In this chapter, we are setting up our playground: a running Linux system. But you should first get an idea of what operating systems in general and Linux in particular are. It is not absolutely necessary to know all of this. However, since you will be working with Linux, you will be part of its history! I think you should know (and appreciate) the basics of this history. Then, you will learn some of the ways you can run Linux on your computer or connect to a Linux server. So this chapter is the foundation for all the other chapters. Finally, you will see how easy it is to install software.