
They wanted Linux to replace Microsoft Windows. But desktop users have not wanted Linux to replace Unix. Slackware claims to be the most Unix-like of the Linux distros, and this may be true. There were some other early players, but I don’t think that any has surviving lineage today except these big three. Slackware (1993), Debian (1993) and RedHat (1994) are the great-grandfathers of the surviving Linux world, as the chart linked by shows. I know most (all?) of these use apt/deb as the package manager, but other than that what is the difference? How does Ubunto relate to Debian, Mint, MX, Manjaro, etc. what is the relationship with the Debian side of things? For example Redhat 7.x is on the 3.10 linux kernel. They took out whatever didn't work well, and keep in what was stable. Old versions of Fedora are what we call Redhat today. It is where future versions of redhat get tested by everyday people out in the world. (however security patches tend to be up to date).įinally there is Fedora, this is redhat's hobbyist, version. It tends to run about 3 or 4 months behind redhat as far as new versions, patches and updates go. It doesn't come with some of the proprietary binaries that rehat does, but other than that, it is a clone of Redhat also. Then there is CentOS, is the "free" non-supported version of Redhat. There is also Scientific Linux, like Oracle Linux, it is a clone of Redhat, but supported by a different vendor. Two major differences of the Oracle version are that Oracle 7.x also includes a 4.14.x kernel that you can boot into. Oracle makes something called Oracle Unbreakable Linux. Redhat makes it's money by selling support for linux to companies. It uses something called yum/dnf to manage it's packages which are called RPMs. It takes the generic Linux and modifies it. Special editions of RHEL are available for academic institutions who are willing to pay a smaller fee to use the relatively more stable RHEL rather than a Fedora.Ī typical RHEL distribution would include development tools, applications, services and utilities such as Compiz, CUPS, DHCP, Firefox, GIMP, MySQL,, Samba and Python, to name a few.I am mostly familiar with the redhat side of the family.īut there are other redhat "like" distro's.
What is redhat linux for free#
People who subscribe to RHEL can download the installer for free but have to pay for support. Hence, RHEL is best suited for the enterprise. RHEL, on the other hand, takes technologies developed via the Fedora Project and packages them into a more reliable and stable commercial product. It is most suitable for Linux enthusiasts. Later on, they decided to create two versions: RHEL, which would have less frequent version releases and consequently be more stable, and Fedora, which would undergo relatively more frequent version releases and consequently offer more bleeding edge technologies.įedora, which is given entirely for free, is sponsored by Red Hat (the company) but is actively developed by a community of developers. In the past, Red Hat gave this enterprise product for free and only charged for support. Some of the notable Linux distros that are actually derived from RHEL include CentOS, Oracle Enterprise Linux, Scientific Linux and Pie Box Enterprise Linux. Thus, people can view its source code, download it and make their own customized versions. Like all Linux distributions, RHEL is open source. Techopedia Explains Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)īeing a Linux distribution, Red Hat Enterprise Linux contains the Linux kernel as well as some applications for performing certain tasks.
