> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://olb.gitbook.io/linux-essentials-certification/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://olb.gitbook.io/linux-essentials-certification/4.linux-operating-system/4.1-choosing-operating-system.md).

# 4.1 Choosing an OS

**Weight 1**\
Key knowledge areas

* Differences between Windows, OS X and Linux
* Distribution life cycle management

Partial list of the used files, terms and utilities

* GUI versus command line, desktop configuration
* Maintenance cycles, beta and stable

***

## Operating System

* OS allows applications to run on a computer and contains drivers to access computer hardware
* `uname -r` : kernel version
* `uname -s` : os name
* Enterprise Grade Linux Distributions
  * Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  * CentOS
  * SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
  * Debian GNU/Linux
  * Ubuntu LTS
* Consumer Grade Linux Distributions
  * Fedora
  * Ubuntu non-LTS
  * openSUSE
* Experimental and Hacker Linux Distributions
  * Arch
  * Gentoo