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Where can I get Linux?

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Ezzaral commented: Useless question for sig spam -3

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A short primer for : "Linux" commonly means the kernel; what people download and install are distributions that bundle the kernel with an installer, desktop environment, package manager and documentation. Several replies asked which distribution to pick (, ) and already pointed out the kernel vs distro distinction. The correct choice depends on the intended use — desktop, server, learning, security testing, or very old/low-power hardware.

A safe, practical workflow to obtain and evaluate a distribution: get the ISO from the distribution's official download page, verify integrity and any provided signature, test the image in a live session or inside a virtual machine, and install to disk only when satisfied. Example commands:

# check SHA256
sha256sum downloaded.iso

# verify a detached signature (if provided)
gpg --verify downloaded.iso.sig downloaded.iso

# write ISO to USB on Linux (replace /dev/sdX with the correct device)
sudo dd if=downloaded.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress && sync

How to choose: prefer long-term-support releases for production stability and rolling releases for the newest packages if frequent updates are acceptable. Desktop environments change workflow and resource use; package-manager style (Deb/RPM/pacman/zypper, etc.) affects how software is installed and maintained. Community size, documentation quality, and hardware compatibility are often more important than small feature differences.

Quick troubleshooting and tips: if a USB won’t boot, check UEFI/secure-boot settings and re-verify the checksum. Use VirtualBox or QEMU to evaluate without touching local disks. As suggested, testing several distributions in live mode or VMs is the least risky way to decide; community docs and forum threads are the next best resource for hardware-specific problems.

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for pritaeas

Vague. Which one?

Find more here:

Member Avatar for ronald577

Which one are you looking out for?

Member Avatar for Webville312

Google

Member Avatar for ndanielrr

Well my friend, if you know what is the distro you want to get, you can go to the official site of that distribution, if not you can go to http://distrowatch.com or you can use this test to know wich system is for you http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/ then download and try any distro.

But I like to much arch or archbang http://archlinux.org http://archbang.org please try any other distro, but not ubuntu with that you will not learn nothing.

Member Avatar for Octet

Just to expand on the other comments of "Which one", as you seem a bit uninformed about Linux operating systems.

Linux is actually the kernel, this being the heart and soul of a computer and is what communicates with the hardware and software.
On the top of this you have what are called distros, or distributions which are the Operating System. There are a huge number of Linux based distros which you can choose from, some being for specific purposes whilst others being for general use.

Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distro, and is designed for day to day desktop use. It has recently been updated to 13.04 although as you seem new to this, I would recommend 12.04 or 12.10 as they have less bugs.

Linux Mint is a second popular distro, again designed for desktop use but arguably a bit more user friendly.

Just to give an example of some advanced distributions, or those designed for specific tasks you also have things like Fedora which is based on the paid for Red Hat, an enterprise distribution.

A second example being Backtrack Linux which is designed for penetration testing.

Edited by Octet because: Spelling Correction
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