What is a distro? Detailed analysis

The article tells about what a distribution is, what it is for, what kinds of it are, in particular, the features of creating a distribution of its own.

Computer techologies

Every year digital technologies are being improved, and what a decade ago seemed like a fantasy is now being realized. Let sometimes and in the form of individual prototypes, and not always successful. But it was not always so, and older people remember the times when not everyone could afford a computer. And about the Internet and say nothing - it was very slow, expensive, the connection was often interrupted, swing gigabytes of information, as now, it was simply impossible. At that time almost all programs, operating systems and other software were distributed only on disks and floppy disks. But in our time, wide access to the Internet has greatly reduced the value and use of removable media and even generated a phenomenon such as digital distributions. So what is a distribution, how can it be and what is it used for? We will talk about this.

Definition

The word itself, like many others from the computer world, came to us from the English language and in the original sounds like a distribute - "distribute". Over time, this expression has become firmly rooted in the majority of PC users and other systems. But what is a distro?

A distribution is a collection of files and other information that is used to distribute software. Depending on the system, software and other things can include additional software for automatic installation, which requires minimal user participation, or be provided in a "bare" form for setting a more detailed and deep.

Appointment

The meaning of the distribution kit is that when installing only the necessary files on the target computer or other device, the corresponding entries in the registry, startup were added, in short, everything was done so that the program or the operating system worked correctly. So we sorted out what the distribution is. Usually this helps the so-called installer, which has elements of a graphical interface and facilitates the installation process on the computer. In addition, various local scale settings (language, time zone, etc.) are configured (or provided at the user's choice). True, such functions are supported not by any distribution. What does this word mean, we now know.

Process

Almost all programs or distributions are provided in a compressed form and unpacked on the end user's computer during installation. After the installer starts, it is unpacked to the hard disk, integrated into the file system hierarchy, tests are performed to ensure compatibility with the system and search for compatible or incompatible software. The latter are usually dealt with by antiviruses that "do not like" to share space on PCs with other similar programs. Also, the system is configured to work correctly with the new software or operating system, checking the various conflict probabilities and much more. So now we know what the distribution program is.

But usually it's not the computer user who is doing all this, but a special installer that distributes with the distribution and automates most of the work. Probably, it is most conveniently organized in operating systems of the Windows family. But in addition to a set of different software to work in an already ready OS, most often under the word "distroutiv" mean exactly the operating system that is ready for installation.

What is a Windows distribution?

According to a variety of polls and statistics, this operating system is most common on the computer market. There are many reasons for this, starting from a friendly interface that is designed for "housewives", and conducting an aggressive advertising campaign in the 90s of the last century.

And the Windows distribution is a laser, hard or solid-state drive of information, on which are recorded OS files, provided with a convenient installer. The latter, in turn, independently conducts a lot of complex actions, helps determine the compatibility with the computer and generally installs the operating system on a "bare" computer, where nothing is yet. During the installation, there are also many large and small settings, for example, the definition of compatible hardware, hard disk layout, preinstallation of basic and universal drivers, and much more.

Creating your own distribution

Yes, this is also possible. And for this it is not necessary to have the skills of programming, development and other things. True, recently under the "own" distribution they often mean a trivial assembly of the OS, which differs from the original only in external design, the presence of certain preinstalled programs and other trivialities. But first things first.

It's possible to create your own distribution using the Linux kernel. This process is not very complicated, but for this you need to have at least some knowledge in the field of this OS.

If we talk about Windows, then everything is not so simple. The source code of this OS is closed for editing and browsing, which means that it will not work out, to put it roughly, to a cog. However, you can make your own build using special programs, which will include the preinstalled programs you need, drivers, design, and so on.