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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Infrastructure as a Service
  4. Operating Systems
  5. Centos vs Talos

Centos vs Talos

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

CentOS
CentOS
Stacks13.8K
Followers9.0K
Votes53
Talos
Talos
Stacks4
Followers19
Votes4

Centos vs Talos: What are the differences?

# Introduction
This comparison highlights key differences between Centos and Talos for those considering one over the other.

1. **Package Management**: Centos uses yum or dnf for package management, while Talos uses Kinvolk's own package manager, called rpm-ostree.
2. **Kernel Update**: Centos relies on periodic kernel updates, whereas Talos utilizes a immutable system design where the entire OS is atomically updated together, including the kernel.
3. **Container Orchestration**: Centos can support various container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, etc., whereas Talos is specifically designed to work seamlessly with Kubernetes.
4. **Support for Cloud Platforms**: Centos supports a wide range of cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, GCP, etc., while Talos is optimized for use in on-premise and bare-metal environments.
5. **Ease of Configuration**: Centos requires manual configuration for deployment and management, whereas Talos uses a declarative approach, simplifying the configuration and maintenance processes.
6. **Security Patching**: Centos relies on admins to apply security patches, whereas Talos automatically updates the entire system, including security patches, ensuring constant protection.

In Summary, Centos and Talos differ in terms of package management, kernel updates, support for container orchestration, cloud platform compatibility, ease of configuration, and security patching processes.

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Advice on CentOS, Talos

Jerome/Zen
Jerome/Zen

Software Engineer

Aug 2, 2020

Decided

Global familiarity, free, widely used, and as a debian distro feels more comfortable when rapidly switching between local macOS and remote command lines.

CentOS does boast quite a few security/stability improvements, however as a RHEL-based distro, differs quite significantly in the command line and suffers from slightly less frequent package updates. (Could be a good or bad thing depending on your use-case and if it is public facing)

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Detailed Comparison

CentOS
CentOS
Talos
Talos

The CentOS Project is a community-driven free software effort focused on delivering a robust open source ecosystem. For users, we offer a consistent manageable platform that suits a wide variety of deployments. For open source communities, we offer a solid, predictable base to build upon, along with extensive resources to build, test, release, and maintain their code.

You can imagine Talos as a container image, in that it is immutable and built with a single purpose in mind. In this case, that purpose is Kubernetes. Talos tightly integrates with Kubernetes, and is not meant to be a general use Linux distribution.

Statistics
Stacks
13.8K
Stacks
4
Followers
9.0K
Followers
19
Votes
53
Votes
4
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 16
    Stable
  • 9
    Reliable
  • 9
    Free to use
  • 6
    Has epel packages
  • 6
    Good support
Cons
  • 1
    Yum is a horrible package manager
Pros
  • 1
    Secure
  • 1
    Lightweight
  • 1
    API managed
  • 1
    Immutable OS
Cons
  • 1
    Relatively new
Integrations
No integrations available
Kubernetes
Kubernetes

What are some alternatives to CentOS, Talos?

Ubuntu

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. The Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the world of computers.

Debian

Debian

Debian systems currently use the Linux kernel or the FreeBSD kernel. Linux is a piece of software started by Linus Torvalds and supported by thousands of programmers worldwide. FreeBSD is an operating system including a kernel and other software.

Arch Linux

Arch Linux

A lightweight and flexible Linux distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.

Fedora

Fedora

Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that provides users with access to the latest free and open source software, in a stable, secure and easy to manage form. Fedora is the largest of many free software creations of the Fedora Project. Because of its predominance, the word "Fedora" is often used interchangeably to mean both the Fedora Project and the Fedora operating system.

Linux Mint

Linux Mint

The purpose of Linux Mint is to produce a modern, elegant and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use.

Linux

Linux

A clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance.

CoreOS

CoreOS

It is designed for security, consistency, and reliability. Instead of installing packages via yum or apt, it uses Linux containers to manage your services at a higher level of abstraction. A single service's code and all dependencies are packaged within a container that can be run on one or many machines.

Gentoo Linux

Gentoo Linux

It is a free operating system based on either Linux or FreeBSD that can be automatically optimized and customized for just about any application or need.

Alpine Linux

Alpine Linux

Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox.

Manjaro

Manjaro

It is an accessible, friendly, open-source Linux distribution and community. Based on Arch Linux, it provides all the benefits of cutting-edge software combined with a focus on getting started quickly, automated tools to require less manual intervention, and help readily available when needed.

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