'Linux' = the operating system kernel Ubuntu/Fedora/Arch/etc = Linux + lots of other stuff, without which the kernel is pretty useless (command shell/interpret

'Linux' = the operating system kernel Ubuntu/Fedora/Arch/etc = Linux + lots of other stuff, without which the kernel is pretty useless (command shell/interpreter, GUI, command line tools, etc.) Some more explanations that may help: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2013937/what-is-an-os-kernel-how-does-it-differ-from-an-operating-system http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2013937/what-is-an-os-ker... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_(computing) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_(computing)