linux releases

• Management of releases

Support length
    Regular releases are supported for 9 months.
    Long term support (LTS) releases are for 5 years.
    Older releases may have different support length.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

• same as Arch Linux, Gentoo is an Open Source meta-distribution build from sources, based on Linux Kernel, embracing the same rolling release model, aimed for speed and complete customizable for different hardware architectures which compiles software sources locally for best performance using an advanced package management – Portage.

https://www.tecmint.com/gentoo-linux-installation-guide/

• How do I get updates?

SL publishes updates via two yum repositories, ‘fastbugs’ and ‘security’.
https://www.scientificlinux.org/documentation/faq/faq-updates/

• What are the ‘security’ and ‘fastbugs’ repos?

The ‘security’ yum repo contains the packages necessary to mitigate any resolved security issues. Some ‘non-security’ packages may be published into the security repo if they are required for dependency resolution. This repo also contains the latest ‘tzdata’ and ‘selinux-policy’ to ensure fixes to these package help protect your system security. This repo is enabled by default.
The ‘fastbugs’ repo contains package updates which are not security-related (bugfixes and enhancements).
https://www.scientificlinux.org/documentation/faq/faq-updates/

• Then Red Hat Inc. did something amazing. They published the entire source of the distribution for anyone to download, review, or rebuild. They were under no obligation to give this code to non-customers. For components under BSD or MIT licences they were not under obligation to provide this code at all. The significance of this action cannot be understated.

At HEPiX 2003, Connie Sieh, from Fermilab, announced the Scientific Linux project. Later that year CERN joined Scientific Linux and sponsored the Itanium build. Right away, Scientific Linux started providing solutions to problems faced by the whole research community.

In 2014, Red Hat Inc. directly embraced the rebuild community by acquiring the CentOS project
https://www.scientificlinux.org/about/why-make-scientific-linux

• So what is Scientific Linux good for? Desktop? Server? Laptop? High-demand server? Yes to all. It is a faithful copy of RHEL, plus some useful additions of its own.

https://www.linux.com/learn/scientific-linux-great-distro-wrong-name

• Scientific Linux is a rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (property of Red Hat Inc NYSE:RHT).  We informally call them “The Upstream Vendor” or “TUV”.  Our references to TUV are intended to make it clear that Scientific Linux is in no way affiliated, supported, or sanctioned by upstream.  By not using their name we hope to make this distinction as clear as possible

https://www.scientificlinux.org/about/

• What is Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)?

The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a new Window 10 feature that enables you to run native Linux command-line tools directly on Windows, alongside your traditional Windows desktop and modern store apps.

Who is this for?
This is primarily a tool for developers -- especially web developers and those who work on or with open source projects. This allows those who want/need to use Bash, common Linux tools (sed, awk, etc.) and many Linux-first tools (Ruby, Python, etc.) to use their toolchain on Windows.

You can also access your local machine’s filesystem from within the Linux Bash shell – you’ll find your local drives mounted under the /mnt folder.

Why would I use WSL rather than Linux in a VM?
WSL requires fewer resources (CPU, memory, and storage) than a full virtual machine. WSL also allows you to run Linux command-line tools and apps alongside your Windows command-line, desktop and store apps, and to access your Windows files from within Linux. This enables you to use Windows apps and Linux command-line tools on the same set of files if you wish.


Can I run ALL Linux apps in WSL?
No! WSL is a tool aimed at enabling users who need them to run Bash and core Linux command-line tools on Windows.
WSL does not aim to support GUI desktops or applications (e.g. Gnome, KDE, etc.)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/faq

• What is Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)?

The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a new Windows 10 feature that enables you to run native Linux command-line tools directly on Windows, alongside your traditional Windows desktop and modern store apps.

Who is this for?
This is primarily a tool for developers -- especially web developers and those who work on or with open source projects. This allows those who want/need to use Bash, common Linux tools (sed, awk, etc.) and many Linux-first tools (Ruby, Python, etc.) to use their toolchain on Windows.

You can also access your local machine’s filesystem from within the Linux Bash shell – you’ll find your local drives mounted under the /mnt folder.

Why would I use WSL rather than Linux in a VM?
WSL requires fewer resources (CPU, memory, and storage) than a full virtual machine. WSL also allows you to run Linux command-line tools and apps alongside your Windows command-line, desktop and store apps, and to access your Windows files from within Linux. This enables you to use Windows apps and Linux command-line tools on the same set of files if you wish.


Can I run ALL Linux apps in WSL?
No! WSL is a tool aimed at enabling users who need them to run Bash and core Linux command-line tools on Windows.
WSL does not aim to support GUI desktops or applications (e.g. Gnome, KDE, etc.)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/faq

• The minimal iso image will download packages from online archives at installation time instead of providing them on the install media itself. Downloading packages at install time reduces the size of the iso image to approximately ~40MB depending on architecture

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD

• Test Websites In Internet Explorer 9, 8 and 7 Under Linux / Mac OSX

Microsoft has created some customized Windows VHDs with the purpose of allowing web designers to test websites in Internet Explorer 9, 8 and 7, for free.the biggest disadvantage is the disk space required by these VHDs (as well as a large download size: 2,6 GB for IE7 and 4,1 GB for IE8 and IE9). If you want to run all 3 Internet Explorer versions supported (7, 8, 9), you'll need almost 45 GB of disk space.
http://www.webupd8.org/2011/09/test-websites-in-internet-explorer-9-8.html

• Virtualizing Internet Explorer 7 or 8 with ThinApp (1026674)

You cannot virtualize Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8 in the way that you can virtualize Internet Explorer 6 in ThinApp 4.6 and later. ThinApp 4.6 introduced a special template only for Internet Explorer 6. Virtualize IE7 or IE8 without regard to the special way of virtualizing IE6 in ThinApp 4.6.
https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1026674

• How to Run Internet Explorer 7, 8 and 9 in Linux with or without Wine

IEs4Linux
IE's popularity has exasperated professional web developers ever since the internet became more than an academic curio in the late 90s. Other than simple dual booting, the first option for those who wanted to test their sites on IE was tatanka's IEs4Linux, which uses wine to run the IE web installer.

winetricks
winetricks can install IE 6, 7 and 8 using the Windows installer in much the same way as IEs4Linux does above

VirtualBox
This leaves the final and most satisfactory option - running Windows in a Virtual Machine with an image containing the IE version you're targeting. You may think this also requires a paid-for licence from Redmond, but this is not the case. Microsoft itself has made virtual machine images freely available for each of IE 6, 7, 8 and 9 to try and encourage web designers and developers to support their tatty software.
http://www.rdeeson.com/weblog/126/how-to-run-internet-explorer-7-8-and-9-in-linux-with-or-without-wine.html

• How to Install IEs4Linux under Wine in Ubuntu 12.04

I decided to choose IEs4Linux. Before you can install IEs4Linux, you have to make sure that you’ve already installed Wine and cabextract package on your system.
http://el.web.id/how-to-install-ies4linux-under-wine-in-ubuntu-12-04-207

• The result of this would be two distributions, our rolling release (Tumbleweed) which is continually updated and a stable release (Leap) which is upgraded with new versions.

https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Leap

• The Tumbleweed distribution is a pure rolling release version of openSUSE containing the latest stable versions of all software instead of relying on rigid periodic release cycles. The project does this for users that want the newest, but stable software.

https://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Tumbleweed