What platforms does Linux run on?

A platform is a combination of hardware and software used to run software applications. A platform can be described as simply as an operating system or computer architecture, or it could be the combination of both. Probably the most familiar platform is Microsoft Windows running on the x86 architecture. Other well-known desktop computer platforms include GNU/Linux and Mac OS X (both of which are themselves cross-platform). There are, however, many devices such as cellular telephones that are also effectively computer platforms but less commonly thought about in that way. Application software can be written to depend on the features of a particular platform—either the hardware, operating system, or virtual machine it runs on. The Java platform is a virtual machine platform which runs on many operating systems and hardware types, and is a common platform for software to be written for.