Variants of LINUX

Submitted By: Vipin Viswanath MCA09 Roll No: 37

Introduction

Developed by Linus Torvalds and further elaborated by a number of developers throughout the world Linux is a freely available multitasking and multi-user operating system. From the outset, Linux was placed under General Public License (GPL). The system can be distributed, used and expanded free of charge. In this way, developers have access to all the source codes, thus being able to integrate new functions easily or to find and eliminate programming bugs quickly. Thereby drivers for new adapters (SCSI controller, graphics cards, etc.) can be integrated very rapidly. Linux may be obtained in two different ways. All the necessary components can be downloaded free of charge from the Internet. This means that an individual operating system can be assembled for almost nothing. An alternative is to use a so-called Distribution, offered by various companies and including a wide range of applications and installation programs that significantly simplify the installation of Linux. Presently, Linux is successfully being used by several millions of users worldwide. The composition of user groups varies from private users, training companies, universities, research centres right through to commercial users and companies, who view Linux as a real alternative to other operating systems.

Major Variants
1. Debian 2. SUSE 3. Mandrake 4. Ubuntu 5. Red Hat 6. Fedora

1.Debian
Debian ( /dbin/) is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses.[3] Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel,[4] is a popular and influential Linux distribution.[5] It is distributed with access to repositories containing thousands of software packages ready for installation and use. Debian is known for

relatively strict adherence to the philosophies of Unix and free software[6] as well as using collaborative software development and testing processes.[7] Debian can be used on a variety of hardware, from NAS devices to phones, laptops, desktops and servers. It focuses on stability and security and is used as a base for many other distributions.

2.SUSE Linux
SUSE Linux ( /sus/;[1] German: [zuz]) is a computer operating system. It is built on top of the open source Linux kernel and is distributed with system and application software from other open source projects. SUSE Linux is of German origin and mainly developed in Europe. The first version appeared in early 1994, making SUSE the oldest existing commercial distribution. It is known for its YaST configuration tool. Novell bought the SuSE brands and trademarks in 2003. Novell, one of the founding members of the Open Invention Network, decided to make the community an important part of their development process by opening widely the distribution development to outside contributors in 2005, creating the openSUSE distribution and the openSUSE Project. Novell employed over 500 developers working on SUSE in 2004.[2] On 27 April 2011, Novell (and SUSE) were acquired by Attachmate.[3]

2.1.1 openSUSE
openSUSE ( /opnsuz/) is a general purpose operating system built on top of the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported openSUSE Project and sponsored by SUSE. After Novell acquired SUSE Linux in January 2004,[2] Novell decided to release the SUSE Linux Professional product as a 100% open source project.[3] The initial release of the community project was a beta version of SUSE Linux 10.0, and as of November 16, 2011 the current stable release is openSUSE 12.1.

3.Mandriva Linux
Mandriva Linux (result of fusion of the French distribution Mandrakelinux or Mandrake Linux and the Brazilian distribution Conectiva Linux) is a Linux distribution distributed by Mandriva. It uses the RPM Package Manager. The product lifetime of Mandriva Linux releases is 18 months for base updates (Linux, system software, etc.) and 12 months for desktop updates (window managers, desktop environments, web browsers, etc.).

Server products receive full updates for at least 5 years after their release.[4] Features The major features of Mandriva Linux are: Installation, control and administration Mandriva Linux contains the Mandriva Control Center, which eases configuration of some settings. It has many programs known as Drakes or Draks, collectively named drakxtools, to configure many different settings. Examples include MouseDrake to set up a mouse, DiskDrake to set up disk partitions and drakconnect to set up a network connection. They are written using GTK+ and Perl, and most of them can run in both graphical and text mode using the ncurses interface. Desktops The latest version of Mandriva Linux, 2011.0 officially supports only KDE Plasma Desktop, whereas other desktop environments are available but not supported. Older Mandriva versions used Plasma Desktop as standard but others such as GNOME were also officially supported. Themes A unique theme provides consistency between applications and desktop environments. Galaxy debuted in version 9.1 and Galaxy II appeared in 10.0. A variant of Galaxy is "Galaxy Squared", which uses square window buttons rather than round ones. A new default theme named "Ia Ora" was introduced with the release of Mandriva Linux 2007, but "Galaxy" remains available as an option for those who prefer it. Package manager Rpmdrake, Mandriva's graphical package manager Mandriva Linux uses a package manager called urpmi, which functions as a wrapper to the RPM package management system. It is similar to aptget or Yellow dog Updater, Modified in that it allows seamless installation of a given software package by automatically installing the other packages needed. It is also media-transparent due to its ability to retrieve packages from various media, including network/Internet, CD/DVD and local disk. Urpmi also has an easy-to-use graphical front-end called rpmdrake, which is integrated into the Mandriva Control Center. Remote sources for urpmi / rpmdrake can be added during the installation of recent Mandriva Linux versions. After installation, they can be added

through an option in the Software Sources Manager, or by using console commands generated either manually or by one of several helper sites such as Easy URPMI. This functionality allows the user to choose some or all of the various software repositories available for their version of Mandriva Linux and can greatly expand the amount of software that the user can install through the urpmi system. Instructions on adding repositories and installing software can be found on the Mandriva Wiki. Live USB A Live USB of Mandriva Linux can be created manually or with UNetbootin. [8]

Ubuntu
Ubuntu ( /bntu/ oo-boon-too)[7][8] is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu ("humanity towards others").[9] Ubuntu is designed primarily for use on personal computers, although a server edition also exists. Ubuntu is sponsored by the UK-based company Canonical Ltd., owned by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. Canonical generates revenue by selling technical support and services related to Ubuntu, while the operating system itself is entirely free of charge. The Ubuntu project is committed to the principles of free software development; people are encouraged to use free software, improve it, and pass it on.[10]

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a Linux-based operating system developed by Red Hat and targeted toward the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86, x86-64, Itanium, PowerPC and IBM System z, and desktop versions for x86 and x86-64. All of Red Hat's official support and training and the Red Hat Certification Program center around the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is often abbreviated to RHEL, although this is not an official designation.[3] The first version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to bear the name originally came onto the market as "Red Hat Linux Advanced Server". In 2003 Red Hat rebranded Red Hat Linux Advanced Server to "Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS", and added two more variants, Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES and Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS.

While Red Hat uses strict trademark rules to restrict free re-distribution of their officially supported versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux,[4] Red Hat freely provides the source code for the distribution's software, both for free software whose license requires such publishing and open source software where this is not mandatory. As a result, several distributors have created re-branded and/or community-supported re-builds of Red Hat Enterprise Linux that can legally be made available, without official support from Red Hat.

Fedora
Fedora ( /fdr./), formerly Fedora Core, is a RPM-based, general purpose collection of software, including an operating system based on the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat. The Fedora Project's mission is to lead the advancement of free and open source software and content as a collaborative community.[4]

One of Fedora's main objectives is not only to contain software distributed under a free and open source license, but also to be on the leading edge of such technologies.[5][6] Fedora developers prefer to make upstream changes instead of applying fixes specifically for Fedorathis ensures that their updates are available to all Linux distributions.[7] Compared to more mainstream non-Linux operating systems, Fedora has a short life cycle. Version X is maintained until one month after version X+2 is released. With 6 months between releases, the maintenance period is a very short 13 months for each version.[8] This can lead to trouble should one wish to use a particular version of Fedora for product development (i.e., embedded systems) where long term support is more important than maintaining leading edge revisions of software. In 2008, Linus Torvalds, author of the Linux kernel, stated that he used Fedora because it had fairly good support for the PowerPC processor architecture, which he favored at the time.[9] According to DistroWatch, Fedora is the third most popular Linux-based operating system as of January 2012, behind Mint and Ubuntu, and it is the most popular RPM-based Linux distribution.[10]

References

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki 2. http://www.distrowatch.com
3. http://www.computerhope.com/unix/linux.htm