An operating system is one of the most important pieces of software in your computer. It contains everything needed to run programs and manage computer resources. Operating systems have various roles in today’s world. From Point-Of-Sale systems at Wendy’s, to high traffic business servers in a corporate office Operating systems are versatile and important pieces of software. But not everybody uses Microsoft Windows. There are thousands of operating systems out there, most still in use today. From Apple’s OS X to Canonical Ltd’s Ubuntu, there are operating systems that can do practically anything you want, within reason. And if they don't do exactly what you want, you are free to take an open-source operating system and re-write it however you please, but more on that later.
So today I am going to introduce you to some of the other operating systems out there. These will be for anything from personal home use, to servers, business use and even some specialized uses.
Ubuntu: A favorite of most beginner Linux users, Ubuntu is by far one of the most user friendly versions of Linux out there. Coupled with it versatility and a very wide range of supported components this distribution is a very good choice not only for beginners. The Ubuntu operating system comes in either a desktop version, a netbook version, or a server version (does not come with GUI) comes in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors (not for netbook).
Best for: Beginner –intermediate
Costs: free
Slackware: This OS was designed for ease of use and stability. Slackware is also one of the most unix-like distributions out there. Slackware is more modular than other OS’s allowing it to be used for almost anything, from a home computer OS to a machine room server. You can strip it down to bare basics or add tons of features onto it to create a perfect OS. However it requires a bit of work and knowledge of Linux to be able to modify it.
Best for: Intermediate – Expert
Cost: free
Cent OS: This OS is what is known as an Enterprise-Class Distribution, which means it’s meant for use in organizations and businesses. However Cent OS can and is used on private servers and computers. With Cent OS you can do a multitude of things, from hosting websites to hosting software. However Cent OS does not have strong commercial support, so it’s mainly used in smaller organizations.
Best for: ( Beginner – Intermediate- Expert)
Cost: Free
CloneZilla Live: A “Live” distribution is a distribution that is usually run off of a CD or DVD, though now you can run it off of a USB thumb drive (it will save on there too!). A live distribution does not need to be installed on the computer in which its running. It runs in RAM, instead of on a hard drive. CloneZilla is an operating system designed with a specific purpose in mind, to allow you to do file and hard drive backup and recovery. Clonezilla live is great for single machine backup and restore, while other version called CloneZilla SE (sever edition) is made for massive deployment, and can clone 40+ computers at once!
Best For: (Anyone who wishes to backup their computer system once in a while)
Cost: free
BackTrack: Now the Backtrack linux operating system is meant to be a “live” distribution, and is used mainly in penetration testing. This means that this operating system is packed with tools designed to break into other computers and report the results. This is mainly used by Security processionals hired to do penetration testing on a company’s network to figure out where the security breaches are. This is a great tool for hacking. It can be customized however you want, so you do not have to wade through tons of programs to find the ones you need.
Best for: (Expert)
Cost: Free
Now, I only showed you a handful of Linux Distributions, I have used all of these before and I have found them to be very useful, or interesting. For hundreds more distributions, go to Distrowatch.com
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