Datasheet

Chapter 1: What is Ubuntu?
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The Ubuntu workstation distribution provides a complete home, school, and even office
desktop environment, all in one package and all for free.
The Ubuntu server distribution includes only software thats most commonly used in a
computer data center environment:
The Postx email server
The Samba file and print-sharing server for Windows
The Apache web server
The MySQL database server
The Ubuntu server distribution can support any size of server environment, from the small
home network to the larger corporate data center.
Ubuntu Release Schedule
The Linux world is constantly evolving, and, for any Linux distribution to keep up with new
advances, new versions of the software must be released on a regular schedule. The Ubuntu
distribution does an excellent job of scheduling releases and sticking to the schedule.
Ubuntu releases new versions every six months. Some releases are tagged as long-term
support (LTS). For these releases, Ubuntu provides security and patch updates for up to
3 years.
The current list of Ubuntu releases is shown in Table 1-9.
Table 1-9: Ubuntu Releases
Release Date Name
4.10 10/20/2004 Warty Warthog
5.04 04/08/2005 Hoary Hedgehog
5.10 10/13/2005 Breezy Badger
6.06 06/01/2006 Dapper Drake (LTS)
6.10 10/26/2006 Edgy Eft
7.04 04/19/2007 Feisty Fawn
7.10 10/18/2007 Gutsy Gibbon
8.04 04/24/2008 Hardy Heron (LTS)
8.10 10/30/2008 Intrepid Ibex
Each Ubuntu release is assigned a code name. You’ll often see the Ubuntu releases
referred to by their code names instead of their release numbers.
The 6.06 and 8.04 releases are LTS releases and are slightly different from the others.
LTS support distributions are intended for users who don’t want to constantly upgrade
to new versions of software but who want to maintain the existing software packages as
new bug and security patches are released. LTS distributions are often handy in places
such as schools or offices that don’t want to constantly upgrade the workstation operating
system but want to keep current on security and bug patches.
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