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."

Comments

Nice diagram!

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

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.

Useful

[Oldsmobile]

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 :(

Re:Useful

[hcdejong]

...ended up installing Suse, which was ok, but not suitable to my needs.

And how would this map be useful in deciding which are? It only tells you which Linux distros exist, and how they relate. Apart from a few notes on special-purpose/language versions, it tells you nothing about the functionality and philosophy of a distribution.

Those who ignore history are doomed to ....

[Yonder Way]

....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.

SELinux isn't even a distribution

[Netsnipe]

It's really a series of kernel patches that implement mandatory access control.

Re:Yggdrasil was great.

[pimpimpim]

As you say, it "was" great. The picture of the mindmap itself contains some text, which explains why it isn't there:

"This mind map does not go into the historical perspective of Linux but tries to showcase the relationships between current linux distributions".

Although there might be critizism to this mind map, I still find it pretty useful, because I really lost track of what which distributions are based on.