LINUX- AN INTRODUCTION TO THE VARIOUS FLAVOURS Part-1

PART 1 will focus in the versions suitable for new user and absolute beginner in Linux

LINUX is probably the most heard word in the present computing world. LINUX and the Free and open source (FOSS) practically took the world by storm. LINUX is a modular UNIX-like operating and derives much of its basic from UNIX and due to this it was the Operating System of choice for servers thanks to its remarkable stability. But now LINUX has grown out of the servers and into the desktop world for everyday use providing an easy to use graphical user interface and MS compatible office applications like word processors, spreadsheets, presentations, and multimedia experience.

The penguin (TUX) has also invaded the mobile devices and all is for the great future!!

Today we are going to look in some of the most important flavours of LINUX suitable for everyday use as well as some of the favourites of the geeks.

      

     1) UBUNTU

An extremely great distro is Debian based and runs with the GNOME user interface. If you are new to LINUX or planning to switch from Windows Os or may be just want to try (Its free after all) this is for you. You get all the essential software from media players to office applications out of box and the software centre provide you thousands of free software if you want to get creative. Low system requirements, support graphics cards and as stable as a rock.

 

The latest version is 10.10. UBUNTU has also released a special version for Netbook version

  
 Download UBUNTU here http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

2) MINT LINUX

Linux Mint is another Debian as well as Ubuntu based version. According to the developers its  the 2^nd most widely used distribution after UBUNTU.  The main reasons to use MINT in your computer are

a)      Full multimedia support built in codec’s and is extremely easy to use.

b)      If you are looking for an HTPC (Home Theatre PC) it’s probably the best distro

c)       Expand with free software

d)      Good accessibility features.

e)      Its FREE

               The latest version is MINT 10

Download MINT from here http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

     

     3) OPEN SUSE LINUX

It’s a distribution developed and supported NOVELL.  It is the smaller brother to their award winning SUSE enterprise edition. It is aimed for users and developers both working on desktop and server and has multiple personality which caters to beginners, experienced users and ultra geeks. The distribution comes with KDE, GNOME and Xfce desktop environments and has also included the LXDE desktop environment in its latest Version openSUSE 11.3. SUSE have also included interface especially for the Net-books.

In short it is for everyone from beginners to those who wants to develop and advance their knowledge in LINUX.

Download OPEN SUSE from here http://software.opensuse.org/113/e
There are various other Distributions and we will discuss some of the advance versions in Part-2 of the post. Till then Support Linux Support Freedom.