An exploration of the various options that users have with

distributions of Linux

– Linux Kernel – Supporting features and programs• Usually tailored to a particular purpose

–With so many options, it is easy to find the perfect solution.

• First, check compatibility.– Try Knoppix

• Pick a distribution– http://www.Distrowatch.com

• Install and go!

• Red Hat: One of the earliest players in the game, Red Hat now position itself strongly in the business market. It has created a community-supported distribution, Fedora Core, which is the choice of many for desktop use.

• Debian: The most popular community-created distribution. Debian is an excellent choice for server environments. Debian has also been used as the base for many specialist distributions.

• Ubuntu: Desktop usability, out of the box. Taglined "Linux for human beings,” Based on Debian.

• SUSE: Novell's answer to Red Hat, comes in “enterprise” and a community-based OpenSUSE

• All Distributions have their respective strengths.

• List Major Distributions

• Focuses on usability.• Offered by Dell on many of their products• Offers Firefox, Openoffice, Games• Variations of Ubuntu:– Edubuntu, a distribution designed for classrooms using

GNOME – Kubuntu, a desktop distribution using KDE rather than

GNOME – Xubuntu, a "lightweight" distribution based on the Xfce

desktop environment instead of GNOME – Mythbuntu, a distribution that is tied heavily to MythTV – Ubuntu Studio, a multimedia-creation flavor of Ubuntu

• Owned by Novell, Inc.• Several desktop environments such as KDE

and GNOME and window managers like Window Maker and Blackbox are included

• Some multimedia features• Openoffice.org and Realplayer• Designed for Business/commercial use and

networking

• RH Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is targeted toward the commercial market, including mainframes.

• Includes software for database management:– Linux 2.6.18 – Apache 2.2.3 – MySQL 5.0.22 – PHP 5.1.6 – PostgreSQL 8.1.4 – GNOME 2.16 – KDE 3.5.4

• Specialization for Power Architecture processors (IBM Power, PowerPC, Cell)

• Supports accelerated graphics and audio hardware out-of-the-box.

• Includes:– Firefox– Openoffice– Instant Messaging– Media Players

• Is the first supported alternative OS for Sony’s Playstation 3 (Cell)

• Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SUSE_Linux http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Linux http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28Linux_distribution%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Dog_Linux

• DistroWatch http://distrowatch.com/