Versatility of Linux distribution allows choice
Kevin Lynch
Issue date: 10/1/04 Section: Sci-Tech
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Sent into the depths of the Internet, you find yourself dodging pop-ups, fending off Trojans, and running from the behemoth that is Microsoft, you find yourself wandering the depths of ibiblio.org, a repository which holds hundreds of gigabytes of Linux applications, distributions, and documentation. As you venture deeper into the directory structure, you are suddenly stopped by a tired Linus Torvalds. You feel just like Harrison Ford did when he rediscovered the Holy Grail just as Linus speaks, "Choose wisely." You never thought you would ever get this far and as a result never really gave it too much thought. All of the choices lay in front of your eyes. Which distribution of Linux do you go for? You step back to contemplate all of the choices which stand before you. There are the flashy Red Hat, Mandrake, and SUSE with all of their enterprise support and almost idiot-proof configurations sitting next to the sporty young Gentoo, the down-to-Earth Slackware, and the venerable Debian praised for its stability.
Maybe the decision is not that intense, but it still requires some thought. There are so many distribution, or distros as the Linux savvy say, choices that it can often seem overwhelming, especially to people who are just trying to see what the whole Linux craze is all about. There are so many choices out there, and if you ask for advice you will never get the same answer. However, it's really not too difficult to figure out which is the best one for you if you simply sit down and put some consideration into it.
The easiest to use distribution, and possibly the best distribution for those who do not want to see the inner workings of Linux at all or rarely, would do best going with the cookie cutter solution that is the Fedora Project. The Fedora Project is the home user descendant of Red Hat Linux, now known as Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a server oriented distribution aimed at corporate users who want the power of Linux behind their network but still want 24x7 product support. The Fedora Project, still sponsored by Red Hat, takes all of the configuration woes away from Linux and provides a seamless install much like Microsoft Windows XP does. The Fedora Project is not the only operating system which is simple to use though. Mandrake Linux is another distribution with similar goals. It is as simple to set up as the Fedora Project and offers about the same features too. In fact, there is really little difference between the two than the name and the configuration tools. Alternatively, there is yet another distribution which falls into this category called SUSE Linux. I am not very familiar with SUSE Linux but from what I have seen it is not very different from the previous two.
Maybe the decision is not that intense, but it still requires some thought. There are so many distribution, or distros as the Linux savvy say, choices that it can often seem overwhelming, especially to people who are just trying to see what the whole Linux craze is all about. There are so many choices out there, and if you ask for advice you will never get the same answer. However, it's really not too difficult to figure out which is the best one for you if you simply sit down and put some consideration into it.
The easiest to use distribution, and possibly the best distribution for those who do not want to see the inner workings of Linux at all or rarely, would do best going with the cookie cutter solution that is the Fedora Project. The Fedora Project is the home user descendant of Red Hat Linux, now known as Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a server oriented distribution aimed at corporate users who want the power of Linux behind their network but still want 24x7 product support. The Fedora Project, still sponsored by Red Hat, takes all of the configuration woes away from Linux and provides a seamless install much like Microsoft Windows XP does. The Fedora Project is not the only operating system which is simple to use though. Mandrake Linux is another distribution with similar goals. It is as simple to set up as the Fedora Project and offers about the same features too. In fact, there is really little difference between the two than the name and the configuration tools. Alternatively, there is yet another distribution which falls into this category called SUSE Linux. I am not very familiar with SUSE Linux but from what I have seen it is not very different from the previous two.
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