About Linux:-
Linux is just Linux, a kernel, a hacked kernel, a project by a student called linus trovalds at University of Finland, later this project was joined openly by rest of students/hackers/coders from around the world and scrammed into a working kernel.
LinuxOS is a packaged Operating System, using LINUX as kernel, Richard Stallmans GNU Public License (GPL) as ethical licensing model (yes ethical, you read it right billy, ethical) and GNU based softwares/packages/compilers/debuggers/applications. All this is rolled into nice,shiny CD/s DVDs abvailable to be purchased in stores/e-stores and also freely available to download (which is the popular way how all are doing it around world).
The most popular makers of Linux OS are Redhat, Novell-Suse, Debian, Slackware and I dare to add Gentoo too in same sentence.
From past couple(or triple or more) of years , Repackagers have emerged and what i mean by repackagers is, they almost take COMPLETE source files from lets say Redhat/Debian, make changes to their liking, add/remove some packages then just label,package and release it.They not only have been sucessfull doing this but infact have established a good market share too. some of them are Fedora (Redhat based), Ubuntu (Debian based), Knoppix (Debian based), Mepis (debian),Centos (RedHat Enterprise Linux based), Mandrake (redhat based), Mandriva (after merging with connectiva), SLAX (Slackware based) DSL abbrevation for DAMN SMALL LINUX (Debian based) and lots (yes lots, believe me).
Someone whos hasnt just repackaged a distro but used its base and created something totally unique is LINDOWS, the maker has used Debian as its code base but has taken radical approach the way LinuxOS is made, Lindows has completely focussed on pulling the WINDOWS crowd. some say its good, many say its bad for linux.
Is so many choices good or bad for users; Well, i am going to stand up and say..... you decide.
My Choice of Linux OS:-
I am system admin. I had to choose something which has enterprise value, which has a certification option which will validate my skills (or give me thick,shiny paper to wave at HR's) and is widely accepted as solution in corporate world.
Thankfully, Redhat has done that. RHEL is RedHAT Enterprise Linux, specially tailored to run optimised on Server Platform,where one CPU or 4 CPU's on single machine, big L1/L2/L3 cache, anywhere between 2 gb to 32+ gb of RAM/MEMORY, High I/O SCSI Hard disks with RAID 0/5, and huge bandwidth networks are to be used for running applications (like internet web servers, database servers, email servers, firewall servers etc).
RHCE is the Redhats entry level certification programme, its training includes the above mentioned topics in courseware.
But there is no RHEL package for a Road-Warrior admin like me where i can install it on my laptop/workstation for demo purpose.
So here, Distributions like WhiteBoxLinux and Centos fill the gap, they are almost nothing but just repackaged RHEL. so using anyone of them, I can do all my learning/ demo installation/administration on my workstation or laptop. Centos is my LinuxOS of choice.
My suggestion for you:-
One thing about linux is no matter whatever you choose, things are developed and release almost all moments, whatever linux website you go, you will see something new is released for linux platform, this is result of the OSI model of working. OSI is nothing but Open Source Initiative. This was penned down by guy called Bruce Perens, its like white paper summing up what open source and GNU license put together mean, And cause Open Source software's source code is available is for anyone to look into and repair/modify and release it. so you will need nice internet connection or good friend with nice internet connection to get this packages.
After all that warning bells, here it goes, I would suggest Redhat based distro as thats the one I have used for longest, thats the one that has existed (for me okay) for longest time. But the free community edition called FEDORA isnt that polished like some other distribution of LinuxOS have been. specially worth mentioning is Ubuntulinux, this is as mentioned above based on debian. Its totally polished aiming end user who might be anyone. it has still some ways to go but Ubuntu is the one, i can see going for it, and Fedora should be looking at how ubuntu is grinding edges out and striving to give any user a smooth experience.
X.....what is it? :-
X stands for enabling GUI on LinuxOS. Remember Linux is not complete OS, its just a kernel handling the underlying functions of Operating Sytem. So X isnt part of kernel (yet.. i think it should be) and initiating X is a way to get GUI in LinuxOS. xorg is the defacto application to get X on Linux system. you dont have to study it, or know about it, all modern LinuxOS's install it and start it as demand, without you knowing what was configured for it.
X windows manager :-
Well X is just a layer, its not a windows shell. there are again options of different window/gui shell here (common its linux, options is its middle name).The popular are KDE,GNOME,XFCE, and lightweight but with quite a punch FLUXBOX.
My suggestion would be nothing. yes nothing.... i dont want to suggest anything, you should use and choose what floats your boat, thats the way to go with this.
But if you ask me, What windows manager i use? then my answer would be gnome-gtk engine with Enlightenment Windows manager And that do unreleased, in development, alpha version called e-17. for more on that wait for my next blog.
