Editing Linus Torvalds (section)

=== Early years ===
Torvalds was born in [[Helsinki]], Finland, on 28 December 1969, the son of journalists Anna and [[Nils Torvalds]],<ref>[[#Torvalds|Torvalds]]</ref> the grandson of statistician [[Leo Törnqvist]] and of poet [[Ole Torvalds]], and the great-grandson of journalist and soldier [[Toivo Karanko]]. His parents were campus radicals at the [[University of Helsinki]] in the 1960s.<!--Torvalds was bullied in school because of the political views of his father. [13]--> His family belongs to the [[Swedish-speaking Finns|Swedish-speaking minority]] in Finland. He was named after [[Linus Pauling]], the Nobel Prize–winning American chemist, although in the book ''[[Rebel Code]]: Linux and the Open Source Revolution'', he is quoted as saying, "I think I was named equally for [[Linus van Pelt|Linus]] the [[Peanuts]] cartoon character", noting that this made him "half Nobel Prize–winning chemist and half blanket-carrying cartoon character".<ref name="moody">{{Cite book|last=Moody|first=Glyn|title=Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution|publisher=Perseus Books Group|year=2002|page=[https://archive.org/details/rebelcodeinside000mood/page/n351 336]|url=https://archive.org/details/rebelcodeinside000mood|url-access=registration|isbn=0-7382-0670-9}}</ref>

His interest in computers began with a [[VIC-20]]<ref>[[#Torvalds|Torvalds]], pp. 6–7</ref> at the age of 11 in 1981. He started programming for it in [[BASIC]], then later by directly accessing the [[6502]] CPU in [[machine code]] (he did not utilize [[assembly language]]).<ref>{{cite AV media | people = Linus Torvalds, David Rusling | date = 30 September 2016 | title = LAS16-500K3: Fireside Chat with David Rusling and Linus Torvalds | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuAebQvFnRI | access-date = 8 October 2016| location = 24:10 | publisher = Linaro
}}</ref> He then purchased a [[Sinclair QL]], which he modified extensively, especially its operating system. "Because it was so hard to get software for it in Finland", he wrote his own assembler and [[text editor|editor]] "(in addition to [[Pac-Man]] graphics libraries)"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://opensource.googleblog.com/2010/09/geek-time-with-linus-torvalds.html |title=Geek Time with Linus Torvalds|first=Ellen|last=Ko|date=27 September 2010|access-date=8 November 2015}}</ref> for the QL, and a few games.<ref>[[#Torvalds|Torvalds]], pp. 41–46</ref><ref>Torvalds, Linus: ''GMOVE''. Program listing. In ''[[MikroBitti]]'' 11/1986, p. 63.</ref> He wrote a ''[[Pac-Man]]'' clone, ''Cool Man''. 

Torvalds attended the [[University of Helsinki]] from 1988 to 1996,<!--Copied from Finnish WP. I've read the/his book and I'm sure it mentioned his university time, not sure the ref is for that sentence or just preceding: Torvalds began his university studies at the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Science Department of Computer Science. His became a major in computer science. He studied in the first year of very active, what is not in his words, after this happened. He also joined the Spektrum, a student organization in mathematics, physics, chemistry and computer science, which Wednesday evening to celebrate came to her social life important occasions. [17]--><ref>Torvalds & Diamond 2001, p. 38, 94.</ref> graduating with a master's degree in [[computer science]] from the NODES research group.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/group/nodes/ |title=NODES research group |publisher=Cs.helsinki.fi |date=16 October 2008 |access-date=13 March 2010 |archive-date=21 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221041803/http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/group/nodes/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> His academic career was interrupted after his first year of study when he joined the [[Finnish Navy]] [[Nyland Brigade]] in the summer of 1989, selecting the 11-month officer training program to fulfill the [[Conscription in Finland|mandatory military service of Finland]]. He gained the rank of [[second lieutenant]], with the role of an [[artillery observer]].<ref>[[Linus Torvalds#Torvalds|Torvalds]], p. 29</ref>

In 1990, Torvalds resumed his university studies, and was exposed to Unix for the first time in the form of a [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] [[MicroVAX]] running [[ULTRIX]].<ref>[[#Torvalds|Torvalds]], p. 53</ref> Later, he bought computer science professor [[Andrew Tanenbaum]]'s book ''[[Operating Systems: Design and Implementation]]'', in which Tanenbaum describes [[MINIX]], an educational stripped-down version of [[Unix]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-09-04 |title=5.08: features |url=http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/5.08/linux_pr.html |access-date=2025-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904031913/http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/5.08/linux_pr.html |archive-date=4 September 2015 }}</ref>

On 5 January 1991<ref name="first_interview">{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=https://www.abc.se/~m9339/linux/linuxdoc/linuxnews03a.html |title=The nightmare continues |work=Linux News |publisher=Abc.se |date=5 January 1991 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981205221105/https://www.abc.se/~m9339/linux/linuxdoc/linuxnews03a.html |access-date=13 March 2010|archive-date=5 December 1998 }}</ref> he purchased an [[Intel 80386]]-based [[IBM PC clone]]<ref>[[#Torvalds|Torvalds]], p. 60</ref> before receiving a copy of [[MINIX]], which in turn enabled him to begin work on Linux.