Windows NT

Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was originally designed to be a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement consumer versions of Windows that were based on MS-DOS. NT was the first fully 32-bit version of Windows, whereas its consumer-oriented counterparts, Windows 3.1x and Windows 9x, were 16-bit/32-bit hybrids. Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Home Server, and Windows Server 2008 are based upon the Windows NT system, althoug

Windows NT
Company/developer	Microsoft
Source model	Closed source / Shared source
Stable release	Client: Windows Vista SP1 NT 6.0.6001 (February 4, 2008) Server: Windows Server 2008 NT 6.0.6001 (February 27, 2008) [+/-]
Preview release	Windows 7 Milestone 1 NT 6.1.6574.1 (April 20, 2008) [+/-]
Kernel type	Hybrid kernel
Default user interface	Graphical User Interface
License	Microsoft EULA
Working state	Current

Major features

A main design goal of NT was hardware and software portability. Versions of NT were available for a variety of processor architectures, namely Intel IA-32, MIPS, Alpha, PowerPC, SPARC, Intel i860, and Intel i960. Broad software compatibility was achieved with support for several API "personalities", including the primary Win32 API and limited support for POSIX and OS/2 APIs. Partial MS-DOS compatibility was achieved via an integrated DOS Virtual Machine. For secure multiuser server solutions, NT supported per-object (file, function, and role) access control lists allowing a rich set of security permissions to be applied to systems and services. NT supported Windows network protocols, inheriting the previous OS/2 LAN Manager networking, as well as Unix's TCP/IP networking (for which Microsoft would implement a TCP/IP stack derived from the BSD Unix stack).

Windows NT 3.1 was the first version of Windows to utilize 32-bit "flat" virtual memory addressing on 32-bit processors. Its companion product, Windows 3.1, used segmented addressing and switches from 16-bit to 32-bit addressing in pages.

Windows NT 3.1 featured a core kernel providing a system API, running in supervisor mode, and a set of user-space environments with their own APIs which included the new Win32 environment, an OS/2 1.3 text-mode environment and a POSIX environment. The full preemptive multitasking kernel could interrupt running tasks to schedule other tasks, without relying on user programs to voluntarily give up control of the CPU, as in Windows 3.1.

Notably, in Windows NT 3.x, several I/O driver subsystems, such as video and printing, were user-mode subsystems. In Windows NT 4, the video, server and printer spooler subsystems were integrated into the kernel. Windows NT's first GUI was strongly influenced by (and programmatically compatible with) that from Windows 3.1; Windows NT 4's interface was redesigned to match that of the brand new Windows 95, moving from the Program Manager to the Start Menu/Taskbar design.

NTFS, a journaled, secure file system, was created for NT. NT also allows for other installable file systems, and with versions 3.1 and 3.51, NT could also be installed on DOS's FAT or OS/2's HPFS file systems. Later versions could be installed on a FAT partition gaining speed at the expense of security, but this option is no longer present in Windows Vista.

Development

When development started in November 1989, Windows NT was to be known as OS/2 3.0, the third version of the operating system developed jointly by Microsoft and IBM. In addition to working on three versions of OS/2, Microsoft continued parallel development of the DOS-based and less resource-demanding Windows environment. When Windows 3.0 was released in May 1990, it was eventually so successful that Microsoft decided to change the primary application programming interface for the still unreleased NT OS/2 (as it was then known) from an extended OS/2 API to an extended Windows API. This decision caused tension between Microsoft and IBM and the collaboration ultimately fell apart. IBM continued OS/2 development alone while Microsoft continued work on the newly renamed Windows NT. Though neither operating system would immediately be as popular as Microsoft's DOS or Windows products, Windows NT would eventually be far more successful than OS/2.

Microsoft hired a group of developers from Digital Equipment Corporation led by Dave Cutler to build Windows NT, and many elements of the design reflect earlier DEC experience with Cutler's VMS and RSX-11. The operating system was designed to run on multiple instruction set architectures and multiple hardware platforms within each architecture. The platform dependencies are largely hidden from the rest of the system by a kernel mode module called the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer).

Windows NT's kernel mode code further distinguishes between the "kernel", whose primary purpose is to implement processor and architecture dependent functions, and the "executive". This has led some writers to refer to the kernel as a microkernel, but the Windows NT kernel no longer meets many of the criteria of a "microkernel", although this was the original goal of chief architect Cutler. Both the kernel and the executive are linked together into the single loaded module ntoskrnl.exe; from outside this module there is little distinction between the kernel and the executive. Routines from each are directly accessible, as for example from kernel-mode device drivers.

API sets in the Windows NT family are implemented as subsystems atop the publicly undocumented "native" API; it was this that allowed the late adoption of the Windows API (into the Win32 subsystem). Windows NT was one of the earliest operating systems to use Unicode internally.

Driver models

Windows NT introduced its own driver model, the Windows NT driver model, and is incompatible with older driver frameworks. With Windows 2000, it was replaced by the Windows Driver Model, which was first introduced with Windows 98, but was based on the NT driver model.^[1] Windows Vista added native support for the Windows Driver Foundation, which is also available for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and to an extent, Windows 2000.

Releases

This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future software. The content may change as the software release approaches and more information becomes available.

Windows NT Releases

Version	Marketing Name	Editions	Release Date	RTM Build
NT 3.1	Windows NT 3.1	Workstation (named just Windows NT), Advanced Server	July 27, 1993	528
NT 3.5	Windows NT 3.5	Workstation, Server	September 21, 1994	807
NT 3.51	Windows NT 3.51	Workstation, Server	May 30, 1995	1057
NT 4.0	Windows NT 4.0	Workstation, Server, Server Enterprise Edition, Terminal Server, Embedded	July 29, 1996	1381
NT 5.0	Windows 2000	Professional, Server, Advanced Server, Datacenter Server	February 17, 2000	2195
NT 5.1	Windows XP	Home, Professional, 64-bit Edition (Itanium), Media Center (original, 2003, 2004 & 2005), Tablet PC (original and 2005), Starter, Embedded, Home N, Professional N	October 25, 2001	2600
NT 5.1	Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs	N/A	July 8, 2006	2600
NT 5.2	Windows XP	64-bit Edition Version 2003 (Itanium)[2]	March 28, 2003	3790
NT 5.2	Windows Server 2003	Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, Storage, Small Business Server, Compute Cluster	April 24, 2003	3790
NT 5.2	Windows XP	Professional x64 Edition	April 25, 2005	3790
NT 5.2	Windows Home Server	N/A	July 16, 2007	3790
NT 6.0	Windows Vista	Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, Ultimate, Home Basic N, Business N	Business: November 30, 2006 Consumer: January 30, 2007	6000 6001(SP1)
NT 6.0	Windows Server 2008	Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, Storage, Small Business Server	February 27, 2008	6001
NT 6.1	Windows 7 (codenamed Blackcomb, later Vienna)	TBA	H2 2009	Unknown

Note: NT 3.1 to 3.51 incorporate Program Manager and File Manager. NT 4.0 to 6.0 replace this with Windows Explorer (including a taskbar and Start menu).

The first release was given version number 3.1 to match the contemporary 16-bit Windows; magazines of that era claimed the number was also used to make that version seem more reliable than a '.0' release. There were also some issues related to Novell IPX protocol licensing, which was apparently limited to 3.1 versions of Windows software.^{[citation needed]}

The NT version number is no longer used for marketing purposes, but is still used internally, and said to reflect the degree of changes to the core of the operating system.^[3] The build number is an internal figure used by Microsoft's developers and beta testers.

Supported platforms

NT was written in C or C++ ^[4], a mid-level language. This means that it can be compiled to run on several processor systems. It also proved far more difficult to port applications such as Microsoft Office which were sensitive to issues such as data structure alignment on RISC processors. Unlike Windows CE which routinely runs on a variety of processors, the lack of success of RISC-based systems in the desktop market has resulted in nearly all actual NT deployments being on x86 architecture processors.

In order to prevent Intel x86-specific code from slipping into the operating system by developers used to developing on x86 chips, Windows NT 3.1 was initially developed using non-x86 development systems and then ported to the x86 architecture. This work was initially based on the Intel i860-based Dazzle system and, later, the MIPS R4000-based Jazz platform. Both systems were designed internally at Microsoft.^[5]

Windows NT 3.1 was released for Intel x86 PC compatible, DEC Alpha, and ARC-compliant MIPS platforms. Windows NT 3.51 added support for the PowerPC processor in 1995, specifically PReP-compliant systems such as the IBM Power Series desktops/laptops and Motorola PowerStack series; but despite meetings between Michael Spindler and Bill Gates, significantly not on the Power Macintosh.

Intergraph Corporation ported Windows NT to its Clipper architecture and later Windows NT 3.51 was ported to SPARC,^[6] but neither version was sold to the public as a retail product.

Only two of the Windows NT 4.0 variants (IA-32 and Alpha) have a full set of service packs available. All of the other ports done by third parties (Motorola, Intergraph, etc.) have few, if any, publicly available updates.

Windows NT 4.0 was the last major release to support Alpha, MIPS, or PowerPC, though development of Windows 2000 for Alpha continued until August 1999, when Compaq stopped support for Windows NT on that architecture; and then three days later Microsoft also canceled their AlphaNT program, even though the Alpha NT 5 (Windows 2000) release had reached RC2 (build 2128).

Released versions of NT for Alpha were 32-bit only. The 64 bit port of Windows was originally intended to run on Itanium as well as on Alpha, and Alpha hardware was accordingly used internally at Microsoft during early development of 64-bit Windows.^[7] This continued for some time after Microsoft publicly announced that it was cancelling plans to ship 64-bit Windows for Alpha, because Itanium hardware was not yet available for development. ^[8]

Windows XP 64-Bit, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise, and Windows Server 2003 Datacenter support Intel's IA-64 processors. As of April 25, 2005 Microsoft had released four editions for 'x64' (see x86-64 architecture): Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition, and Windows Server 2003 Datacenter x64 Edition.

It is a common misconception that the Xbox and Xbox 360 use a modified Windows 2000 kernel.^[9] The Xbox operating system was built from scratch but implements a subset of

Hardware requirements

The minimum hardware specification required to run each release of the professional workstation version of Windows NT has been fairly slow-moving until the 6.0 Vista release, which requires a minimum of 15 GB of free disk space plus an additional 5 GB of extra space for 6.0, a 10-fold increase in free disk space alone over the previous version.

Windows NT desktop (x86) minimum hardware requirements

NT Version	CPU	RAM	Free disk space
NT 3.51 Workstation	386, 25 MHz	8 MB	90 MB
NT 4.0 Workstation	486, 33 MHz	12 MB	110 MB
2000 Professional	Pentium, 133 MHz	32 MB	650 MB
XP	Pentium MMX, 233 MHz	64 MB	1.5 GB
Fundamentals for Legacy PCs	Pentium MMX, 233 MHz	64 MB	610 MB
Vista	Pentium III, 800 MHz	512 MB	15 GB

'NT' designation

It is popularly believed that Dave Cutler intended the initialism 'WNT' as a pun on VMS, incrementing each letter by one, similar to the apocryphal story of Arthur C. Clarke's deriving HAL 9000's name by decrementing each letter of IBM. While this would have suited Cutler's sense of humor, the project's earlier name of NT OS/2 belies this theory. Another of the original OS/2 3.0 developers, Mark Lucovsky, states that the name was taken from the Intel i860 processor—code-named N10 (or 'N-Ten') —which served as the original target hardware.^[10] Various Microsoft publications, including a 1998 question-and-answer session with Bill Gates,^[11] reveal that the letters were expanded to 'New Technology' for marketing purposes but no longer carry any specific meaning.

The letters were dropped from the name of Windows 2000, though literature contained the phrase 'Built on NT technology' and the system folder retained the WINNT designation. This action ostensibly reflected Microsoft's intent to unify its home and business lines, then represented by Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0, but this goal would not be fully achieved until the introduction of Windows XP.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux distribution produced by Red Hat and targeted toward the commercial market, including mainframes. Red Hat commits to supporting each version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for 7 years after its release. All of Red Hat's official support, all of Red Hat's training and the Red Hat Certification Program center on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is often abbreviated to RHEL, but Red Hat is now attempting to discourage this^[1].

New versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are released every 18 to 24 months. When Red Hat releases a new version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, customers may upgrade to the new version at no additional charge as long as they are in possession of a current subscription (i.e. the subscription term has not yet lapsed).

Red Hat's first Enterprise offering (Red Hat Linux 6.2E) essentially consisted of a version of Red Hat Linux 6.2 with different support levels, and without separate engineering.

The first version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to bear the name originally came onto the market as "Red Hat Linux Advanced Server". In 2003 Red Hat rebranded Red Hat Linux Advanced Server to "Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS", and added two more variants, Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES and Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS.

Verbatim copying and redistribution of the entire Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution is not permitted due to trademark restrictions.^[2] However, there are several redistributions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux minus trademarked features (such as logos and the name).

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5's default GNOME desktop
Company / developer	Red Hat
OS family	Linux
Working state	Current
Source model	Open source
Latest stable release	5.2/ May 21, 2008 (2008-05-21); 71 days ago
Package manager	RPM Package Manager
Kernel type	Monolithic kernel
License	Various
Website	www.redhat.com/rhel/

TIPS FOR WINDOWS XP USERS

1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).

2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type ' gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).

3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.

5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.

6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.

7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.

8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.

9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology -- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find this out by going to -- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.
11. You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.

This one will create a way to hacking too, if he do mischief

12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.

13. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.

14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.

15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.

16. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.

17. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.

18. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.

19. Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons

Ubuntu

buntu (IPA: [uːˈbuːntuː] in English,^[1] [ùɓúntú] in Zulu) is a computer operating system. It is often rated as the most popular of the many Linux distributions.^[2][3][4][5] Ubuntu's goals include providing an up-to-date yet stable Linux distribution for the average user and having a strong focus on usability and ease of installation. Ubuntu is a derivative of Debian, another free operating system. Ubuntu is sponsored by Canonical Ltd, which is owned by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. The word ubuntu is Zulu for "humanity".^[6] This Linux distribution is named as such to bring the spirit of the philosophy to the software world. Ubuntu is free software and can be shared by any number of users.

Kubuntu and Xubuntu are official subprojects of the Ubuntu project, aiming to bring the KDE and Xfce desktop environments, respectively, to the Ubuntu core (by default Ubuntu uses GNOME for its desktop environment). Edubuntu is an official subproject designed for school environments and should be equally suitable for children to use at home.^[7] Gobuntu is an official subproject that is aimed at adhering strictly to the Free Software Foundation's Four Freedoms.^[8] Ubuntu JeOS (pronounced "Juice") is the newest official subproject. JeOS is a concept for what an operating system should look like in the context of a virtual appliance.^[9]

Ubuntu releases new versions every six months, and supports those releases for 18 months with daily security fixes and patches to critical bugs. LTS (Long Term Support) releases, which occur every two years,^[10] are supported for three years for desktops and five years for servers.^[11] The most recent version, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron), was released on April 24, 2008, although an update, Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS, was released on July 3, 2008. The next version will be 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) and is scheduled for release in October 2008.^[12]

Ubuntu

Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron)
Company / developer	Canonical Ltd. / Ubuntu Foundation
OS family	Linux, Unix-like
Working state	Stable
Source model	Free and open source software
Initial release	October 20, 2004 (2004-10-20)
Latest stable release	8.04.1 (Hardy Heron)/ July 3, 2008 (2008-07-03); 27 days ago
Latest unstable release	8.10 Alpha 3 (Intrepid Ibex)/ 7-24-2008
Available language(s)	Multilingual (more than 55)
Update method	APT
Package manager	dpkg (Debian GNU/Linux Package Manager)
Supported platforms	i386, AMD64, IA-64, UltraSPARC[a], PowerPC ( PowerPC support to be dropped)[b]
Kernel type	Monolithic (Linux)
Default user interface	GNOME, KDE (see Kubuntu), XFCE (see Xubuntu)
License	Various, primarily GPL and GFDL
Website	www.ubuntu.com

Live CD

Installing Ubuntu is generally done with the Live CD, which allows a user to try out the operating system before permanently installing it. Ubuntu can also be used without a hard-disk as it can be run directly from a flash drive. This is particularly useful in testing for hardware compatibility and driver support. The CD also contains the Ubiquity installer,^[36] which guides the user through the permanent installation process. Live CDs are mailed freely to anyone upon request, and CD images of all current and past distributions are available for download. Installing from the CD requires a minimum of 64 MB RAM.

Support for migration from Microsoft Windows was introduced in April 2007, when Ubuntu 7.04 was released.^[37] The new migration tool, called Migration Assistant, imports Windows users' bookmarks, desktop background (wallpaper), and various settings for immediate use in the Ubuntu installation.^[38]

Wubi allows the distribution to be installed on a virtual loop device requiring no partitioning. Wubi also makes use of the Windows migration tool to import users' settings. Wubi was initially developed as an independent project, and as such versions 7.04 and 7.10 were released as unofficial distributions. Wubi was later merged with Ubuntu, and as of 8.04-alpha5, Wubi can also be found in the Ubuntu Live CD.^[39] Another program, UNetbootin, makes it possible to install Ubuntu on a USB drive or Windows partition using an ISO file.

Many programs exist to create a customized Live CD/DVD from an existing Ubuntu installation, such as remastersys, the Ubuntu Customization Kit and Reconstructor.

Alternate Installation

In addition to the Live CD, Ubuntu can be installed through alternate methods. One such method is the alternate install CD.

The alternate install CD is an alternative installation disk designed for specialist installations of Ubuntu by providing a text-based rather than graphical installation. The alternate install CD allows for the creation of pre-configured OEM systems, for the upgrading of older installations without network access, and for installation on systems with less than 320 MB of RAM. The alternate install CD also allows LVM and/or RAID partitioning to be set up, as well as the encryption of partitions using dm-crypt. The alternate install CD is not a Live CD.

Default login screen for Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron)'s server edition

Ubuntu can also be installed over a network via the network install CD. The network install CD installs Ubuntu directly from an Ubuntu mirror. Installation from a mirror ensures that installed packages are up-to-date. The network install CD contains only the kernel, to start up the installation. The installation is text-based.^[40]

The final alternate installation method is used to install Ubuntu Server. The server install CD contains all packages needed for installation without a network connection. The server installation of Ubuntu does not install a graphical user interface.

Package classification and support

Ubuntu 8.04 CD

Ubuntu divides all software into four domains to reflect differences in licensing and the degree of support available.^[41] They are as follows:

	free software	non-free software
supported	Main	Restricted
unsupported	Universe	Multiverse

Free software here includes only that which meets the Ubuntu licensing requirements,^[42] which roughly correspond to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. There is one exception for the Main category, however — it contains firmware and fonts which are not allowed to be modified, but are included because their distribution is otherwise unencumbered.^[41]

Non-free software is usually unsupported (Multiverse), but some exceptions (Restricted) are made for very important non-free software. Supported non-free software includes device drivers that are necessary to run Ubuntu on current hardware, such as binary-only graphics card drivers. The level of support in the Restricted category is more limited than that of Main, since the developers may not have access to the source code. It is intended that Main and Restricted should contain all software needed for a general-use Linux system. Alternative programs for the same tasks and programs for specialized applications are placed in the Universe and Multiverse categories.

Besides the official repositories is Ubuntu Backports,^[43] which is an officially recognized project to backport newer software from later versions of Ubuntu. The repository is not comprehensive; it consists primarily of user-requested packages, which are approved if they meet quality guidelines.

Availability of proprietary software

See also: Linux distribution#Proprietary software and Medibuntu

Ubuntu has a certification system for third party software.^[44] Proprietary software certified with Ubuntu should work well in Ubuntu. However, many programs familiar to users of non-free operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, are incompatible and are not Ubuntu-certified. Some proprietary software that does not limit distribution is included in Ubuntu's multiverse component. The package ubuntu-restricted-extras additionally contains software that may be legally restricted, including support for MP3 and DVD playback, Microsoft TrueType core fonts, Sun's Java runtime environment, Adobe's Flash Player plugin, many common audio/video codecs, and unrar, an unarchiver for .rar files.

Releases

Each release has both a code name and a version number. The version number is based on the year and month of release. For example, the very first release of Ubuntu 4.10 was released on October 20, 2004.^[45] Consequently, version numbers for future versions are provisional; if the release is delayed until a different month to that planned, the version number changes accordingly. The first characters of release names form an alphabetical series. This makes it easier to determine which release is newer when comparing two. Exceptions are the first few releases that should have begun with A, B, C.

Releases are timed to be approximately one month after GNOME releases, which are in turn about one month after releases of X.org. Consequently, every Ubuntu release comes with a newer version of both GNOME and X. Release 6.06—and recently 8.04—have been labeled as a Long Term Support (LTS), to indicate support with updates for three years on the desktop and five years on the server, with paid technical support available from Canonical Ltd.^[46]

LATEST

Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)

This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future software. The content may change as the software release approaches and more information becomes available.

Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 1
(Intrepid Ibex)

Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), to be released on 2008-10-30,^[83] will be Canonical's ninth release of Ubuntu.^[45] It will be supported until April 2010. Ubuntu 8.10 has several planned new features including a complete desktop redesign,^[84] improvements to mobile computing and desktop scalability, increased flexibility for Internet connectivity, OpenGL face browser for GDM^[85], a GUI driven Live USB creator and an encrypted 'private' directory in each user's home directory.^[86]

Release History

Colour	Meaning
Red	Old release; not supported
Yellow	Old release; still supported
Green	Current release
Blue	Future release

Version	Code name	Testing name	Release date	Supported until
				Desktops	Servers
4.10	Warty Warthog	Sounder[87]	2004-10-20[45]	2006-04-30[48]
5.04	Hoary Hedgehog	Array[88]	2005-04-08[33]	2006-10-31[50]
5.10	Breezy Badger	Colony	2005-10-13[53][54]	2007-04-13[55]
6.06 LTS	Dapper Drake	Flight	2006-06-01[58][59]	June 2009	June 2011
6.10	Edgy Eft	Knot	2006-10-26[63][64]	2008-04-25[65]
7.04	Feisty Fawn	Herd	2007-04-19[67]	October 2008
7.10	Gutsy Gibbon	Tribe	2007-10-18[69][70]	April 2009
8.04 LTS	Hardy Heron[89]	Alpha/Beta	2008-04-24[75]	April 2011	April 2013
8.10	Intrepid Ibex[12][90]	Alpha/Beta	2008-10-30[83]	April 2010

ShipIt

Canonical offers Ubuntu installation CDs at no cost, including paid postage for destinations in most countries around the world, via a service called ShipIt.^[91] After a request for CDs is made and approved, disks are sent to the user's postal address in the mail at no charge. Delivery is estimated at six to ten weeks.^[92] Currently, only Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Edubuntu are offered for free via ShipIt. Other variants are not available through this service.^[92] ShipIt offers only the most recent version of Ubuntu.

Variants

See also: List of Ubuntu-based distributions

Kubuntu 8.04 KDE3 desktop

Xubuntu is useful for older computers with lesser or reduced specifications

Several official and unofficial Ubuntu variants exist. Of the official variants, Kubuntu^[93] and Edubuntu^[94] are also available free of charge via mail order through Ubuntu's ShipIt service, but Xubuntu is not available.^[95] These Ubuntu variants simply install a set of packages different from the original Ubuntu, but since they draw additional packages and updates from the same repositories as Ubuntu, all of the same software is available for each of them. Unofficial variants and derivatives are not controlled or guided by Canonical and are generally forks with different goals in mind. These different versions correspond to development efforts run by largely separate groups of people who try to bring different functionalities to the distribution; increased stability and/or usability for differing end-user needs implemented through various default program configurations and user interface customizations is commonly seen. The official sister distributions are:^[96]

• Edubuntu, a distribution designed for classrooms using GNOME
• Gobuntu, a free software distribution
• Goobuntu, used internally by Google (not to be confused with Gobuntu)
• Kubuntu, a desktop distribution using KDE rather than GNOME
• Xubuntu, a "lightweight" distribution based on the Xfce desktop environment instead of GNOME
• Mythbuntu, a distribution that is tied heavily to MythTV
• Ubuntu Studio, a multimedia-creation form of Ubuntu
• Ubuntu JeOS (pronounced as "juice"), is described as "an efficient variant ... configured specifically for virtual appliances".^[97]
• Ubuntu Mobile, an Ubuntu edition that targets mobile Internet devices.^[98]
• Ubuntu Netbook Remix,^[99] to be released later in 2008,^[100] designed for ultra-portables such as the ASUS Eee PC.

System requirements

The desktop version of Ubuntu currently supports the Intel x86 and the AMD64 architectures. Some server releases also support the SPARC architecture^[101] in addition to Intel x86 and AMD64. Unofficial support is available for the PowerPC,^[102] IA-64 (Itanium) and PlayStation 3 architectures.

The minimum system requirements for a desktop installation are a 300 MHz x86 processor, 64 MB of RAM, 4 GB of hard drive space,^[103] and a video card which supports VGA at 640x480 resolution. The recommended system requirements for the desktop installation are a 700 MHz x86 processor, 384 MB of RAM, 8 GB of hard drive space,^[103] and a video card which supports VGA at 1024×768 resolution. The server installation requires a 300 MHz x86 processor, 64 MB of RAM,^[104] and a video card which supports VGA at 640×480. Computers that do not meet the minimum recommended system requirements are suggested to try Xubuntu, based on Xfce, which requires roughly half of the RAM and disk space.^[105]

	Desktop & Laptop[106]		Server[106]
	Required	Recommended
Processor	300 MHz(x86)	700 MHz(x86)	300 MHz (x86)
Memory	64 MB	384 MB*	64 MB[104]
Hard drive capacity	4 GB[103]	8 GB[103]	500 MB[104]
Video card	VGA @ 640x480	VGA @ 1024×768	VGA @ 640×480

* - With compositing effects enabled

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