Difference between revisions of "Candidate Distro List"
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Revision as of 14:50, 13 July 2012
The Candidate Distro List
About this list
Three key points for a candidate distribution:
- easy to use
- large hardware profile
- acessibility
Note from Paul:
- Big five (Debian, Fedora, Mint, OpenSuSE, Ubuntu), and interesting others
- List needs to be small and shrink
Standardized info for each distro:
- Distro Parent: (e.g., RedHat, Debian, etc)
- Minimum System Requirements:
- Package Manager:
- Release Cycles (if applicable):
- Standard Desktop Environment:
- Documentation (links to wikis, forums, etc):
(kudos to Sean for the headway!)
Suggestions for commenting:
- Think about the Key Points listed above (ease of use, supported hardware, accessibility)
- Does stuff work out-of-the-box? (networking, video, sound, laptop devices, keyboard map, mounting external media)
- Does it provide easy utilities for configuring the system?
- How easy is the package manager to use?
- Is the Desktop Environment clean/nice/easy/useful?
- It may not be so useful to talk about ease of install (this can be automated)
Useful Links
http://tuxradar.com/content/best-distro-2011
The Top Three
Mint
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mint
Info for refining distro selection: {
release cycle: this info comes from http://www.linuxmint.com/faq.php and it is the only place on the official website that I saw this info listed:
Is Linux Mint suitable for companies? Yes. Although Linux Mint release new versions every 6 months, each release is supported for a year and a half. We also make periodic Long-Term Support (LTS) releases which are supported for a duration of 3 years and which are guaranteed to provide enough overlap to allow you to upgrade from one LTS release to the next.
maintainability(stability, community support for distro etc.):
Mint has a quality idea/feedback system at http://community.Linuxmint.com/ that uses roughly a ticket based system for advancing new ideas, rating them, and marking them as rejected or accepted. This is different than their bug tracking, which is handled through launchpad, and from the forums in general I gathered that fixes go upstream to ubuntu.
Documentation is unfortunately almost non-existent (the word 'documentation' does not appear on their website) but there are a series of tutorials on a wide variety of topics that are not necessarily related to mint that can be found at http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/search
Hardware support information: there is an extensibly searchable supported hardware catalog that can be found at http://community.linuxmint.com/hardware check out the Type: 'Wifi car/adapter/dongle' (long list) page for an example
}
Distro Parent:
Ubuntu/Debian
Minimum System Requirements:
- Recommended 1GHz 512MB RAM
from wikipedia
Package Manager:
Release Cycles (if applicable):
- Mint 12 and 9 supported until April 2013
- Mint Debian: rolling distribution
from mint website
Standard Desktop Environment:
Documentation (links to wikis, forums, etc):
Comments:
John:
- Mint 12 is based on ubuntu with a gnome environment. I installed and after a splash page comes up on the desktop that prompts you to download media and dvd codecs among other things like links to tutorials and other pages on the community website
- Mint website says Mint Debian is neat because it is auto-updating - you never have to upgrade versions. but it is also therefore more unstable. It also reqs knowledge of the command line to enable one-touch-click on laptops and other similar things. They also says it is like ubuntu but rough around the edges.
Ubuntu
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=ubuntu
Info for refining distro selection: {
release cycle: from http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu
The Ubuntu team broke new ground in committing to a programme of scheduled releases on a predictable six-month basis. It was decided that every fourth release, issued on a two-year basis, would receive long-term support (LTS). LTS releases are typically used for large-scale deployments.
maintainability(stability, community support for distro etc.):
Documentation seems unfortunately bloated and confusing; each page has many more pages linked, and it is difficult to find specific info. Official Documentation for 12.04 is four clicks in from main site in a difficult to navigat manner, and can be found at https://help.ubuntu.com/12.04/ubuntu-help/index.html. This is distinct from the 'community wiki' documentation, which is also hard to navigate, somewhat redundant with the official docs.
Hardware: from either the official or community wiki docs, there are sections about hardware support, but I had a difficult time and found little useful information.
There are many many ubuntu local chapters, but this user has been involved with our Oregon branch, and while I have met people who have worked with fg, I have not really met any fg end-users at the meetings (posted ~06/12)
}
Distro Parent:
Debian
Minimum System Requirements:
Package Manager:
Release Cycles (if applicable):
Standard Desktop Environment:
Documentation (links to wikis, forums, etc):
Debian
Info for refining distro selection: {
Release Cycles:
Debian has three branches (stable, unstable, experimental) and do not have a set release cycle. Recent releases have occurred slightly under once every two years.
The current testing branch, Wheezy, is under freeze as of June 30, 2012, and a release is feasible by the end of 2012.
Security support on the old stable release is maintained for 1 additional year beyond the current stable release.
Hardware Support:
Support Issues:
Software Availability:
Maintainability (stability, community support for distro, etc.):
Stability: In this users experience (John Parker), Debian 6.0 incredibly stable and is at least twice as stable in frequency of errors/conflicts compared to ubuntu, but sometimes it has been difficult setting processes up for the first time (wireless for example)
Documentation: http://www.debian.org/doc/ There are many manuals, howtos, faqs, and guides, but it seems that you have to know what section you are looking for more than what problem you are having.
Community: There is a large developer community, but it may be difficult to approach from and end-user standpoint, though Debian goes to great lengths to allow it's users to feel encouraged to troubleshoot their own issues.
}
Distro Parent: None
Minimum System Requirements:
Package Manager:
Release Cycles (if applicable):
Standard Desktop Environment:
Documentation (links to wikis, forums, etc):
Support Cycle:
- 1 year past previous release, new release approximately every 2 years.
- freeze for next release(wheezy), June 2012, release hopefully by end of 2012.
(rest of) The List
Fedora
Distro Parent: RedHat
Minimum System Requirements:
- 10GB drive space
- 1G RAM
- 400MHz Pentium Pro or later (Also works on AMD, Cyrix and VIA
Package Manager: Yum
Release cycle: every 6 months. Last release (fedora 16) was on 11/08/2011
Standard Desktop environment: Gnome Nisha: Actually during installation of Fedora 16, Gnome 3 gets natively installed. However, most probably the graphics cards or drivers that we would use would not support Gnome 3 so it will fail install and go to a "fallback" mode. At this point the CD goes live. We could probably get this to not happen during installation.
Documentation:
Comments: Nisha:
- Some trouble installing it but did manage to install it. It comes with a minimal amount of extra software installed but comes with yum to install other packages as needed. From experience I know that it is not straightforward but I think it is customizable to our requirements if we write a script to make changes and install packages. For example, a user cannot use sudo unless they add their user name to the wheel group.
Nisha: By default, SELinux is enabled which might be irritating to users. All the usual apps that you would expect to see are there under the Applications section. That means it's still difficult to find the software that you had just installed :P
OpenSuSe
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=suse
Distro Parent:
Minimum System Requirements:
Package Manager:
Release Cycles (if applicable):
- ( Supported by Novell. )
Standard Desktop Environment:
Documentation (links to wikis, forums, etc):
updated: 01/06/11
+: Install is very customizable and works with multiple monitor setups. Networking, sound and many other options can be configured at the time of installation. Gives the option to install either Gnome, KDE and few lesser known GUIs on installation. Most features work out of the box.
-: Software Package Management system not as easy to use as other distros. A few minor glitches on the GUI. Website can be difficult to navigate for help.
Arch
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=arch
Distro Parent:
Minimum System Requirements:
- (not listed)
Package Manager:
Release Cycles (if applicable):
- Rolling
Standard Desktop Environment:
Documentation (links to wikis, forums, etc):
Comments:
John:
- For advanced users familiar with the CLI and the layout of their system. Installation is robust and ncurses based; user must make many specific choices. Also, once installed, boots to CLI first, no GUI installed by default, must install and start x manually. research from arch website
CentOS
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=centos
Distro Parent:
Minimum System Requirements:
- Minimum v5 - 256MB Ram
- Minimum v6 - 512MB Ram
Package Manager:
Release Cycles (if applicable):
- Version 5 - until March 2014
- Version 6 - until November 2017
from centOS FAQ
Standard Desktop Environment:
Documentation (links to wikis, forums, etc):
PCLinuxOS
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=pclinuxos
Distro Parent:
Minimum System Requirements:
Package Manager:
Release Cycles (if applicable):
Standard Desktop Environment:
Documentation (links to wikis, forums, etc):
Puppy
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=puppy
Support Cycle:
- Wary and Racy puppy are both LTS (duration not stated)
System Reqs:
- (not listed) though Puppy is intended NOT TO BE INSTALLED TO HD
- it is intended to run off of a LiveCD AND the process to install to HD is long and obscure
Comments JP:
- website is hard to follow
- not much community support
Mageia
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mageia
Support Cycle:
- (UNDECIDED)
- Mageia is a Mandriva fork that is 9 months old (brand new)
System Reqs:
- 512MB RAM min - 2GB recommended
- 6GB HD for full install
Mandriva
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mandriva
Support Cycle:
- Mandriva 2011 end support cycle is undecided, but will be after Dec 2012
System Reqs:
- Mandriva 2011 Reqs. min 1GB Ram
Lubuntu
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=lubuntu
Support Cycle:
- 11.10 will be supported until April 2013. It is the first official release as part of the Ubuntu cycle.
System Reqs:
- A Pentium II or Celeron system with 128 MB of RAM is probably a bottom-line configuration that may yield slow yet usable system with Lubuntu. It should be possible to install and run Lubuntu with less memory, but the result will likely not be suitable for practical use. from lubuntu website
Kubuntu
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=kubuntu
Support Cycle:
- (not listed) it appears to follow Ubuntu's support cycle
System Reqs:
- (not listed) but it is ubuntu with KDE and some different applications
Sabayon
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=sabayon
Support Cycle:
- Rolling Release from Sabayon wiki 'Info' Page
System Reqs:
- 512 MB of RAM (1 GB suggested) from FAQ
- Minimum of 12 GB of free hard disk space for KDE and GNOME. from FAQ
Comments JP:
- Based on Gentoo
- Uses Entropy OR Portage Package Management
- Robust website
Chakra
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=chakra
Support Cycle:
System Reqs:
Notes:
- Forked from Arch
- KDE desktop
Zorin OS
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=zorin
Support Cycle:
System Reqs:
Notes:
- Ubuntu-based
- designed for linux new-comers -taken from distrowatch page
- windows-like GUI
- Includes Wine-like functionality
Ultimate
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=ultimate
Distro Parent:
Minimum System Requirements:
Package Manager:
Release Cycles (if applicable):
Standard Desktop Environment:
Documentation (links to wikis, forums, etc):
Bodhi
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=bodhi
Fuduntu
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=fuduntu
Support Cycle:
- (not stated on website)
System Reqs:
- 900MHz
- 384 MB RAM
- 5GB HD
ClearOS
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=clearos
http://www.clearfoundation.com/
NOTE: This is a network server/gateway configurable from web