The system later took an acronym of his name,\nLinux. Millions of people use it lawfully.<\/p>\n
So for me, the August festivities carry two stories of independence.\nIndonesia became independent from colonialists. Meanwhile, Linux became\na symbol of independence in the computer world, freeing me from Windows,\nwhich requires payment. Linux, including its derivative Android, is free\nfor us to use. The Windows operating system, on the other hand, must be\npaid for.<\/p>\n
Indonesia began its independence from Jalan Pegangsaan Timur,\nJakarta. Linus began his computer independence from a short message on\nthe internet. Both teach us one thing: that major change does not have\nto start from a grand building. Change starts from a person who dares to\nsay, \u201cI want to try another way!\u201d<\/p>\n
The story of Linux is actually very simple, very far from the story\nof the Indonesian nation. No rich company funded the project. There were\nno hundreds of brilliant engineers. There were no meetings of big\nbosses. There was only a student at the University of Helsinki, one\n386-type computer, enormous curiosity, and perseverance.<\/p>\n
In 1991, do not imagine computers as sophisticated as today\u2019s. A\ncomputer powered by an Intel-made processor, the PC 386, was very cool\nfor a student who could afford it. The machine was clever. Linus bought\nthe computer not to found a rich company or to rule the world. He simply\nwanted to learn how the inner workings of his machine functioned.<\/p>\n
Linus learned to use an operating system called MINIX, made by\nProfessor Andrew Tanenbaum. Andrew created MINIX as a teaching tool in\nhis class. It was good but very simple. At home, Linus used MINIX to try\nnew things. But over time, Linus felt that MINIX\u2019s features did not\nsufficiently meet his needs.<\/p>\n
In his head, Linus had many new ideas. He began making a small\nterminal programme. This programme connected the computer at his home\nwith the large computer on campus via telephone cable and modem. From\ninitially being intended only as a toy, Linus kept improving it. The\nprogramme then turned into a powerful messaging tool.<\/p>\n
This story is close to my own experience. In the late 1980s, I had\nalready bought an XT 386 computer to help my work as a TEMPO journalist.\nThen in 1993, when Indonesians did not yet know the internet, I used BBS\n(Bulletin Board System) software.<\/p>\n
I chose BBS to make it easier to send news from Republika newspaper\u2019s\nnews bureaus in various cities. In the past, to send news text, we had\nto use a telephone connection and a modem. The sound was a very noisy\n\u201ckriik-kriik\u201d. But for us at that time, the computer screen was like a\nmagical window for seeing the outside world.<\/p>\n
I understand very well how Linus felt at that time. At home there was\na computer, a modem, a telephone cable, and a distant campus computer.\nThe difference is that Linus did not only want to use the campus\ncomputer. Linus asked himself, \u201cWhat if I make my own system to control\nthis computer?\u201d<\/p>\n
This small question was tremendous! Almost all great discoveries in\nthe world begin with a simple question like this. Linus then began\nwriting the application package that we know as the kernel. This is the\nmost central brain of the computer. This brain is tasked with managing\nmemory, the machine, and all programmes.<\/p>\n
Linus first typed his code in April 1991. Five months later, on 25\nAugust \u2014 the birth date of Linux \u2014 he sent a message to his friends on\nthe internet. The message is very famous to this day. He said he was\nmaking a free computer system. \u201cJust a hobby,\u201d he said. He said the\nsystem would not become a big project.<\/p>\n
But history proved otherwise! Something that Linus called \u201cjust a\nhobby\u201d has now become the brain for millions of computers in the world.\nLinux now works inside internet servers, giant computers, network\ndevices, and the Android phones we use every day. Without us realising\nit, Linux is everywhere!<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/two-independences-1786953152", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }