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01-10-2010, 04:10 PM
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#1
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Member
Registered: Jan 2010
Location: Chicago, IL
Distribution: Linpus Linux Lite v1.0.3.E
Posts: 215
Rep:
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what does "distribution" mean?
That's it. What does "distribution" mean? My Acer computer, on which I have linux linpus lite, comes with very little documentation and while I have a physics BA and have had exposure to technology, my knowledge of linux is just about zip. Is there a good place to start? As you can see, this question about the word "distribution" is a razor thin top of an enormous iceberg of ignorance. I should be able to eat into it if I can just get a good source of introductory information.
Thanks a lot.
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01-10-2010, 04:14 PM
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#2
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Moderator
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Kent, England
Distribution: Debian Testing
Posts: 19,192
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Linux, at it's core, is purely the kernel. GNU/Linux is the kernel + the various tools such as GCC. Distributions are, at the most base level, taking the GNU/Linux OS and making it their own - so Red Hat use rpms and Debian uses .debs and so on. Beyond that, there are logos, some proprietary tools and a particular methodology or philosophy behind a distribution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution says it better 
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01-10-2010, 04:17 PM
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#3
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Member
Registered: Dec 2007
Location: Brazil
Distribution: slackware 13
Posts: 151
Rep:
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Start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux
Now you tell us what 'distribution' mean!

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01-10-2010, 04:31 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Registered: Mar 2009
Location: USA
Distribution: Arch
Posts: 1,022
Rep: 
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Try the Linux newbie guide in my signature. That will get you up and going with a pretty good understanding of Linux and some of it's lesser documented information.
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