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2 <!DOCTYPE sect2 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3CR2//EN" "http://www.docbook.org/xml/4.3CR2/docbookx.dtd">
3 <sect2><title>Contents of Linux</title>
5 <!-- <para>(Last checked against version &kernel-contversion;.)</para> -->
7 <para>The Linux kernel is at the core of every Linux system. It's what makes
8 Linux tick. When a computer is turned on and boots a Linux system, the
9 very first piece of Linux software that gets loaded is the kernel. The
10 kernel initializes the system's hardware components: serial ports, parallel
11 ports, sound cards, network cards, IDE controllers, SCSI controllers and a
12 lot more. In a nutshell the kernel makes the hardware available so that the
13 software can run.</para>
15 <para><emphasis>Installed files</emphasis>: the kernel and the kernel