After over 10 years of development, it seems that the penguin from Linux is ready to compare to any other operating system from many points of view. Its advantages are the security and scalability for which it is already known in the Internet environment, thus becoming a choice for more companies. Linux offers a graphical interface that can be compared to that provided by Windows, has the concept of “user friendly” and is well implemented, and the hardware database grows every day, sometimes lasting only a few days after a new product is launched and of course a new driver. Once blamed for the lack of multimedia, Linux offers increasingly more tools for video editing, music and so on.
Many companies have decided to choose Linux as the OS because of its security and investment lower than other similar products, even though it usually requires the “literacy” of their employees. The lack of adequate technical support is no longer a problem today, many manufacturers offer this option at an affordable price. Another advantage is the protection against viruses: in comparison to other systems that have tens of thousands of viruses, the ones written for Linux are just a few, because few are those who dare to write malicious codes for this platform.
Although the number of the distributions today is over 100, the most representative are presented next in order to give you an opinion about this operating system.
Red Hat appeared for the first time on the market in the summer of 1994; this distribution was remarked by the ease with which it could be updated via the package manager, a new concept back then. Thus, if a program was needed, the user could download it from the Internet as a package, and could easily install it, having the advantage that it is already configured. However, RedHat has been a company that has had great success in the commercial services to its users. As a matter of fact, its name comes from one of the founders, who had the habit of wearing a red hat. When talking about SuSE, immediately we think of the YaST configuration, which allows using a GUI, installed or uninstalled in a very short time. Newer versions contain an application called Blinux that allows the users to customize their system, providing them with the possibility of compiling a kernel.
Gentoo is different from most distributions because the method of organizing the package manager is done by a system Portage, called. This distribution is similar to BSD systems and is written in Python. The package manager includes control links, useful when uninstalling a package – an option also present in other distributions, setup packages and others. There are different versions of Gentoo. Mandrake, especially popular among uninitiated users; the first version of this distribution appeared in July 1998, being produced by Gael Duvalm. Its success was due largely to the fact that he tried to steer Mandrakesoft more to the commercial sector. Mandrake is recognized as a version available to anyone looking to step into the Linux world because of its ease of configuring and running applications. Unfortunately, Mandrakesoft company recently entered the bankruptcy process, this distribution having a currently uncertain future.
United Linux is the first distribution developed by several manufacturers. Many wanted United Linux to become a standard in the Linux community and therefore they work hard to meet the desires of users. This project involved the connection between the SCO Group, SuSE Linux AG and Turbolinux. Released in April 1993, the Slackware project sought to provide a highly configurable and stable distribution. Much time, it has been lived under the impression that Slackware is addressed mainly to specialists, but this is entirely unfounded, because the time spent with it can turn into a real pleasure for those who have not heard of this operating system at all.
The Debian project was founded on August 16, 1993 by Ian Murdock when the concept of distribution was still something new. Although it is a non-commercial operating system, Debian has all the merit of maintaining itself at the top, its success is guaranteed by the freedom of every person in the world to contribute to this project. Debian name comes from its author, Ian and his wife, Debra. Turbolinux is widespread in Asia, especially Japan, Korea and China; the distribution is for commercial environments, being the first to meet international standards. Turbolinux also was the first version of Linux to support Intel Itanium 64-bit.
But why did they choose a penguin as a logo? While he was on holiday in the southern hemisphere, Linus met a penguin. The animal was friendly enough, but Linus was afraid and probably that’s why the penguin bit his hand. Linus explained that he was infected with a rare disease called “penguinitis” which is manifested by the fact that “the person wakes up at night and think of penguins, even feeling a paternal love for them”. Well, I would not want to be bitten by a penguin, because I already feel a great love for them. But why the penguin lies down? Here’s the explanation given by Linus: “I imagined a slightly overweight penguin, sitting down and having a smile of satisfaction after having eaten a few gallons of raw fish”.
To use the penguin image is not necessarily any official document, it can be used by anyone. This is not the case when talking about other pictures.11
