Linux distributions

When you want to install Linux on your PC you will find out there are many so-called distributions (or distros for short) to choose from. What they all have in common is that they by and large bundle the same software. They differ in their goals and fine tuning, such as their package manager to allow easy installation of software.

Early distributions bundled mainly the Linux kernel and GNU utilities. The kernel is the core of an operating system that communicates with hardware (through device drivers) and provides memory management and process scheduling (letting multiple programs share CPU time). The GNU utilities include a shell (Bash) to communicate with your operating system via a command line, along with other utilities that are also found on other Unix systems.

A modern distribution bundles much more open-source software, created by many people from all over the world, including software to provide a desktop environment.

In the 1990s these were the primary distributions:

• Slackware: It has always been very spartan and is not a great choice for most people.
• Debian: Was notably the first to provide a convenient package manager that handles dependencies. It has always been conservative in upgrading software in the “stable” release. The advantage is stability, but the downside for desktop use is quite outdated software, unless you take packages from the “unstable” release.
• Red Hat: Is a prominent American provider of Linux for enterprises and has been commercial since the beginning. In the 1990s you could download their distribution for free or buy it on a CD. Since the early 2000s they sell Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for businesses and sponsor the community-based Fedora project. Fedora was an independently developed distribution before that, but it merged with the code base of Red Hat, while remaining free of charge. Red Hat is a major contributor to multiple open-source projects and was acquired by IBM in 2018.
• SUSE (first spelled S.u.S.E. and later SuSE): Was founded in Germany and has similarities with Red Hat. It is also a commercial company that sells their SUSE Linux Enterprise to businesses. It was acquired by Novell in 2003 and soon after it was decided to start openSUSE as a free offering for home users. SUSE is sponsor and significant contributor to openSUSE, but it is otherwise community driven.

Currently these are the major distributions that are free of charge.

Ubuntu and Lint Mint are both popular choices and user friendly. Ubuntu quickly rose in popularity since it arrived on the scene. It is sponsored by Canonical Software, which was founded by South African multimillionaire Mark Shuttleworth. They find it their mission to bring free software to the widest audience. They used to ship free CDs to all interested users (anywhere in the world).