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UBUNTU or CentOS

MatthewFarmer47
MatthewFarmer47 Posts: 39
in Getting Started with Linux

I asked someone at customer support a question about which DVD to order and he recommended that I go with CentOS if I'm planning on getting a job with Linux in the future. So I'm guessing CentOS is an operating system like UBUNTU is an operating system. My question is why don't I see anything about it in the forums below when you can select all the other operating systems to talk about (Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, etc.)?

Comments

  • marc
    marc Posts: 647
    Because the can't be a subforum for every linux distro

    CentOS is focused on the enterprise (Community ENTerprise Operating System) therefore I guess there's not many questions about it in our forums because is not exactly user friendly.

    Regards
  • Goineasy9
    Goineasy9 Posts: 1,114
    The subforums have been set up this way since the site revision a couple of years back. Once the site is revised again, we will probably revise the list of forums also.

    Also, just as Marc said, there can't be a subforum for each Linux distro. I'm sure the mods will be asked for input when the time comes. I know I'd be open to suggestions.

    It seems to me that instead of distro subforums, we might make the separators more generic. Like forums divided by package management control, such as, rpm, deb etc.. Or just list the main distros, and put their offspring in forums under them.

    I think we have most of our better discussions happen outside of the distro part of the forums anyway. We may just want to have a discussion about how the forums are set up, we may just come up with a better idea.
  • MatthewFarmer47
    MatthewFarmer47 Posts: 39
    I learned that CentOS is essentially the same thing as Red Hat, they just renamed it for trademark reasons.
  • Goineasy9
    Goineasy9 Posts: 1,114
    CentOS and Scientific Linux are both clones of RedHat Linux, and from what I've seen using Fedora, they have the same ease of use as any Linux distro. Many of the same apps are present in the repos of all these.
    At present they all use the Gnome2 desktop as default (except Fedora, which has moved on to Gnome3). They have the same installer (Anaconda) and have the same access to proprietary drivers if one needs to go in that direction.

    The main feature in the RedHat clones is stability. While Fedora is the bleeding edge of RedHat supported distros (Fedora is it's own community, but is supported by RedHat), the current RedHat clones are loosely based on what was Fedora 14. Fedora 16 is now in Alpha, so, RedHat is about a year behind as versions go, but, that makes for a stable OS.

    While many of us like to run the most recent versions of apps, and help reporting bugs, when you offer a desktop or server to the enterprise, testing should be over, so, everything runs seamlessly. That's why there are distros like Debian stable and RedHat and CentOS.
  • MatthewFarmer47
    MatthewFarmer47 Posts: 39
    I'll remember that!
    Some is a little over my head, but I got most of it.
  • saqman2060
    saqman2060 Posts: 777
    CentOS is supported by RedHat and is basically a clone.

    You could use any distro to gather the skills needed to land a job. In regards to RedHat, use centOS.
  • marc
    marc Posts: 647
    saqman2060 wrote:
    CentOS is supported by RedHat and is basically a clone.

    CentOS is *NOT* supported by RedHat
    In regards to RedHat, use centOS.

    They are 100% binary compatible, it doesn't matter which one you use.

    Well, it does if you want support: Red Hat!!!
  • saqman2060
    saqman2060 Posts: 777
    marc wrote:
    CentOS is *NOT* supported by RedHat

    Thanks, though CentOS was.
  • woboyle
    woboyle Posts: 501
    If you are trying for a future job as a Linux engineer or support person, then CentOS or Scientific Linux are very good choices. They are clones of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the most widely used Linux OS for enterprise Linux systems. As clones, they are basically the same as RHEL, except that the logos and some graphics have been changed, and they use different repositories for package management, although they all use Yum as the package manager. I used CentOS 5 for 3 years, and moved to Scientific Linux 6 at the beginning of this year. FWIW, CentOS is widely used in the financial industry. I spent a couple of years developing risk analysis software for the options industry in Chicago at the CBOE, and most of the back-end server systems for financial trading (stock, derivatives, quantitative/algorithmic) were either CentOS or Fedora (most were CentOS).

    P.S. I use Ubuntu on my laptop (both 9.04 and 10.10), but I am moving my laptop to Scientific Linux.
  • MatthewFarmer47
    MatthewFarmer47 Posts: 39
    Thanks a lot "woboyle". That was very informative. I feel a little more knowledgeable about Linux now.
    Thanks to everyone else of course too.

    -Matthew

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