Malaysian Open Source Centre

The Linux kernel or Linux is an operating system kernel used by a family of Unix-like operating systems. These are popularly termed Linux operating systems and the name is also used for the various Linux distributions built on top of the operating system.

The Linux kernel is released under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2) and developed by contributors worldwide; Linux is one of the most prominent examples of Open Source software.[4]

The Linux kernel was initially conceived and created by Finnish software engineer Linus Torvalds in 1991. Early on, the MINIX community contributed code and ideas to the Linux kernel. At the time, the GNU Project had created many of the components required for a free software operating system, but its own kernel, GNU Hurd, was incomplete and unavailable. The BSD operating system had not yet freed itself from legal encumbrances. This meant that despite the limited functionality of the early versions, Linux rapidly accumulated developers and users who adopted code from those projects for use with the new operating system.[5] Today the Linux kernel has received contributions from thousands of programmers.

THE FREE SOFTWARE PORTAL

Free software is software which can be run, studied, examined, modified, and redistributed by everyone who has a copy. This type of software, which was given its current name in 1983, has also come to be known as "open-source software", "software libre" or "libre software", "FOSS", and "FLOSS". The term "Free" refers to it being unfettered, rather than being free-of-charge. In this sense, it is the user who is free.

The free software movement was launched in 1983 with the primary tactic to write free software replacements for the non-free software that society relied on. Examples of well-known free software packages include GNU, the Linux kernel, Mozilla Firefox, and OpenOffice.org and on network servers, FreeBSD and the Apache web server.

Nowadays, everyone uses Ubuntu, most people have used Fedora, and many folks have tried openSUSE. SimplyMEPIS ... not so many. That's a shame, because this relatively obscure Debian-based desktop distribution from Morgantown, WV, is an outstanding desktop operating system. With SimplyMEPIS 8 at beta 5 and closing in on release, I tested the distribution and found it to be a keeper.

I downloaded SimplyMEPIS from one of its mirror sites and burned the ISO file to a CD, then installed it on a Dell Inspiron 530s, powered by a 2.2GHz Intel Pentium E2200 dual-core processor with an 800MHz front side bus, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB SATA drive, and an Integrated Intel 3100 Graphics Media Accelerator.

On this system, I started by running SimplyMEPIS from its live CD. It ran without a hitch, so I moved on to installing the distribution. The SimplyMEPIS installation took approximately 15 minutes. I opted to use ext3 for my filesystem, rather than ext2 and ReiserFS; it's not the fastest or most up-to-date journaled file system, but it's about as stable as they come.

Like most modern Linuxes, SimplyMEPIS can use the entire hard dark for the distribution, or you can modify an existing partition table with GParted. I opted to shrink down the existing Windows NTFS partition, delete the factory-installed recovery partition, and create a main primary partition and a separate primary swap partition. GParted made it easy to do, and reminded me that not so long ago changing and configuring hard drive partitions required equal parts magic and hope.

A single CD distribution, MEPIS offers a limited selection of KDE 3.5.* packages out of the box. To get other software choices, you'll need to download them from the Debian and MEPIS software repositories. SimplyMEPIS boots into a KDE 3.5.9 desktop. SimplyMEPIS's developer, Warren Woodford doesn't care for KDE 4.x, so he's elected to stick with classic KDE. The older software works just fine.

The distribution itself is built on top of Debian 5 (Lenny), which hasn't yet been released. Even so, Woodford isn't waiting on Lenny's release to include newer software. For example, SimplyMEPIS uses the 2.6.27.5 kernel. 

You'll also find the newest software among SimplyMEPIS's applications. The distribution includes the newest version of Sun's VirtualBox virtual machine, virtualbox-ose 2.0.4; the latest OpenOffice.org office suite, 3.0.0-4; and Firefox 3.0.3-3. Curiously, SimplyMEPIS 8 doesn't include Firefox's email sibling, Thunderbird, in its basic package. Instead, its default email program is KMail.

Of course, since SimplyMEPIS comes with the Synaptic package manager and the Debian Lenny and SimplyMEPIS repositories ready to go, installing Thunderbird, or in my case, the GNOME Evolution mail client, is no trouble at all. 

While working with the applications, I found one odd error. While the distribution came with the new Adobe Flash Player 10 browser plugin installed, it would not display Flash video in Firefox. I finally solved the problem by reinstalling Flash Player from the repository. 

For all other purposes, over days of use, SimplyMEPIS worked flawlessly. I used my usual applications -- Firefox, Evolution, OpenOffice.org, Pidgin for IM, Banshee for music, and Konqueror for file management -- and everything went as smooth as silk.

Of course, I could have used any other KDE-based distribution and gotten pretty much the same results, but SimplyMEPIS's greatest charm is that it works so well as a seamless whole.

While you might get similar results from any KDE-based distribution, SimplyMEPIS offers something extra in its collection of four system tuning tools: MEPIS Network Assistant, MEPIS System Assistant, MEPIS User Assistant, and MEPIS X-Windows Assistant. You can get to these from the main KDE menu's System option.

Each of these brings together important Linux controls in a logical, easy-to-use way. For example, the Network Assistant gives you control over all your network interfaces, both Ethernet and Wi-Fi, as well as DHCP and DNS settings, and lets you stop and restart network interfaces. Sure, you can do that with other Linux distributions, but SimplyMEPIS puts all the network controls you need in one place so you don't need to search for them.

Two of the other assistants add even more functionality. The System Assistant, besides enabling you to change your computer's name, domain, and Samba/Windows workgroup/domain and repair your boot or partitions, also lets you clone your existing desktop to a bootable USB drive. Lots of distributions, including Fedora 9, let you set up a Linux desktop on a USB drive, but, to the best of my knowledge, SimplyMEPIS is the only one to make it duplicate the one you're already using to take with you on the road.

The MEPIS User Assistant enables you to copy or sync between desktops. Your choices include copying or syncing your entire home directory or just your mail, Mozilla, documents, or configuration directories. It's a pretty darn handy tool both for backups and for moving from one PC to another.

The overall impact of SimplyMEPIS's smooth integration and its user-friendly utilities is to make it a truly outstanding Linux desktop. I've been using desktop Linux for more than a decade, and I keep coming back to SimplyMEPIS. Version 8 is good enough that I'm not taking it off my test machine. Instead, I've migrated all my files to the SimplyMEPIS PC and made it my main desktop system. That's how good it is: good enough that SimplyMEPIS is now my number one desktop. 

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the operating system of choice for PCs and 2BSD Unix was what the cool kids used on their computers.

Debian (pronounced [ˈdɛbiən]) is a computer operating system composed entirely of free and open source software. The primary form, Debian GNU/Linux, is a popular and influential Linux distribution.[1] Debian is known for strict adherence to the Unix and free software philosophies and uses extensive open development and testing processes.[2] Debian is a multipurpose OS, which can be used as a desktop or server operating system. It has been estimated via a SLOC-based measure that Debian etch would cost close to US$13 billion if it were developed by proprietary means.[3]

The Debian Project is an independent organization; it is not backed by a company like other linux distributions such as Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, and Mandriva. Since its founding in 1993, Debian is governed by the Debian Constitution[4] and the Social Contract[5] which state what the goal of the project is (the development of a free operating system) and to ensure that the Debian Project will always remain 100% free. Debian is developed by over one thousand volunteers from around the world[6] and supported by donations through SPI, a non-profit umbrella organization for various free software projects.[7] Many distributions are based on Debian, including: Ubuntu, MEPIS, Dreamlinux, Damn Small Linux, Xandros, Knoppix, Linspire, sidux, Kanotix, and LinEx, among others.[8]

Debian is also known for an abundance of options — the current release, Debian etch, includes over eighteen thousand software packages for eleven computer architectures. These architectures range from the Intel/AMD 32-bit/64-bit architectures commonly found in personal computers to the ARM architecture commonly found in embedded systems and the IBM eServer zSeries mainframes.[9] Prominent features of Debian are the APT package management system, repositories with large numbers of packages, strict policies regarding packages, and the quality of releases.[8] These practices afford easy upgrades between releases and easy automated installation and removal of packages.

The GNOME default install provides popular programs such as OpenOffice.org, Iceweasel (a rebranding of Firefox), Evolution mail, CD/DVD writing programs, music and video players, image viewers and editors, and PDF viewers. A default installation requires only the first GNOME, KDE or Xfce CD/DVD. The remaining discs, which span four DVDs or over twenty CDs, contain all eighteen thousand extra packages currently available. The preferred method of install is a net install CD, which includes only necessary software and downloads selected packages during the installation via Debian's package manager, APT (or Synaptic).

History

Compact Discs, originally developed for storing audio, were adapted for use as media for storing and distributing large amounts of computer data. This data may also include application and operating system software, sometimes packaged and archived in compressed formats. Later, it became convenient and useful to boot the computer directly from compact disc, often with a minimal working system in order to install a full system onto a hard drive.

The first Compact Disc drives on personal computers were generally much too slow for running complex operating systems. Often, the computer could not boot from optical discs. When operating systems were distributed on compact discs, either a boot floppy or the CD itself would boot specifically, and only, in order to install onto a hard drive.

Origin of Linux Live CDs

Although early Linux developers and users were able to take advantage of cheap optical disks and rapidly declining prices of CD drives for personal computers, the Linux distribution CDs or "distros" were generally treated as a collection of installation packages that must first be permanently installed to hard disks on the target machine.

However in the case of Linux, the free operating system was meeting resistance in the consumer market because of the perceived difficulty, effort, and risk involved in installing an additional partition on the hard disk, particularly the ext2 filesystem.

The term "live CD" was coined because after typical PC RAM was large enough and 52x speed CD drives and CD burners were widespread among PC owners, it finally became convenient and practical to boot the kernel, run X11, a window manager and GUI applications directly from a CD without disturbing the OS (generally Windows on FAT32 or NTFS) on the hard disk.

This was a new and different situation for Linux than other OSes, because the updates/upgrades were being released so quickly, different distributions and versions were being offered online, and especially because users were burning their own CDs.

Copying Linux from the installation media was also encouraged instead of actively hindered and discouraged with such things as requiring the input of long and elaborate serial numbers and lengthy and complicated installation procedures.

The first Linux-based live CD was Yggdrasil Linux (went out of production in 1995), though in practice it did not function well due to the low throughput of then-current CD-ROM drives. The Debian-derived Linux distribution Knoppix was released in 2003, and found popularity as both a rescue disk system and as a primary distribution in its own right. Since 2003, the popularity of live CDs has increased substantially, partly due to Linux Live scripts and remastersys which made it very easy to build customized live systems.

Most of the popular Linux distributions now include a live CD variant, which in some cases is also the preferred installation medium.


Uses

While some live CDs are designed to "demo" or "test drive" a particular operating system (usually Linux or another free or open source operating system), there are live CDs made for many different uses.

Although some live CDs can load into memory in order to free the optical drive for other uses, loading the data off a CD-ROM is still slower than a typical hard drive boot, so this is rarely the default with large Live CD images, but for smaller Live CD images loading the filesystem directly into RAM can be highly practical. Loading the filesystem image into RAM can provide a significant performance boost as RAM is several orders of magnitude faster than a hard drive. Also, since RAM has no moving parts, a system running from a Live CD loaded into RAM can run with improved power efficiency.[1] Experienced users of the operating system may also use a live CD to determine whether and to what extent a particular operating system or version is compatible with a particular hardware configuration and certain peripherals. Or as a way to know beforehand which computer or peripheral will work before buying.[1] Users may also use a live CD to troubleshoot hardware, especially when a hard drive fails. Some live CDs can save user-created files in a Windows partition, a USB drive, a network drive, or other accessible media.

A few additional uses include:
installing a Linux distribution to a hard drive
testing new versions of software
testing hardware
system repair and restoration
high security/non-invasive environment for a guest
cracking/stealing passwords
network security testing
being the primary or backup operating system for any computer
quick and simple clustering of computers [2]
computer forensics
playing video games
providing a secure server platform where crucial files cannot be permanently altered
Internet kiosks, which can be brought back to their original state by a reboot


Live CD software appliances

Packaging a software appliance as an installable Live CD can often be beneficial as a single image can run on real hardware in addition to most types of virtual machines.

This allows developers to avoid the complexities involved in supporting multiple incompatible virtual machine images formats and focus on the lowest common denominator instead.

Typically after booting the machine from the Live CD, the appliance will either run in non-persistent demo mode or install itself, at the user's request, to an available storage device.


Mounting without burning

The files on a live CD ISO image can be accessed in Microsoft Windows with a disk image emulator such as Daemon Tools, or in Unix variants by mounting a loop device.

After mounting the Live CD's filesystem, software on the Live CD can be run directly (I.e., without booting) by chrooting into the Live CD's mounted filesystem.


Common traits

Some live CDs come with an installation utility launchable from a desktop icon that can optionally install the system on a hard drive or USB flash drive. Most live CDs can access the information on internal and/or external hard drives, diskettes and USB flash drives.

Generally live CDs are booted from read-only media, requiring either copying to rewriteable media (i.e. a hard drive) or complete remastering to install additional software; however, there are exceptions such as Morphix and Puppy Linux which are one of the few Linux live CD distributions able to save files to the live CD itself or other multisession medium, allowing users to carry data, and more importantly, added programs and customized settings, along with them on optical disc.

Most live CDs are based on Linux, as this was the operating system that had the most to gain by offering free trials and demonstrations without regard to sales or copyright. Now others are using the term live CD for other operating systems, such as OpenSolaris, BeleniX and others based on Solaris. Other "live" operating systems include Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, ReactOS, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, MINIX 3, Plan 9 from Bell Labs, MorphOS and FreeDOS.

The first personal computer operating system on a CD to support "live" operations might have been the AmigaOS, which could be booted from CD on an Amiga CDTV in 1990.[citation needed]. Earlier examples of live OS are of course the operating systems used from floppy, and most widely spread is DOS.

Unlike previous operating systems on optical media, though, Linux "live CDs" were specifically designed to run without installation onto other media like a hard disk drive. The live CD concept was meant to promote Linux and showcase the abilities of the free, open source operating system on conventional personal computers with Microsoft Windows already installed.[citation needed]

On a PC, a bootable Compact Disc generally conforms to the El Torito specification. Many Linux based live CDs use a compressed filesystem image, often with the cloop compressed loopback driver, or squashfs compressed filesystem, generally doubling effective storage capacity, although slowing application start up.

The resulting environment can be quite rich: typical Knoppix systems include around 1,200 separate software packages. Live CDs have a reputation for supporting advanced auto-configuration and plug-and-play functionality. This out of necessity so as to avoid requiring the user to configure the system each time it boots, and to make them easily usable by those who are new to the operating system.


Technique

A read-only file system, such as on a CD-ROM has the drawback of being unable to save any current working data. For this reason, a read-only file system is often merged with a temporary writable file system in the form of a RAM disk. Often the default Linux directories "/home" (containing users' personal files and configuration files) and "/var" (containing variable data) are kept in ramdisk, because the system updates them frequently. Puppy linux has a savable layer so if you choose to, the next time you boot you can resume (pick right back up again) from where you left off. Each time the CD boots, it looks for the file and then uses it if it has the right name.

In modern live CDs, a read-only file system is merged with ramdisk using transparent techniques such as UnionFS or AuFS. In MS-DOS systems, a DOS utility, ramdrive.sys, can be loaded at boot for this purpose.

Live CDs have to be able to detect a wide variety of hardware (including network cards, graphic cards etc.). This is easily achieved nowadays by udev or hotplug, which is a common part of all distributions based on Linux kernel 2.6.


Cheat code

During live CD initialization, a user typically may resort to using one or more cheat codes to change the booting behavior. These vary from distribution to distribution but can most often be accessed upon first boot screen by one of the function keys.

Live CD

A live CD or live DVD is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive. Live USB flash drives are similar to live CDs, but often have the added functionality of automatically and transparently writing changes back to their bootable medium.

The term "live" derives from the fact that these CDs each contain a complete, functioning and operational operating system on the distribution medium.

While a live CD typically does not alter the operating system or files already installed on a computer's hard drive, many Live CDs include mechanisms and utilities for altering the host computer's hard drive, including permanent installation. This is important for the system management aspect of live CDs, such as removing viruses, drive imaging, and system recovery.

The default option, however, is to allow the user to return the computer to its previous state when the live CD is ejected and the computer is rebooted. It is able to run without permanent installation by placing the files that typically would be stored on a hard drive into RAM, typically in a RAM disk. However, this does cut down on the RAM available to applications, reducing performance somewhat. As of 2007, certain live CDs run a graphical user interface in as little as 32MB RAM.

Linux (pronounced LIH-nuks) is an operating system for computers, comparable to Windows or Mac OS X. It was originally created starting in 1991 by Finnish programmer Linus (pronounced LEE-nus) Torvalds with the assistance of developers from around the globe. Linux resembles Unix, an earlier operating system, but unlike Unix, Linux is both Free Software and open source software -- that is, you can not only download and run it on your computer, but also download all the source code the programmers created to build the operating system. You can then modify or extend the code to meet your needs.

Linux runs on a wide variety of hardware platforms, from huge mainframes to desktop PCs to cell phones. It is licensed under the Free Software Foundation's GNU Project's GNU General Public License, version 2, which lets users modify and redistribute the software.

You can think of Linux as having two parts -- a kernel, which is the basic interface between the hardware and other system software, and the functions that run on top of it, such as a graphical user interface (GUI) and application programs.

About Linux.com

Linux.com did not create and does not sell Linux. We simply write about Linux and other open source software. We're part of SourceForge, Inc., which also maintains SourceForge.net and Slashdot.

No single company sells Linux. Because it's open source software, anyone can package Linux with some programs and utilities and distribute it. The different "flavors" of Linux are called distributions. You can get information about some of the most popular distributions from our distributions page. A comprehensive resource for distributions is DistroWatch.com.

Many Linux distributions are designed to be installed on your computer's hard drive, either as a sole operating system, or in a dual boot configuration with another OS, which lets you choose which operating system to run every time you start your computer. Others are designed to run as live CDs that boot from removable media -- typically CDs, but there are also live DVD distributions, and even ones that boot from diskettes and USB storage media. Live distributions can be useful because they let you run a different operating system without affecting any of the contents of your hard drive.

If you're a Windows user to whom Linux is completely new, trying it out might sound daunting. For you we explain in a separate article how you can test Linux without altering your Windows computer, how to install Linux while preserving all of your Windows programs and files, and how to choose what Linux flavor suits your needs best.

The Linux desktop

Part of what makes Linux useful on your computer is its graphical user interface. The GUI gives Linux a "look and feel" with clickable icons and widgets, as well as screen borders, scroll bars, and menus that the user can manipulate and customize. This "point and click" environment makes the operating system more intuitive by presenting interface options in an attractive visual layout that doesn't require knowledge of textual commands. Without the GUI, Linux (or any operating system) requires users to type commands in a procedure that is known as the Command Line Interface (CLI).

While most operating systems don't let you choose the user interface you want, Linux gives you a choice of several. Most of them are more than just graphical interfaces -- they are truly complete desktop environments that come with tools, utilities, games, and other applications to make the user's computing experience a richer one. Two of the most popular desktop environments that work with Linux are KDE and GNOME.

KDE stands for K Desktop Environment. KDE runs on any Unix operating system, including Linux. All of the source code for KDE is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, which means that anyone can access and change KDE to suit specific purposes. KDE comes packaged with most Linux distributions and includes standardized menus, toolbars, and color schemes, as well as a complete help system, networking tools, graphics and multimedia applications, and a complete office productivity solution, and dozens of other software tools. The entire KDE project is supported by the free software development community and is provided to Linux users at no cost.

GNOME (pronounced guh-NOME), the GNU Network Object Model Environment, is another ubiquitous GUI or desktop environment for Linux. It is also licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, which means it is freely available, along with the source code, for use on any Unix-based operating system. GNOME comes packaged with just about every Linux distribution. It is a part of the GNU project, which created the GNU operating system, parts of which are included with all standard Linux distributions.

Like KDE, the GNOME desktop environment includes more than just toolbars, icons and menus. Help files, networking tools, games, and productivity applications like GNOME Office round out the free software offering.

Other GUIs that work with Linux include:

XPDE desktop environment - "tries to make it easier for Windows XP users to use a Linux box."

Xfce - "lightweight desktop environment for various *NIX systems. Designed for productivity, it loads and executes applications fast, while conserving system resources."

Enlightenment - "advanced graphical libraries, tools, and environments."

IceWM - "The goal of IceWM is speed, simplicity, and not getting in the user's way."

Blackbox - "Blackbox is the fast, lightweight window manager for the X Window System you have been looking for, without all those annoying library dependencies."

Window Maker - "Window Maker is an X11 window manager originally designed to provide integration support for the GNUstep Desktop Environment."

FluxBox - "A fast compact window manager based on the Blackbox, but offering more features."
The command line

One thing all the desktop environments have in common is that they let users access Linux commands; you don't have to use a mouse to perform every operation. It may be faster and easier to perform some operations by typing in one or more commands, as users used to have to do on PCs under DOS 20 years ago.

Each desktop environment has a different way to get to a command prompt. Often, you'll open a window that lets you type commands. In GNOME, that application is called GNOME Terminal; in KDE, it's Konsole.

We've prepared a brief introduction to the command line. A good site for further learning is LinuxCommand.org.

Desktop applications

Like any operating system, Linux supports a wide range of desktop applications. Typical programs include those for email, office software, playing music and video, personal information management, network communications such as instant messaging and Internet Relay Chat, and file sharing.

Gaming

Linux is no stranger to gaming. Linux distributions almost always include games; the GNOME Games package, for example, features 16 arcade and puzzle games, and the KDE Games Center includes games from the arcade, board, card, dice, logic, strategy, and toy genres. If the distributions don't contain what you're looking for, you can turn to commercial sites such as Linux Game Publishing and Tux Games, or you can buy games directly from small companies, independent publishers, and bedroom coders. If games designed for Microsoft Windows or home gaming systems are what you're after, several available emulators may be able to help. For more information on the numerous games available to Linux users and how to obtain them, see Enjoying games with GNU/Linux.

Linux is an operating system that was initially created as a hobby by a young student, Linus Torvalds, at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Linus had an interest in Minix, a small UNIX system, and decided to develop a system that exceeded the Minix standards. He began his work in 1991 when he released version 0.02 and worked steadily until 1994 when version 1.0 of the Linux Kernel was released. The kernel, at the heart of all Linux systems, is developed and released under the GNU General Public License and its source code is freely available to everyone. It is this kernel that forms the base around which a Linux operating system is developed. There are now literally hundreds of companies and organizations and an equal number of individuals that have released their own versions of operating systems based on the Linux kernel. More information on the kernel can be found at our sister site, LinuxHQ and at the official Linux Kernel Archives. The current full-featured version is 2.6 (released December 2003) and development continues. 

Apart from the fact that it's freely distributed, Linux's functionality, adaptability and robustness, has made it the main alternative for proprietary Unix and Microsoft operating systems. IBM, Hewlett-Packard and other giants of the computing world have embraced Linux and support its ongoing development. Well into its second decade of existence, Linux has been adopted worldwide primarily as a server platform. Its use as a home and office desktop operating system is also on the rise. The operating system can also be incorporated directly into microchips in a process called "embedding" and is increasingly being used this way in appliances and devices. 

Throughout most of the 1990's, tech pundits, largely unaware of Linux's potential, dismissed it as a computer hobbyist project, unsuitable for the general public's computing needs. Through the efforts of developers of desktop management systems such as KDE and GNOME, office suite project OpenOffice.org and the Mozilla web browser project, to name only a few, there are now a wide range of applications that run on Linux and it can be used by anyone regardless of his/her knowledge of computers. Those curious to see the capabilities of Linux can download a live CD version called Knoppix . It comes with everything you might need to carry out day-to-day tasks on the computer and it needs no installation. It will run from a CD in a computer capable of booting from the CD drive. Those choosing to continue using Linux can find a variety of versions or "distributions" of Linux that are easy to install, configure and use. Information on these products is available in our distribution section and can be found by selecting the mainstream/general public category. 

Additional Information

If you're interested in learning about Linux, need help with some aspect of its use or are enthusiastic about it and want to help foster its adoption, you may want to get in touch with a Linux User Group in your area. There are groups in practically every country, region and city in the world, so there is likely to be one near you. 

Each day, Linux use is increasing in every sector of our society. We have information about Linux deployments in government, industry and the arts. 

Linux has an official mascot, Tux, the Linux penguin, which was selected by Linus Torvalds to represent the image he associates with the operating system. Tux was created by Larry Ewing and Larry has generously given it to the community to be freely used to promote Linux. More information on use of the image can be found on his webpage. More links to variations on the image and alternative logos can be found on our logo page 

Many people are not sure of the pronunciation of the word Linux. Although many variations of the word exist, often due to native language factors, it is normally pronounced with a short " i " and with the first syllable stressed, as in LIH-nucks. You can hear how Linux creator Linus Torvalds pronounces the word in Swedish and in English .

Arch Linux (or Arch) is an operating system intended to be lightweight and simple. The design approach of the development team focuses on "simplicity", elegance, code correctness and minimalism. "Simplicity", according to Arch, is defined as "...without unnecessary additions, modifications, or complications.." and is defined from a developer standpoint, rather than a user standpoint.

Inspired by CRUX, another minimalist distribution, Judd Vinet started Arch Linux in March 2002. Vinet led the project until 1 October 2007, when he stepped down due to lack of time, transferring control of the project to Aaron Griffin. The Arch in Arch Linux is pronounced [ɑːrtʃ] or [aːtʃ] (as in archer or parchment).

What is Arch Linux? 

Arch Linux is an independently developed i686/x86-64 optimized community distribution, based on a rolling-release package model and targeted at competent GNU/Linux users. Development focuses on a balance of minimalism, elegance, code correctness and modernity. Version 0.1 (Homer) was released March 11, 2002. 

Advantages 

Arch provides a minimal environment upon installation, (no GUI), already compiled and optimized for i686/x86-64 architectures. Arch is lightweight, flexible and simple. Its design philosophy and implementation make it easy to extend and mold into whatever kind of system you're building- from a minimalist console machine to the most grandiose and feature rich desktop environments available. Rather than tearing out unneeded and unwanted packages, Arch offers the power user the ability to build up from a minimal foundation without any defaults chosen for them. It is the user who decides what Arch Linux will be. 

Unique Package Management 

Arch is backed by an easy-to-use binary package system - pacman - that allows you to upgrade your entire system with one command. Pacman is coded in C and designed from the ground up to be lightweight, simple and very fast. Arch also uses a ports-like package build system (Arch Build System) to make it easy to build and install packages from source, which can also be synchronized with one command. You can even rebuild your entire system with one command. Everything is done quite simply and transparently. The rolling release model allows one-time installation and continuous seamless upgrades, without ever having to reinstall or perform elaborate system upgrades from one version to the next. 

Modernity

Arch Linux strives to maintain the latest stable version of its software, based on a rolling-release system. We currently support a streamlined core package set for the minimal i686 and x86-64 base systems, thousands of additional, high-quality binary packages among both developer and user maintained repositories, and many thousands of PKGBUILD scripts, for building and packaging from source. Arch provides non-patched, vanilla software; packages are offered from pure upstream sources, how the author originally intended it be distributed. Patching only occurs in extremely rare cases, to prevent severe breakage in the instance of version mismatches that may occur within a rolling release model. Arch incorporates many of the newer features available to GNU/Linux users, including modern filesystems (Ext2/3, Reiser, XFS, JFS), LVM2/EVMS, software RAID, udev support and initcpio, as well as the latest available kernels.

Simplicity 

The Arch Way is a philosophy aimed at keeping it simple. The Arch Linux base system is quite simply the minimal, yet functional GNU/Linux environment; the Linux kernel, GNU toolchain, and a handful of optional, extra command line utilities like links and Vi. This clean and simple starting point provides a rock solid base for expanding the system into whatever the user requires. 

Arch's simple init system is heavily inspired by the *BSD way of incorporating calls from a single file, (etc/rc.conf), rather than a convoluted directory structure containing symlinks for each runlevel. 

System configuration is achieved through editing simple text files. 


Further Reading 

Arch's home page is at http://www.archlinux.org/ where you can also find links to the user forums, official documentation, and everything else that is Arch. You can also read The Arch Way for a bit more insight in case you missed it here.

Buy a Software/OS

Users can buy the Open Source Software and Linux operating system from Malaysian Open Source Centre.We distribute the open source for free in order to promote the software. For this service, we only ask users to pay for the cost of processing and shipping of the product. Users only have to pay RM 10 only for every service. The method of buying the open source product is as follows:

Please send your order to adminsyahrizal@gmail.com.

Open source software (OSS) began as a marketing campaign for free software[1]. OSS can be defined as computer software for which the human-readable source code is made available under a copyright license (or arrangement such as the public domain) that meets the Open Source Definition. This permits users to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified form. It is very often developed in a public, collaborative manner. Open source software is the most prominent example of open source development and often compared to user generated content[2]. A report by Standish Group says that adoption of open source has caused a drop in revenue to the proprietary software industry by about $60 billion per year[3][4].

Open source , which offers practical accessibility to a product's source (goods and knowledge). Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical strategic element of their operations. Before open source became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of phrases to describe the concept; the term open source gained popularity with the rise of the Internet, which provided access to diverse production models, communication paths, and interactive communities.

The open source model of operation and decision making allows concurrent input of different agendas, approaches and priorities, and differs from the more closed, centralized models of development. The principles and practices are commonly applied to the development of source code for software that is made available for public collaboration, and it is usually released as open-source software.

Lesen Dokumentasi Bebas GNU (b. Inggeris: GNU Free Documentation License, disingkatkan kepada GNU FDL atau GFDL) merupakan lesen penyalinan "copyleft" untuk kandungan bebas. Ia direka bentuk oleh Yayasan Perisian Bebas untuk projek GNU. Teks rasmi untuk versi 1.2 boleh didapati di Laman Web Rasmi GNU.

Lesen ini bertujuan untuk dokumentasi perisian dan sebarang bahan rujukan atau bahan panduan. Ia menyatakan bahawa sebarang salinan bahan tersebut, walaupun diubahsuai, dilesenkan dengan lesen yang sama. Salinan tersebut boleh dijual tetapi, jika dihasilkan dalam jumlah yang banyak, perlu disediakan dalam format yang membenarkan penyuntingan diteruskan. Wikipedia adalah projek dokumentasi terbesar yang menggunakan lesen ini.

Kumpulan guaman Debian menganggap bahawa GFDL "tidak-bebas" kerana perlesenan ini tidak menepati Garis Panduan Perisian Bebas mereka.

Yayasan Perisian Bebas (b. Inggeris: Free Software Foundation, singkatan FSF) ialah sebuah pertubuhan bukan untung yang diasaskan oleh Richard Stallman[1] pada 4 Oktober 1985 untuk menyokong gerakan perisian bebas, khususnya projek GNU, gerakan berasaskan copyleft yang bertujuan menawarkan kebebasan untuk mengedar dan mengubahsuai perisian komputer tanpa halangan. FSF berpusat di Massachusetts, Amerika Syarikat.

Dari penubuhannya ke tengah 1990-an, Yayasan Perisian Bebas banyak membantu dalam memperkenalkan perisian bebas kepada masyarakat dunia. Lesen GNU yang diterbitkan oleh yayasan ini merupakan lesen yang paling popular bagi projek-projek perisian bebas, termasuklah Linux. Sejak tengah 1990-an, terdapat banyak lagi syarikat-syarikat dan individu membina perisian bebas, supaya pekerja dan sukarela FSF sebanyaknya bekerja terhadap isu-isu sah dan struktur untuk gerakan perisian bebas dan komuniti perisian bebas.

Betul-betul tekal dengan matlamatnya, perisian bebas sahaja yang digunakan di semua komputer-komputer FSF.[2]

GNU ialah sebuah sistem pengendalian perisian bebas. Namanya ialah akronim rekursif bagi "GNU's Not Unix" (iaitu "GNU bukannya UNIX") yang telah dipilih kerana reka bentuknya seakan-akan dengan UNIX tetapi tidak mengandungi sebarang kod UNIX. Sistem GNU yang digabungkan dengan Linux, sebuah inti pihak ketiga, merupakan sebuah sistem pengendalian yang paling banyak digunakan di dunia. Gabungan ini biasa digelarkan secara mudah sebagai "Linux" sahaja.

Rancangan untuk sistem pengendalian GNU diumumkan pada bulan September 1983 oleh Richard Stallman, dan kerja untuk membangunkan perisian dimulakan pada bulan Januari 1984. Projek untuk membangunkan GNU telah digelarkan sebagai Projek GNU, dan semua atur cara yang diterbitkan di bawah Projek GNU digelarkan pakej GNU atau atur cara GNU.

OpenOffice.org ialah sebuah set perisian produktiviti pejabat seperti Microsoft Office. Ia merupakan perisian sumber terbuka yang ditaja oleh Sun Microsystems. Pada asalnya ia merupakan perisian komersial yang dipanggil StarOffice. OpenOffice.org boleh digunakan dalam pelbagai sistem pengendalian seperti Windows, Linux, Solaris, Mac OS dan FreeBSD. Ia boleh membuka, menyunting dan menyimpan format dokumen Microsoft Office dengan baik terutamanya versi yang terbaru.

OpenOffice.org mempunyai antara muka yang seragam walaupun berada di dalam sistem pengendalian yang berbeza. Selain itu, kekunci pintas adalah serasi dengan kekunci pintas yang terdapat di dalam sistem Windows. Sebagai contoh untuk salin CTRL+C, tampal CTRL+V dan potong CTRL+X. Semua fungsi-fungsi yang dibina adalah untuk memudahkan pengguna membawa atau membuat kerja di mana-mana komputer walaupun mempunyai sistem pengendalian yang berlainan.

Ia juga boleh menghasilkan format PDF tanpa memerlukan perisian tambahan seperti Adobe Acrobat. Pengguna hanya perlu menekan arca "eksport terus ke PDF" atau arahan Fail "eksport ke PDF" untuk menghasilkan format tersebut.

OpenOffice.org terdiri daripada beberapa perisian penggunaan seperti:
Writer - pemproses perkataan
Calc - perisian helaian kerja
Impress - perisian persembahan grafik
Draw - perisian lukisan vektor
Math - perisian editor matematik berdasarkan MathML
Base - perisian pangakalan data seperti MS Access (versi 2 sahaja)

KDE, atau nama penuhnya K Desktop Environment (Persekitaran Atas Meja K), ialah sebuah projek perisian persekitaran atas meja bebas untuk sistem pengendalian Linux. Matlamat utama projek ini ialah menyediakan sebuah persekitaran atas meja yang mudah digunakan.Isi

Sejarah

Projek KDE diasaskan pada tahun 1996 oleh Matthias Ettrich, yang mana ketika itu seorang pelajar di Eberhand Karis University of Tubingen. Pada masa itu, beliau tidak berpuas hati dengan beberapa sudut pada ruang atas meja UNIX. Antara rungutan beliau ialah perisian-perisian penggunaan yang terdapat dalam UNIX tidak nampak serupa. Beliau mencadangkan pembangunan bukan setakat set perisian penggunaan, malah sebuah persekitaran atas meja yang lengkap, yang mana pengguna boleh menjangka bahawa semua perisian penggunaan nampak dan berfungsi secara konsisten. Beliau juga mahukan persekitaran atas meja ini mudah digunakan. Kiriman beliau dalam Usenet yang membicarakan perkara ini membuahkan minat orang lain, justeru lahirlah projek KDE. Nama KDE lahir daripada mainan terhadap kata Common Desktop Environment yang sedia ada dalam sistem UNIX. Pada asalnya, K dicadangkan supaya menjadi singkatan kepada Kool, tapi akhirnya komuniti pembangun KDE memutuskan supaya ia tidak membawa apa-apa maksud.

Matthias memilih peralatan Qt (dimiliki oleh Trolltech) untuk membangunkan KDE. Pengatur cara lain mula membangunkan perisian-perisian penggunaan KDE/Qt dengan pesat sekali, dan pada awal tahun 1997, terdapat banyak perisian-perisian penggunaan yang besar dan kompleks mula dilepaskan untuk kegunaan umum. Pada masa tersebut, Qt belum lagi menggunakan lesen perisian bebas, dan ahli Projek GNU mempersoalkan penggunaan peralatan tersebut untuk membina perisian-perisian penggunaan bebas. Dua projek lain pula dimulakan, iaitu Harmony untuk menggantikan perpustakaan Qt, dan GNOME untuk mencipta persekitaran atas meja baru tanpa menggunakan Qt dan dibina sepenuhnya menggunakan perisian bebas.


Versi 1.x

KDE dilancarkan dengan nombor versi 1.0 pada 12 Julai 1998. Pasukan pembangun KDE membuat mengumuman berikut:
"KDE ialah sebuah persekitaran atas meja kontemporari yang telus rangkaian untuk stesen-stesen kerja UNIX. KDE bercita-cita untuk mengisi keperluan paparan atas meja yang mudah digunakan untuk stesen-stesen kera UNIX, serupa dengan persekitaran-persekitaran atas meja yang ada pada MacOS atau Windows95/NT. Kami percaya bahawa sistem pengendalian UNIX ialah sistem pengendalian yang terbaik yang ada pada hari ini. Malah, UNIX telah menjadi pilihan tetap para profesional teknologi maklumat selama bertahun-tahun lamanya. Tiada yang dapat menewaskan UNIX dalam aspek kestabilan, kebolehkembangan dan keterbukaan. Walau bagaimanapun, ketiadaan persekitaran atas meja kontemporari yang mudah digunakan untuk UNIX telah menghalang UNIX daripada menembusi pasaran komputer meja di pejabat dan rumah.
"Dengan KDE, sekarang sudah terdapat sebuah persekitaran atas meja kontemporari yang mudah digunakan untuk UNIX. Dengan pelaksanaan bebas UNIX seperti Linux, UNIX/KDE membentuk sebuah paltform pengkomputeran bebas dan terbuka sepenuhnya untuk semua orang tanpa sebarang bayaran, termasuklah kod sumbernya untuk diubah suai oleh semua orang. Walaupun terdapat ruang lagi untuk pembaikan, kami percaya bahawa kami telah mempersembahkan alternatif yang baik bagi beberapa gabungan sistem pengendalian/atas meja dagangan dan lazim yang ada pada hari ini. Kami berharap bahawa gabungan UNIX/KDE ini akhirnya dapat membawa pengkomputeran terbuka, boleh diharap, dan stabil kepada komputer biasa."

Pada sekitar November 1998, alatan Qt mula diedarkan secara dwilesen. Pembangun sumber terbuka boleh menggunakan versi Lesen Awam Q (QPL), manakala pembangun perisian hak milik perlu membeli lesen dagangan daripada Trolltech. Pada tahun yang sama, yayasan KDE Free QT ditubuhkan untuk menjamin bahawa Qt akan diedarkan dengan Lesen BSD sekiranya Trolltech ditutup atau Qt versi bebas/sumber dihentikan dalam tempoh 12 bulan. Yayasan Perisian Bebas telah bersuara mengenai keserasian antara lesen QPL dan Lesen Awam Am GNU. Maka, pada bulan September 2000, Trolltech mengumumkan bahawa pustaka QT versi UNIX dilepaskan dengan lesen tambahan, Lesen Awam Am GNU.


Versi 2.x

KDE versi 2 memperkenalkan beberapa pembaikan teknologi-teknologi dalaman. Antaranya ialah DCOP, sebuah protokol komunikasi atas meja, KIO, sebuah pustaka I/O, KParts, sebuah model objek komponen yang membolehkan sesebuah perisian penggunaan dijadikan sebagai modul dalam perisian yang lain, dan KHTML, iaitu sebuah enjin susun atur untuk HTML.


Versi 3.x

KDE versi 3 adalah lebih luas daripada versi-versi sebelumnya. Terdapat enam lepasan besar dalam siri ini. Walau bagaimanapun, perubahan-perubahan antara muka pengaturcaraaan penggunaan antara KDE 2 dan KDE 3 adalah sedikit, oleh itu, ia boleh dilihat sebagai kesinambungan bagi KDE 2. Semua lepasan KDE 3 dibina menggunakan pustaka Qt 3.


Versi 4.x

KDE 4 dibina berdasarkan pustaka Qt versi 4 yang baru. Pengedaran Qt 4 dengan Lesen Awam Am GNU untuk Windows dan Mac OS X membolehkan perisian-perisian penggunaan KDE 4 dikompil dan dijalankan secara natif dalam kedua-dua sistem pengendalian tersebut.

Terdapat banyak perubahan dan teknologi-teknologi baru yang diperkenalkan dalam KDE 4. Paparan atas meja telah diubah suai sepenuhnya dengan penambahan perisian Plasma sebagai penggabung dan pengganti Kicker, KDesktop dan SuperKaramba. Beberapa teknologi lain yang diperkenalkan ialah Phonon sebagai antaramuka multimedia baru, Solid sebagai antara muka pengaturcaraan penggunaan untuk rangkaian dan peranti mudah alih, dan Decibel sebagai rangka kerja komunikasi baru untuk menyepadukan semua komunikasi protokol di atas meja.

KDE 4 menerima banyak pujian dan kritikan daripada orang ramai. Ramai yang memujinya kerana perubahan-perubahan yang mantap dan merupakan 'jawapan' kepada Windows Vista. Namun begitu, KDE 4 juga dikritik kerana kekurangan dalam segi kestabilan dan kesempurnaan. Pasukan pembangun KDE memaklum balas dengan mengatakan bahawa versi 4.0 adalah titik tolak bagi pembangunan yang akan datang, dan kelemahan-kelemahan KDE 4 diperbaiki dan ditujukan untuk pengguna utama dalam versi-versi berikutnya. Versi mini yang terakhir ialah 4.1.2 pada 2 Oktober 2008.


Persaingan

Pada hari ini, kedua-dua KDE dan GNOME menyertai Freedesktop.org, iaitu sebuah usaha untuk mempiawaikan paparan atas meja UNIX, namun begitu terdapat juga persaingan yang sihat antara kedua-dua projek tersebut.


Pengurusan projek KDE

Seperti kebanyakan projek perisian bebas/sumber terbuka, KDE adalah hasil daripada usaha sukarela, namun begitu terdapat juga beberapa syarikat seperti Novell, Trolltech dan Mandriva yang mengupah para pembangun untuk menyertai projek tersebut. Kerana ramai individu menyumbang dalam projek tersebut melalui cara yang berbeza (kod, penterjemahan, hasil seni) pengurusan projek tersebut adalah sangat kompleks. Kebanyakan masalah dibincangan dalam senarai-senarai mel.

Keputusan penting seperti tarikh lepasan dan kemasukan perisian penggunaan baru dibuat pada senarai kde-core-devel oleh sekumpulan individu yang digelar pembangun teras (core developer). Mereka adalah pembangun yang telah membuat sumbangan besar dalam KDE pada tempoh yang lama. Keputusan tidak dibuat menggunakan proses pengundian, tetapi sekadar dibincangkan pada senarai mel. Dalam kebanyakan kes, kaedah ini sudah mencukupi, dan perbincangan yang melibatkan perubahan drastik (seperti keperluan untuk membuang API bagi KDE 2 dalam KDE 3) amat jarang berlaku.

Walaupun KDE mempunyai pembangun dan pengguna dari seluruh dunia, projek tersebut mempunyai pusat yang kuat di Jerman. Pelayan-pelayan web terletak di beberapa buah universiti di Tubingen dan Kaiserslautern, sebuah pertubuhan bukan untung Jerman (KDE e.V.) memiliki tanda dagangan KDE, dan seminar-seminar mengenai KDE biasanya diadakan di Jerman.


Perisian-perisian penggunaan

Berikut ialah antara perisian-perisian penggunaan utama yang dibangunkan untuk KDE:
Amarok - Pemain audio yang serasi dengan podcast dan iPod
Akregator - Pengutip suapan RSS dan Atom
Dolphin - Pengurus fail (untuk KDE 4 ke atas)
K3b - Perisian penulis cakera optik (CD-R dan sebagainya)
Kate - Penyunting teks
KDevelop - Persekitaran Pembangunan Bersepadu (IDE)
KMail - Pelanggan e-mel
KNode - Pelanggan berita Internet
Konsole - pelagak terminal
Kopete - Pelanggan mesej pantas
Konqueror - Pengurus fail dan pelayar web
KPresenter - Persembahan
KSpread - Hamparan elektronik
KWord - Pemproses perkataan

KWrite - Penyunting teks ringkas dengan penonjolan sintaks dan ciri-ciri lain

Penajaan

Projek KDE dan majlis-majlis yang berkaitan lazim ditaja oleh individu, universiti, dan syarikat perniagaan seperti Dell dan IBM.

Pada 15 Oktober 2006, Mark Shuttleworth, pengasas Ubuntu, diumumkan sebagai patron KDE yang pertama, iaitu penaja terbesar. Pada 7 Julai 2007, Intel dan Novell pula diumumkan sebagai patron KDE.

Tux ialah maskot rasmi Linux.

Pada mulanya, Linus Torvalds (pencipta Linux) mencadangkan supaya Linux mempunyai maskot yang merupakan seekor penguin. Pada tahun 1996, Larry Ewing menghasilkan ilustrasi asal maskot tersebut. Ilustrasi tersebut kemudiannya diperbaiki oleh Linus Torvalds.

Nama "Tux" diberikan oleh James Hughes, yang menyatakan bahawa ia merupakan singkatan bagi "Torvalds UniX".

Projek GNU adalah projek kerjasama perisian bebas, diumumkan pada 1983 oleh Richard Stallman. Projek ini memulakan sistem pengendalian GNU, dan pembanguanan perisiannya bermula pada Januari 1984. Matlamat pengasasan projek ini ialah, seperti dalam pengumuman awalnya, untuk membangunkan "sejumlah cukup perisian bebas [...] untuk boleh berfungsi tanpa apa-apa perisian yang tidak bebas." [1]

Demi mencapai matlamat ini, Projek GNU mula bekerja pada sistem pengendalian yang dipanggil GNU. GNU merupakan akronim rekursif untuk "GNU's Not Unix". Dengan inti Linux dikeluarkan di bawah Lesen Awam Am GNU pada 1992, projek GNU tidak lagi bergantung kepada perisian hak milik untuk menjalankannya.

Kerja terkini Projek GNU termasuklah pembangunan perisian, pembinaan kesedaran, dan kempen politik.

Istilah Linux atau GNU/Linux (GNU) juga digunakan bagi merujuk kepada keseluruhan edaran Linux yang selalunya disertakan perisian-perisian lain sekali dengan sistem pengendalian. Contoh-contoh perisian adalah seperti pelayan web, bahasa pengaturcaraan, pangkalan data, persekitaran desktop]] (seperti GNOME dan KDE), dan set pejabat seperti OpenOffice.org. Edaran-edaran Linux telah mengalami pertumbuhan yang pesat dari segi kepopularan, sehingga lebih popular daripada versi UNIX yang merupakan perisian hak milik dan mula mencabar dominasi Microsoft Windows dalam sesetengah perkara.

Linux menyokong sebahagian besar perkakasan komputer dan telah diguna di dalam pelbagai peralatan daripada komputer peribadi ke superkomputer dan sistem terbenam (seperti telefon bimbit dan perakam video peribadi Tivo).

Pada mulanya, ia dibangunkan dan digunakan oleh peminatnya sahaja. Kini Linux telah mendapat sokongan daripada syarikat-syarikat besar seperti IBM, dan Hewlett-Packard. Para penganalisa menujukan kejayaannya ini disebabkan ia tidak bergantung kepada vendor (vendor-independence), kos perkakasan yang rendah, dan kepantasannya berbanding versi UNIX proprietari, serta faktor keselamatan dan kestabilannya berbanding dengan Microsoft Windows. Ciri-ciri ini juga menjadi bukti kepada keberkesanan model pembangunan sumber terbuka.

Sejarah

Kernel Linux pada awalnya ditulis sebagai hobi oleh pelajar universiti Finland Linus Torvalds yang belajar di Universiti Helsinki, sebagai menyerupai kernel Minix yang bebas dan boleh sunting. (Minix adalah projek pelajaran menyerupai UNIX direka untuk mudah dan bukannya untuk kegunaan perniagaan.) Versi 0.01 dikeluarkan ke Internet pada September 1991, Versi 0.02 pada 5 Oktober 1991. [1]

Berikutnya, beribu penulis perisian sukarelawan seluruh dunia telah menyertai projek ini. Lihat juga The Cathedral and the Bazaar, rencana terkenal mengenai model pembangunan kernel Linux dan atur cara seumpamanya.

Sejarah sistem pengendalian berasaskan Linux berkait-rapat dengan projek GNU, projek perisian bebas terkenal diketuai oleh Richard Stallman. Projek GNU bermula pada 1983 untuk membangunkan sistem pengendalian seperti UNIX lengkap — pengkompil, atur cara aplikasi, utiliti pembangunan dan seterusnya — dikarang sepenuhnya dengan Perisian Bebas. Pada 1991, apabila versi pertama kerangka Linux ditulis, projek GNU project telah menghasilkan hampir kesemua komponen sistem ini — kecuali kernel. Torvalds dan pembangun kernel seperti Linux menyesuaikan kernel mereka supaya dapat berfungsi dengan komponen GNU, dan seterusnya mengeluarkan sistem pengendalian yang cukup berfungsi. Oleh itu, Linux melengkapkan ruang terakhir dalam rancangan GNU.

Walaupun kernel Linux dilesenkan di bawah Lesen Awam Am GNU, ia bukannya sebahagian daripada projek GNU.

Tux, seekor Penguin, merupakan logo dan maskot bagi Linux. Linux adalah tanda dagangan (SN: 1916230) yang dimiliki oleh Linus Torvalds. Ia didaftar sebagai "Perisian sistem pengendalian komputer bagi penggunaan komputer dan operasi". Tanda dagangan ini diletak setelah berlaku suatu kejadian di mana seorang peguam bernama William R Della Croce Jr mula menghantar surat kepada para pengedar Linux yang mendakwa tanda dagangan Linux adalah kepunyaannya serta meminta royalti sebanyak 10% daripada mereka. Para pengedar Linux mula mengumpul sumber serta membuat rayuan agar tanda dagangan yang asal diberi kepada Linus Torvalds. Perlesenan tanda dagangan Linux sekarang dikendali oleh Linux Mark Institute.


Edaran Linux

Terdapat banyak edaran Linux (lebih dikenali sebagai distro), yang dibangunkan oleh individu, koperasi, dan pertubuhan lain. Setiap satunya mungkin disertakan dengan perisian sistem dan program aplikasi tambahan, di samping menyertakan suatu program yang memasang keseluruhan sistem dalam komputer baru.

Teras bagi setiap edaran Linux termasuk inti Linux, koleksi perisian daripada projek GNU (atau projek lain), cangkerang, dan atur cara utiliti seperti pustaka, pengkompil, dan penyunting teks. Kebanyakan sistem juga menyertakan atur cara dan utiliti yang bukan-GNU, bagaimanapun atur cara-atur cara tersebut boleh diasingkan dan masih menyediakan sistem ala UNIX. Beberapa contoh adalah atur cara dan utiliti daripada BSD dan X-Window System. X menyediakan antara muka pengguna grafik yang asas bagi sistem Linux.

Kebanyakan edaran Linux menyertakan pelbagai perisian berkualiti. Lihat Senarai perisian sumber terbuka.


Penggunaan sistem pengendalian berasaskan Linux

Pengguna Linux, yang secara tradisinya perlu memasang dan melakukan tatarajah terhadap sistem sendiri, lebih cenderung terhadap teknologi berbanding pengguna Microsoft Windows atau Mac OS. Mereka sering mendapat gelaran "hacker" atau "geek". Bagaimanapun stereotaip begini semakin kurang dengan peningkatan sifat ramah-pengguna dan berleluasannya pengguna edaran Linux. Linux telah membuat pencapaian yang agak baik dalam pasaran komputer pelayan dan komputer tujuan khas. Contohnya, mesin render imej, dan khidmat web. Linux juga mula popular dalam pasaran komputer atas meja.

Linux merupakan asas kepada kombinasi perisian-pelayan LAMP, kependekan daripada Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python. LAMP telah mencapai populariti yang luas dalam kalangan pembangun Web.

Linux juga sering digunakan sebagai sistem pengendalian terbenam. Kos Linux yang murah memungkinkan penggunaannya dalam peralatan seperti Simputer, iaitu komputer kos rendah yang disasarkan pada penduduk berpendapatan rendah di negara-negara membangun.

Dengan persekitaran atas meja seperti KDE dan GNOME, Linux menawarkan antara muka pengguna yang lebih menyerupai Apple Macintosh atau Microsoft Windows daripada antara muka baris perintah seperti UNIX. Justeru itu, lebih banyak perisian grafik boleh didapati pada Linux, yang menawarkan kebanyakan fungsi yang ada pada atur cara dagangan.


Pasaran serta kebolehpakaian

Linux yang pada awalnya hanya merupakan sistem pengendalian yang digunakan oleh peminat komputer, telah menjadi sistem yang lebih ramah pengguna, dengan antara muka grafik yang pelbagai serta aplikasi yang lebih memiripi sistem pengendalian konsumer lain, daripada baris perintah UNIX. Namun kesan ini telah menimbulkan kritikan ramai, begitu juga daripada penyokong Linux. Mereka berpendapat yang Linux dan projek perisian bebas masih belum mencapai faktor ke'bolehpakai'an yang memuaskan. Persoalan tentang ke'bolehpakai'an Linux berbanding Windows atau Macintosh masih menjadi isu perdebatan yang hangat. Pasaran Linux dalam komputer "desktop" masih agak kecil tapi semakin berkembang. Menurut Syarikat Penyelidikan Pasaran IDC, bahagian pasaran bagi Linux pada tahun 2002 adalah 25% bagi pasaran pelayan, dan 2.8% bagi pasaran komputer peribadi.

Bagi mereka yang hanya biasa menggunakan Windows atau Macintosh, Linux mungkin kelihatan lebih sukar disebabkan perbezaan dalam melakukan pelbagai kerja komputer. Malahan itu, lebih mudah untuk mencari sokongan teknikal bagi Windows atau Mac OS berbanding Linux. Tambahan lagi, secara lazimnya pengguna perlu menukar perisian yang sering digunakan, disebabkan perisian tersebut tidak didapati dalam Linux (atau pilihan yang agak terhad, terutamanya permainan komputer). Faktor lain adalah sifat ragu-ragu pengguna yang berasa susah hendak melepaskan sistem pengendalian mereka (ramai pengguna masih menggunakan versi Windows yang lama). Selain itu, kebanyakan komputer didatangkan dengan Windows sedia dipasang (preinstalled). Faktor-faktor ini menyebabkan perkembangan Linux yang agak perlahan.

Walaubagaimanapun, kelebihan Linux seperti kos rendah, kelemahan sekuriti yang kurang, dan tidak bergantung pada vendor (lack of vendor lock-in), telah menggalakkan penggunaan yang meluas di kalangan koperasi dan kerajaan. Dalam situasi ini, halangan yang disebut di atas dapat dikurangkan kerana hanya aplikasi/aturcara yang terhad digunakan, serta kerja pentadbiran komputer (administration) dikendalikan oleh sekumpulan pekerja pakar IT yang sedikit.

Terdapat pelbagai kajian yang dilakukan terhadap kos serta ke'bolehpakai'an Linux. Relevantive, (sebuah syarikat berpusat di Berlin, yang mengkhusus dalam rundingan syarikat tentang ke'bolehpakai'an perisian, serta servis web), telah membuat kesimpulan bahawa ke'bolehpakai'an Linux bagi kerja-kerja berkaitan komputer "desktop" adalah hampir sama dengan Windows XP. Bagaimanapun, kajian oleh IDC (yang dibiayai oleh Microsoft) membahaskan bahawa Linux mempunyai kos pemilikan (Total Cost of Ownership) yang lebih tinggi berbanding Windows.

Linux juga sering dikritik disebabkan jadual pembangunannya yang tidak dapat diduga. Secara langsung, menyebabkan pengguna Enterprise kurang selesa dengan Linux berbanding dengan sistem pengendalian lain (Sumber:Marcinkowski, 2003). Pilihan yang banyak dalam edaran Linux juga dikatakan mengelirukan konsumer, dan vendor perisian.

Pemasangan

Proses pemasangan yang sukar sering-kali menjadi penghalang bagi pengguna baru, namun proses ini adalah lebih mudah hari ini. Dengan penerimaan Linux oleh beberapa pengeluar komputer peribadi terbesar, komputer yang disedia-pasang dengan edaran Linux boleh didapati. Terdapat juga edaran Linux yang membenarkan Linux dibut secara terus daripada Live CD tanpa perlu memasangnya ke dalam cakera keras. Contoh-contoh edaran Linux berbentuk Live CD adalah Knoppix/Gnoppix dan Gentoo. Imej ISO bagi CD untuk edaran Linux tersebut biasanya boleh dimuat turun daripada Internet, ditulis ke CD, dan seterusnya membutkan CD tersebut. Linux juga boleh dibutkan menerusi rangkaian, menerusi cakera liut, atau menerusi kad rangkaian.


Tatarajah

Tatarajah atau pentadbiran bagi kebanyakan tetapan Linux seringkali perlu dilakukan menerusi penyuntingan fail teks dalam direktori /etc. Terdapat juga atur cara seperti Linuxconf dan GNOME System Tools yang bertujuan memudahkan kerja ini dengan menyediakan antara muka grafik. Namun baris perintah merupakan cara paling lazim digunakan.


Sokongan

Sokongan bagi Linux biasanya didapatkan menerusi peer (dalam konteks ini bermaksud rakan dalam talian) - pengguna Linux lain di dalam forum internet, kumpulan berita dan senarai mel. Kumpulan Pengguna Linux (LUG, Linux User Group) telah ditubuhkan di sepelosok dunia bagi membantu pengguna tempatan (local user), pengguna baru, dan pengguna berpengalaman. Bantuan termasuk pemasangan, penggunaan, penyelenggaraan serta menggalakkan perkembangan sistem Linux.

Pembekal komersil bagi edaran Linux secara umumnya mengamalkan model perniagaan dengan menyediakan sokongan. Sokongan parti ketiga juga sedia ada.

"GNU/Linux"

Disebabkan atur cara-atur cara daripada projek sistem pengendalian bebas GNU - tanpa ini sistem Linux tidak akan menyerupai sistem UNIX dalam perspektif pengguna - Richard Stallman daripada GNU/FSF memohon agar kombinasi sistem (projek GNU dan kernel Linux), digelar sebagai "GNU/Linux". Pengguna edaran Linux daripada projek Debian lebih cenderung mengguna nama tersebut. Kebanyakan pengguna lebih mudah mengguna istilah "Linux".

Tindakan undang-undang

Artikel utama: SCO Vs IBM

Pada bulan Mac 2003, Kumpulan SCO (SCOG - SCO Group) telah mengeluarkan saman terhadap IBM yang mendakwa bahawa IBM telah memasukkan sebahagian daripada bahan intelektual kepunyaan SCOG ke dalam kernel Linux, di mana ia merupakan cabulan terhadap lesen IBM untuk menggunakan UNIX. Lesen tersebut dikatakan dipegang oleh Kumpulan SCO. Tambahan lagi, Kumpulan SCO juga telah mengirim surat kepada sebilangan syarikat dan memberi amaran tentang penggunaan Linux tanpa lesen daripada kumpulan SCO akan menerima tindakan daripada mereka. Kumpulan SCO juga mengeluarkan pernyataan pada media massa yang mereka akan menyaman pengguna Linux selanjutnya. Kontroversi ini telah mencetus beberapa kes saman oleh Kumpulan SCO terhadap Novell, DaimlerChrysler, dan AutoZone, selain saman balik oleh Red Hat dan pihak lain terhadap SCOG.

Ubuntu is a community developed operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. Whether you use it at home, at school or at work Ubuntu contains all the applications you'll ever need, from word processing and email applications, to web server software and programming tools. 

Ubuntu is and always will be free of charge. You do not pay any licensing fees. You can download, use and share Ubuntu with your friends, family, school or business for absolutely nothing. 

We issue a new desktop and server release every six months. That means you'll always have the latest and greatest applications that the open source world has to offer. 

Ubuntu is designed with security in mind. You get free security updates for at least 18 months on the desktop and server. With the Long Term Support (LTS) version you get three years support on the desktop, and five years on the server. There is no extra fee for the LTS version, we make our very best work available to everyone on the same free terms. Upgrades to new versions of Ubuntu are and always will be free of charge. 

Everything you need comes on one CD, providing a complete working environment. Additional software is available online. 

The graphical installer enables you to get up and running quickly and easily. A standard installation should take less than 25 minutes. 

Once installed your system is immediately ready-to-use. On the desktop you have a full set of productivity, internet, drawing and graphics applications, and games. 

On the server you get just what you need to get up and running and nothing you don't.

Puppy Linux

Puppy Linux is a Live CD Linux distribution that is very small and focuses on ease of use. If the computer has at least 256 MB of RAM, the entire operating system and all the applications will run from RAM, allowing the boot medium to be removed after the operating system starts. Applications such as SeaMonkey, AbiWord, Gnumeric, and Gxine/xine are included. The distribution is actively developed by Barry Kauler and other active members of the community.

Features

Puppy Linux is a full-fledged operating system bundled with application suites covering a wide variety of tasks which can be used productively by general users. However, because Puppy is small-sized and can boot from many media, it is also useful as a rescue disk, a demonstration system, or for reviving old computers. Puppy can boot from:
A USB flash drive/keydrive or any other bootable USB storage device (flash-Puppy)
A CD-ROM (live-Puppy), with six flavours to choose from.
A Zip drive or LS-120/240 SuperDisk (zippy-Puppy)
An internal hard drive (hard-Puppy)
A computer network (thin-Puppy)
An emulator (emulated-puppy)
A floppy boot disk that loads the rest of the operating system from a USB drive, CD-ROM, or internal hard drive

Puppy Linux features built-in tools which can be used to create bootable USB disks, create new Puppy CDs, or remaster a new live CD with different packages.[2]

A unique feature that sets Puppy Linux apart from other Linux distributions is the ability to run a normal working environment on a write-once multisession CD. (It does not require a rewritable CD.) Puppy automatically detects changes in the file system and saves them incrementally on the CD.[3]When the CD is full, users can easily switch to a new CD while carrying over all their files and desktop environment. While other distributions offer Live CD versions of their operating systems, they do not allow programs to be permanently added nor do they allow files to be written to the CD.

Puppy also features sophisticated write-caching system designed to extend the life of USB flash drives that Puppy Linux runs from.[4]


GUI
 
Desktop with one of multiple integrated themes with XMMS, mtPaint and gxine running plus an opened text file under Puppy Linux 2.15 CE Viz (with default WM: IceWM)

Puppy comes with a choice of 2 graphical servers: X.org (full-featured) and Xvesa (lightweight). A wizard during the start-up process guides the user through setting up a graphical server appropriate for their video card & monitor. At the end of the wizard the user will be presented with a desktop and window manager; the default WM in most Puppy releases is JWM. The 2.15 Community Edition provides the IceWM manager by default.

DotPup packages of the IceWM desktop, Fluxbox and Enlightenment are also available via a link on the Puppy Linux Wiki.

When the operating system boots, everything in the Puppy package uncompresses into a RAM area, the "ramdisk". The PC needs to have at least 128 MB of RAM (with no more than 8 MB shared video) for all of Puppy to load into the ramdisk. However, it is possible for it to run on a PC with only about 48 MB of RAM because part of the system can be kept on the hard drive, or in the worst case, left on the CD.

Puppy is fairly full-featured for a system that runs entirely in a ramdisk; applications were chosen that met various constraints, size in particular. Because one of the aims of the distribution is to be extremely easy to set up, there are a number of wizards that take the user through the process of a range of common tasks.


Package management and distribution management
 
wNOP v0.2 on EeePC: Puppy 3.01 & Compiz-Fusion

Puppy Linux comes with a specific package manager called PetGet. An older kind of packages, DotPup, were used in previous versions of the system and are still compatible.

Puppy Unleashed is available for creating a custom live CD. It consists of more than 500 packages that are put together according to the user's needs.

Puppy also comes with a remaster tool that takes a snapshot of the current system and creates a remastered live-CD from it.

Puppy Linux uses the T2 SDE build scripts to build the base binary packages.

Technical variations of Linux distributions include support for different hardware devices and systems or software package configurations. Organizational differences may be motivated by historical reasons. Other criteria include security, including how quickly security upgrades are available; ease of package management; and number of packages available.

These tables compare each noteworthy distribution's latest stable release on wide-ranging objective criteria. It does not cover each operating system's subjective merits, branches marked as unstable or beta, nor compare Linux distributions with other operating systems.

Cost

The following distributions are completely without cost : aLinux, ALT Linux, Annvix, Arch Linux, Ark Linux, Arudius, Asianux, Aurox, BLAG Linux and GNU, CentOS, CRUX, Damn Small Linux, Debian, DeLi Linux, DeMuDi, Devil-Linux, dyne:bolic, Edubuntu, EnGarde Secure Linux, Fedora, Finnix, Foresight Linux, Freespire, Frugalware, Gentoo, gNewSense, Gnoppix, gnuLinEx, GoboLinux, Gobuntu, Impi Linux, Kanotix, Knoppix, Knoppmyth, Kubuntu, Kurumin Linux, Linux Mint, Lunar Linux, Musix GNU+Linux, NimbleX, NUbuntu, openSUSE, Paipix, Pardus, Parsix, PCLinuxOS, Puppy Linux, QiLinux, SabayonLinux, Satux, Scientific Linux, sidux, Slackware, SLAX, SliTaz GNU/Linux, Source Mage GNU/Linux, Symphony OS, Trustix, Ubuntu, Ututo GNU/Linux, Xubuntu, Yoper and Zenwalk.

The following distributions have several editions, some of which are without cost and some of which do cost money : Caixa Mágica, Mandriva Linux, MEPIS and Red Flag Linux.

The following distributions cost money : Elive, Linspire,, Novell Open Enterprise Server, Pie Box Enterprise Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Rxart., SUSE Linux Enterprise

Note that when talking about "free software", the word "free" refers to software freedom, not monetary cost: for an explanation of the difference, see The Free Software Definition.

Hardware requirements

This table lists the hardware requirements of each distribution, as given by the vendor or other authoritative sources. "Recommended" figures are presented in preference to "required" figures, when both are given.

                                            Processor speed    Memory size (MB)     Disk space for installation  
Damn Small Linux             486-class                       16                         0.05 GB (50 MB)
Debian                                 1 GHz                             512                       5 GB             
Fedora                                 400 MHz                       192                       9 GB
Gentoo Linux                     486-class                       64                          1.5 GB
Knoppix                              486-class                       128                        0 GB
Mandriva Linux                 1 GHz                             512                        4 GB
MEPIS                                Unknown                       128                        4 GB
Pardus                                1.2 GHz                          512                        10 GB
PCLinuxOS                       1 GHz                              512                         4 GB
Puppy Linux                     Pentium 166MMX        128                        256 MB
Ubuntu Linux                   1GHz                                256                       4 GB
sidux                                   i686, AMD64                 192                        0 / 3 GB
Slackware                          486-class                        32                          3.5 GB

This page provides general information about notable Linux distributions in the form of a categorized list. Distributions are organized into sections by the major distribution they are based on, or the package management system they are based around.

Contents

1 Debian-based 
1.1 Knoppix-based
1.2 Ubuntu-based
2 Gentoo-based
3 RPM-based 
3.1 Fedora-based
3.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux-based
3.3 Others (RPM-based)
4 Slackware-based 
4.1 SLAX-Based
5 Others
6 References
7 See also
8 External links


Debian-based

Debian is a distribution that emphasizes free software. It is supported on many hardware platforms. Debian and distributions based on it use the .deb package format and the dpkg package manager.

General Purpose Debian distributions

AGNULA Former DeMuDi for multimedia production End of 2005
Baltix For Lithuanian and Latvian languages
BeatrIX A compact distribution from the Czech Republic that focuses on providing a user-friendly desktop environment. 2005-01-28
Corel Linux Commercial. Shortlived desktop distribution, bought by Xandros Linux 2001-08-29
Dreamlinux A Brazilian Linux distribution based on Morphix, Elive, Debian and Kanotix. It has a GUI that bears a strong similarity to that of Apple Computer's Mac OS X. It uses Xfce as its desktop environment.
Elive A Live CD and Distribution featuring Enlightenment as the only window manager. Aims to be intuitive and easy to use.
Feather Linux Shares similar goals as Damn Small Linux, but not based on it (Feather is more closely related to Knoppix). Uses Knoppix-based hardware detection and the Fluxbox window manager. Compatible with Debian packages (.deb).
gnuLinEx A distribution promoted by the government of Extremadura, Spain.
Kanotix An installable live CD for desktop usage using KDE, focusing on convenient scripts and GUI for ease of use.
Knoppix The first Live CD (later DVD) version of Debian GNU/Linux.
Kurumin Earlier, it was a version of the Knoppix distribution, modified with Debian and designed for Brazilian users.
LiMux An ISO 9241 industry workplace certified Linux distribution, deployed at the City of Munich, Germany.
Linspire Commercial. Desktop-oriented distribution, previously called Lindows. Focuses on a proprietary software application manager obtained via a paid (CNR) subscription. Bought by Xandros Linux. 2008-07-10
Linux Tiger Similar to Mac OS X.[citation needed] Includes the new SFS Technology solution for software use and sharing. 
NepaLinux A Debian and Morphix based distribution focused for desktop usage in Nepali language computing.
PingOO French distribution aimed at local communities, public organizations, schools, etc. It comes in three editions: PingOO Communication Server, PingOO Secure Server and PingOO File Server. 2005-10-25
Progeny Componentized Linux Distribution from Progeny Linux Systems which was also founded by Debian founder Ian Murdock. 2001-10-15
Rxart Desktop-oriented distribution. Focused on providing proprietary software.
sidux Multilingual desktop-oriented Live CD based on Debian unstable. Compatible with standard Debian repositories.[citation needed]
Skolelinux A distribution from Norway. It is provided as a thin client distribution for schools.
Symphony OS Includes the Mezzo desktop environment. Previous versions were based on Knoppix.
Trisquel Created in Galicia (Spain). It has support for old PCs, includes a 3D desktop with Compiz.
Tuquito Created in Argentina
Ubuntu A distribution sponsored by Canonical Ltd as well as receiving major funding from South African Mark Shuttleworth. Aims to offer a complete and polished desktop on a single CD.
UserLinux Commercial distribution that would have included GNOME. Shortlived. End of 2004
Xandros Open Circulation Edition based on Xandros 3.0 Standard Edition with the exception of DVD burning being disabled and CD burning restricted to a maximum speed of 4X. End of 2005

Specialized Debian distributions

64 Studio Attempts to specialize in audio and video production on AMD64 workstations.
eBox Router/Firewall and NAS/PDC
Finnix A small system administration Live CD that is available for multiple architectures.
Gibraltar Commercial. Router/firewall distribution.
LEAF Project The Linux Embedded Appliance Firewall. A tiny primarily floppy-based distribution for routers, firewalls and other appliances.
The Linux Router Project A defunct floppy-based distribution for routers and firewalls. Supplanted by LEAF Project. 2003-06-22
Maemo A development platform for hand held devices such as the Nokia N800 and N810 Internet Tablets and other Linux-based devices. Parts of maemo (particularly the Hildon UI) are also planned to be used in the Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded Edition.
OpenZaurus Debian packages and ROM image for the Sharp Zaurus PDA. Replaced by Ångström Distribution. 2007-04-26
Outernet Server A modified version of Debian that installs preconfigured and is specifically meant for a High speed multimedia Networks.
Pure:dyne pure:dyne is an Debian based operating system developed to provide media artists with a complete set of tools for realtime audio and video processing.
Salgix Distribution developed and maintained by GMSI (Gemini Microsystems International) for its line of Visual Computing workstations.
Xebian For the Xbox home gaming console.


Knoppix-based

Knoppix, itself, is based on Debian.Distribution Description Discontinued
AbulÉdu French. Designed for data processing in educational establishments.[citation needed]
Buildix For agile developers.
Damn Small Linux Generally considered as the starter of mini distributions. A live CD designed for MiniCD with a hard drive install option.
Kaella The French translation of Knoppix.
Feather Linux Knoppix-based Linux distribution which currently fits in under 128 MB. It boots from either a CD or a USB Flash Drive, with a size suitable for a bootable business card.
Kalango Another Brazilian Knoppix-based distribution designed to have strong visual appeal.
KnoppMyth Specialized Knoppix distribution for easy setup of the MythTV PVR software.
Morphix A Live CD distribution with different flavours, including GNOME. Used as a base for many other custom live distribution such as Clusterix, PHlAK or Gnix.
Musix A Knoppix/Debian based distribution, intended for music production, graphic design, audio, video editing, and other tasks. It is built with only free software.


Ubuntu-based

Ubuntu is a distribution based on Debian.

The most notable user visible differences are: (1) both maintain separate package repositories; Ubuntu and Debian repositories do not mix. This repository separation is the heart of the "Ubuntu-based" and "Debian-based" distinction.[citation needed] (2) Both have different release schedules; Debian's release cycle is about 1.5 years and Ubuntu's 6 months. Ubuntu's packages are downloaded from Debian, re-packaged with Ubuntu version numbers and integrated to the system with Ubuntu specific patches as needed. (3) Ubuntu concentrates on desktop integration (multimedia, audio codecs, SWF etc.) and Debian focuses on providing stable programs for server oriented needs.[citation needed]

There are also differences in development methodologies. In Ubuntu not all packages have dedicated package maintainer(s) that would take care of the bug reports, in Debian each package has a personal maintainer or team to look over it. Ubuntu has two maintenance lines (stable, in development), Debian has several suites (oldstable, stable, testing, unstable, experimental). Ubuntu supports about 4 install architectures, Debian about 10.

For a list of distributions based on Ubuntu, see List of Ubuntu-based distributions.


Gentoo-based

Gentoo is a distribution designed to have highly optimized and frequently updated software. Distributions based on Gentoo use the Portage package management system with emerge.

Distribution Description

Gentoox An adaptation of Gentoo for the Xbox.
Knopperdisk A new distribution aimed at USB sticks.
Kororaa A distribution which aims at easy installation of a Gentoo system by using install scripts instead of manual configuration.
Pentoo Penetration-testing Live CD distribution.
Sabayon Linux Live DVD which includes a wide range of desktop environments and open-source software applications. Like Knoppix, Sabayon Linux can be installed on the hard drive.
SystemRescueCD System rescue Live CD version of Gentoo.
Ututo A distribution made in Argentina.
VidaLinux A distribution which uses Anaconda as its installer.


RPM-based

Red Hat Linux and SUSE Linux were the original major distributions that used the RPM file format, which is today used in several package management systems. Both of these later divided into commercial and community-supported distributions. Red Hat Linux divided into a community-supported distribution sponsored by Red Hat called Fedora, and a commercially supported distribution called Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Fedora-basedDistribution Description

Aurora SPARC Linux For Sun's SPARC architecture
K12LTSP A distribution for educational purpose. Comes with LTSP support.
Linux XP Focuses on ease of installation and use.
Linpus Linux Focused on the Chinese market and EEE PC like computers (Linpus Lite).
Yellow Dog Linux For the PowerPC platform.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux-basedDistribution

Asianux A distribution co-developed between Red Flag Software Co., Ltd., Miracle Linux Corp. and Haansoft, INC., focused on Chinese, Japanese and Korean supports.
CentOS Community-supported distribution that aims to be compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux without the inclusion of proprietary software.
ClarkConnect Router/firewall distribution
Scientific Linux A distribution co-developed by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), which aims to be compatible with and based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
SME Server Based on CentOS and targeting Small and Medium Enterprises.
White Box Enterprise Linux A distribution designed to be compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.


See Red Hat Enterprise Linux derivatives for a more complete list, as well as Commercial products based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Others (RPM-based)Distribution Description

TinyMe A lightweight distribution based on PCLinuxOS
aLinux A distribution for home use designed to be equivalent to Windows XP Home (formerly known as Peanut Linux).
ALT Linux Several distributions including Master, Compact, and Junior. Provides support for Cyrillic languages.
Annvix A security-focused server distribution. Originally based on Mandrake 9.2 but has diverged a lot.
Ark Linux A distribution focused on ease of use and ease of learning.
Berry Linux A medium-sized Fedora-based distribution that provides support in Japanese and English.
Caixa Mágica A Portuguese distribution.
Caldera Linux Caldera bought SCO then took the SCO name and no longer produces a Linux distribution. Last release: 3.1.1 - Jan. 30, 2002
cAos Linux A general purpose distribution. Designed to have low overhead, run on older hardware, and be easily customizable
EduLinux A distribution for educational purposes (cf. Guadalinex, Skolelinux).
EnGarde Secure Linux Server-only distribution designed to be secure.
Linkat A distribution promoted by the government of Catalonia, Spain.
Mandriva Linux Free Free
MCNLive A Mandriva-based distribution designed to run from CD or USB Flash Drive, focused on multimedia, internet, graphics.
openmamba An italian general purpose distribution.
PCLinuxOS A Live CD distribution. Originally based on Mandrake 9.2. Later rebased on Mandriva 2007.
Red Flag Linux A distribution developed in China and optimized for the Chinese market.
Red Hat Linux Split into Fedora Core and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The last official release was Red Hat Linux 9 in March 2003.
SAM Linux A live and installation CD based on PCLinuxOS 2007 and Xfce.
SUSE Linux A desktop-oriented Linux distribution supplied by Novell, Inc.. SUSE is one of the most popular distributions in Europe. Like Red Hat Linux, it is a large distribution on several CDs/DVDs. Free Eval versions are available for the SUSE Linux Enterprise versions. 
openSUSE - A branch developed by the community and sponsored by Novell. openSUSE maintains a strict policy of ensuring all code in the standard installs will be from Free/Libre/Open-Source Software solutions, including Linux kernel Modules. Novell's enterprise Linux products are all based on the codebase that comes out of the openSUSE project.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server - A server-oriented Linux distribution supplied by Novell, Inc. and targeted at the business market.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (previously branded Novell Linux Desktop) - A desktop-oriented Linux distribution supplied by Novell, Inc. and targeted at the enterprise market.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time - A specialized version of the SUSE distribution from Novell designed to support low latency for time critical operations.
Trustix A distribution focused on security.
Turbolinux Based on Red Hat Linux.
Vine Linux A Japanese distribution based on Red Hat Linux.
YOPER A desktop distribution from New Zealand that focuses on optimizing system performance for workstation use.


Slackware-based

Slackware is known as a highly customizable distribution that stresses ease of maintenance and reliability over cutting edge software and automated tools. Generally considered a distribution for advanced users, it is often suggested to those who want to learn the inner workings of a Linux operating system.

Distribution Description

Austrumi A 86 MB bootable live CD
BasicLinux A mini linux designed to run in old PCs (386). Has a certain degree of compatibility with Slackware packages.
Frugalware A general purpose Linux distribution designed for intermediate users.
GoblinX A live CD that features multiple customizable desktop environments.
HostGIS HostGIS Linux is a Slackware based distribution specifically made for handling GIS information.
MuLinux Floppy based distribution with replaceable modules.
NimbleX Completely customizable through the Nimblex website.
Slackintosh An unofficial port of Slackware to the PowerPC architecture.
SMS - Slack Mini Server A full feature server distribution (inc. dovecot, postfix, mailscanner, clamav, spamassassin, openldap), manageable through webmin interface or kde enviroment. Also features TorrentFlux (a php bittorrent client). * DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 215, 13 August 2007 SMS Features
Slamd64 An unofficial port of Slackware to the x86-64 architecture.
SLAX A very popular live CD which aims to provide a complete desktop for general use. Permanent installation of SLAX is not recommended or supported, it is designed for "live" use only.
Topologilinux Designed to run from within Microsoft Windows, Topologilinux can be installed without any changes to the user's hard disk.
Vector Linux A lightweight distribution designed to be easy to use even for new users. Generally considered well suited for older hardware.
Zenwalk Linux Originally a minimal version of Slackware, Zenwalk has evolved into a very different operating system; however, compatibility with Slackware is still maintained.



SLAX-Based

SLAX's modularity and reputation of quality have made it a popular base for other live CD projects.

Distribution Description

BackTrack A network security suite developed by RemoteExploit.org. It includes many penetration testing utilities and development tools. While BackTrack is principally used as a live CD, it can also be installed permanently.
DNALinux A small distribution designed for running bioinformatics software, including BLAST and EMBOSS.
SLAMPP Designed to be used on a home server.



Others

The following distributions either use another packaging system, do not use any, or are simply not categorized.

Distribution Description

Arch Linux An i686- and x86-64-optimized, independently developed[clarify] distribution targeted at experienced users. Arch runs on a rolling release system and uses the pacman utility for package management.
Coyote Linux Router/firewall distribution.
CRUX CRUX is a lightweight, i686-optimized Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users. The primary focus of this distribution is "keep it simple", which is reflected in a simple tar.gz-based package system, BSD-style initscripts, and a relatively small collection of trimmed packages
DD-WRT Embedded firewall distribution.
DeLi Linux A desktop based mini distribution with office suite, web browser and other graphical programs to run on a 486. Built from scratch with some influences from Slackware and CRUX.
Devil-Linux firewall/router/server distribution running from CD (can also be run from USB[citation needed]).
DSLinux Version of Linux designed for the Nintendo DS.
dyne:bolic Live CD geared toward multimedia (audio and video) production, but comes with other non-media specific application (eg: word processor, desktop publisher). It is completely free software as defined by the Free Software Foundation.
Familiar Linux Distribution for iPAQ handhelds.
Fli4l a single floppy ISDN, DSL and Ethernet-Router.
Foresight Linux A distribution built around the Conary package manager.
FREESCO A free replacement for proprietary routers supporting up to 10 network cards and up to 10 modems.
Fedora A free workstation for home or company workers.
GeeXboX Live CD media center distribution, mainly to play special-encoded video files (eg: .ogg, XVID) on home theater.
GoboLinux An alternative Linux distribution which redefines the entire file system hierarchy by installing everything belonging to one application in one folder under /Programs, and using symlinks from /System and its subfolders to point to the proper files.
Hikarunix A distro solely for studying and playing the game of Go.
IPCop Router/firewall distribution.
iPodLinux Embedded Linux firmware for the Apple iPod based on the µCLinux kernel.
Jlime Distribution for the HP Jornada 6xx and 7xx and NEC MobilePro 900(c) handhelds.
Lunar Linux A source code-based distribution descended from Sorcerer GNU/Linux.
Lycoris Desktop/LX: Fell down to one employee and then acquired by Mandriva.
MCC Interim Linux MCC Interim Linux, possibly the first Linux distribution. Created by the Manchester Computing Centre in February 1992.
MkLinux A distribution for PowerPC systems that runs the Linux kernel as a server on top of the Mach microkernel.
Mobilinux By Montavista for smartphones.
MontaVista Linux Embedded systems distro by MontaVista Software.
NASLite a floppy-based Linux designed to turn an old computer into a simple Network Attached Storage device.
Nitix Developed by Net Integration Technologies Inc., Nitix claims to be the first autonomic Linux-based server operating system.
OpenWrt Embedded firewall distribution.
Pardus Developed in Turkey. It uses PISI as package manager, COMAR as configuration framework.
PS2 Linux Sony Computer Entertainment distribution released officially for the PlayStation 2 video game console.
Puppy Linux A mini distribution which runs well under low-end PCs - even under 32 MB RAM. Includes Slackware 12 support (since version 3).
Rocks Cluster Distribution A distribution for building a High-performance computing computer cluster.
rPath A distribution built around the Conary package manager.
Sentry Firewall A firewall, server or intrusion detection system distribution.
SliTaz GNU/Linux A small desktop distro. The ISO is 25 MB; runs entirely in RAM.
Smallfoot Developed by the Santa Cruz Operation ( SCO UNIX / SCO Group ), formerly Caldera.
SmoothWall Router/firewall distribution.
Softlanding Linux System One of the earliest distributions, developed from 1992-1994; Slackware was originally based on it.
Sorcerer A source code-based distribution.
Source Mage GNU/Linux A source code-based distribution, descended from Sorcerer.
Tinfoil Hat Linux Bootable floppy distribution focusing on extreme security
tomsrtbt Root boot disk.
Tuga Commercial desktop distribution made in Italy, based on QiLinux.
Yggdrasil Linux/GNU/X One of the oldest Linux distributions, not updated since 1995.