Linux, any?

[Twinhead]

Personally I prefer RedHat Linux. But my school department is using SuSe Linux and I think its kind of nice too.

What exactly the difference between those distributed Linux? Each of them has its own special features?

What is the difference between GNOME and KDE? Are they the theme for Linux X-Window desktop?

Any post to this thread will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Derango]

Each dirstobution basicly has a different installer, possibly different package management, and sometimes different structures from any other distro you compare it to. Its all linux in the end though.

X-Windows is a program that is used to draw a GUI on the screen. however, X-windows by itself does not have any interface to it. So what happens is that a window manager comes into play. A window manager is responsible for drawing borders around windows, popup menus for launching applications, maximize, minimize, stuff like that. What KDE and GNOME are desktop enviornements. A Desktop enviornment combines a window manager with a suite of programs that are designed specificly for that WM. KDE uses kwm I believe, and Gnome can use sawfish, enlightenment, and a couple others I can't think of right now.

In review, A desktop envornment provides programs that interact with the window manager that uses the X windows system to display graphics on your screen. Basicly, there are perhaps hundreds of Window Managers, all with completly different features and ways of doing things. That way, you can customize your desktop GUI to meet the way you work. Most linux newbies don't understand all the different parts responsible for displaying a GUI