On Feb 8, 10:28 am, Roy Schestowitz <newsgro...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> Why Having 500+ Distros is a Good Thing
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Perhaps next time the author might think about what they're
> | saying...because limiting the number of distros out there is
> | absolutely NOT the way to go to accomplish anything other
> | than limiting innovation.
> `----
>
> http://linux-blog.org/index.php?/archives/186-Why-Having-500+-Distros...
Excellent article by the author.
Many people think that just because there are so many brand names for
the distributions, that
they are all different and incompatible.
Linux is built on a framework of standards. It's a bit like the
building codes for building houses.
As long as an application adheres to the codes, there are very few
problems of incompatibility.
When building a house, there are codes for the electricity, plumbing,
foundation, steel-work,
carpentry, insulation, siding, masonry, even the sheet rock for the
walls. When the builder
follows these codes, you get a good house. You don't have to worry
that you'll get 440v into your computer, or 12 volts into your
toaster.
The Linux kernel is designed to be fully compatible with all levels of
posix.
It also supports the X/Open standards (but is not limited to them).
It supports the GNU standards.
It supports the X11R6 standards.
It supports the OpenGL standards.
It supports most IETF standards.
It supports the BSD distribution based Standards (source code
compatibility).
The hierarchy is something like
Linux Kernel
Glibc library/GNU Libraries.
GNU Applications
BSD Applications
X11R6 Graphics libraries and applications (ICCCM).
ALSA (sound)
Debian Libraries and applications
Java compiler, libraries, and applications
LSB3 Linux System Binary standards V3 (C++ compatibility).
KDE/Qt Libraries and Applications
GNOME/GTK Libraries and Applications
XGL (integrated X11/OpenGL to video card Servers).
.
Distributions that support more of these standards run more
applications.
A "pure" Debian distribution won't have any proprietary or
patented technology at all.
Even Java wouldn't be included because it wasn't published under
an OSS license.
The user can easily download the missing libraries,but they must
do this themselves.
Most distributions, especially commercial distributions try
to be LSB3 compliante,
Most applications try to be Debian compatible or LSB3 compatible.
The "best" distribution for a given user depends on a number of
different tastes and preferences.
Do you want something really fast?
Something that will run on an old processor?
Something that will run on a really new machine?
Something that runs Video Games and 3D animiation really well?
Something that runs your business applications
really quickly and helps you get your work done faster?
Something that assumes you already know UNIX or Linux?
Something that assumes that even Windows is still a challenge?
Do you want Linux to run all the time?
Do you want to run another operating system (Windows)?
Do you want Windows to be your primary OS?
Do you need Windows applications?
Do you need a "Live-CD"
Could you boot from Flash RAM?
Do you want to repartition your drive to share with Windows?
Do you want Dual Boot?
Do you want Virtualization?
Do you want Linux as the Host?
Do you want to use Xen VMS or VMWare?
Do you want to play Movies and download commercial music?
Do you want to write your own software?
Will you need telephone support in getting it installed?
If you are an OEM, you probably want a deluxe distributino such as
SUSE SLED, because it has all the bells and whistles, and 8 Gigabytes
of storage is only a small portion of a hard drive. You probably also
want the 64 bit version so that you can get the best performance out
of both 32 bit and 64 bit applications. You probably also want
virtualization so that users can run Windows applications on the same
machine at the same time that they are using Linux.
If you are trying to make a $100 laptop that can be sold like an
appliance at a department store, you might want to use Puppy Linux,
because it will easily fit in a FLASH ram along with some debian level
applications.
Keep in mind that with options such as VNC and X11 Server, you don't
even need a display. Is that cigarette sized box a disk drive? Is it
a Server? or is it a Desktop?
Linux machines come in every size and shape. There are some that are
smaller than your little finger. There are some that are the size of a
refrigerator. They can have as little as 4 megabytes of RAM and 16
megabytes of flash, on up to huge BlueGeneL clusters that have
terabytes of RAM, petabytes of disk, and teraflops of processor speed.
( a terabyte is 1,024 gigabytes, a petabyte is 1024 terabytes).
That's why a "one size fits all" distribution just isn't appropriate.
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