Timeline representing the development of various Linux distributions.
This page provides general information about notable Linuxdistributions in the form of a categorized list. Distributions are organized into sections by the major distribution they are based on, or the package management system they are based around.
Debian GNU/Linux is a distribution that emphasizes free software. It supports many hardware platforms. Debian and distributions based on it use the .deb package format[1] and the dpkg package manager and its frontends.[2]
Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) is a rolling GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian Testing. It is available in both 32 and 64-bit as a live DVD with a Cinnamon or MATE desktop. The purpose of LMDE is to look identical to the main GNU/Linux Mint edition and to provide the same functionality while using Debian as a base.[22]
A development platform for hand held devices such as the Nokia N800, N810, and Nokia N900 Internet Tablets and other GNU/Linux kernel–based devices.[23]
Focuses on ease of use. Also includes a lightweight variant called antiX. antiX is meant to be used on older computers with limited hardware.[24] There is also a Xfce distro called MX that's based on Debian Stable.[25]
A Debian GNU/Linux based distribution, intended for music production, graphic design, audio, video editing, and other tasks. It is built with only free software.[27]
A Debian Pure Blend originally created to support the educational and free software diffusion goals of the Telecentres project of the city of São Paulo, Brazil.[32]
Based on the Stable branch of Debian with updated software applications from Debian backports. Improved media support. Featured the Gnome desktop with usability patches and customized applications. Discontinued October 2013[35]
A distribution sponsored by Canonical Ltd. and receiving major funding from South African Mark Shuttleworth. Aims to offer a complete and polished desktop on a single DVD.[41]
Enterprise distribution with integrated IT infrastructure and identity management system by the company Univention GmbH, Germany. A full version for up to 5 users for tests and for private use can be downloaded for free.[43]
Debian Live based browser only distribution, similar to Google Chrome OS. However based on Firefox & dwm, with no user sign-in, no special hardware required and designed for public places.[44]
Commercial open source network operating system includes routing, firewall, VPN, intrusion prevention and more. Designed to be an open source Cisco replacement.[45]
Ubuntu is a distribution based on Debian, designed to have regular releases, a consistent user experience and commercial support on both desktop and server.[50]
These Ubuntu variants simply install a set of packages different from the original Ubuntu, but since they draw additional packages and updates from the same repositories as Ubuntu, all of the same software is available for each of them.[51]
A complete GNU/Linux based operating system targeted for primary and secondary education. It is freely available with community based support. The Edubuntu community is built on the ideas enshrined in the Edubuntu Manifesto: that software, especially for education, should be available free of charge and that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities.[52]
An official derivative of Ubuntu using Xfce. Xubuntu is intended for use on less-powerful computers or those who seek a highly efficient desktop environment on faster systems, and uses mostly GTK+ applications.[64]
Gobuntu was an official derivative of the Ubuntu operating system, aiming to provide a distribution consisting entirely of free software. It was officially announced by Mark Shuttleworth on July 10, 2007, and daily builds of Gobuntu 7.10 began to be publicly released. The project ended around the release of 8.04 and has since merged into mainline Ubuntu as a 'free software' option.[65]
"Just Enough OS" – was described as "an efficient variant [...] configured specifically for virtual appliances".[66] Since the release of Ubuntu 8.10 it has been included as an option as part of the standard Ubuntu Server Edition.
Netbook Edition was an official derivative of Ubuntu designed for netbooks using the Intel Atom processor. Starting from Ubuntu 11.04, Ubuntu Netbook Edition has been merged into the desktop edition.
Ubuntu-based distribution for Lithuanian and Latvian people. Supported languages are Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Russian, English, Norwegian and other around Baltic region. Main language is Lithuanian.[69]
BackBox is a GNU/Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. It has been developed to perform penetration tests and security assessments. Designed to be fast, easy to use and provide a minimal yet complete desktop environment, thanks to its own software repositories, always being updated to the latest stable version of the most used and best known ethical hacking tools.[70]
An Ubuntu-based GNU/Linux distribution featuring the Enlightenment window manager and targeting users who want minimum of preinstalled software or low system requirements.[73]
Live CD geared toward multimedia (audio and video) production, but comes with other non-media specific application (e.g.: word processor, desktop publisher).[75]
A powerful, user-friendly distribution known for its well received user interface, proprietary software, and devoted community of developers and artists.[78]
A GNU/Linux distribution derived from Lubuntu that is made to be installed from a DVD or a USB flash drive. The distribution is specially optimized to run efficiently with limited hardware resources.
Uses the GNOME desktop environment with user interface enhancements to make it work more like Mac OS X, it also features Google Apps, Picasa, Google Gadgets and other web-based applications, and comes with Wine 1.0 pre-installed.
A GNU/Linux distribution packaged and maintained by UP Manila's (UPM) Information Management System as part of University of the Philippines' thrust to migrate to Linux.
Joli OS (formerly named Jolicloud) is in development and Pre-beta testing. Joli OS is built upon Debian and Ubuntu 9.10, but is tweaked to be more suitable for computers that have weaker specifications in terms of disk storage, memory and screen size. It is designed to run on relatively low-powered netbook computers.[81]
Lightweight Ubuntu-based GNU/Linux distribution founded by João Ferro, built to be a replacement for the Linpus Linux Lite distribution on the Acer Aspire One.[85]
Linux Mint synchronizes its release-cycle with Ubuntu's, and is tailored to user-friendliness for desktop users. Also features a Debian-based edition.[86]
LCSEE Optimized Ubuntu Distribution, an Ubuntu distribution used at West Virginia University. It contains several specialized educational packages as well as its own themes and login manager.[90]
An Ubuntu-based distro for people that have never used Linux before or for people that want an out-of-the-box working OS without having to tweak a fresh installation of Ubuntu or other Ubuntu-based distro.[97]
For academic and scientific use. Based on Ubuntu, but enhanced by e.g. GIS/maps, numerical modelling, 2D/3D/4D visualization, statistics, tools for creating simple and complex graphics, programming languages.
Gentoo is a distribution designed to have highly optimized and frequently updated software.[107] Distributions based on Gentoo use the Portage package management system with emerge[108] or one of the alternative package managers.
An installable Live DVD with multiple desktop environments. Like Gentoo, Sabayon uses the rolling release model; it uses a customized version of Red Hat's Anaconda Installer and includes a Media Center application.
Pacman is a package manager that is capable of resolving dependencies and automatically downloading and installing all necessary packages. In theory, a user need only run a single command to completely update the system.
An i686- and x86-64-optimized distribution targeted at experienced users. Arch runs on a rolling release system and uses the pacman utility for package management.
A general purpose GNU/Linux distribution designed for intermediate users. Has some influences from Slackware, and uses a heavily modified version of the Pacman package manager, Pacman-G2, a fork of a cvs version of the complete rewrite of Pacman-G1 by Aurelien Foret (the old monolithic Pacman-G1 is written by Judd Vinet). The packages are tar archives that are compressed using xz.[111]
Based on Arch GNU/Linux, but also provides LiveCDs with working system and graphical installation scripts; uses Openbox as default window manager
Arch Linux ARM
A port of Arch GNU/Linux for ARM computers, with support for soft-float ARMv5te, and hard-float ARMv6 and ARMv7 instruction sets on a variety of consumer devices and development platforms.
LinHES (Linux Home Entertainment Server) designed for use on Home Theater PCs (HTPCs), providing applications for recording TV and acting as a sound and video center
Based on Arch GNU/Linux, using its own repositories and ships with XFCE (as the default desktop environment), KDE, Openbox, an net edition without GUI, and also an XFCE netbook edition
Arch Linux without any proprietary-licensed software, plus various added packages. Packages are also built for mips64el in addition to i686 and x86_64
UBOS
Optimized for the easy administration of headless personal servers and Internet-of-things devices that run web apps. Subsets Arch, and adds certain metadata, conventions and admin tools. Supports x86_64 and Raspberry Pi.
Red Hat Linux and SUSE Linux were the original major distributions that used the RPM file format, which is today used in several package management systems. Both of these later divided into commercial and community-supported distributions. Red Hat Linux divided into a community-supported distribution sponsored by Red Hat called Fedora, and a commercially supported distribution called Red Hat Enterprise Linux, where as SuSE divided into openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise
A GNU/Linux distribution originally introduced by Caldera and later developed by its subsidiary Caldera Systems, the later Caldera International, who bought SCO and then renamed into The SCO Group and no longer produces a Linux distribution. Last release: 3.1.1 – Jan. 30, 2002
A community-developed GNU/Linux distribution, sponsored by SUSE. It maintains a strict policy of ensuring all code in the standard installs will be from Free/Libre/Open-Source Software solutions, including Linux kernel Modules. SUSE's enterprise Linux products are all based on the codebase that comes out of the openSUSE project.
A GNU/Linux distribution co-developed between Red Flag Software Co., Ltd., Miracle Linux Corp. and Haansoft, INC., focused on Chinese, Japanese and Korean support.
GNU/Linux based on CentOS. Provide layer 4 (customized Linux Virtual Server) and layer 7 (customized Nginx) load balancing. High availability from customized keepalived project. http://ProxyOS.org
A GNU/Linux distribution for building a High-Performance Computing computer cluster, with a recent release supporting Cloud computing. It is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux but with extensions to support large multi-node heterogeneous systems for clusters (HPC), Cloud, and Data Warehousing (in development).
Slackware is known as a highly customizable distribution that stresses ease of maintenance and reliability over cutting-edge software and automated tools. Generally considered a distribution for advanced users, it is often suggested to those who want to learn the inner workings of a Linux operating system.
Frugalware GNU/Linux is a general-purpose Linux distribution designed for intermediate users who are familiar with command-line operations. Early versions were based on Slackware, but it is now an independently developed distribution.
simpleLinux uses LZMA compression to compress its system files. The project started on year 2007 by a group of Malaysian developer. simpleLinux is a Slackware-based distribution that comes in both Live CD or Persistence version that can be installed to a medium. simpleLinux comes to be a multi-tasking operating system that runs the X Window System.
A live CD which aims to provide a complete desktop for general use. Permanent installation of Slax is not recommended or supported; it is designed for "live" use only. Also can be run from a USB flash drive.
A GNU/Linux distribution with LiveCD and LiveUSB capabilities conceived and designed for security auditing and related to computer security in general.
Originally a minimal version of Slackware, Zenwalk has evolved into a very different operating system; however, compatibility with Slackware is still maintained.
CRUX is a lightweight, x86-64-optimized GNU/Linux distribution targeted at experienced users. The focus is "keep it simple", which is reflected in a simple tar.xz-based package system, BSD-style initscripts, and a relatively small collection of trimmed packages
A GNU/Linux distribution written entirely from scratch[116] and sharing some similarities with Slackware. Approved by the GNU Project as a free operating system.[117]
An alternative GNU/Linux distribution which redefines the file system hierarchy by installing everything belonging to one application in one folder under /Programs, and using symlinks from /System and its subfolders to point to the proper files.
Developed by the Santa Cruz Operation (SCO UNIX / SCO Group), formerly Caldera International and Caldera Systems – based on Caldera OpenLinux 3.x and 4.x binaries.
An i686uClibc-based micro GNU/Linux distribution (about 5 MB) that runs in system memory and whose only purpose is to host a Tor server in an environment that maximizes security and privacy.
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