The distinction between operating system and distribution seems to be clear to most of us.
In truth, we know only some of the details in which both concepts differ.
How does Linux work, and why aren’t its distributions an operating system itself?
If you have some knowledge in the field of computing, you probably know that Ubuntu is a distribution and not another operating system. Therefore, we could say that Ubuntu is not the equivalent of Windows or MacOS. But, what does this mean for the user? What are the differences between distribution and operating system?
The first thing we have to clarify, just in case, is that Ubuntu is a distribution of the Linux operating system, surely the most famous of all that we have access to within this free, open source environment. Then the conclusion is that Ubuntu is not equivalent to Windows or MacOS, but Linux is similar.
But the key is in the operation and the distribution -never better said- that Linux has had since its appearance. While Ubuntu represents for many the gateway to that operating systemBecause its interface is simpler than that of other distributions, options such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux emerge that are more complex and are focused on individual clients, such as companies.
A Linux for every user
Unlike other operating systems, you may have noticed that there is a Linux for each user, or class of user. The operating systems to which we are accustomed, Windows and MacOS, come in a unique presentation, being the customers who have to adapt to them, in any case customizing some of their aspects.
Its proposals are not as diverse as those of Linux, obviously, and the developers behind its limited variants are always the same, those of Microsoft and Apple respectively, without depending on anyone else.
Operating systems vs distributions
What is an Operative System?
To fully understand Linux, it is essential to understand what an operating system is and, by definition, an OS is software that manages the hardware resources of a computerperforming two essential actions:
Interaction between the user and the applications
On the move, an operating system acts as the common element between the user and the resources. This consists of the user interacting with the hardware, since he uses a mouse and keyboard, and sees the results of his actions on a monitor. Of course it is impossible to separate hardware from software. Any of these tasks goes through applications, which are the ones that set the limits to the results of the actions.
Interaction between hardware and software
In turn, although we do not see it with our own eyes, there is a synchronization between hardware and background software. Applications are constantly accessing the CPU, RAM, storage, etc.. These instructions are converted to a computer-readable format for the hardware to execute.
Why does Linux offer distributions?
But we said that Linux is not an operating system but rather has distributions, while the others, referring to Windows and MacOS, are operating systems. The explanation is in the history of Linux.
Linux is nothing more than a kernel
The first version of Linux was launched by Linus Torvalds in the year 1991 and since that presentation, we knew that it was not an operating system as we know it, but a kernel, its transcendental component.
This kernel is ultimately responsible for the interactions that occur on a PC, transforming the instructions received from the applications into a binary format that can be analyzed by the hard elements, the hardware.
That way, all linux distributions carry the linux kernel under the hood and they combine it with different aspects so we don’t confuse them, like desktop environments, etc. Hence the “distributions”.
In summary, they are all distributions of the same kernel -or operating system although it is not as such- that are separated according to the way in which they are translated into practice, and for this reason this article was necessary to get used to them.
