We’ve talked about how your computer gets places on the Internet.  Now let’s talk about how your computer, well, works!  How does Linux® do its thing, aside from  typing commands at the command line?  It’s called the kernel and it’s the core (or kernel) of the operation of your system.

So it’s not like the kernel of your popcorn, it’s more like the thing in the middle.  Like Nick Fury.  He’s always in the middle of the Avengers keeping things going.  Or making things go.  He’s always up to something.

Nick Fury

He showed up with that helicarrier at the end of The Age of Ultron, didn’t he? He made that happen and got the Avengers (and the towns people) from the flying in the sky town (something I never want to see) and on to safety.

That’s what the kernel does.  It’s in between the hardware and the software.  Like this picture:

What the Kernel Does

Linus Torvalds made the first Linux® kernel in 1991 for his own system. These days it runs on all sorts of things, but back then, he just wanted something for his own computer.

So how does it control your hardware?  It uses things called device drivers.  It lets you type on your keyboard and have it show up on a screen, or print to a printer, or read a CD, or read a USB, or… you get the idea.  It’s really flexible.

The kernel is also  modular.  That means that it isn’t one huge thing that keeps things going, but it’s made up of lots of little systems that put it all together and make it go.

It’s kind of like a Death Star built from Legos.  It needs all the parts together to make it a Death Star, but you can leave pieces off and still mostly have a Death Star.  You can add pieces to it and it’ll be a Death Star with more abilities.  Like if someone added an ice cream maker to the Death Star.  Or a spa for the emperor.  It’s still the Death Star and still acts like it, it’s just more!