this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Debian is 32 years old. Arch is 24 years old. Gentoo is 23 years old. Alpine is 20 years old.
Not sure why I assumed alpine was much newer (saw it primarily used with docker)
Same, never saw either a server or a desktop running alpine.
Most ubiquity equipment is alpine I believe
What is ubiquity equipment?
He probably means Ubiquiti network gear
Mid-range networking equiptment common in higher end homelabs or small/medium enterprises.
Doesnt compete with fancier Cisco gear, but has an easy to use interface that can scale fairly well.
Though like most networking equiptment the hardware is dirt cheap, so Alpine's lightweight base fits it well.
In fact all major "corp distros" are based on community distros, for instance Ubuntu on Debian. If Debian ceased to exist, Ubuntu would as well.
What are fedora and opensuse based on?
Fedora is not "corp", it's a community project; Red Hat is the "corp" version based on it.
I don't know about OpenSUSE that well, but it also seems to be a community-developed distro.
They reordered it recently so as to close the Red Hat source. I couldn't tell which way though, but it sucked.
Didn't know, thanks for the info.
Slackware is prehistoric
Slackware and Debian both started in 1993.
Debian is also prehistoric
Came here to mention slackware too.