Overview

Fedora is a Linux based operating system freely distributed and supported by a community of volunteer programmers and developers known as the Fedora Project. The Fedora Project is sponsored by Red Hat Linux and was started when Red Hat stopped releasing the free, developers edition of Red Hat, releasing only the commercial version, Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Fedora is a popular Linux distribution right behind Linux Mint and Ubuntu and there are many derivative Linux distributions. 

Fedora is characterized by the GNOME 3 desktop, the Yum update utility, and the RPM Package Manager.

Installing Fedora

The current version of Fedora is Fedora 16, nicknamed "Verne," it is the 16th version of Fedora released in 9 years which highlights Fedora's extremely quick release schedule. You can download Fedora for free at the Fedora website: http://www.fedoraproject.org .

In the video tutorial below, I install the Fedora 16 Desktop Edition - Installable Live Media in a VMware virtual machine on a Windows 7 laptop.

 

Overview

Ubuntu is one of the most popular distributions of Linux today. Based on the Debian Linux distribution, Ubuntu is designed for the desktop, home user although there are other Ubuntu variations, like Ubuntu Server that does not install a graphical user interface, Edubuntu designed for educational applications, Kubuntu designed for the KDE desktop, Ubuntu Studio designed as a professional video and audio editing workstation, and Mythbuntu designed as a MythTV home theater PC.

The Ubuntu operating system is freely distributed and is supported by Canonical LTD. which also sells technical support and services.

Installing Ubuntu

As of now, the current version of Ubuntu is 11.10, named "Oneiric Ocelot," it is the second release of Ubuntu to use the Unity desktop written on top of the GNOME 3.x desktop. You can download Ubuntu for free at the Ubuntu website: http://www.ubuntu.com . The download page offers different options for installing Ubuntu including downloading a burnable iso bootable image, installing Ubuntu alongside Windows in a dual boot system, or creating a USB bootable thumb drive.

In the following tutorial, I download the Ubuntu 32bit iso file and install it in a VMware virtual machine on my Windows 7 laptop.