Background Information
Red Hat Linux was a widely used open-source distribution created by Marc Ewing. Red Hat was initially released in beta on October 31, 1994, and was officially released in May 1995 under the company name Red Hat Software. The name Red Hat was inspired by Marc Ewing's grandfather, who gifted him a red Cornell University lacrosse hat during his time at Carnegie Mellon University.
Red Hat Linux included a custom package format named Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) which would serve as the starting point for several different distributions, including Mandriva Linux (formerly Mandrake Linux) and Yellow Dog Linux.
Red Hat Linux played a crucial role in popularizing Linux in commercial settings. Red Hat Linux saw widespread adoption until its final release in 2003 and still lives on through its successors Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Fedora Linux.
Technical Specifications
General Information
- Developer: Marc Ewing (Under Red Hat Software)
- Licensing: GNU General Public License
- OS Family: Linux (Unix-like)
- Initial Release Date: May 13, 1995
- Latest Release Date: March 31, 2003
Availability Information
- Languages: Multilingual
- Platforms: x86-64, ARM64, IBM Z, IBM Power Systems
System Information
- Working State: Discontinued
- Source Model: Open Source
- Update Method: Software Updater
- Package manager: RPM Package Manager
- Userland: GNU
- Default User Interface: GNOME 2.2