Linux Overview and Demo Chris Wester Jim Santana Jeff Jones Outline What is a distribution How many distributions are there How to get a distribution Comparison of 4 distributions Fedora Core 4 Gentoo Debian Knoppix Live Demonstration What is a Distribution A Linux distribution or distro is a complete Linux operating system a collection of free and sometimes non free software created by individuals groups and organization from around the world and having the Linux kernel at its core Companies such as Red Hat SuSE MandrakeSoft as well as the Gentoo project compile the software and provide it as a complete system ready to install and use wikipedia How Many Distros Are There Currently there are 345 active distributions listed on distrowatch com How Do I Get A Distribution Distributions are available for download from many sources Distribution specific websites BitTorrent downloads Purchase of installation CD OSU s Open Source Lab OSUOSL http ftp oregonstate edu pub Distribution Comparison Comparison of 4 major distributions Fedora Core 4 Gentoo Debian Knoppix Fedora Core 4 http www fedora org OR OSUOSL Advantages Graphical Installer Out of box support for most hardware All packages for install contained on LiveDVD Older releases of FC become Red Hat Enterprise Linux FC5 to be released 02 27 06 Fedora Core 4 Disadvantages Poor multimedia support without extensive program manipulations No hardware optimizations Enormous system resource usage Installer size 4 CD s 1 DVD Gentoo Linux http www gentoo org OR OSUOSL Advantages Powerful Updater Portage Checks package dependencies before installation Heavy Multimedia support Out of box DIVX MP3 XVID Quicktime Highly Customizable hardware configurations Lower system resource usage Faster program execution Installer size 1 CD Gentoo Linux Disadvantages No Graphical Installer Text Based only LiveCD doesn t contain extra packages GUI must be downloaded from the internet Hardware specific kernel means long compile times for software Debian http www debian org OR OSUOSL Advantages Package installer Apt get Checks for dependencies before installation Huge pool of volunteer programmers Debian Disadvantages Installation size 14 CD s 2 DVD Doesn t include KDE Difficult to configure Knoppix http www knoppix org OR OSUOSL Advantages No HD installation necessary Fully functional GUI KDE Hardware Support via NDISWrapper Uses Windows drivers Ease of use Boot to CD Perfect for first time users Knoppix Disadvantages Performance depends on system specs Loads entire OS to RAM Must expand programs from the CD to RAM Only has one GUI KDE Heavy system resource usage Demonstration So What s The Best Distro It Depends Intended usage End user demands