CT320: Network and System Administration

Fall 2019

Distributions

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CT320: Distributions

Distributions

There are many versions of Linux.
A version of Linux is called a distribution, or distro.

Family of Distributions

Debian
- Knoppix
- Ubuntu
  - Kubuntu
  - Xubuntu
Fedora
- Red Hat
Mandriva
SUSE
Arch
Gentoo
- Chrome OS
Slackware

Why

Why make a distro?
- Xubuntu, which is Ubuntu, but with the XFCE desktop environment
- Lubuntu, Lightweight Ubuntu, for old slow hardware with less memory
- SUSE, for better security
- Chrome OS

But, what is it?

But, what is a distribution?
It’s kernel + commands.

Origin

Where do kernels come from?
- Linus Torvalds, via kernel.org.
Where do commands come from?
- Repositories, which are servers which contain packages of commands.

Custom commands

Practically all distros use the GNU commands.
- In fact, the GNU people maintain that the entire system should be called “Gnu/Linux”, because “Linux” refers only to the kernel.
Many distros add their own commands to handle package installation/downloading/updating.