#Week 13 About Linux Distributions. Debian and Slackware.

 This week I will talk about the different lynux distributions.


First question I made myself and I think it is understandable, is why so many distributions are   available ?

The answer is simple and it is to better suit your needs because of the applications you are supposed to run. Some distros are geared towards user entertainment and may include all of the programs necessary to reproduce video and audio, in any format (including owners), others are more oriented to games  others to security, some to science, others to education, etc. (Target of the software).

Apart from that, that I think is the main reason due to the easiness of the software to create custom distributions, there are other reasons such as the use or not of open code even when it holds copyleft license (I think this is mainly when the distribution  is run through a server).

Given the fact that there are a few hundred distributions and many are even to be released, and like each one of these has both advantages and disadvantages, it is the user who must evaluate which one of them best meets all his needs, which one will work best with, which one will have the best performance on your computer, which includes the programs you need, etc., which can be seen as a huge problem but also a great advantage.


Talking about 2 distributions and their origin, target groups, development/licensing/business models, leadership/community/supporters, software choices etc) I choose SLS (Softlanding Linux System) and Devian. 

They arey very connected to each other. Softlanding Linux System (SLS) was one of the first Linux distributions. It was founded by Peter MacDonald in May 1992. SLS was the first release to offer a comprehensive Linux distribution containing more than the Linux kernel, GNU, and other basic utilities, including an implementation of the X Window System.

Due to the bugs that often occurred with SLS, finally called Slackware, Ian Murdock decided to create the Debian project.The Debian Project was born (on August 16, 1993) and to date, it is one of the largest importance and of the few Free distributions that exist, Debian11 (which is the basis of Ubuntu and many other major distributions) even has auditing software to verify that all installed applications are Free Software. Ian Murdock also developed one of the best tools that exist for managing software called apt and that is by far, one of the best devised tools for installing, maintaining and updating an operating system.

Debian supports a great variety of processor architecture as well as greater compatibility with file systems so it is very flexible and adaptable, probably more than any other distribution including Slackware.

Debian as already mentioned, also counts with one of the best distribution systems  and a great number of applications that are stored in repositories and managed by the tool packet apt. As a drawback of Debian it can be said that the installer is based on command line but in my personal opinion not hard to follow even if you are not experienced.


Here below the sources follow to write this entry:

1. https://www.uv.mx/personal/alorandi/files/2010/06/Breve-Historia-de-las-Distribuciones-Linux.pdf

2. https://opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/2338/can-i-use-gpl-libraries-in-a-closed-source-project-if-only-the-output-is-distrib

3.https://www.debian.org/releases/wheezy/ia64/ch02s01.html.en

4. https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html

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