UBUNTU

ubuntu |oǒ'boǒntoō|

Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning 'humanity to others'. It also means 'I am what I am because of who we all are'. The Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the world of computers.

Where did it all begin?

Linux was already established as an enterprise server platform in 2004. But free software was still not a part of everyday life for most computer users. That's why Mark Shuttleworth gathered a small team of developers from one of the most established Linux projects – Debian - and set out to create an easy-to-use Linux desktop, Ubuntu.

The vision for Ubuntu is part social and part economic: free software, available free of charge to everybody on the same terms, and funded through a portfolio of services provided by Canonical.

Ubuntu today

The first version of Ubuntu was based on the GNOME desktop. We have since added a KDE edition, Kubuntu, and a server edition. All of the editions of Ubuntu share common infrastructure and software, making Ubuntu a unique platform that scales from consumer electronics to the desktop, and into the cloud for enterprise computing. Developers can work on their desktop of choice, and smoothly deliver code to cloud servers running the stripped-down Ubuntu Server Edition.

In recent years, special emphasis has been placed on netbooks for lightweight, connected, mobile computing, and on the cloud as a new architecture for data centres. Ubuntu is a pioneer in both fields, with Ubuntu Netbook Edition and Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud setting the standard for easy deployment and management. Ubuntu is hugely popular on Amazon's EC2 and Rackspace's Cloud, and is pre-installed on computers from Dell, Lenovo and other global vendors.

Ubuntu still is and always will be free to use, share and develop. We hope it will bring a touch of light to your computing – and we hope that you'll join us in helping to build the next version too.

FEDORA

WHAT IS FEDORA?

Fedora is a Linux-based operating system, a collection of software that makes your computer run. You can use Fedora in addition to, or instead of, other operating systems such as Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X. The Fedora operating system is completely free of cost for you to enjoy and share.

The Fedora Project is the name of a worldwide community of people who love, use, and build free software from around the globe. We want to lead in the creation and spread of free code and content by working together as a community. Fedora is sponsored by Red Hat, the world's most trusted provider of open source technology. Red Hat invests in Fedora to encourage collaboration and incubate innovative new free software technologies.

WHAT MAKES FEDORA DIFFERENT?

We believe in the value of free software, and fight to protect and promote solutions anyone can use and redistribute. Not only is the Fedora operating system made from free software, but we use free software exclusively to provide it to you. This web site, in fact, is made from free software and serves millions of people every month.

We also believe in the power of collaboration. Our developers work with free software project teams around the world we call "upstream." They create much of the software found in Fedora. We collaborate closely with them so everyone can benefit from our work, and get access to improvements as soon as possible. By working in the same direction as these project teams, we can ensure that free software works better together, and provides the best experience for users. We also can include improvements quickly, which helps not only users, but the upstream as well.

We also believe in empowering others to pursue their own visions of a free operating system. Anyone can remix Fedora into a new product with a new name. We even provide the tools in Fedora itself. In fact, Fedora is already the foundation for derivatives such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the One Laptop Per Child XO, and the Creative Commons Live Content DVDs.

DEBIAN

WHAT is Debian?

The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system. This operating system that we have created is called Debian GNU/Linux, or simply Debian for short.

An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer run. At the core of an operating system is the kernel. The kernel is the most fundamental program on the computer and does all the basic housekeeping and lets you start other programs.

Debian systems currently use the Linux kernel. Linux is a piece of software started by Linus Torvalds and supported by thousands of programmers worldwide.

However, work is in progress to provide Debian for other kernels, primarily for the Hurd. The Hurd is a collection of servers that run on top of a microkernel (such as Mach) to implement different features. The Hurd is free software produced by the GNU project.

A large part of the basic tools that fill out the operating system come from the GNU project; hence the names: GNU/Linux and GNU/Hurd. These tools are also free.

Of course, the thing that people want is application software: programs to help them get what they want to do done, from editing documents to running a business to playing games to writing more software. Debian comes with over 29000 packages (precompiled software that is bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine) — all of it free.

It's a bit like a tower. At the base is the kernel. On top of that are all the basic tools. Next is all the software that you run on the computer. At the top of the tower is Debian — carefully organizing and fitting everything so it all works together

RED HAT

Red Hat Linux, assembled by the company Red Hat, was a popular Linux based operating system until its discontinuation in 2004.

Red Hat Linux 1.0 was released on November 3, 1994. It was originally called "Red Hat Commercial Linux It was the first Linux distribution to use theRPM Package Manager as its packaging format, and over time has served as the starting point for several other distributions, such as Mandriva Linux andYellow Dog Linux.

Since 2003, Red Hat has discontinued the Red Hat Linux line in favor of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for enterprise environments. Fedora, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat, is the free version best suited for home use. Red Hat Linux 9, the final release, hit its official end-of-life on 2004-04-30, although updates were published for it through 2006 by the Fedora Legacy project until that shut down in early 2007

Version 9 supported the Native POSIX Thread Library, which was ported to the 2.4 series kernels by Red Hat.

Red Hat Linux lacked many features due to possible copyright and patent problems. For example, MP3 support was disabled in both Rhythmbox and XMMS; instead, Red Hat recommended using Ogg Vorbis, which has no patents. MP3 support, however, could be installed afterwards, although royalties are required everywhere MP3 is patented.^{[citation needed]} Support for Microsoft's NTFS file system was also missing, but could be freely installed as well.

ARCH

Introduction Arch Linux is a bleeding edge Linux Distribution, that is mainly focused on simplicity, according to them "...without unnecessary additions, modifications, or complications..", read its philosophy. It has a powerful and efficient package manager Pacman

I will in this Arch Linux review, to be fair and not biased.

Release cycle Arch Linux is a rolling release distribution, meaning there is no specific dates for new releases, it is continuously developing, it is almost always at the bleeding edge, with the most updated versions of packages. This means you only have to install once, and then just keep updating arch, and you will always have the most "recent release", this is one of the aspects I like the most about Arch Linux

Installation

You can install Arch Linux from a CD or from a USB flash memory, they provide you with ISOs for the CD installation and with USB images for the flash memory installation. They provide with two ways to install, from the network or from the media, anyway you end up with a very minimal installation, it is a base system. From this point you have to install all the software you may need, if is more or less like installing Debian minimal CD, and choosing nothing when running the tasksel. This is another thing I like about Arch Linux, you may install only the needed software and do not end with a bunch of software you will never use, and do not be afraid about the process of installation their wiki pages are a great source of information, and everything is explained there.

Configuration

Configure Arch Linux is really simple, and I think they achieved their goal of keeping it simple, you mainly have two configuration files. /etc/rc.conf where you can define the modules to be uploaded, and the daemons to be started, among other things, I like this way to configure modules and daemons, I am a Debian fan, and like this even more than the way Debian does. The other configuration file is /etc/pacman.conf where you configure all necessary to install new packages and keep your system up to date, including mirrors.

Repositories

Arch Linux comes with four official repositories, they are:

• core, which contains all the packages needed to set up a base system
• extra, which holds packages not required for the base system, including desktop environments and programs
• testing, a special repository, with packages that are candidates for the core or extra repositories.
• community, which contains packages built and voted on by the community; includes packages that have sufficient votes and have been adopted by a "trusted user".

You will find all you need for a normal work on these repositories, at least they were enough for me so far.

SUSE

About SUSE Linux

SUSE Linux is maintained by a company called SUSE LINUX AG. Established in 1992, this Nurnberg, Germany-based company released the first distribution of SUSE Linux in 1993. Early distributions had their roots in Slackware Linux.American company Novell completed its acquisition of SUSE LINUX AG in January of 2004.
Until recently, "SUSE" was spelled "SuSE" or "S.u.S.E." which stood for "System und Software Entwicklung", which is German for "System and Software Development" (more here, alsopronunciation). Aparently it doesn't really stand for anything now.
SUSE Linux is probably best known for its system of managing software, known as YaST (Yet another Software Tool), which strives to make managing and updating of a SUSE distribution as simple as possible. Among the larger Linux community, SUSE seems to be considered a "well-balanced" distribution in the sense that it is considered "easy" enough for new Linux users to use while still maintaining the freedom for more experienced users to harness the (often complex) power of Linux. SUSE is also very well suited for both desktop and file/web server applications.
In August of 2005, Novell announced the openSUSE project. This is the "community-based" branch of the SUSE distribution. Community members have a much greater voice in the direction of SUSE. Just to clarify a common misconception: the operating system is called "SUSE Linux", the community behind it is called "openSUSE".
As far as "cool factor" goes, a SUSE user is not mocked as much as a Mandrake or Linspire(Lindows) user, but we're aparently inferior to Debian or Slackware users (and certainly subordinate to the guys who shun distributions all together and build their own package). So if you're the kind of person who thinks your operating system says something about you, there you go.

What Does SUSE Stand For?

This question gets asked a lot, so here you go.SUSE Linux (and the company that maintains it) has been known as "SuSE" and "S.u.S.E.". It originally stood for "System und Software Entwicklung", which is German for "System and Software Development".
Now the company is known as "SUSE LINUX AG", and the distribution is known as "SUSE" Linux. The current speculation is that "SUSE" doesn't stand for anything anymore, it is just a name.

Linux Mint

Introduction to Linux Mint

          Linux Mint is a computer operating system designed to work on most modern systems, including typical x86 and x64 PCs. 

          Linux Mint can be thought of as filling the same role as Microsoft's Windows, Apple's

Mac OS, and the free BSD OS. Linux Mint is also designed to work in conjunction with other operating systems (including those listed above), and can automatically set up a “dual boot” or “multi-boot” environment (where the user is prompted as to which operating system to start at each boot-up) during its installation.   Linux Mint is a great operating system for individuals and for companies. 

History

          Linux Mint is a very modern operating system; Its development started in 2006. It is, however, built upon very mature and proven software layers, including the Linux kernel, the GNU tools and the Gnome desktop. It also relies on the Ubuntu and Debian projects and uses their systems as a base.

          The Linux Mint project focuses on making the desktop more usable and more efficient for everyday tasks performed by regular users. Underneath the desktop the operating system also provides a huge collection of available software and a very well integrated set of services. 

          Linux Mint saw a rapid rise in popularity and more and more people use it every day. 

Purpose

          The purpose of Linux Mint is to provide a desktop operating system that home users and companies can use at no cost and which is as efficient, easy to use, and elegant as possible. 

          One of the ambitions of the Linux Mint project is to become the best operating system available by making it easy for people to get to use advanced technologies, rather than by simplifying them (and thereby reducing their capabilities), or by copying the approaches taken by other developers. 

          The goal is to develop our own idea of the ideal desktop. We think that it is best to make the most out of the modern technologies that exist under Linux and make it easy for everybody to use its most advanced features. 

The Story of LinuxCelebrate the 20th Anniversary of Linux with us

 Watch the Story of Linux to remember - or learn for the first time - how Linux has disrupted a market and has begun to change the world. Join in a variety of activities planned this year to mark this important milestone.