What is Digg?57 Comments
- Alaerus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+25So many distros, so little time.... God how I love Linux!
- schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20Other fun stuff:
A nice matrix of icons, without much structure...
http://www.gridter.com/linx/linux.html
http://digg.meluxconf.ro/gui_timeline.png (GNOME, KDE, Mac OS, Windows
timeline)
http://www.levenez.com/unix/history.html#06 (large *nix mindmap)
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3370/2500/1600/GNULinux.jpg
(Linux mindmap) - Ellsass, on 11/05/2008, -1/+13Interesting how Debian derivatives have been all the rage in recent years (Ubuntu, Knoppix, Lindows) yet it wasn't forked at all in its first six years while other "originals" have been forked pretty regularly.
- santaclaws, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11BS, fool. They all run off the same kernel. The distro alternatives are mostly about packaging and configuration.
- cuzican, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12Cool timeline don't get me wrong.. but is it fourth time is a charm now or what?
http://digg.com/search?area=all&age=all&sort=new&s=linux+distro+timeline&submit=Search
I knew I had seen this before on digg.. Looks like ppl can't digg it the first three times...
Marked as duplicate.. - rmxz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12More annoyingly, the chart left off most of the non-desktop distros, which would have been far more interesting.
I'd want a chart that shows where Tivo, the Cell Phone Linuxes, the PS3 Linuxes, the top-500-supercomputer linuxes, the Linksys wireless router, etc distros come from. - GnuTzu, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11Obvious reaction: That'll take it's own time line.
- GnuTzu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Cool!
I knew that Slackware was older than most. But, I hadn't realized that Debian was older than SuSE and that Red Hat followed SuSE. And, they all have their own lineages. - Feanor, on 10/12/2007, -6/+14This would make an excellent Christmas present as a poster. I know I would hang it in my apartment.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+13Nerd...
- ubuwalker31, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9The diversity of distros helps Linux. I like to think of it as a sort of evolutionary process. Each individual distro has favorable traits which make it more likely to survive in a competitive environment and be downloaded onto more and more computers. When that distro, or another distro sees successful code, that code is used in that distro's next release, with the result that beneficial code become more common in the linux community as a whole. This evolutionary process results in a large variety of distros adapted to wide variety of changing workplace and home environments.
- wunch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I know there's probably not enough data out there to do it, but a nice addition would be to vary the thickness of the lines according to usage/popularity.
- nborders, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Interesting.
I have used Debian, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, RedHat, RedHat Core, Open Suse, and Suse.
I only ask the question, does so many distros hurt or help Linux/Unix as a whole?
~n - krewemaynard, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Chalk it up to the stability of Debian, as well as Debian reforming its previously glacial release cycle.
- kuribo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think it helps Linux...up to a point. Sure, there is a wide range of uses for Linux on PCs (not to mention other devices, but PCs get most of the attention): servers, desktop machines, etc., and a wide range of peoples' expertise with the system and computers in general. But at a certain point, there are just so many distros, and the differences between them get smaller and smaller, I have to think that it would be more beneficial to just merge similar projects. Don't have a dozen different versions that focus on usability for new users (for example), have 2 or 3.
Of course, this is just what I think would be most beneficial for Linux adoption as a whole. People can make however many distros and forks they want, that's what it's all about. But speaking as a newcomer to Linux myself, I do research on distros, and I still don't know which one to pick a lot of the time. For newbies, the range of choices is often overwhelming, not empowering. - raynevandunem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3What's funny about this list is that it can only list all these distributions based upon their lineages from 1991/1992. For this reason, other distributions which were created completely from scratch in later years aren't included.
Example: GoboLinux. It was only created back around 2000/2001, having no origin in any previous distribution (Linux From Scratch is a book, not a distro).
I don't see Gobo anywhere on this list. - jamend, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I think the multitude of distros is good for Linux. There's more to Linux than the kernel and applications, and various distros have brought a lot in terms of how Linux systems are set up (config/init systems etc.), the tools with which they can be configured, and of course the package management systems. And like ubuwalker31 said, the variety also helps to meet a lot of people's wants. I doubt Gentoo users would be happy with Ubuntu, nor Ubuntu users with Gentoo.
- automan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Feanor,
My wife agrees with you. We would hang that poster in our home - maddox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5You have a beard right?
Sandals too? - kassaralzabadi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@Alaerus
You, and I, love such freedom and the amazing number of alternatives.
Corporates however HATE not having a "standard". So, without a single strong distro to be THE dominant one (a la microsoft), the adoption of linux wont be as fast as it should.
Ubuntu is promising, Red Hat is a giant already, and Suse (love it or hate it) will continue to play well in the corporate environment. Other distros might be promising (some are better IMHO), but it is about the critical mass.
With all these distros, those responsible for making decisions would stick to the confidence given (rightly or wrongly) by the behemoth Microsoft.
Amazing job in a short time, but the battle now is for standards, which requires not that much of freedom! - raynevandunem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Glad that I could be of assistance.
http://www.gobolinux.org
And not a moment too soon. They just released 013 last month.
Oh, and if you're looking for a Portage equivalent, Gobo has "Compile".
It was covered on Slashdot a few years back.
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/05/1949213 - 1021, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4yeah, except the time scale on the *buntu distro timeline will be in hours and days instead of years and months.
- Asystole, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is great stuff. Props to whoever took the time to make this =) Great design too!
- Nebbie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Perhaps because it is so different from the standard GNU OS it wasn't included? I don't think there are any filesystem structure requirements for calling something a GNU OS as long as it uses it's programs, but who knows.
Anyways, only bringing it up as a possible reason because the image specifficaly says GNU/Linux, not just OSes that use the Linux kernel.
Oh, and thanks for bringing GoboLinux up, I have never heard of it before and it looks really interesting. I use Gentoo myself but I'll take a good look at it and see if it is worth switching. The filesystem looks interesting, keeping the benefits of a normal Linux filesystem but rearranging it all to make it more user friendly. - subgeniusd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4What would your girl friend make of that poster?
Ha ha......girl friend........ - MikeCerm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I look at this as a roadmap to why no one will ever use Linux. I wish that people would spend less time making their own distros, and join forces to make a few distros better. Even the much vaunted Ubuntu doesn't work on my very generic HP laptop without a massive amount of labor (and then the wireless still doesn't work).
- tenderstorm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I always thought that SuSE is fork from RedHat, not Slackware. But according to Wikipedia:
"S.u.S.E was founded in late 1992 as a UNIX consulting group, which among other things regularly released software packages that included SLS and Slackware, and printed UNIX/Linux manuals. S.u.S.E is an acronym for the German phrase "Software- und System-Entwicklung" ("Software and system development"). There is a rumour that the name is a tribute to the German computer pioneer Konrad Zuse. They released the first CD version of SLS/Slackware in 1994, under the name S.u.S.E Linux 1.0. It later integrated with the Jurix distribution of Florian La Roche, to release the first really unique S.u.S.E Linux 4.2 in 1996. Over time, SuSE Linux incorporated many aspects of Red Hat Linux (e.g., using RPMs and /etc/sysconfig)." - greyfade, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2most early distributions began as either a slackware derivative or just yet another collection of tarballs. it wasn't until RedHat developed the RPM (RedHat Package Manager) and Debian introduced its dpkg maintenance system that any real differentiation began.
(Gentoo, for example, wasn't so much derived from anything other than LFS - it began just as a collection of BASH scripts, and evolved into a collection of Python and BASH scripts - with a lot of very large and fast mirrors.) - buzzedlightyear, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3they aren't considered mainstream distros, if we had every fork of ubuntu on there, there would be no room for anything else.
- UberGeekGamer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I know I'm a little late commenting on this but doesn't Linus HATE the kernel called GNU/Linux?
- santaclaws, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3New to Linux? Pick Ubuntu.
- neko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes, it works exactly like diversity in the biological world.
Look at the Microsoft / Novell thing. Businesses might jump onto SuSE because it's supported by MS etc etc, but if MS were to suddenly turn around and say "actually.... we've decided not to support it anymore, you all have to stop using SuSE Linux now", all it will mean is that people can switch to another variety of Linux. You can't kill Linux as a whole because it's constantly evolving.
(edit, forgot to reply to nborders) - sembetu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes, I was looking at the chart in hopes of finding out what the source tree is for the Qtopia I have on my Zaurus. I never did know the answer to that. Really, I just want to know so I can figure out what I can replace it with.
- dfndoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@greyfade
Yours is the best comment in this thread by far. As a linux user since late 93/early 94 I too see the inherit flaws in this charts... BTW: You know you've been using linux a long time when you remember when math coproc emulation was a big deal in that it allowed linux to finally run on those other 3-4 computers stacked up in the corner...
For the record I started with Slackware and went Redhat -> Suse -> Ubuntu -> Suse -> gentoo -> ubuntu -> gentoo... And there was a liberal smattering of Solaris, Dos, Windows, MacOS, and OSX in there for good measure. - Erkan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1wow.. brings back memories. I remember when Red Hat came out and Slackware users switched distro to Red Hat. Then there was Slackware puritans that got angry and stuck with Slackware... 1996 I think
- NoSalt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So where is YellowDog Linux???
- greyfade, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2the only real differences between distros are the versions of glibc, GCC/binutils, the default installations, and the layout of the /usr/share/ directory tree. (except Gobo, which is trying to be Mac OS X on Linux, and would be a nightmare unto itself for commercial software.)
commercial developers should take a hint from Gentoo and realize that most commercial software runs just fine provided it's statically-linked! - MemoryDump, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1no wonder some ppl are confused on which Linux distro to go with! =)
my personal recommendation is Ubuntu - Cheeseness, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Pull your head out of your backside.
3 of those 4 stories are over 100 days old. If it's still relevant enough that people want to digg it, it's still news (that it made front page this time proves it), OK?
Anything that's been "upcoming" for more than 12-24 hours loses its chances of making front page, so submitting a similar story after 13 days doesn't really justify calling it a duplicate. - ndonohue, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Doesn't mention freespire. Anyone know how to edit it? (It does say you can, but all I get is an image and I don't want to screw around with GIMP)
- joshiesurber, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They missed something... Knoppix spawned Gnoppix, which was incorporated into Ubuntu as the live CD. Missed a couple of PPC spin-offs too.
- Nebbie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1When (or if) Linux becomes more mainstream the big distributers will probably get much bigger, with the smaller distros fading into the background. There will be less obvious selections for a new user and the small distros will just be a niche.
It will make it harder for a fork to challenge the original if more non-tech people are using Linux. Just like the way things are right now, it doesn't matter if Linux is better then Windows or vice-versa, the general public knows Windows and is hard to change. If Linux was #1, we'd see the same with with distros, where a technical minded person would change easily if a new distro was obviously better, but it would be harder to convince others to do it.
Good thing or bad thing? I have no clue. - anagami, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1the URL is dead
- sketch242, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Neither SUSE or Redhat had RPM in their initial release. I believe both of them were seperate branches off of Slackware. In fact, I think this chart's early history could use some work. In 92, there were two distros: MCC and SLS, and I don't think there was any relation between the two. Slackware was based off of SLS, and Debian was based off of MCC. I believe most distributions in the first 5 years or so were a branch off of one of these two original distros and their descendents.
- enzideout, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Well, it may be a duplicate, but its actually the newer time line than the other ones in search.
- 3Den, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That means the group used to distribute slackware and sls.. not that they based suse off it.
- Varean, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Missing many distros, but hey, this would make a sweet poster(as Feanor said)
- Impur3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2That's incredibly awesome. This is actually useful because, while pretty much every distro is honest about the source, you have them all at a glance on this so you can plan which ones to try out based on their original source. Fun.
- Computer_Kid, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I would love to have a poster of this!
- Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@Feanor: I'd rock it in my cubicle. Wrap it from one end to the other.
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