What's the relationship between a Linux OS and a kernel?

Question

I\'ve been using Linux for several years, but never stepped beyond installing from a CD/DVD. If the app manager didn\'t have what I was looking for in the software, then I was a

Answer 1

Linux is the kernel (I find myself channelling RMS here). That's what Linus wrote and that's what the kernel developers continue to work on today. It controls the hardware.

An operating system is something that includes a kernel plus quite a few lower-level "applications" to allow you as a user to do useful stuff with your computer (think file manager, control panel and so on).

A distro is an operating system packaged with an absolute bucketload of higher-level applications like DVD authoring tools, web browsers, office suites and so on ad-near-infinitum. Even Windows does this to some extent, with the inclusion of Wordpad, Calculator and Paint, though not to the insanely prolific level that Linux distros extend to - do we really need 472 different file managers? Choice is good, yes, but only up to a point :-)

Now there are grey areas between kernel/OS and even OS/distro but I think that's a fair starting point for understanding how it hangs together.