In this lecture, we'll start talking about Linux distributions and which one is right for you. A Linux 1
distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system made from a collection of software 2
that is based upon the Linux kernel and often a package management system. 3
This is the definition! The Linux operating system isn't produced only by a single organization as in 4
the case of Windows or Mac. 5
Different organizations and people work on different parts of it. 6
The operating system comprises the Linux kernel (the core of the operating system, which is common 7
to all distributions and provides an interface between the hardware and the software and users), the GNU shell 8
utilities ( the terminal interface and the most of the commands you use), the graphical desktop environment 9
and the more. Distributed as source code 10
all of these components are open source and free software, and together they make up a specific Linux 11
distribution; even though they have different philosophies, the core and the main concepts are the 12
same. 13
In fact, if you learn how to use a specific Linux distribution, then you'll adapt and use another 14
one with little or no effort. At the moment 15
there are hundreds and hundreds of distributions 16
each of them build for a specific purpose: RedHat, CentOs and even Ubuntu power 17
the servers of the Internet, Linux Mint is used for personal computers, 18
OpenWrt runs on embedded devices like routers, Raspberry PI OS is the system highly optimized for Raspberry 19
Pi with ARM CPUs and Rocks Cluster Distribution is intended for high-performance computing clusters. 20
Take a look at distrowatch.com! 21
This website provides statistics and general information for various Linux distributions. 22
This is the database of Linux distributions. 23
Distrowatch creates a ranking of all the distributions out there, based on the page hit ranking 24
that shows the number of times a distribution page on DistroWatch.com was accessed each day. 25
This is a way of measuring the popularity of any Linux distributions. 26
So if you are just starting out with Linux, you've probably already got overwhelmed. 27
You just want it to learn Linux and now you find out that there are a bunch of Linux variants. 28
If you want to use Linux for business or for building a career, then you should know that the most 29
popular Linux distributions used in the industry today are Ubuntu and RedHat Enterprise Linux. 30
So to answer the question, which Linux distribution should I use, 31
I make it really easy for you and tell you that you should choose between RedHat and Ubuntu. 32
You can forget about hundreds of other Linux distributions and choose one of those two or a distribution 33
that is built on them. 34
Large companies like banks, telecom or retailers use RedHat. 35
However, RedHat is a commercial distribution, so you have to pay a subscription fee in order to use 36
it and the fee is not low at all. 37
By the way, RedHat was acquired by IBM In July 2019 for $34 billions US dollars. 38
But the good news is that in order to run RedHat, it's not mandatory to pay for the license, 39
and I'm not talking about pirating RedHat. 40
You can simply run CentOS, sometimes pronounced Centos, which is another Linux distribution, completely 41
free, based on RedHat Enterprise Linux. 42
CentOS is in fact Redhat without branding and support. 43
On the other hand, Ubuntu, which initially was itself based on Debian, is completely free. 44
Ubuntu is used by startups, small companies, social networks or by cloud based services. 45
Note that there are many other popular Linux distributions based on Ubuntu or Debian. 46
I want to mention just a few of them. 47
Linux Mint is a user friendly distribution with an interface similar to Windows. 48
This is perfect for beginners. 49
MX Linux is another desktop oriented Linux distribution based on Debian, which is a lightweight operating 50
system designed to combine an elegant and efficient desktop with high stability and low resource consumption. 51
And finally, Kali Linux, based on Debian as well, is a distribution used for ethical hacking, 52
advanced penetration testing and security auditing. 53
It contains hundreds of security tools that run out of the box. 54
This course is about Linux, it's not a RedHat or an Ubuntu course. I want you to become 55
an effective Linux Administrator who will be able to efficiently run any Linux Distribution. 56
In fact, in today's ecosystem, a system administrator runs multiple distributions of Linux in 57
virtual machines or in the cloud.That’s why the concepts taught in this course are Linux distribution 58
independent and can be applied to each flavor of Linux. We'll install both Ubuntu and CentOS, but we’ll 59
use mostly Ubuntu for common examples since it’s more user-friendly and works well both as a Desktop 60
and as a server OS. 61
But when things become different, I'll show you the same concept or tool on CentOS, as well. 62
Remember that Linux is Linux at the core, and no matter what distribution you use, the Linux concepts 63
will be the same. As a final thought 64
I want to tell you that if you already have some experience with a specific distribution or for some 65
reasons you want to learn a specific Linux distribution, just go ahead and install it for this course. 66
Now that you have a good understanding of what is a Linux distribution and which are the most commonly 67
used ones, will take a short break 68
and in the next lecture, I'll show you how to install Ubuntu in a VM, step by step.