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  5. Red Hat Enterprise Linux vs Ubuntu

Red Hat Enterprise Linux vs Ubuntu

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Ubuntu
Ubuntu
Stacks80.4K
Followers59.1K
Votes468
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Stacks355
Followers236
Votes3

Red Hat Enterprise Linux vs Ubuntu: What are the differences?

# Introduction

1. **Package Management**: Red Hat Enterprise Linux uses the YUM package manager while Ubuntu uses APT-Advanced Package Tool. 
2. **Support and Security Updates**: Red Hat Enterprise Linux comes with long-term support (up to 10 years) with security updates provided by the Red Hat Security Response Team. Ubuntu, on the other hand, offers shorter support cycles with regular updates and security patches.
3. **Licensing and Costs**: Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a commercial distribution requiring a subscription for access to updates and support. Ubuntu, in contrast, is free to use and distribute.
4. **Desktop Environment**: Red Hat Enterprise Linux focuses more on server environments and thus may not offer as many options for desktop environments compared to Ubuntu, which is popular for desktop usage.
5. **Community and Support**: Ubuntu has a larger and more active community which can be beneficial for troubleshooting and getting help compared to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
6. **Target Audience**: Red Hat Enterprise Linux is primarily designed for enterprise users and businesses seeking a stable and secure platform, while Ubuntu caters to a wider range of users from beginners to advanced users including developers and enthusiasts.

In Summary, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Ubuntu differ in package management, support models, costs, desktop environment focus, community size, and target audience.

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Advice on Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

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)

271k views271k
Comments
Simon
Simon

Developer Advocate at k6 / Load Impact

Mar 7, 2020

Decided

At the moment of the decision, my desktop was the primary place I did work. Due to this, I can't have it blow up on me while I work. While Arch is interesting and powerful, Ubuntu offers (at least for me) a lot more stability and lets me focus on other things than maintaining my own OS installation.

299k views299k
Comments
Govind
Govind

Aug 5, 2020

Decided

Ubuntu is much more faster over Windows and helps to get software and other utilities easier and within a short span of time compared to Windows.

Ubuntu helps to get robustness and resiliency over Windows. Ubuntu runs faster than Windows on every computer that I have ever tested. LibreOffice (Ubuntu's default office suite) runs much faster than Microsoft Office on every computer that I have ever tested.

270k views270k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Ubuntu
Ubuntu
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

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.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the industry-leading Linux that provides the foundation for next-generation architectures, with support for all major hardware platforms and thousands of commercial and custom applications.

Statistics
Stacks
80.4K
Stacks
355
Followers
59.1K
Followers
236
Votes
468
Votes
3
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 230
    Free to use
  • 96
    Easy setup for testing discord bot
  • 57
    Gateway Linux Distro
  • 54
    Simple interface
  • 9
    Don't need driver installation in most cases
Cons
  • 5
    Demanding system requirements
  • 4
    Adds overhead and unnecessary complexity over Debian
  • 2
    Snapd installed by default
  • 1
    Systemd
Pros
  • 1
    Paid sense of security
  • 1
    Well known
  • 1
    Learning curve
Cons
  • 1
    Anaconda
  • 1
    Default Install is lvm
  • 1
    Packages have huge dependency trees
  • 1
    Glibc based with many complicated hacks
  • 1
    Subcription fees

What are some alternatives to Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?

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.

CentOS

CentOS

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.

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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