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A Mind Map of Linux Distributions
Howard writes "All about Linux has posted a Mind Map of GNU/Linux distributions. This map of GNU/Linux hopes to throw light on the current GNU/Linux distributions and their relationships with each other. Though the map doesn't show the historically significant but now redundant distros like SLS, Yggdrasil and the erstwhile Red Hat, it shows many of the more prominent GNU/Linux distributions."
Great diagram - it does a pretty nice job of showing distro lineage - it is very hard to show linux distributions in a hierarchical chart like this as the relationships between distributions is not necessarily hierarchical.
For instance, the multi-lingual section does not show the parent distributions (with the exception of Vine linux) red flag (IIRC) was based on a version of red hat (as was mandriva).
Still, that's just being picky - its a useful diagram, that shows many of the important relationships between distros.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
This actually very useful. My previous experimentations with Linux usually had the problem of what distro to use. Since so many were out there, and it was impossible to take in all the basic on all of them, I was totally swamped and ended up installing Suse, which was ok, but not suitable to my needs.
:(
Maybe I should try again. However, I am not so enthusiastic about spending days upon end recompiling kernels trying to get it to work properly on my laptop
Some say he is made with ascii, others that he is eyeballed daily by millions. All we know is, he is known as the Sig
Somebody else said that Linspire is derived from Debian, but the diagram does not show this.
Who is right about this? I can't really see the linspire people rolling their own, somehow.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
I was expecting something more along the lines of the philosophical leanings of the mapped distros, like which are more community-based and which are more corporate; which are incredibly zealous and which are more diplomatic. You could pick up to three different spectra and map them before you ran out of easy-to-visualize dimensions.
For example, I'd like to see:
Who's your user, program?
I read that as "A Mine Map of Linux Distributions".. :) .. cueue *BSD/Win/Mac zealotry... :P
Linspire is Debian based.
And ClarkConnect (not represented here)should be under RedHat Entreprise Linux.
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity
....irrelevance?
Unfortunately by leaving out the historical lineage, it doesn't really show how Fedora, SuSE, and Mandriva are all descended from Red Hat Linux. Others are grouped together by things like size or security rather than lineage. It's not very logical or consistent in its current layout. And by ignoring lineage, it has sacraficed its relevance.
It's really a series of kernel patches that implement mandatory access control.
-- "I can't tell the future, I just work there." -- The Doctor
Just goes to show how critical Debian is to the whole shebang. I do so love to see people who whine about Debians defects complete and utter failure to realise that without all the "defective" work that the Debian team do they would have to use freakin RedHat!!
"The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging."
One of the first easy-to-use and easy-to-demo Linux distro's around, I got a whole data center moved to 486/Pentium hardware on the strength of the "rootfs on CD" bootsys that Yggdrasil was shipping, before RedHat was anything more than an SLS-wannabe, and I have to say that I really can't fathom why it wasn't considered significant enough to include on this map
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Are all Linux distros based on the GNU userspace? Are there any based on, for example, the BSD userspace instead?
That Mind Map appears to have been made with FreeMind. An excellent, open source, mind mapping solution. I advise folks to try it out.
FreeMind
Jeremy
My first thoughts were rpm vs. deb vs. tarball etc. It would be quite handy to know where you can get apps from. In Windows, an exe usually just runs but in Linux you have to worry about dependencies. The choice of a distro might logically be made depending on how easy it is to install programs and how available they are.
The prior knowledge, that pointing Mepis at the wrong repository would break it, would have saved me a fair bit of misery. Just a map showing the relationship between different distros and repositories with comments like: "Don't even think of pointing here" would help.
I think it has a pretty good support for many European languages.
IPCop should be listed as an offshoot of Smoothwall, because it was forked after a flamewar over the license (If I remember correctly).
Put identity in the browser.
Mepis is related to Ubuntu? I'm not sure I have ever heard of such a connection....
I would be thrilled if someone could explain to me how that works.
Why doesn't it show that everything comes from SCO and GNU/Linux is a result of the merger between SCO and XFree86?
*duck*
I see that the map is nice, but perhaps there should actually be two maps. One showing which distros are derived from which(in completeness, instead of putting DSL under compact distros, put it under Debian), but also another showing the intended purpose(and use the little dot to show derivation).
I have recently finished a 3 month analysis of mindmap software. Everything from Visio, to Freemind.
My conclusion is that the best mindmap software on the market is not software but a large piece of paper and colored pens. The mind-mapping experience does not translate easily to mouse-clicks and keystrokes.
That said, the SECOND best is Mindmanager 6 Pro. It is pricey but worth it.
Freemind is nice and hopefully will mature into a better product
If I feed it, it'll probably stick around.
If it sticks around, it'll probably say something equally ludicrous and amusing.
Aw hell, sure.
Cool. Now I've cast my line, I can sit and wait for it to bite.
"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area." - Major Mike Shearer, UK
If you are going with lineage as your classification attribute at a given level, you should stick with lineage. At the top level, he mixed lineage (i.e., SuSE, RedHat, Debian) with purpose (i.e., minialist system, security oriented, etc.). This leads to hideousness like the tags on the minimalist systems like "derived from...". So it might be a good representation of how he understands the space (i.e., it might be a good map of his mind), but for any real use, you'll still need a proper taxonomy. And the first rule of taxonomy construction is that you split only on one independent attribute at a given node. In this case, lineage and purpose are not independently splittable. You need to split on one or the other.
That is all.
Distrowatch offers information on and reviews for many different Linux distributions. It does not really classify them, though. The distro chart at Linux.org classified distributions using several categories, but it has not been updated in a while. Also, there is a test to determine which Linux distribution is right for you.
---- "XML is like violence. If it doesn't fix the problem, you aren't using enough."