Now available at the Library: several Linux Distributions:

• CentOS 6: 32-bit and 64-bit x86

• CentOS 7: 64 bit x86 and Arm

• Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus)

• Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) (This is what the library workstations and laptops run.)

• Linux Mint 18.3 and 19.1

• Rasperian (for the Raspberry Pi)

• Debian for Beagleboards

These distributions are being made available as a free library service to townspeople who might be interested in alternitive computer operating systems and might have trouble downloading the large CD and DVD rom image files.

The CD and DVD ISO image files are in folders under the Library_Public folder and can be copied to a thumb drive. The Ubuntu, Mint, and CentOS CD/DVD images can be burned onto CD/DVD-Rs (all of the public workstations have DVD burners).

The Ubuntu desktop CDs and Mint DVDs are also live CD/DVDs and there are also live CDs for CentOS. A live CD/DVD allows you to "test drive" the operating system without having to actually install it. That is, you can try out the system to see if it is something you might be interested in installing on your computer. All of the Linux operating systems can be installed side-by-side with a prio MS-Windows install as well as completely replacing MS-Windows. It is also possible to install something called WINE which will run most MS-Windows programs under Linux and with modern PCs it is also possible to install a virtual machine package which allows creating virtual machines running other operating systems (such as MS-Windows or other versions of Linux).

It is also possible to install CentOS or Ubuntu on a machine that can be booted from the network via PXE at the library. Let me know if you are interested and/or need help with that.

For more information contact Robert Heller, the Library's IT guy.

• E-Mail:
• Telephone: 978-544-6933

Addendum: local software mirror

There is a locally available mirror the Linux distributions and repositories available at the URL mirror.wendellfreelibrary.org. This site is only available from the Library's network -- you have to be at the library on the library's WiFi to access this.