Linux Distributions
General Information about Linux Distributions
The following information is provided only as general information on various Linux distributions. CAE does not officially endorse or try to sell one distribution over another. We do, however, recommend that users within the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin--Madison, use Debian for its ease of upgrading and patching.
There are many different distributions of Linux. We'll try to cover the main ones here. Linux itself is just a kernel, the core to the operating system. Different companies all use the same Linux kernel, but add in various other programs. They also all have their own installers that can vary greatly among the different distributions.
Debian 3
- http://www.debian.org
- Version of choice for Faculty Support.
- This distribution is maintained strictly by volunteers.
- Highly customizable, you select what you install.
- Requires an advanced knowledge of computers, but does allow for easy updating and one of the largest selections of available packages (programs) to install.
- Runs on Intel/AMD, Alpha, ARM, Motorola 680x0, PowerPC, and SPARC processors.
- Installation by CD, HTTP, FTP, and NFS.
- Fully customizable installation, choose one of the pre-selected options, or customize right down to each individual program you want installed.
- Free online updates.
- Available on CD for only $5.
- Automatic detection and configuration of major hardware and your Internet connection.
- Comes with an quick setup and installation guide with screenshots of every step.
- Comes with all the major programs, plus video editing software and a 3D drawing program. Has the largest amount of packages (programs) present on the installation media.
- Free online updates.
- Personal edition for workstation/desktop and Professional for workstation/server environment..
- Cost is about $40 for the personal edition and about $80 for the professional edition.
- Available for free by way of ftp installation, although with a large installation this may take a while. This installation is also more advanced than normal.
- Installation includes LIZARD (Linux Wizard), a graphical installation that detects most hardware by itself.
- Comes with KDE2, Full-featured demo of Applixware office suite, Star Office 5.2, Corel Word Perfect 8.
- Also includes special versions of PQMagic and Boot Magic.
- Claims to include "the best of all worlds" and to be the most Unix-like of the major Linux distributions.
- Works on everything from the Intel 386 on up.
- Comes with all the major software.
- 2 other options: ZipSlack and BigSlack.
- ZipSlack allows you to install Slackware on a single 100M Zip disk and run it from any Zip drive.
- BigSlack allows you to install Slackware in 800M of an existing Windows partition.
- Uses the Redhat Package Management (RPM) system for installing programs.
- Comes with all the major window managers (KDE, GNOME, WindowMaker, etc.).
- Comes with the DiskDrake hard disk partitioning program.
- If you have multiple operating systems running, you will have access to your MS Windows partitions from within Mandrake at the end of the installation.
- Set the security level during the installation.
- First came out in the summer of 1994.
- Redhat appears to be the best known major distributions.
- Runs on Intel/AMD, SPARC, and Alpha processors.
- Installation by CD, HTTP, FTP, NFS, and a local copy on your hard drive.
- Fully customizable installation, choose one of the pre-selected options, or customize right down to each individual program you want installed.
- Does not run on top of Win9x/NT, must install the bootloader (LILO) if you intend to have multiple OS's installed.
- Recognizes ATAPI Zip and Jaz drives.
- Comes with the GNOME 2.0 and KDE 3.0.3 window managers.
- Comes with a full version of OpenOffice 1.0.1, an open-source alternative to Microsoft Office.
- Installs directly on top of an existing MS Windows operating system.
- Supported hardware is automatically detected and configured based on your existing MS Windows configuration.
- Double-click to start from within MS Windows, in most situations.
- Comes with 2.4.18 kernel and KDE 3.0
- No special partitioning.
- Based on Debian's distribution.
- Detects hardware during installation.
- Beta version has been released.