Linux photos on Flickr

Many people are confused about the concept of Linux 'distros' or distributions. They are confounded with the idea that there are actually 'choices' for an operating system. There are literally thousands of Linux distros in this world, including the little niche ones like the one I installed in my WiFi router yesterday.

So, I don't blame anyone since most people come from the post Microsoft era, where almost all the computing lies that they had grown up with stemmed from Redmond. This is a graph, that will either help clear things up, or make it even more confusing. It is a graph of various popular Linux distros since the Linux epoch 16 years ago.

Most people would have heard of RedHat and SuSE, which are two of the most successful commercial distros today. RedHat is arguably the most successful commercial Linux vendor, while SuSE is second and owned by Novell, which has been battling Redmond before getting into bed with them quite recently.

Debian is famous for being the most 'vanilla' distro out there. That's why you can see that there are a lot of other distros that have grown out of it and are still based on their Debian roots. The most famous of it's offspring is Ubuntu, which anyone who has been keeping up with the technology industry would know of. They're based on the Isle of Man, just off the English coast.

So, if I were to describe Linux as an ice cream, a distro would be all the different flavours available. Different people have different tastes and requirements. So, it's quite impossible to provide a single ice cream flavour to cater to them all. So, that's why there are so many flavours of Linux. Each flavour caters to a different market segment.

However, this is probably why Linux is quite daunting to most consumers. They don't know how to choose when presented with choice. Well, just like my gelato experience in Italy, the only way to know is to try it out. Pick any flavour, and try it. Some, you will immediately hate the moment you try it. Some, you will grow to dislike after having it for a few days. While one, you will fall in love with for the rest of your life.

Hopefully, this graph will help people select a distro. Pick one. However, don't pick one at random. Then, you will end up with random experiences. The best thing to do is to check out some reviews and ask a Linux user friend. I'm sure that you can find one. There are so many of us out there. If you don't like it, pick one that is from a different branch of the tree, so that you get to try something fairly different. Then, if you've narrowed down specific features that you like or dislike, pick one of it's cousins. And then, hopefully, you will fall in love.

I started with Slackware in 1996, had a disastrous fling with Debian and Mandrake, rebounded on RedHat for a year, before returning to the loving embrace of Slackware for life. I swear by Slackware, which is arguably the oldest surviving commercial distro around. There aren't many quite like it in this world, as evidenced from the graph.

DSC_0664 by jdp2496

Linux & USB by Alejandro Matos

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Linux Christmas Decorations by Jason Trommetter

A Linux geek like me just has to have penguins as decorations.

Picture #98 for Project 365

linux by dannielarango

Trucho de valla para Linux / concepto y copy daniel arango. texto: " Estamos seguros que esta valla electronica no fue programada en Linux"

linux_4017 by NIce5x

Linux Kernel Summit 2011 by Linux Foundation

linux' nap by I'm happy

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three_monsters_by_thieb03lLinux by Bonot Thierry

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fonds d ecran linux

48Hour Linux BootCamp by Ko Ko Ye`

organized by Ubuntu-MM, 48Hour Non-Stop Linux BootCamp at Yangon

animated tux by secretlondon123

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Linux isn't a cult, honest

Linux baby! by Kristina Guévremont

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Great photo of Linux taken when my dad and sister were out for a walk on the Rideau Trail

code tty12 my linux desktop by Antonangelo De Martini

I love my linux desktop

Linux_red_line_twist_5_1920*1080 by Ivan Mladenovic

My artwork in Inkscape, GIMP, Pinta.

Linux Mint 11 Katya base Ubuntu Natty by SmEjDiL

Term + WiFi

Lenovo ThinkPad T61

Linux, my puppy boy! by Kristina Guévremont

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Linux overlooking the tracks near the Rideau Trail

15,360x4,320 Resolution Screen in the Black Box Virtual Room - T by sean dreilinger

photo attribution: sean dreilinger durak.org

Qualcomm Wireless Reach re:connect Space in the Black Box Theater

This is the space to interact with our speakers, your fellow attendees, and virtual visitors from around the globe. Meet the Qualcomm Wireless Reach project partners in Kenya, Japan, and Indonesia who are joining TEDxSanDiego online for the livestream and live discussion. Tweet yourself into the Minglestream by posting your questions, reactions, and inspirations using #TEDxSD.

The Big Wall in the Vroom

The Big Wall in the Vroom (Virtual Room) is a tiled display environment with four rows of eight displays for a total of 32 narrow-bezel NEC X551UN LCD displays with a 55" screen diagonal. Each of the displays has full HD resolution (1920x1080 pixels), adding up to 66 million pixels on the entire wall (15,360 x 4,320 pixels). We also support multi-channel audio, and use a four-camera optical tracking system from Vicon. All displays have been attached in 2x2 patterns to mounting structures, which are either installed in movable containers (OptiPortables) or suspended from above. The displays in the Big Wall are driven by 16 rendering PCs running CentOS Linux, each with dual Nvidia Geforce 580 graphics cards. Additionally, there are three separate control PCs (head nodes), each of them set up for one of the three supported software environments: CGLX, CalVR and SAGE.

ivl.calit2.net/wiki/index.php/Infrastructure#The_Big_Wall...

Qualcomm Wireless Reach

Qualcomm believes access to 3G, 4G and next-generation mobile technologies can improve people?s lives. Qualcomm Wireless Reach? is a strategic program that brings wireless technology to underserved communities globally and that supports the company?s long-term business goals. Wireless Reach invests in projects that foster entrepreneurship, aid in public safety, enhance the delivery of health care, enrich teaching and learning and improve environmental sustainability. The goal of Wire

Linux by d a i s e y k a t

my sweet boy

Ubuntu desktop by matt lee

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a picture of my new linux OS working - I've wanted to try linux for ages but never managed to get an install all the way through, usually falling at the hurdle of configuring a thing called 'X windows' without which the OS is basically nothing more than a command line...this new (well to me) 'distro' (flavour) of linux, Ubuntu, enables you to download a disc which you can run on your machine and see whether linux will work with your hardware (without having to install anything) - it also enables you to then install linux from a nice graphical desktop space rather than some strange geek hell...and you can even keep your windows and have a 'dual boot machine' which is what I've got now, though I haven't had to boot into windows since i installed it...

Linux Solutions 2004 - Maston28 by Léa linux