Mandriva Linux 2009

Mandriva Linux is created through an open source development project called Cooker, which has been in existence since 1998. The Cooker project is analogous to Red Hat's Fedora project and Novell's openSUSE project, and the hundreds of developers who work on the project provides a free Mandriva Linux instance suitable for desktops or servers that has no proprietary software embedded in it. Mandriva Linux is available in a few different flavors (Discovery, Powerpack, Powerpack+ and Mandriva One) which are subscription based, but is also of course available for free. The main advantages to the paid versions are additions of non-free software (such as DVD playback). Mandriva Linux is one of the distributions that is aimed at the novice computer user, though it also includes features that those with more experience will enjoy. Like most Linux distributions, Mandriva is free to download, and with the Live CD version called Mandriva One, you ...
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The Zenwalk Linux

Slackware Linux isn't the most user-friendly distribution, but thanks to the effort of several independent projects, it has been turned into a more palatable operating system for novice users. One of them, Zenwalk Linux, has matured into a sophisticated distribution, complete with superb hardware detection, a graphical package configuration tool, and several setup utilities. Zenwalk is focused on Internet applications and development tools. Zenwalk Linux aims to be focused on Internet application, multimedia and coding tools. Zenwalk is designed to be a rational system by providing only one application for a given task. The applications that provide the easiest and fastest way to perform the task are chosen. Zenwalk is quite polished and has a nice theme/artwork and is full-featured for being on an Xfce desktop and the ISO coming in at just over 500MB. More information on this Linux distribution can be found at Zenwalk.org. Zenwalk is a Slackware-based distribution ...
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The PackageKit

PackageKit is an extremely flexible yet simple method for managing software in any Linux distribution. It integrates with many existing package management systems, and provides easy-to-use graphical tools for installing and updating software. PackageKit is also different from others tools. It does not slow down your start up, in the KDE (and only in it) version you only lose 1~2mb of RAM as this is a KDED module and does not have to load a complete program. PackageKit is a abstraction layer over the different Linux package management tools. It is primarily designed to unify the graphical tools and provide a consistent distribution neutral framework for application developers to install add-ons as well. PackageKit is this amazing idea of having a tool for managing packages that works identically on every distribution. It’s got both a GUI and a command-line tool. PackageKit is slow, the interfaces are all lousy, and it has ...
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Ubuntu, Linux For Human Beings

Ubuntu is a free, open source Linux-based operating system with a clear focus on the user and usability (it should “Just Work”). When you finish your Ubuntu installation your system is immediately usable. Ubuntu is a GNU/Linux system, slightly polished and with GNOME as default desktop environment. It doesn't try to fit Windows users, it tries to fit users in general. Ubuntu is a Debian-based distribution that seems to be trying to get Sid-like freshness into stable-like stability with a 6-month release cycle. Since they only have to worry about packages breaking on 3 (and not 11) architectures, and supposedly a subset of the various available libraries that their distro focuses on, this seems like a reasonable goal. Ubuntu is based on Debian, the grandpappy of noncommercial Linuxes, and thus inherits Debian's best-of-breed package management system, Apt. You can deal with Apt via the command line or the powerful point-and-click Synaptic ...
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RedHat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the cornerstone of the company's open source architecture. Initially launched in 2002, Red Hat Enterprise Linux can be found in the majority of Fortune 500 environments, and is renowned for performance, value and reliability. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the premier operating system for open source computing. It’s sold by annual subscription, runs on seven system architectures, and is certified by top enterprise software and hardware vendors. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a subscription offering, renewable one year after date of purchase. All Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions bought through this special offering will be purchased at 50% off for the first year, and will also renew for the second year at 50% off. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is offered as a per physical system annual subscription. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is largely composed of free and open source software, but is made available in a ...
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