Popular Linux Distros

Linux is known for its various flavors or distros. Windows too has several versions – Home, Professional, Ultimate, but they are not distinct from each other. They are built on the same architecture, with one having more features than the other.

As we discussed earlier, Linux should be tried but people get daunted thinking it is too advanced. There are distros specific to newbies and geeks.

According to Wikipedia,

There are currently over six hundred Linux distributions. Over three hundred of those are in active development, constantly being revised and improved.

So, lets start with the various distros available.

• Debian : The distribution on which most of today’s distros are based upon (more than 120). Its greatest advantage is its stability and its ability to upgrade without rebooting. Though its releases get outdated fast, as it is published once every 1-3 years.
• Ubuntu : The most popular linux distribution today period. It is a debian based distro, with a huge community. Such a large community equals great support. There are numerous forums where any question or doubt can be answered. It also has an extremely large software repository. Ubuntu is highly recommended for beginners who want to get a taste of linux, It also supports propriety nVidia and ATI drivers. It has a 6 month release schedule. It can also be installed within Windows with WUBI.
• Linux Mint : It is a distro based on  Ubuntu, is referred to by many as “improved ubuntu”. Mint is more user friendly than Ubuntu and includes various tools called “mint” tools for enhanced usability. It has enhanced graphical features but those require a graphics card. It also includes media codecs, DVD playback support and many additional features. Mint is also highly recommended for beginners, but not so much for advanced users.
• Fedora : It is an openly developed project developed by Red Hat. There are 2-3 releases in a year. A special feature is that its mainly designed by the Red Hat team along with some outside contributions. It is known for its innovation and great security  features.
• OpenSUSE : It is an open source program sponsored by Novell. It is known for Yast – a simple graphical system administration tool and uses the rpm package format. However, it is seen as resource heavy and a bit slow.
• Slackware : Known as the oldest linux variant. This distro is meant solely for advanced users and not recommended for beginners. It is a great distro to learn the ins and outs of linux. It is highly stable and bug free and has a simple text based installer.
• Gentoo : It is a linux distribution which allows the users to compile the linux kernel and applications from source code directly on their system. This makes it a highly optimised and always up to date. It offers great customisation and tweaking opportunities. This is also not recommended for newbies.
• Pinguy OS : It is a distro based on Ubuntu which is meant solely for the newbies. Any advanced user will be sorely disappointed as it really does not feel like Linux. It has more of a Windows feel with many desktop enhancements, docks, plugins, multimedia codecs and more.

This is certainly not a complete list of linux distros, but the most common ones. Some common distros like Red Hat are not features here because they are commercial and not free.

We will continue with more articles on linux. If you have specific questions, please feel free to ask.

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