Linux for Dumies II. The distributions.

Although you already have a superficial idea of ​​what it is Linux In general, perhaps the most important point is, in fact, the ecosystem.

Linux as such it is not a unique operating system, I mean, it is not like Windows o Mac OS X, in fact, there are many Linux, put it in some way.

Linux itself is an ecosystem based on the components GNU / Linux, is what you should know so as not to get into unnecessary complications, and this ecosystem is made up of distributions (distros). Distros are simply complete operating systems based on the GNU system and the Linux kernel; each one built for a type of user or for some type of function, they can go from having a very general purpose (such as being easy to use) to having a very specific one (such as distros focused on testing the security of a system).

A frequent question I am always asked is «How many distros are there?»And the answer I always give is«many«. It is not because it is unpleasant, heavy or simply lazy, but there are actually many, I do not know if there is a record that counts the number of distros that exist but at least I can say that at least there are at least 150 distros, but it is possible that number is easily exceeded, and in the long run, the number of distros does not matter, I doubt that anyone can get to try them all; and to top it all, there are always new distros coming to light ...

But of all the distros that exist, there is a group that can be crowned as the most popular distros, which are by which Linux is generally known, not by one specific, but by many, these are:

• Ubuntu
• Linux Mint.
• fedora
• archlinux.
• Opensuse.
• debian
• Mandriva / Mageia.

It should be noted that the order in which they are named does not represent their importance or hierarchy, I simply ordered them like this ...

Now these are the main distributions of Linux, but this does not mean that they are the best or the most important, they are simply the most popular and for which many people know Linux, maybe some more than others, but nothing else from there.

As they are all based on a free collaboration environment, each team in charge of each distribution and each community is given the task of always offering support and helping with the advancement of many things, for example the team of Fedora (sponsored by Red Hat) always makes interesting contributions like making desktop environments like gnome-shell they work without graphical acceleration and also do a lot of experiments

Debian for example is the mother distro of Ubuntu (and grandmother of all derivatives of Ubuntu) and is known for being the most stable distro of all (or at least one of the most stable), it has a huge community and this has generated a gigantic "library" so to speak, of .deb packages (equivalent to the .exe of windows) making it one of the best options for users who come from Windows regarding the appearance of the parcel.

Ubuntu is known as «the distro that has contributed the most to Linux»Because that is why half the world recognizes Linux, But this is not so, no distribution is more than another, You are never You must fall into this line of thoughts since Ubuntu would not be Ubuntu without Debian and in turn, this would be nothing without all the contribution that others have made to the nucleus Linux nor to the community. Although it can be given the name of the best-known distro, because it is.

What is that of a distribution based on another?

Simple, being under free licenses, the distributions can be used as one wants, and that implies that I can build a distribution from another. It is like taking the bases of a distribution and starting from that start to build your own, with what you want it to have.

Example of this is Ubuntu with Debian; Ubuntu take of Debian some of its repositories, its packaging bases and things like that (so as not to fall into technical things) and from that it creates programs to manage the system in a simpler way, adds its own repositories and all that. And then it comes Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu and what it does is add more pre-installed packages and certain extra programs created by themselves and so on; Any distro can be based on another, no matter what it is and if it is based on another in turn.

Each distro has its own and you have yours in each distro.

This phrase was told to me by a friend a long time ago when I was beginning to know this world, it refers to the fact that each distro is focused on something, be it a general purpose (such as being easy to use, or being super stable) or how to be oriented to something more specific (distros made only for servers or scientific development).

Distributions are always born with a purpose and it is to satisfy the needs of some type of users, at the beginning of Linux there were people who wanted a graphical and simple to use interface and then the Mandrake (which later became Mandriva) that well, it offered that, a nice system graphically and simple to use and then it comes Ubuntu, even simpler to use, and in fact, then comes Linux Mint, even simpler to start using than Ubuntu; This is a perfect example of the birth of a distro, a specific purpose, which can then be transformed into something more general.

Another phrase very much remembered by me is «Mac adapts you to it, Windows adapts to your paradigms and you adapt Linux to your tastes«... this is one of the most interesting things about Linux, which does not adapt to you, you adapt it to you according to you want and to the level you want, so much so that something extraordinary happens in this world, and that is a distribution Linux can come to represent your ideals, tastes and personality How? in a thousand ways ...

There are people who, for example, like everything to work the first time, they like stationery and being able to have everything within reach of a click, people like me who think that it is more efficient when you can do things quickly and without too much ceremony and that it also looks nice, users like that are the ones we generally use Ubuntu or any end user oriented distro.

There are others who prefer maximum simplicity and total minimalism, they want a light, fast, responsive and efficient system; no applications that they do not use or anything that weighs too much, they prefer to do things by hand and there we have the users of Archlinux o Gentoo.

And there are those who say «I prefer the old but stable«, Known to us as Debianites (xD), who really don't care if they have an older version of some program as long as it works fine for them and is not unstable.

And those are just examples of the thousands of representative possibilities of Linux, a distro can not be adaptable but representative of you.

In short, distros create a world of very interesting possibilities, and we have not yet gone deeper into the varieties of Linux; what comes in the other installment is the universe of desktop environments.

From now on, the opinions are yours.