| A Beginner's Guide to Choosing a Linux Distribution |
| Programmes and Sponsorship |
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Mandrake Linux |
| Mandrake Linux, started by Gaël Duval, is a distribution that has experienced enormous rise in popularity since its first release in July 1998. The developers took the Red Hat distribution, changed the default desktop to KDE and added an easy-to-use installer, breaking the myth that Linux is hard to install. Mandrake's hardware detection features and disk partitioning utilities are considered by many to be the best in the industry and many users found themselves running Mandrake where other distributions failed to provide the required usability.
Mandrake Linux has since matured to become a popular distribution among those new to Linux and among home users looking for an alternative operating system. The Mandrake development is completely open and transparent with new packages appearing in the so-called "cooker" directory on a daily basis. When a new release is entering a beta stage, a cooker snapshot is accepted as the first beta. The beta testing process used to be short and intensive, but starting with version 9.0, it has become longer and more thorough. The beta mailing lists are extremely busy, but you are still likely to receive a very fast response to any bug or concern that you report.
The result of this type of development is a cutting edge release - a highly up-to-date Linux distribution. As a trade-off, the users are likely to notice more bugs and perhaps less stability than with other distributions. Many people find this trade-off acceptable on their desktops - they get the very latest software and the occasional application crash is something they can live with.
Pros: User-friendly, graphical configuration utilities, enormous community support, NTFS partition resizing.
Cons: Some releases are buggy, the releases are initially made available to MandrakeClub members only.
Software package management: RPM
Free download: Yes, after a delay
Recommended alternative: PCLinuxOS
The Mandrake Linux page...
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Red Hat Linux & Fedora Core |
| For many, the name Red Hat epitomises Linux, as it is probably the best-known Linux company in the world. Founded in 1995 by Bob Young and Marc Ewing, Red Hat, Inc. has only recently started showing signs of profitability, due to services and its Red Hat Enterprise Linux product line. However, Red Hat Linux 9 was the last version in the Red Hat Linux product line, which was replaced by Fedora Core in late 2003. While Fedora is officially sponsored by Red Hat, it is developed with community participation, has a short life-span and serves mainly as a testing base for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
What is so special about Red Hat Linux and Fedora Core? It is a curious mix of conservative and leading-edge packages put together on top of many knowledge-intensive utilities developed in-house. The packages are not the most up-to-date; once a new beta version is announced, the package versions are frozen, except for security updates. The result is a well-tested and stable distribution, the beta program and bug reporting facility are open to the public and there are several mailing lists. Red Hat Linux has become a dominant Linux distribution on servers around the world.
One other reason for Red Hat's success is the variety of popular services the company offers. The software packages are easy to update via Red Hat Network, a free repository of software and valuable information. A vast range of support services and enterprise Linux products are available from the company and, while not always cheap, you are virtually assured of an excellent support by highly skilled support personnel. The company has even developed a certification program to further popularise its distribution - the RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) training and examinations are now available in most parts of the world. All these factors have contributed to the fact that Red Hat is now a recognised brand name in the IT industry.
Pros: Widely used, excellent community support, lots of innovation.
Cons: Limited product life-span of the free edition, poor multimedia support, concerns over the Red Hat to Fedora transition
Software package management: RPM
Free download: Yes
The Fedora Project page...
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Debian GNU/Linux |
| Debian GNU/Linux, started by Ian Murdock in 1993, is a completely non-commercial project; perhaps the purest form of the ideals that started the free software movement. Hundreds of volunteer developers from all over the world contribute to the project, which is well managed and strict, assuring a quality distribution known as Debian.
At any time during the development process, there are three branches in the main directory tree - "stable", "testing" and "unstable" (also known as "sid"). When a new version of a package appears, it is placed in the unstable branch for first testing. If it passes, the package moves to the testing branch, which undergoes rigorous testing lasting many months. This branch is only declared stable after a very thorough testing. As a result of this, the distribution is possibly the most stable and reliable, albeit not the most up-to-date. While the stable branch is perfect for use on mission critical servers, many users prefer to run the more up-to-date testing or unstable branches on their personal computers.
Debian's other main claim to fame is the reputation for being hard to install, unless the user has an intimate knowledge about the computer's hardware. Compensating this failing is "apt-get", a convenient installer for Debian packages. Many Debian users joke that their installer is so bad, because they only need it once - as soon as Debian is up and running, all future updates of any scale can be accomplished via the apt-get utility.
Pros: 100% free, excellent web site and community resources, well-tested, painless software installation with apt-get.
Cons: Archaic installer, the stable version is out-dated.
Software package management: DEB
Free download: Yes
Recommended alternative: MEPIS Linux
The Debian/GNU Linux page...
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Gentoo Linux |
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Gentoo Linux was created by Daniel Robbins, a former Stampede Linux and FreeBSD developer. It was the author's exposure to FreeBSD and its autobuild feature called "ports", which inspired him to incorporate ports into Gentoo under the name of "portage". A detailed account of these beginnings of Gentoo can be found in this three-part series called Making the distribution. Gentoo's first stable release was announced in March 2002.
Gentoo Linux is a source-based distribution, the only one on this list. While the installation media provide various levels of pre-compiled binary packages to get a basic Linux system up and running, the idea behind Gentoo is to compile all source packages on the user's computer. The main advantage of this is that all software is highly optimised for the computer architecture it is built on. Also, updating the installed software to newer version is a matter of typing a simple command and the software packages kept in a central repository are usually kept highly up-to-date. On the other hand, installing Gentoo and turning it into a full-blown distribution with the latest graphical desktops, multimedia and development tools is tedious and long - count on several days even on a fast computer.
Pros: Painless installation of individual software packages, highly up-to-date, the "geek feeling" of building a distribution tailored to user's needs.
Cons: Long and tedious system installation, occasional instability and risk of breakdown.
Software package management: SRC
Free download: Yes
The Gentoo Linux page...
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SUSE Linux |
| SUSE is another company with desktop focus, although a range of less visible enterprise class products are also available. The distribution has received positive reviews for its installer and YaST configuration tools, developed by SUSE's own developers. The documentation, which comes with the boxed product, has repeatedly been labeled as the most complete, thorough and usable by far. The distribution has achieved substantial market share in Europe and North America, but it is not marketed in Asia and other parts of the world. SUSE was acquired by Novell in late 2003.
SUSE's development takes place completely behind closed doors and no public betas are provided for testing. They have a policy of not making the software available for download long after the boxed versions are in stores. Even so, SUSE does not provide easily install-able ISO images of their distribution, relying on packaged software for the vast majority of their user base.
Pros: Professional attention to detail, easy-to-use YaST configuration tools.
Cons: Only available in parts of the world from software resellers or via FTP install, includes proprietary components, which prevents re-distribution.
Software package management: RPM
Free download: SUSE does not provide ISO images for download. However, the Professional edition of their distribution is available for installation via FTP, usually about 1 - 2 months after the official release. The FTP installation is not difficult, but requires broadband connection.
The SUSE Linux page...
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Knoppix |
| Developed by Klaus Knopper in Germany, it is safe to say that Debian-based Knoppix has raised the bar of standards to a new level, especially with its automatic hardware detection that puts many well established commercial Linux distributions to shame. Its hands-free booting, enormous selection of software, its on-the-fly decompression technique and the ability to install it on a hard disk have turned Knoppix into an indispensable tool. It can be used as a rescue disk, a tool to demonstrate Linux to those who haven't seen it or a tool to test a new computer before purchase. It can even be used as a full-blown Linux distribution for every-day tasks.
New versions of Knoppix are released frequently, on average about one new release each 1 - 2 weeks. Updates include bug fixes as well as the latest software packages from Debian's unstable branch.
Knoppix has been covered extensively in Linux media - see the Knoppix page for a detailed listing and make sure that you don't miss our Interview with Klaus Knopper as well as our contribution to LWN.net: Knoppix - the Great Linux Advocate.
Pros: Excellent hardware auto-detection, runs directly from CD without hard disk installation, can be used as a recovery tool.
Cons: Low speed and performance if run directly from the CD.
Software package management: DEB
Free download: Yes
The Knoppix page...
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Slackware Linux |
| Slackware Linux, created by Patrick Volkerding in 1992, is the oldest surviving Linux distribution. It offers no bells and whistles, sticking with a text-based installer and no graphical configuration tools. Where other distributions tried hard to develop easy-to-use front ends for many common utilities, Slackware offers no hand-holding and everything is still done through configuration files. Because of this, Slackware is only recommended to those novice users who intend to spend some time on learning about Linux.
Nevertheless, Slackware has a magic appeal to many users. It is extremely stable and secure - very suitable for server deployment. Experienced Linux administrators find that the distribution is less buggy as it uses most packages in their pristine forms and without too many in-house enhancements which have a potential to introduce new bugs. Releases are infrequent (about once a year), although up-to-date packages are always available for download after the official release. Slackware is a fine distribution for those who are interested in deeper knowledge of Linux internals.
Perhaps the best characteristic of this distribution I have heard is this: If you need help with your Linux box, find a Slackware user. He is more likely to fix the problem than a user familiar with any other distribution.
Pros: Highly stable and bug-free, strong adherence to UNIX principles.
Cons: All configuration is done by editing text files, limited hardware auto-detection.
Software package management: TGZ
Free download: Yes
The Slackware Linux page...
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Lycoris Desktop/LX |
| Lycoris, formerly Redmond Linux, was founded by Joseph Cheek, the company's CTO and former Linuxcare and Microsoft employee. The goal was to create an easy-to-use distribution that would make the transition from Windows to Linux as painless as possible. Lycoris Desktop/LX achieves this through hundreds of customisations, including clones for My Computer and Network Neighborhood, as well as an attractive default theme that strongly resembles Windows XP. The distribution is currently based on Caldera OpenLinux.
Lycoris Desktop/LX ships with limited number of packages, usually one application per task, and a Control Panel for common system administration tasks. Critics have argued that some packages are outdated, but the developers maintain that user-friendly enhancements are their major focus.
Pros: Beginner-friendly, designed to resemble Windows.
Cons: Some outdated packages, requires per-seat licensing for commercial use.
Software package management: RPM
Free download: 45-day trial edition only
The Lycoris Desktop/LX page...
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Xandros Desktop |
| Xandros was created from the ashes of Corel Linux, a fairly successful attempt to bring Linux to the masses back in 1999, but abandoned shortly afterwards when the company ran into financial difficulties. Xandros bought the distribution in August 2001 and released its first and only version in October 2002.
Xandros Desktop is without a doubt the most user-friendly distribution on the market and highly recommended to first-time Linux users. While the number of applications included with the distribution is limited, the developers have made sure that they work perfectly. Xandros provides a number of unique enhancements as well as its own file manager and other proprietary components. Two editions are available - Deluxe (US$99) and Standard (US$40), the only differences between the two are missing CrossOver Office and Plugin (a compatibility layer enabling to run Microsoft Office and other Windows products on Linux) and NTFS partition resizing tool (for WindowsXP users) from the cheaper edition.
Pros: Designed for beginners, works out of the box, excellent file manager and other useful utilities.
Cons: Includes proprietary components, which prevents re-distribution, no free download.
Software package management: DEB
Free download: No
The Xandros Desktop page...
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LindowsOS |
| Lindows.com was started by Michael Robertson, founder and former CEO of MP3.com, in October 2001 in San Diego, USA. The distribution's initial goal was to develop a Linux-based OS capable of running not only Linux applications but also major Windows applications such as MS Office. This ambitious goal was later abandoned as LindowsOS developers seemingly underestimated the effort required to accomplish the task.
The first public release of LindowsOS was announced in November 2002 under the name of LindowsOS 3.0. The product's highlights are quick and easy installation and Click-N-Run, a simple web-based infrastructure for software installation from the company's software pool. The product reviews were mixed, though - it seems that Click-N-Run still needs some work to iron out the bugs. The company's enormous marketing propaganda can be annoying at times, but they've succeeded in getting LindowsOS (and Linux) into mainstream media and pre-installed on new computers sold in US, UK, Japan and other countries.
Pros: Designed for beginners, quick and easy installation, one-click software installation.
Cons: Fairly expensive, annual fees apply for access to software pool.
Software package management: DEB
Free download: LindowsLive! only (BitTorrent download)
The LindowsOS page...
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| LinuxCD.org |
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| DistroWatch T-Shirts |
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| LWN.net Weekly Edition |
LWN Weekly Edition
11 March 2003
- Front: A Grumpy Editor's Calendar Search; Componentized Linux; SCO and public perception.
- Security: Fighting spam in the courts; New vulnerabilities in kdelibs, mozilla, python, wu-ftpd, ....
- Kernel: Virtual memory special; No more global queue unplugging.
- Distributions: A First Look at Mandrakelinux 10.0; Trustix Secure Linux 2.1; FreeSBIE; ROCK 2.0
- Development: The BitTorrent File Copying Tool,
new versions of alsa-lib, PostgreSQL,
KDE, GNOME Platform Bindings, SQL-Ledger, GTK+,
GenChemLab, Epiphany, AbiWord, BloGTK, Tcl/Tk, Bugzilla.
- Press: Spam anniversary, Cell phone programming, Microsoft And SCO,
EU cracks down on piracy, Inside TLDP, Next-Generation File Sharing.
- Announcements: Desktop Linux Conf, developerWorks Live, GIMP 2.0 User Manual,
Python tutorial, Penguicon, Halloween X.
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