Group: Software/FSDG distributions/How to choose an FSDG distribution

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Introduction

This page will be a comparison of the free software GNU/Linux distributions in order to help people choose the one that suits them best.

Only FSF accepted distributions should go there.

Comparison of the distributions

At first we will only look at Trisquel and Parabola because I only use theses two, feel free to add other endorsed distributions.

Distribution Based on
PureOS Debian
Trisquel Ubuntu
Parabola Arch
  • Both Trisquel and Parabola fulfill the FSF criterias of free software distributions.
  • If you're not very comfortable with configuring your system trough the command line, Trisquel is better for you than Parabola:
    • Trisquel has a graphical installation, Parabola's installation method is command line based (you must types some commands to install Parabola, there is no ncurses (a commandline GUI) GUI)
    • Trisquel comes fully configured, in Parabola it's assumed that the user would configure his system himself trough the command line and install the necessary packages.
  • Parabola has more recent packages and is rolling release
    • For instance you will get a very recent Xorg with Parabola: if you have an ATI card (which lacks a free software firmware) 3D acceleration will be disabled in both Trisquel and Parabola, however Parabola's Xorg will be able to get decent 3D performance by using the CPU and llvmpipe if your CPU is fast enough, that will permit you to play some 3D games that do not require that much resources but still require 3D acceleration (Tested with supertuxkart and smc (secret maryo chronicles) on a core i7 in Parabola).
  • Unlike Trisquel Parabola supports

(a) Microsoft Exchange Web Services (EWS) via Evolution

(b) x264 encoding using FFmpeg

(c) Mozilla internet suite (a free version of Debian Iceape)

  • Trisquel is more stable than Parabola: Trisquel uses stables releases and Parabola uses a rolling release, and sometimes it breaks things because the -libre repository has to catch up with the Arch repository (for instance they broke kde for some hours recently).
  • Trisquel is based on the well-known Debian packaging system.
  • Trisquel only supports x86 computers, Parabola supports also the MIPS lemote computers.
  • You can upgrade an Arch distribution to Parabola and an Ubuntu distribution to Trisquel.

Security features

Distribution SELinux AppArmor grsecurity Pax
Parabola Not integrated in the default repositories Not integrated in the default repositories ? ?
Trisquel You need to install SELinux, in the default repositories Installed and enabled by default No No
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