Leading distributions have usually been around for a while and are well-established. They will support several architectures from low-end x86 versions to high-end versions for IBM mainframes and the latest 64-bit technology. Some come from companies that supply service and support contracts for their products, others are community projects. Leading distributions usually support many languages.
Debian GNU/Linux
http://www.debian.org/
http://freshmeat.net/projects/debian/
The Debian Project is one of the oldest distributions and is currently the largest volunteer based distribution provider. The distribution supports many languages and hardware platforms, for example the Etch release supports i386, amd64, powerpc, alpha, arm, hppa, ia64, mips/mipsel, sparc and s390. Several architectures offer a choice between 32-bit and 64-bits kernel.. The old stable version (still supported) is Debian 3.1 (sarge) - initial release June 6, 2005 - now at revision 8 released April 13, 2008. The current stable version 4.0 (etch) was released April 8, 2007 - now at revision 4 released July 26, 2008. Debian users who want a more current desktop distribution are encouraged to use the testing branch, which is where the next stable release (currently codenamed Lenny) is prepared and which should normally be quite stable. Debian Developers and users who want to live on the bleeding edge can run the unstable branch (Sid) or even try packages from experimental.
Fedora
http://fedoraproject.org/
Fedora Project wiki
http://freshmeat.net/projects/fedora_project/
The Fedora Project is Red Hat's community distribution. It is intended to be a fast-paced distribution for those that like to stay on the leading edge of technology. It is also a test-bed for Red Hat's Enterprise Linux products. The Fedora contains all the packages necessary to run a functional desktop or small server. The first Fedora Core release was dated November 5, 2003. Fedora strives for a new release every 6 months and releases will be supported for 13 months. The old stable version is Fedora 8, released November 8, 2007. The current stable version is Fedora 9, released May 13, 2008.
Gentoo Linux
http://www.gentoo.org/
Gentoo Linux is a source-based distribution that can be optimized and customized for just about any application or need. Gentoo offers extreme performance, configurability and a top-notch user and developer community. Users keep their systems up-to-date using Portage, which is based on BSD Ports. Gentoo is a meta-distribution with a large number of packages available (nearly 11,000 as of April 2006). Gentoo Linux 2005.1 is currently available for Alpha, AMD64, PPC, PPC64, SPARC, X86, IA64 and SPARC32. Gentoo Linux 2006.0 was released February 27, 2006. Gentoo Linux 2006.1 was released August 30, 2006. Gentoo Linux 2007.0 was released May 7, 2007. Gentoo Linux 2008.0 was released July 6, 2008. Gentoo 2008.0-r1 fixes some live CD issues.
Mandriva Linux
http://www.mandrivalinux.com/
Mandriva
Mandriva Brazil
Mandriva is a new name for two popular distribution companies resulting from the merger of the French company Mandrakesoft and the Brazilian company Conectiva. Mandriva has also acquired Lycoris assets and hired Lycoris founder and CEO, Joesph Cheek on June 15, 2005. Mandriva Linux 2006 merged technology from MandrakeSoft, Conectiva and Lycoris. This version became generally available on October 13, 2005 and reached an end of support on April 13, 2007. Mandriva Linux One is a combined live and install CD, first released in March 2006. The Mandriva Corporate Server 4.0 was released September 19, 2006. Mandriva Corporate Desktop 4.0 was released June 21, 2007. Mandriva Linux 2008 was released October 9, 2007. ML 2008.1 was released April 9, 2008. ML 2008.1 Xfce edition was released May 1, 2008. Mandriva Linux 2009 Beta 1 was released July 29, 2008.
Red Hat Enterprise
http://www.redhat.com/
Red Hat, Inc. provides one of the the best known distributions in the world. In 2003 the company announced its decision to drop its popular Red Hat Linux in order to concentrate on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux line. The Fedora Project (see above) has replaced the Red Hat Linux line for the home user or small business. Red Hat Linux 9 was released April 7, 2003, and official Red Hat support ended on May 1, 2004. Red Hat Enterprise Linux comes with service and support contracts for those Red Hat customers who require a stable, supported system. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 was released October 22, 2003. The seventh update for RHEL 3 was released March 15, 2006. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (Nahant) was released February 15, 2005. The sixth update for RHEL 4 was released November 15, 2007. Version 4.7 was released July 24, 2008. RHEL 5 was released March 14, 2007. RHEL 5.1 was released November 7, 2007. Version 5.2 was released May 21, 2008.
http://www.slackware.com/
Slackware German forum: http://www.slackforum.de/
Slackware (Italian style) http://www.slack.z00.it/slack/slack.html
http://freshmeat.net/projects/slackware/
The Slackware project is headed by Patrick J. Volkerding, with a cast of volunteers and a loyal following. It is the oldest active Linux distribution with the first release dated July 16, 1993. The official Slackware project supports only x86 platforms, however others have made ports to other platforms. Slackware 10.2 was released September 14, 2005. Slackware 11.0 was released October 3, 2006. Slackware 12.0 was released July 1, 2007. Slackware 12.1 was released May 2, 2008.
SuSE Linux
http://www.novell.com/linux/
openSUSE
Nuremberg based SuSE Linux AG is one of the older Linux distributions. It became the the European UnitedLinux partner, and supplied much of the code base for UnitedLinux and for Sun's Java Desktop System (both now unsupported). SuSE was later acquired by US company Novell (finalized January 12, 2004). SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) supports x86, x86-64, IPF (ia64), POWER (32 & 64bit, ppc & ppc64) and Mainframes (32 & 64bit, s390 & s390x). OpenSUSE is the community distribution beginning with SUSE Linux 10.0, released October 6, 2005. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) are available for enterprise customers. SLES/SLED 10 became generally available July 17, 2006, now at Service Pack 2, released May 21, 2008. openSUSE 10.3 was released October 4, 2007. The 10.3 Live edition is also available. SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 10 was released November 27, 2007. openSUSE 11.0 was released June 19, 2008. openSUSE 11.1 Alpha1 was released July 24, 2008.
Ubuntu
http://www.ubuntu.com/
Kubuntu
Edubuntu
Xubuntu
Mythbuntu
Ubuntu Studio
Supported by Canonical Ltd. and the Ubuntu Foundation. Ubuntu and its close cousins are freely available distributions. Ubuntu takes a snapshot of Debian unstable and then creates a small fork, recompiling and stabilizing the code to get a final stable release. It usually takes 6 months between the snapshot and the release. Ubuntu comes with the GNOME desktop, Kubuntu with the KDE desktop, Xubuntu features XFCE and Edubuntu comes with educational packages. Mythbuntu integrates the MythTV package. Ubuntu Studio integrates packages for multimedia creation. Gobuntu (announced July 10, 2007) aims to be completely free (as defined by the FSF) will be merging with gNewSense. The first Ubuntu release (4.10 Preview released September 15, 2004) supported Intel x86 (IBM-compatible PC), AMD64 (Hammer) and PowerPC (Apple iBook and Powerbook, G4 and G5) architectures. SPARC64 support was added for v6.06 LTS. Supported versions: 6.06 LTS "Dapper Drake", 7.04 "Feisty Fawn", 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" and 8.04 LTS "Hardy Heron". V6.06.2 LTS (the second maintenance release) was made available January 21, 2008. "Hardy Heron" aka v8.04 LTS was released April 24, 2008, available in desktop and server editions. Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS was released July 3, 2008. Edubuntu is now available as an add-on to Ubuntu. Kubuntu 8.04 is available with KDE 3 or KDE 4. Other available 8.04 variants include Xubuntu, UbuntuStudio and Mythbuntu. The next development branch, Intrepid Ibex Alpha 3 was released July 25, 2008.
Also well-known
There is often a fine line between "leading" and "well-known" distributions. Some polls now show that a few of these "well-known" distributions are currently more popular than some of the "leading" distributions.
ASPLinux
http://www.asplinux.ru/en/
http://freshmeat.net/projects/asplinux/
ASPLinux is an RPM-based general purpose Linux distribution. It features an intuitive GUI install with integrated partition resizer (supported types are ext2fs, fat16, fat32, and ntfs) and comprehensive packages set. The distribution provides full compatibility with Red Hat RPMs, and it is available in English, Russian, Korean, and Chinese languages. ASP 7.3 (vostok) was released August 13, 2002. ASPLinux 11 was released March 6, 2006.
MEPIS Linux
http://www.mepis.org/
MEPIS Linux is a Debian-based system for the desktop or as a dedicated server. It is designed for both personal and business purposes. MEPIS is a member of the DCC Alliance. The first official release was version 2003.0, dated May 10, 2003. The live CD allows installation or functions as a recovery CD. SimplyMEPIS 3.4-3 was released February 9, 2006. SimplyMEPIS started using Ubuntu packages starting with 6.0-beta, but with 6.9.51prebeta came another change. SimplyMEPIS will use its own binary packages, compliled from Debian and Ubuntu sources. Also available: MEPISLite 3.3.2. SimplyMEPIS 6.0-1 Linux Bootable DVD was released September 9, 2006. SimplyMEPIS 6.5 was released April 4, 2007. AntiX, an Ultra-Lite MEPIS Derivative. released v6.5 "Spartacus" on July 9, 2007. SimplyMEPIS 7.0 was released December 23, 2007. AntiX 7.2 was released May 14, 2008.
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