CHAPTER 1 N STARTING LINUX COMMAND-LINE ADMINISTRATION
3
collection, others by creating programs and adding that to their distribution, and some hired
developers to optimize the open source programs. The result is that nowadays hundreds of
Linux distributions are available for new Linux users. Of all these Linux distributions, only
some really matter. In this book, I’ve focused on the three most important distributions: Red
(AT 353% AND 5BUNTU "Y FOCUSING ON THESE THREE ONLY ) AM NOT MAKING A STATEMENT ABOUT
the quality of the other distributions; however, it makes sense to focus on these three as they
make up more than 90% of the Linux market. Following are short descriptions of these three
distributions.
Red Hat
.ORTH #AROLINAnBASED ,INUX DISTRIBUTION 2ED (AT HAD A MAJOR ROLE IN BRINGING ,INUX TO THE
DATA CENTER OF MANY COMPANIES 4HE REASON FOR THE SUCCESS OF 2ED (AT WAS THAT THIS DISTRIBU-
tor added support for Linux. At one level, this is support of different hardware and software
programs, which means that users of the supported hardware and software programs were
GUARANTEED THAT THEY WOULD WORK ON ,INUX 2ED (AT ALSO ADDED HELP FOR ,INUX USERS AVAILABLE
as a commercial added value to Linux.
"ECAUSE 2ED (AT OFFERED ,INUX WITH SUPPORT COMPANIES STARTED PUTTING ASIDE THEIR OLD
FLAVORS OF 5.)8 AND REPLACING THEM WITH THE MUCH CHEAPER ,INUX 4HIS MADE 2ED (AT THE
MOST IMPORTANT ,INUX DISTRIBUTOR FOR MANY YEARS ONLY RECENTLY HAVE 353% AND 5BUNTU POSED
A THREAT TO THE COMMERCIAL SUCCESS OF 2ED (AT IN THE ENTERPRISE ENVIRONMENT
#URRENTLY THERE ARE THREE PRODUCT LINES RELATED TO 2ED (AT 4HE MOST IMPORTANT OF THESE
is 2ED (AT %NTERPRISE ,INUX 2(%, WHICH CONSISTS OF TWO SERVER VERSIONS AND A DESKTOP VER-
SION 2(%, IS A COMMERCIAL PRODUCT SO IT IS NOT AVAILABLE AS A FREE DOWNLOAD )T IS OPEN SOURCE
SOFTWARE HOWEVER BUT THE ONLY REASON YOU CANT DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREE IS BECAUSE 2ED (AT HAS
ADDED THE 2ED (AT LOGO TO THE 2(%, SOFTWARE AND THIS IS SOMETHING THAT USERS HAVE TO PAY FOR
2ED (AT ALSO FOUNDED THE &EDORA OPEN SOURCE PROJECT "ASICALLY YOU CAN SEE THIS AS THE
DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT FOR 2(%, -OST NEW SOFTWARE COMPONENTS ARE FIRST USED AND TESTED
IN &EDORA AND IF THEY ARE SUCCESSFUL THERE THEY WILL MAKE IT INTO 2(%, AS WELL Fedora Linux is
available for free download at sss*na`d]p*_ki+ba`kn].
3INCE THE ONLY THING THAT IS NOT FREE IN 2ED (AT %NTERPRISE ,INUX IS THE 2ED (AT LOGO THE
#ENT/3 #OMMUNITY %.4ERPRISE /PERATING 3YSTEM DISTRIBUTION OFFERS 2ED (AT %NTERPRISE
,INUX SOFTWARE FROM WHICH THE 2ED (AT LOGO HAS BEEN REMOVED 4HIS SOUNDS ILLEGAL BUT IT
ISNT AS 2ED (AT IS COMPLETELY OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE 3O IF YOU WANT THE STABILITY OF 2ED (AT
%NTERPRISE ,INUX BUT DONT WANT TO PAY FOR IT #ENT/3 PROVIDES A GOOD ALTERNATIVE 9OU CAN
DOWNLOAD #ENT/3 AT sss*_ajpko*knc.
SUSE
4HE 353% ,INUX DISTRIBUTION WAS FOUNDED IN 'ERMANY )T BECAME POPULAR QUITE FAST BECAUSE
FROM THE BEGINNING 353% ,INUX CAME WITH LOTS OF SOFTWARE PACKAGES 353% WAS ONE OF THE FIRST
DISTRIBUTIONS THAT ONLY SOLD THEIR DISTRIBUTION AND JUST DELIVERED A DEMO SYSTEM AS FREELY AVAIL-
able software, thus trying to make money out of it.
)N 5TAHBASED NETWORK SOFTWARE COMPANY .OVELL PURCHASED 353% AND DEVELOPED
IT INTO AN ENTERPRISEREADY ,INUX DISTRIBUTION THAT COULD COMPETE WITH 2ED (AT WHICH IN THAT
period still dominated the market.
#URRENTLY THERE ARE TWO DIRECTIONS IN 353% ,INUX 353% ,INUX %NTERPRISE IS THE COMMER-
CIAL SOFTWARE THAT OFFERS SUPPORT AND IT EXISTS IN THREE DIFFERENT FLAVORS 353% ,INUX %NTERPRISE