General
Basic general information about the distributions: creator or producer, release date, latest version, and such.
| Distribution | Creator | Producer | First public release | Base distribution | Latest release date | Purpose | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64 Studio | Daniel James and Free Ekanayaka | 64 Studio Ltd. | 2005 | Debian | 2008 | multimedia | Free |
| Alinex | Alinex Team and University of Évora | Alinex Team and University of Évora | 2005 | Debian, Ubuntu | 2008 | general | Free |
| aLinux | Jay Klepacs | Jay Klepacs | 2001 | Red Hat Linux | 2010 | desktop | Free |
| Alpine Linux | Alpine Linux Team | Alpine Linux Team | 2006 | none | 2011 | network | Free |
| ALT Linux | ALT Linux Team | ALT Linux Team, ALT Linux LLC | 2001 | Mandriva Linux | 2011 | general, school | ? |
| Annvix | Vincent Danen | Vincent Danen | 2003 | Mandriva Linux | 2007 | server | Free |
| antiX | Anticapitalista | Anticapitalista | ? | Debian - MEPIS | 2011 | old computers | Free |
| ArchBang | Stan McLaren | 2010 | Arch Linux | 2012, rolling | general | Free | |
| Arch Linux | Judd Vinet | dev team | 2002 | none | 2012, rolling | general | Free |
| Asianux | Red Flag Linux, Miracle Linux, Haansoft Linux | dev team | 2004 | Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) | 2007 | server, workstation | ? |
| BackTrack | Max Moser, Mati Aharoni, Martin J. Muench | Remote-Exploit | 2006 | Debian | 2012 | auditing, forensic, security, network | Free |
| BLAG Linux and GNU | Brixton Linux Action Group | Brixton Linux Action Group | 2002 | Fedora | 2011 | desktop | Free |
| Bharat Operating System Solutions | Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) | C-DAC | 2007 | Debian | 2011 | general, server, education, netbooks, live | Free |
| Bodhi Linux | Bodhi Linux Team | Bodhi Linux Team | 2011 | Debian, Ubuntu | 2012 | desktop | Free |
| Caixa Mágica | Daniel Neves, José Guimarães, Paulo Trezentos | Caixa Mágica Software | 2000 | Debian | 2012 | general | Free |
| CentOS | CentOS Project | CentOS Project | 2003 | Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) | 2012 | server, workstation | Free |
| Google Chrome OS | 2009 | Debian | 2011, rolling | netbooks | ? | ||
| ClearOS | Peter Baldwin | ClearFoundation | 2000 | RHEL, CentOS | 2010 | server, gateway, network | Free |
| CrunchBang Linux | Philip Newborough | Philip Newborough | 2008 | Debian | 2011 | desktop | Free |
| CRUX | Per Liden | CRUX Linux community | 2001 | none | 2012 | general | Free |
| Damn Small Linux | John Andrews | dev team | 2003 | Debian, Knoppix | 2008 | portable, lightweight | Free |
| Debian | Ian Murdock | Debian Project | 1993 | none | 2012 | general | Free |
| DeLi Linux | Henry Jensen | Henry Jensen | 2002 | none | 2008 | desktop | Free |
| dyne:bolic | Jaromil | Jaromil | 2001 | none | 2007 | multimedia | Free |
| EasyPeasy | Jon Ramvi, EasyPeasy community | Jon Ramvi, EasyPeasy community | 2008 | Debian, Ubuntu | 2010 | netbooks | Free |
| ELinOS | SYSGO | SYSGO | 1999 | none | 2010 | embedded systems | ? |
| Elive | Thanatermesis | Thanatermesis | 2005 | Debian | 2010 | desktop | Free |
| EnGarde Secure Linux | Guardian Digital, Inc. | Guardian Digital, Inc. | 2001 | none | 2008 | server | Free |
| Fedora | Fedora Project | Fedora Project | 2003 | Red Hat Linux | 2012 | general | Free |
| Finnix | Ryan Finnie | Ryan Finnie | 2000 | Debian | 2011 | maintenance | Free |
| Foresight Linux | Ken VanDine | dev team | 2004 | rPath | 2009, rolling | general | Free |
| Freespire | Lindows.com, Inc. | Linspire, Inc. | 2002 | Debian | 2007 | desktop | Free |
| Frugalware | Miklos Vajna | dev team | 2004 | Slackware | 2011, rolling | general | Free |
| Gentoo Linux | Daniel Robbins | Gentoo Foundation, Inc. | 2002 | none | 2012, rolling | general | Free |
| gNewSense | Brian Brazil and Paul O'Malley | dev team | 2006 | Debian, Ubuntu | 2009 | desktop | Free |
| Gnoppix | Klaus Knopper | dev team | 2005 | Debian, Knoppix | 2005 | live | Free |
| gnuLinEx | Regional Government of Extremadura | dev team | 2002 | Debian | 2006 | desktop | ? |
| GoboLinux | Hisham Muhammad, Andre Detsch | dev team | 2002 | none | 2008 | desktop | Free |
| gOS | Good OS LLC | Good OS LLC | 2007 | Debian, Ubuntu | 2009 | desktop | Free |
| Grml | Michael Prokop | The Grml Team | 2005 | Debian | 2012 | live, maintenance, security, network, forensic, accessibility | Free |
| Impi Linux | Gauteng Linux Users Group | Impi Linux (Pty) Ltd. | 2003 | Debian | 2006 | desktop | Free |
| Instant WebKiosk | Marco Buratto | Binary Emotions | 2012 | Debian | 2012 | web kiosks, digital signage | Free |
| Kanotix | Jörg Schirottke (Kano) | dev team | 2003 | Debian, Knoppix | 2010 | desktop, live | Free |
| KateOS | KateOS Team | KateOS Team | 2004 | Slackware | 2007 | desktop | ? |
| Knoppix | Klaus Knopper | dev team | 2003 | Debian | 2012 | live | Free |
| KnoppMyth | Cecil Watson | dev team | 2004 | Debian, Knoppix | 2009 | desktop, live | Free |
| Kuki Linux | João Ferro | kuki bakers | 2008 | Debian, Ubuntu | 2009 | netbooks | Free |
| Kurumin | Carlos Morimoto | GuiadoHardware | 2003 | Debian, Knoppix | 2008 | desktop, live | Free |
| Linspire | Lindows.com, Inc. | Linspire, Inc. | 2002 | Debian, Ubuntu | 2007 | desktop | ? |
| Linux Mint | Clement Lefebvre | dev team | 2006 | Debian, Ubuntu | 2012 | desktop | Free |
| Lunar Linux | Chuck Mead, Lunar Penguin Project | Foo-Projects.org | 2002 | Sorcerer | 2007 | general | ? |
| Mageia | Mageia Community | mageia.org | 2010 | Mandriva Linux | 2012 | general | Free |
| Mandriva Linux | Mandrakesoft S.A. | Mandriva S.A. | 1998 | Red Hat Linux | 2011 | general | ? |
| MEPIS | Warren Woodford | MEPIS LLC | 2003 | Debian | 2010 | desktop, server | ? |
| MintPPC | Jeroen Diederen | Jeroen Diederen | 2010 | Debian | 2011 | desktop | ? |
| MontaVista Linux | MontaVista Software | MontaVista Software | 1999 | Debian | 2007 | embedded systems | ? |
| Musix GNU/Linux | Marcos Guglielmetti | dev team | 2008 | Debian, Knoppix, Kanotix | 2009 | audio | ? |
| Netrunner | Blue Systems | dev team | 2009 | Debian, Ubuntu, Kubuntu | 2012 | desktop, kde | ? |
| Network Security Toolkit | Ronald W. Henderson, Paul Blankenbaker | dev team | 2003 | Fedora | 2012 | network, security | ? |
| NimbleX | Bogdan Radulescu | Bogdan Radulescu | 2005 | Slackware | 2008 | desktop | ? |
| Nitix | Net Integration Technologies, Inc. | Net Integration Technologies, Inc. | 2001 | none | 2007 | server | ? |
| Novell Open Enterprise Server | Novell | Novell, Inc. dev team | 2003 | SUSE Linux Enterprise Server | 2009 | server | ? |
| openSUSE | SUSE Linux, Novell | Novell, Inc., openSUSE Project | 1994 | SUSE Linux | 2012 | general | ? |
| OpenWrt | ? | OpenWrt team | 2007 | none | 2010 | embedded systems | ? |
| Oracle Linux | Oracle Corporation | Oracle Corporation | 2006 | Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) | 2012 | server | ? |
| Pardus | Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) | TÜBİTAK | 2005 | none | 2011 | general | ? |
| Parsix | Alan Baghumian | Parsix Project | 2005 | Debian | 2012 | desktop | ? |
| PCLinuxOS | Bill Reynolds | dev team | 2003 | PCLinuxOS | 2012 | desktop | ? |
| Pentoo | Michael Zanetta, Rick Farina, Jens Pranaitis | Pentoo | 2005 | Gentoo Linux | 2009 | auditing, security | ? |
| Puppy Linux | Barry Kauler | Puppy Foundation | 2003 | none | 2012 | portable, lightweight | Free |
| Puredyne | Aymeric Mansoux | GOTO10, Puredyne Team | 2005 | Debian, Ubuntu | 2010 | art, design, audio, multimedia | ? |
| Red Flag Linux | Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences, NewMargin Venture Capital | Red Flag Software Co., Ltd. | 1999 | Red Hat Linux | 2009 | general | ? |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) | Red Hat | Red Hat | 2002 | Red Hat Linux, Fedora | 2011 | server, workstation | ? |
| Red Hat Linux | Red Hat | Red Hat | 1995 | none | 2003 | server, workstation | ? |
| Rocks Cluster Distribution | UCSD Supercomputing Center, Clustercorp | UCSD Supercomputing Center, Clustercorp | 2000 | Red Hat Linux | 2009 | server, workstation | ? |
| Rxart | Pixart SRL | Pixart SRL | 2000 | Debian | 2006 | general | ? |
| Sabayon Linux | lxnay Design | dev team | 2005 | Gentoo Linux | 2012, rolling | general | ? |
| Scientific Linux | CERN, Fermilab | dev team | 2004 | Red Hat Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) | 2012 | server, workstation | ? |
| SHR | Bobby Martin | SHR community | 2008 | OpenEmbedded | Rolling | embedded systems | ? |
| sidux | sidux team | sidux team | 2007 | Debian Sid | 2009 | desktop | ? |
| Slackware | Patrick Volkerding | dev team | 1993 | Softlanding Linux System | 2012 | general | ? |
| Slax | Tomas Matejicek | Tomas Matejicek | 2002 | Slackware | 2009 | live | ? |
| SliTaz GNU/Linux | Christophe Lincoln | dev team | 2008 | none | 2012 | portable | ? |
| Source Mage GNU/Linux | Ryan Abrams, Eric Schabell | dev team | 2002 | Sorcerer | 2009 | general | ? |
| Super OS | hacktolive | hacktolive | 2008 | Debian, Ubuntu | 2011 | general, offline use | ? |
| SUSE Linux | SUSE Linux, Novell | Novell, Inc. dev team | 1994 | Slackware, Jurix | 2010 | workstation, server | ? |
| Symphony OS | Ryan Quinn | Ryan Quinn, Jason Spisak | 2005 | Debian | 2008 | desktop | ? |
| SYS | W.Landgraf | W.Landgraf | 2007 | Slackware | 2010 | general | ? |
| Tiny Core Linux | Robert Shingledecker | Team Tiny Core | 2009 | Tiny Core Linux | 2012 | portable | ? |
| Tor-ramdisk | Anthony G. Basile | dev team | 2008 | Gentoo Linux Embedded, uClibc | 2011 | Tor server | ? |
| Trustix | Comodo Group, Inc. | Comodo Group, Inc. | 2000 | Red Hat Linux | 2007 | server | ? |
| Ubuntu | Canonical Ltd. | Canonical Ltd. | 2004 | Debian | 2012 | general | Free |
| Kubuntu | Canonical Ltd. | Canonical Ltd. | 2005 | Debian | 2012 | desktop | Free |
| Xubuntu | Canonical Ltd. | Canonical Ltd. | 2006 | Debian | 2012 | desktop | Free |
| Edubuntu | Canonical Ltd. | Canonical Ltd. | 2005 | Debian | 2011 | computer lab | Free |
| Gobuntu | Canonical Ltd. | Canonical Ltd. | 2007 | Debian | 2008 | desktop | ? |
| Ubuntu Studio | Canonical Ltd. | Canonical Ltd. | 2007 | Debian | 2011 | multimedia | Free |
| Ututo | Diego Saravia, Daniel Olivera | UTUTO dev team | 2000 | Gentoo Linux | 2009 | general | ? |
| VectorLinux | Robert S. Lange | dev team | 1999 | Slackware | 2012 | desktop | ? |
| Wolvix | Wolven | Wolven | 2007 | Slackware | 2009 | desktop | ? |
| Xandros | Xandros Corp. | Xandros, Inc. | 2002 | Corel Linux | 2007 | desktop | ? |
| XBMC | The XBMC Project | Team-XBMC | 2008 | Debian, Ubuntu | 2011 | multimedia | Free |
| Yellow Dog Linux | Terra Soft Solutions | Fixstars Solutions | 1999 | RHEL, CentOS, Fedora | 2009 | general | Free |
| Yoper | Andreas Giradet | The Yoper Team | 2003 | none | 2010 | general | ? |
| Zentyal | eBox Technologies | eBox Technologies | 2005 | Debian, Ubuntu | 2012 | Small Business Server | ? |
| Zenwalk | Jean-Philippe Guillemin | dev team | 2004 | Slackware | 2011 | general | ? |
| Distribution | Creator | Producer | First public release | Base distribution | Latest release date | Purpose |
Read more about this topic: Comparison Of Linux Distributions
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