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Question about how linux distros vary from each other

If I understand Linux distros correctly, they are nothing more than the programs, features, and packages that are chosen to be included with the linux kernal.

 

But if you know how to install and uninstall programs, change desktop environments, etc, then it doesn't matter which distro you start with, right?

You can start with linux ubuntu, change things around, and end up with something like linux mint? 

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Well you can change things, but you might aswell start with one with the things you like.

 

There is linux for scratch for when you do this, but normally its not worth the effort and you want something that works out of the box.

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47 minutes ago, Chrislw324 said:

If I understand Linux distros correctly, they are nothing more than the programs, features, and packages that are chosen to be included with the linux kernal.

 

But if you know how to install and uninstall programs, change desktop environments, etc, then it doesn't matter which distro you start with, right?

You can start with linux ubuntu, change things around, and end up with something like linux mint? 

Sort of.

 

Each distro has their own way of doing things.

Debian (and their derivatives) use Apt-get

Redhat (ditto) use yum

 

and so forth.

 

The core model works the same, but the devil is in the details and you'd really not want to start making any hybrids.

While there are tons of distros out there, a great many do not keep things updated, so you run across a ton of abandoned distros, to the point it's easier to stick to the well supported ones, like Ubuntu, Mint, Centos, SuSE (and Arch, if you're weird ;-)

NOTE: I no longer frequent this site. If you really need help, PM/DM me and my e.mail will alert me. 

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Semantics. This is why I'd suggest starting with Debian or Fedora and just installing what you actually need. Ubuntu for example is probably still close enough to Debian that you should be able to benefit from their community too.

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On 5/19/2018 at 4:33 AM, Radium_Angel said:

(and Arch, if you're weird ;-)

I do not agree, i am not weird! Arch lets YOU do anything you want to the system. YOU decide what YOU need not canonical or any other company. Also you always have latest software available. There are no arch versions it's just an arch linux. It's one version always up to date. And there is AUR. It's the greatest tool in Arch linux. If you are advanced user you should use arch if you are beginer you should use manjaro. This is what i think and i always install manjaro on ma relatives computers. Usualy once. I did not had to reinstall something on PC where i installed manjaro. It's one time thing and it will work until PC dies itself. You just update things and that's it. If you want you can skip updates.

Computer users fall into two groups:
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

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5 hours ago, mate_mate91 said:

I do not agree, i am not weird! Arch lets YOU do anything you want to the system. YOU decide what YOU need not canonical or any other company. Also you always have latest software available. There are no arch versions it's just an arch linux. It's one version always up to date. And there is AUR. It's the greatest tool in Arch linux. If you are advanced user you should use arch if you are beginer you should use manjaro. This is what i think and i always install manjaro on ma relatives computers. Usualy once. I did not had to reinstall something on PC where i installed manjaro. It's one time thing and it will work until PC dies itself. You just update things and that's it. If you want you can skip updates.

Did you miss the winking emoji at the end of that? I was poking fun...

NOTE: I no longer frequent this site. If you really need help, PM/DM me and my e.mail will alert me. 

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7 hours ago, mate_mate91 said:

I do not agree, i am not weird! Arch lets YOU do anything you want to the system. YOU decide what YOU need not canonical or any other company. Also you always have latest software available. There are no arch versions it's just an arch linux. It's one version always up to date. And there is AUR. It's the greatest tool in Arch linux. If you are advanced user you should use arch if you are beginer you should use manjaro. This is what i think and i always install manjaro on ma relatives computers. Usualy once. I did not had to reinstall something on PC where i installed manjaro. It's one time thing and it will work until PC dies itself. You just update things and that's it. If you want you can skip updates.

You forgot to mention following an hour long install guide on YouTube just to install the thing for the first time.

Sudo make me a sandwich 

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34 minutes ago, wasab said:

You forgot to mention following an hour long install guide on YouTube just to install the thing for the first time.

It's much easier and faster to follow guide on archwiki :)

Computer users fall into two groups:
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

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   These days, as compared to the 1991 availability, a person may choose from a huge and ever growing grab-bag of Linux distros, flavors, and remixes. Everyone of those has someone saying something good and something bad about it.

   I love exploring the possibilities. Download somelinuxyouchoose.iso, write it to a thumbdrive, poke the thumbdrive usb into that old computer or old laptop with the BIOS set to search and read from the USB first, and let'er roll!

   There's a lot of ways to put a Linux operating system together, ways to present it to the user, ways to present the installation process. If you're new to Linux, no worries, no need to jump into the deep end of the pool at first splash. Several distros offer trouble-free entry.

   Lots of categories and choices already available.

   Once you have one Linux distro that boots through GRUB installed, you can place as many of these *.iso type files, the installable operating systems, in a sub-directory in your boot directory, thereby making it possible to boot through GRUB and into any of them. That is, the OS in the *.iso may be run live without installing it. More later?

  But back to choosing a Linux OS that might work well for your needs?

  Special needs? An old computer from the closet, bogged down junk with all the soft MicroSloth jabberwockey? or ...A nice new, superfast machine to support an entire best of eye candy store?! ...ok ...the online game machine? ...or maybe a standard workhorse, check the email, search the online archives, post fotos to Facebook, watch some youtubes, pass the night on HULU or some such video outlet, work with 2 monitors and a lots of browser tabs, while downloading everything you want to access offline?

  OK! This is easy!

  Valid suggestions can point in other directions. Mine, however, go this way...

  Let's say you come from Microsoft and folks have warned you off with stories of steep learning curves and the necessity to be a geek or nerd or highschool grad or some such nonsense. Naahhh...

  Debian has been around since early on.

  Many, many distros and flavors are Debian-based.

  Ubuntu and it's flavors come to us out of the Debian work.

  Linux Mint, extremely stable is built on Ubuntu with one, LMDE, built directly from Debian.

  I typically run an old, beat up, dusty, dirty, end of the 4 wheel drive road Toshiba laptop.

  I used Ubuntu variations for years, then Mint for some years.

  Now, I've found I really like MX-17, built from Debian.

... Each of the above easily wrote to USB, easily installed, and runs like a charm.

..... Note: on same old laptop I have several installations: Mint 18.3, LMDE 2, Debian 9 Stretch, BunsenLabs 8.9, PureOS 8, Manjaro 17.1.4, Sabayon Gentoo based, ArchMerge 6.4.1, Parrot 3.1, Kali Rolling, Siduction Patience, CEntOS 6.9, UberStudent Heraclitus Trusty 4.3, Makulu 13 Flash, Skywave Linux 2.2, 4M Linux 21.3, Bodhi 4.4, gNewSense 4, Ununtu 17.04 Zesty, OSGeo 16.04 Xenial, and Scientific Linux. _  Some of these presented problems that took time and focus to resolve. Others installed like a perfect fit.

   As for Arch, ArchMerge installed simple. I would not recommend Arch to someone who wants ... simple.

   For ease and dependability?

   My computers have always been a few years old. Ubuntu with a lightweight desktop works well, although I prefer Linux Mint.

   During past year, MX-16 and now MX-17 have done everything i need without geeking anything!

...

  Even with this old computer, nothing took an hour.

...

 If you want to keep a Microsoft OS, then there are a few things to watch for. I have not wanted to waste any hard drive space on a Microsoft OS since the 1990's. My wife, however, does have her Mint, which she uses professionally processing photos, on a hard drive with a left over, undeleted Microsoft system... which she does not use. From Linux you can access any of that Microsoft work just like any other hard drive directory.

 It does help if you already know about partitions.

 

  PS: Several of these OSes come with programs which will allow the user to modify the OS and produce their own ...OS ...own design ...own program choices.

   That's the way Linux is. It's ours. Take it. Reach out and get some! It's yours. Make it the way you want it. Shape it to fit your particular niche.

 

2ndPS: While you can mix programs from distinct Linux families, most often anything you need is available for big families like Debian and Ubuntu. I knew of a guy who put a Volkswagen engine in a motorcycle. Cool, but not what everyone wants to do on Saturday..;- )

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TBH if you want "simple" or "it just works" I'd stick with Ubuntu or CentOS.

 

I guess you could "make" a Mint installation out of an Ubuntu installation (it isn't particularly hard to swap the boot screen image and install a couple of media codecs and a UI skin), but if you want Mint then just install Mint :)

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I am just gonna hijack this thread I suppose. 

 

I just bought myself an awesome beater laptop from dell refurbished, the Dell Lattitude 7440. I want to install Ubuntu on it for fun. I just want something with a web browser, Spotify, Discord, VLC and Libre Office. 

 

Does the flavour of Ubuntu even matter? They all exceed my minimal needs. So far, Ubuntu Budgie looks the nicest to me (purely aesthetics). But most people online seem to like Ubuntu Mate the most.  I can’t seem to figure out why. I personally don’t like the army green theme. But you can change that right? 

 

 

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16 hours ago, kokakolia said:

I am just gonna hijack this thread I suppose. 

 

I just bought myself an awesome beater laptop from dell refurbished, the Dell Lattitude 7440. I want to install Ubuntu on it for fun. I just want something with a web browser, Spotify, Discord, VLC and Libre Office. 

 

Does the flavour of Ubuntu even matter? They all exceed my minimal needs. So far, Ubuntu Budgie looks the nicest to me (purely aesthetics). But most people online seem to like Ubuntu Mate the most.  I can’t seem to figure out why. I personally don’t like the army green theme. But you can change that right? 

 

 

Just pick the one that is the most aesthetically pleasing, they're all pretty much the same thing.

Intel i7 5820K (4.5 GHz) | MSI X99A MPower | 32 GB Kingston HyperX Fury 2666MHz | Asus RoG STRIX GTX 1080ti OC | Samsung 951 m.2 nVME 512GB | Crucial MX200 1000GB | Western Digital Caviar Black 2000GB | Noctua NH-D15 | Fractal Define R5 | Seasonic 860 Platinum | Logitech G910 | Sennheiser 599 | Blue Yeti | Logitech G502

 

Nikon D500 | Nikon 300mm f/4 PF  | Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 | Nikon 50mm f/1.8 | Tamron 70-210 f/4 VCII | Sigma 10-20 f/3.5 | Nikon 17-55 f/2.8 | Tamron 90mm F2.8 SP Di VC USD Macro | Neewer 750II

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3 hours ago, Fetzie said:

Just pick the one that is the most aesthetically pleasing, they're all pretty much the same thing.

That’s what I figured. And yet, if you get into the nitty gritty of things you start spotting some flaws. For instance, Ubuntu Budgie has duplicate menus that look different but do the same thing. So that one is off my list. 

 

I kinda like the Gnome layout. It’s an app tray, a search bar and a dock. So I’ll go with vanilla Ubuntu. But it looks like Ubuntu Mate can do the same thing if you change the settings. And Ubuntu Mate has more customization. I’ll have to try both then. 

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You're forgetting the name - "distribution". They are ways of distributing a linux based operating system to anyone who wants it. Aside from the chosen preinstalled packages, most distributions have their own repositories which they maintain and moderate, something you probably couldn't do by yourself. Sure, you can get about the same desktop experience from most distributions, but some of the underlying system is hard to change unless you're building it from scratch.

 

You CAN modify ubuntu to be linux mint because linux mint is based on ubuntu to begin with - that's what the developers did (aside from adding their own repositories) - but you can't take ubuntu and make it fedora without destroying it first. You can make it look like fedora, for sure, but you can't make it act exactly like fedora.

 

The closest distros to letting you pick everything (without requiring you to build from scratch) are gentoo and arch - but neither of those can become exactly like ubuntu.

Don't ask to ask, just ask... please 🤨

sudo chmod -R 000 /*

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On 5/19/2018 at 2:50 AM, Electronics Wizardy said:

Well you can change things, but you might aswell start with one with the things you like.

 

There is linux for scratch for when you do this, but normally its not worth the effort and you want something that works out of the box.

then basically there's no difference between let's say Ubuntu and Fedora,except the DE?I'm new to Linux and I would like to know if there's any difference between installing for example Fedora with Plazma KDE and installing Ubuntu with integrated plazma kde,also do they have the same tools?Why would I install Ubuntu with some particular integrated KDE if I can install Fedora and install the same KDE which Ubuntu uses?What's the point and the difference then?By the logic of your comment,I can configure my Fedora to be like Ubuntu?Or I'm wrong

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2 hours ago, sample text said:

then basically there's no difference between let's say Ubuntu and Fedora,except the DE?I'm new to Linux and I would like to know if there's any difference between installing for example Fedora with Plazma KDE and installing Ubuntu with integrated plazma kde,also do they have the same tools?Why would I install Ubuntu with some particular integrated KDE if I can install Fedora and install the same KDE which Ubuntu uses?What's the point and the difference then?By the logic of your comment,I can configure my Fedora to be like Ubuntu?Or I'm wrong

Well much more than de, things like the network manager, the update system, and the devs philosophy  and goals. 

 

 

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On 20.5.2018 at 9:40 AM, mate_mate91 said:

I do not agree, i am not weird! Arch lets YOU do anything you want to the system. YOU decide what YOU need not canonical or any other company. Also you always have latest software available. There are no arch versions it's just an arch linux. It's one version always up to date. And there is AUR. It's the greatest tool in Arch linux. If you are advanced user you should use arch if you are beginer you should use manjaro. This is what i think and i always install manjaro on ma relatives computers. Usualy once. I did not had to reinstall something on PC where i installed manjaro. It's one time thing and it will work until PC dies itself. You just update things and that's it. If you want you can skip updates.

Canonical is quite open about pre installed software, if you don't need it just innstall minimal then add a desktop envorieent and move on.

 

Most of the things avilable for one type of the system is mostly avilable for all of them in one form or another.

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The biggest thing I see about how Linux distros differ from one another is how software packages are delivered. For example, Debian based distros use deb packages. Red Hat uses rpm packages. Arch uses pkg. On top of that, distros may use a different package manager software, like apt-get, yum, or pacman, to handle software packages.

 

Otherwise, under the hood they're mostly the same past all the user-facing apps.

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Some time, a couple of years ago, people started an initiative to find one Linux standard to stop the rank growth of concurring Linux solutions. It was called the "Linux Standard Base" and it stated that the Linux package format has to be RPM.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Standard_Base#Choice_of_the_RPM_package_format

 

Sadly, most Linux distributors don't give a fuck about standards. Not even about their own ones. Oh my.

Write in C.

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Debians (ubutus etc.):

  • apt package management
  • .deb packages
  • AppArmor (default in ubuntu and counsins iirc)
  • Stable as bedrock (and stale hah)

Fedora:

  • dnf (dandified yum) package management
  • .rpm packages
  • SELinux (<- this is a bitch to build into your system from "scratch", like Arch etc.)
  • RHELish (less than CentOS but "ish")

Suses:

Arch (and cousins):

  • DIY
  • Pacman package manager is pretty good and fast
  • .pkg packages (builds from source iirc)
  • Arch User Repository is vast, but could be a security vulnerability (got to read those .pkbuilds)
  • Rolling release
  • Best wiki ever
  • "not newbie friendly" (not actually true, you just need to read alot)
  • Eligible to use "btw, I use Arch" meme

 

Solus:

  • rolling release (iirc)
  • not based on any of the others (made from scratch)
  • Ikey is cool
  • eopkg package manager
  • made for desktop use
  • Steam (linux steam integration)
  • Budgie DE looks nice
  • Ubuntu-like "click to install drivers" thingamahjigg 

 

Edit: If you try out linux and find out that a certain program isn't available for your distro: https://appimage.org | https://flatpak.org | https://snapcraft.io

if (c->x86_vendor != X86_VENDOR_AMD)

setup_force_cpu_bug(X86_BUG_CPU_INSECURE);

 

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Some might use a different init, such as Gentoo which uses OpenRC. Although it is possible to get other distros like Arch without systemd (the standard nowadays).

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