GNU / Linux distribution catalog according to your needs: 11 distros 11 professions

Selected Tuxs

Just like that Coca-Cola advertisement, there is a GNU / Linux for engineers, for architects, for hackers, for teachers, for musicians, for designers, there are those who are looking for the best Linux to program, for gamers , for all GNU / Linux. The large number of distributions The existing ones is huge and the most complicated thing sometimes is not its handling, but choosing the most appropriate one.

In this article we are going to catalog the most important GNU / Linux distributions of each segment to give you a good guide to choosing yours. Obviously in this compilation we are not going to list them all, because it would be almost impossible, but the most important ones. The categories that I have selected are the following, although you can suggest others in the comments according to your profession.

GNU / Linux distributions for musicians:

music

Music:

A complete music-oriented operating system. Musicians will have a free platform with tools that range from programs to create music, for sound technicians, DJs, filmmakers, etc.

KXStudio and AVLinux:

Although it is not about distributions, but about repositories with a lot of professional software for audio editing that you can use in any distro, it is worth mentioning because they are extremely complete and professional.

GNU / Linux distributions for 3D designers and for photo retouching:

Ubuntu Studio

UbuntuStudio:

Is one of them. It has a large number of audio, video and image editing tools. As you can imagine, it is based on Ubuntu, which has included countless packages for creating multimedia content.

ArtistX:

It is another GNU / Linux distribution specially designed for the production of audio, CAD, video and 2D and 3D images. With an endless number of multimedia tools aimed at design specialists, it can be downloaded for free in an image that you can burn to DVD.

GNU / Linux distributions for pentesting, forensic analysis and security audits:

Kali Linux

Kali Linux:

It is a Live distribution that contains a large number of packages for pentesting, security audits and forensic analysis. It is the hacking distribution par excellence and comes from the already abandoned Backtrack (based on Ubuntu). The developers saw fit to base Kali on Debian which was more powerful and hence the name change.

bugtraq:

It is another well known alternative to Kali. Both have many similarities. Although perhaps you will find less help and documentation for being less famous than Kali. I use Kali and certainly when problems arise you can find a lot of information searching the net ... The good thing about Bugtraq is that you can choose from different versions, based on Ubuntu, based on Debian and based on openSUSE. It can also be found with the KDE, GNOME and Xfce desktop.

Wifislax:

It is a Spanish distro, based on Slackware. It can be downloaded on LiveCD or LiveUSB. Unlike the previous ones, it does not include so many security tools in general, but is aimed at WiFi security audits. Includes tools for scanning ports, vulnerabilities, exploits, sniffers, etc. Wifislax was born from the union of two distros, Auditor and WHAX, with considerable success.

DEFTLinux:

It is another distribution oriented to forensic analysis. Its name comes from the acronym for Digital Evidence & Forensics Toolkit. As with Wifislax, it specializes in one subject and is not as generic as Bugtraq or Kali. It integrates a large number of tools for data analysis, emails, metadata, extracting sensitive information from networks, etc. In addition, it also allows audits to Android, iPhone and Blackberry devices.

Xiaomi OS:

It is an alternative to Wifislax and therefore aimed at wireless network audits. It is very light and allows, among other things, to recover WPA and WEP WiFi passwords. It is also distributed in a free LiveCD version.

CAINE (Computer Aided Investigative Environment):

It is another Linux distribution geared towards forensic analysis. It is of Italian origin and is presented in a 64-bit Live. The project manager is Nanni Bassetti and they wanted to optimize this GNU / Linux with all kinds of free and open tools that give you a good platform to carry out forensic work.

GNU / Linux distributions for education:

LinuxKidx desktop

Chemo 4 Kids:

It is an open and free distribution specially designed for the little ones in the house. It contains lots of educational software and programs like TuxPaint, eToys, Gcompris, Tuxmath, TuxTyping, etc. With a design that the little ones will love and with which they will learn while playing. It is distributed on a LiveCD and is recommended for children up to 3 years old.

Skolelinux (DebianEdu):

Based on Debian, it is a distribution that emerged as a Norwegian project for education. Oriented to schools, lightweight and with lots of software for IT environments. It enables teaching professionals to do their jobs better.

Ubuntu:

Official derivation of Linux Ubuntu intended for use in schools. Includes educational tools such as Gcompris and KDE Edutainment Suit. This is recommended for children / adolescents between 6 and 18 years old. The goal of this distro is to provide educators with job skills and a platform where students can learn interactively.

LinuxKidX:

Linux for children is an operating system with technologies for early childhood education. It can be a good alternative to Quimo. It can be run in Live mode and the recommended age range is between 2 and 15 years. Although its main idea is to bring Linux to the little ones with a fun environment. The downside is that it is in English.

Foresight:

Linux distribution that contains both free and non-free software, yes, it is free. It was based on rpath and now CentOS. It uses the Conary package manager, that makes the updates partial, updating only the parts of the program that need to be updated and not the entire package as happens in RPM and Deb. The educational level of this distro is higher than previously seen, so it would be ideal for institutes and universities. Among the packages included are Beagle, F-Spot, Avahi, HAL.

GNU / Linux distributions for PC technicians:

Insert Linux

Clonezilla Live:

It is a GNU / Linux distribution that arises as an open and free alternative to Norton Ghost. With it you can manage partitions, repair them, as well as include tools for SSH, Samba, NFS, etc. It also allows you to clone patitions and dump them into images for backup.

Rescue:

It is a distribution based on Debian 7 Wheezy and oriented to repair problems in both Linux and Windows systems. Problems that can be resolved include those generated by the GRUB boot loader or the Windows MBR (Master Boot Record). It can also check the Linux filesystem.

SystemRescueCD:

It is another distro with a multitude of tools and a lightweight environment that allows you to restore and manage certain problems, including those of Windows NTFS partitions.

Trinity Rescue Kit:

It is a distribution specially oriented to repair Microsoft Windows operating systems. When Windows has problems and won't boot, this distro will bail you out. It includes different virus scanners such as Clam AV, F-Prot, BitDefender, Vexira and Avast. It also has tools to clean temporary files and the recycle bin, password recovery (Winpass) and other advanced functions.

insert:

With tools to perform hardware tests, detect problems, analyze systems, manage networks, etc.

Gparted Live:

The famous Gparted partition management tool has a Live version for both burning to an optical disc and USB sticks. And that is a great opportunity to have a powerful suite to work with the hard disk ...

GNU / Linux distributions for programming and computing:

Debian

Ubuntu:

Although it is a desktop distribution used by many home users, it is actually one of the best video game development platforms if you install the right tools. In addition, it allows you to publish the game in the Software Center.

debbian:

Another distro that can serve multiple purposes, but is undoubtedly the undisputed leader for programming. Debian is a programmer's paradise with a huge community behind it to support you. With a multitude of development tools included in the packages it comes with by default.

GNU / Linux distributions for electronics:

CEELD desk

CEELD (Cyler's Electronics Engineering Linux Distro):

It is a distribution based on SuSE and created from the SuSE Studio tool. For this reason, it can be considered an openSuSE that has included a multitude of tools for electronic engineering. Some of them are used for circuit simulation, technical drawing, VHDL, electronic calculations, circuit design, etc.

FEL (Fedora Electronic Lab):

It is a distro based on Fedora well known in the field of electronics for having a multitude of tools for this field. It is very similar to CEELD, that is, it gives you a great EDA environment for development.

GNU / Linux distributions for architects and engineers:

CAELinux

CAELinux:

It is a distribution with a multitude of tools for engineering, architecture, scientific calculation, CAD, etc. Among the pre-installed tools that it integrates are FreeCAD, Salomé, Code-Aster, Code-Saturne or LibreCAD. Of course it includes simulation, math and 3D printing tools.

TOSS:

It is a Linux distro specially designed for engineers and developers. Based on Ubuntu with the integration of GCC, OpenSSL, PHP, Java, gEda, xCircuit, Klogic, Ktechlab, etc. tools.

Mathbuntu:

It is a distribution based on Ubuntu with the possibility of selecting KDE or LXDE lighter than the first. It is free and includes a multitude of tools for mathematics, statistics and calculation of all kinds: Sage (mathematics), Maxima (algebra), R (statistics), Octave and Scilab (numerical computation), GeoGebra (geometry and algebra), etc. .

GNU / Linux distributions for scientists (physicists, chemists, biologists and astronomers):

Scientific Linux

BioSLAX:

It is a new Live distro for biology. It has been developed by a team from the BioInformatics Center (BIC), in collaboration with the National University of Singapore. It is based on Slackware hence its name. There are different versions for download, including an image to virtualize. It contains more than 300 packages for bioinformatics (application of computing to the analysis of biological data).

Quantity:

Based on Knoppix / Debian, it was abandoned in 2006, but you can still download it from some web sites. Specially designed for workstations and scientific use, with support for openMosix. It included statistical tools like R, for mathematics like Scilab (a clone of Matlab), Maxima for algebra, Ghemical for chemistry, Texmacs for scientific text editing, Grass a geographic tool, LabPLot, etc.

Scientific Linux:

Based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and developed by CERN and Fermilab laboratories. At first it was called High Energy Physics Linux and later it was baptized as Scientific Linux. It is undoubtedly the best scientific distro and is used by CERN scientists.

Poseidon:

Developed by the German institute MARUM, it incorporates programming tools, scientific word processors, calculation, 2D / 3D / 4D visualization, statistics, mapping, bioinformatics, GIS tools, etc.

Star:

The delights of astronomers are included in this distro. It is based on Ubuntu / Linux Mint. It has a Cinnamon desktop environment and MDM (Mint Display Manager) components and a large assortment of packages for "stellar" work. Developed by a team led by Bamm Gabriana, professor at the RTU Department of Astronomy in the Philippines.

GNU / Linux distributions for writers:

Scribus

Tux Writer:

Although there are not many distributions for writers as such, at least that I know, it is interesting to talk about them for those who are dedicated to the world of text editing, writers, journalism, screenwriters and bloggers. It is based on PCLinux OS and can be downloaded in Live version. Among the tools it includes are: Abiword, CeltX, etc.

For those who use other distros and dedicate themselves to this world, they can install packages that can help them with editing such as the well-known office suites LibreOffice and OpenOffice, other tools such as Calligra Autor, LaTeX editors such as Gummi, and publishing and layout such as Scribus. Also Storybook, Q10, Writer's Cafe, Labyrinth, etc.

GNU / Linux distributions for doctors, pharmacists and health specialists:

Debian Med

DebianMed:

It is a Debian-based project that has included packages of medicine, clinical research, health sciences, etc.

Medical Fedora:

As you can imagine, it is a Fedora Linux distro with medical packages included.

openSUSE Medical:

Like the previous one, it is an openSUSE distribution with packages for the health field.

Linux for Clinics:

A Linux specially designed for clinics. With desktop themes related to the world of measurement and exclusive tools for this sector. Similar to Debian Med.

Do not forget comment and leave your suggestions or contributions. I hope this article helps you in your choice ...


25 comments, leave yours

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  1.   Isaac Palace said

    I see this as a bit silly at the end of those distributions the only thing that differentiates them are their applications, by downloading the applications that interest you, you already have your personalized distro.

    1.    Le tweeting fish (@Freakcion) said

      Man, if you know how to find and install the applications…. Maybe they seem silly to you, yes.
      But if they do the work of removing everything from the base distro that is not necessary ... then you gain in performance.

      Especially in case of renderings, heavy calculations ... the less background things the better.

  2.   leohardtke said

    For geomatics, without a doubt http://live.osgeo.org/es/
    regards

  3.   Ascetic said

    Sad that there is not even a simple link ...

  4.   OverNxt said

    Excellent post.
    Customizing a distro is not as easy as you think and if someone already created it, why are we going to reinvent the wheel?
    Thanks to those great architects of the internet we have many search tools, for those who do not know it, you can type in your browser «www.google.com» there they put the name of the distro and as a magic art the links to the distributions appear and They can download them. ;-)

  5.   Josiah said

    Without a doubt a good contribution. Thank you.

  6.   matthew3x6 said

    http://distrowatch.com/
    There you have to enter and see each of the distros that you like the most ... you have everything ... until their official pages

  7.   JUAN ANTONIO GONZALEZ-MURIEL said

    Great post, I really liked it, this shows the versatility of linux, building default distros for a trade, it is an idea to steal by mocosoft, for sure.

  8.   mecuenzo said

    Placing 100500 distros and not a single link to any of them is like cleaning your ass without having shit ... A pity of post ...!

    1.    louis said

      It is very easy, you search in http://www.google.es the name of the distro and that's it. The one who writes the post does not have to put the links, it gives you the information that this is what is truly important.

    2.    manujm said

      If you don't even know how to use san google to find a simple link to download a distro …… ..you made me look at it.

  9.   Miguel said

    Missing for financiers ... a pity

  10.   Francisco said

    I'm sorry to tell you that CEELD stopped being developed in 2012. Furthermore, Fedora Lab was an experiment that did not have continuity.

    That is why I agree with the first comment. At least for electronics, it is better to install a Debian or an opensuse and start doing apt-get or zypper at the point of the shovel.

  11.   gustavo said

    thanks for the contribution and your time

  12.   Canseco said

    KXStudio and AVLinux are distributions, but only KXStudio serves as a repository for Ubuntu, Mint.

    The good thing about these distros are not only the programs or wallpapers that come by default, but all the necessary configuration to work right away, in the case of audio distros, kernel-rt, alsa + pulseaudio + jack, low latency, etc.

  13.   David said

    and for archaeologists… Archeos http://www.archeos.eu/

  14.   Luis Perez said

    In the educational ones they can add http://edulibre.net/index.php/inicio/ It is made in my country Guatemala.

  15.   spacejock said

    Fedora is widely used for engineering and programming. I do not know why they have forgotten her ... surely the most cutting edge.

  16.   Fco. Manuel Fdez said

    For educational environments, and specifically for children and primary schools,
    GALPon MiniNo PícarOS 2015.

    For secondary, GALPon MiniNo LekitOS.

    For general use, GALPon MiniNo Ártabros.

    They are all based on Debian.

  17.   idihernandez said

    AND AN ANTI-ENTERTAINMENT DISTANCE? I AM VERY DISTTRACTED WITH EVERYTHING AND I HAVE WORK TO FOCUS ONLY ON WHAT I NEED TO DO ... AND WHEN SOMETHING DOES NOT PROVIDE ME ENTERTAINMENT I HAVE TO FORMAT ... IS THERE ANYONE THAT IS SO HARD, SO DIFFICULT THAT I CAN'T JUST FORCED ONCE I CAN REQUIRE FORMAT SERVES FOR THE WORK? (WORD, EXCEL POWER POINT -SUS SIMILARES EN LIBRE OFFICE, OPEN OFFICE - ???

  18.   movies4kfree said

    BUY A MAC THOSE CANNOT BE FORMAT

  19.   linux said

    Not a miserable link. It makes the post unhelpful to the reader (it forces him to do multiple searches to visit the websites of the distros that interest him).

    1.    MM said

      They missed at least two very good distros, one for pentesting, forensics and audits: Parrot OS in its Security version.
      The other is for programming, SemiCode OS.

  20.   baskerbill said

    SteamOS?

  21.   Carlos said

    A very good distro for Radio, that is, radio transmission, from preparing the audio and programming the transmissions is EterTICS, this is your link: https://gnuetertics.org/