Candidate Distro List

The Candidate Distro List

About this list

Three key points for a candidate distribution:

1. easy to use
2. large hardware profile
3. acessibility

Note from Paul:

• Big five, and interesting others
•  List needs to be small and shrink

The List

Mint

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mint

http://linuxmint.com/

Support Cycle: -Mint 12 and 9 supported until April 2013 -Mint Debian: rolling distribution from mint website

System Requirements: Recommended 1GHz 512MB RAM from wikipedia

Comments JP: -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

Arch

Support Cycle: Rolling

System Requirements: not listed

Comments JP: -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.

OpenSuSe

Support Cycle: ( Supported by Novell. )

System Requirements:

zed:

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.

CentOS

Support Cycle: Version 5 - until March 2014 Version 6 - until November 2017 from centOS FAQ

System Reqs: Minimum v5 - 256MB Ram Minimum v6 - 512MB Ram

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

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

Support Cycle: Mandriva 2011 end support cycle is undecided, but will be after Dec 2012

System Reqs: Mandriva 2011 Reqs. min 1GB Ram

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.

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

http://www.sabayon.org/

Fuduntu

Support Cycle: (not stated on website)

System Reqs: 900MHz, 384 MB RAM, 5GB HD