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July, 1999: Linux Distributions: Well-known through Unknown

Elizabeth (Liz) Coolbaugh, managing editor of Linux Weekly News, from Eklextix, discussed some of the many Linux distributions now available. She gave a good explanation of why there are so many distributions, and what distinguishes some distributions from each other. For example, Caldera is designed for business use, with commercial add-ons, like Word Perfect. Debian is distributed by a set of volunteers, and may be more suitable for some home users. Some distributions have better foreign language support, some are optimized for particular processors.

Currently, this proliferation of distributions is causing some problems, since not all Linux software runs on all distributions. (Packages break because some files are located in different directories, or different shared libraries are used.) Fortunately, the principal distributions are planning to support the "Linux Standards Base" (LSB), which will allow shrinkwrapped software to run on any conforming distribution.

In case you want to experiment with different Linux versions yourself, Liz told us about a "Linux 6-Pack" offer, from LinuxMall, which gives you 6 different Linux distributions for $10. There is also a Linux MegaPak with 9 distributions for $20.00.

See http://kernelnotes.org/dist-index.html and http://www.fokus.gmd.de/linux/ and the current issue of Linux Weekly News http://lwn.net/current/dists.phtml) for more information on the various distributions.

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February 15, 2009

February 2008: FRUUG Enters Quiescent Phase
After 27 years running, we're suspending operations.

Future Meetings:
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