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  5. Ubuntu vs Yocto

Ubuntu vs Yocto

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Yocto
Yocto
Stacks70
Followers65
Votes0
Ubuntu
Ubuntu
Stacks80.4K
Followers59.1K
Votes468

Ubuntu vs Yocto: What are the differences?

  1. Installation Method: Ubuntu is a complete operating system that can be installed on a computer, while Yocto is a tool for building custom Linux distributions from scratch. Ubuntu is installed as a pre-built image, making it more accessible to beginner users, while Yocto requires more technical knowledge to build a customized system.
  2. Target Audience: Ubuntu is designed for general desktop and server use, providing a user-friendly environment with a wide range of pre-installed applications. In contrast, Yocto is targeted towards embedded systems and IoT devices, allowing for minimalistic and optimized builds tailored to specific hardware requirements.
  3. Customization Options: Ubuntu provides limited customization options beyond selecting packages during installation, as it comes with a predetermined set of features and applications. On the other hand, Yocto offers extensive customization capabilities, allowing users to tailor their Linux distribution to meet specific project requirements and constraints.
  4. Community Support: Ubuntu has a large and active community of users and developers, providing extensive documentation, tutorials, and forums for troubleshooting and assistance. Yocto also has a supportive community, but it is more specialized towards embedded systems development, offering resources specific to custom Linux builds and embedded applications.
  5. Documentation and Learning Curve: Ubuntu has comprehensive documentation and resources aimed at helping users of all levels navigate the operating system, making it easy for beginners to get started. Yocto, on the other hand, has a steeper learning curve due to its complexity and specific focus on custom embedded systems, requiring users to invest time in understanding its tools and workflows.
  6. Maintenance and Updates: Ubuntu offers regular updates and security patches through its package management system, ensuring the operating system stays up-to-date and secure. Yocto, being a build tool, requires users to actively manage and maintain their custom Linux distribution, applying updates and patches manually to keep the system secure and functional.

In Summary, Ubuntu and Yocto differ in installation method, target audience, customization options, community support, documentation, learning curve, and maintenance and updates.

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Advice on Yocto, Ubuntu

Jerome/Zen
Jerome/Zen

Software Engineer

Aug 2, 2020

Decided

Global familiarity, free, widely used, and as a debian distro feels more comfortable when rapidly switching between local macOS and remote command lines.

CentOS does boast quite a few security/stability improvements, however as a RHEL-based distro, differs quite significantly in the command line and suffers from slightly less frequent package updates. (Could be a good or bad thing depending on your use-case and if it is public facing)

271k views271k
Comments
Simon
Simon

Developer Advocate at k6 / Load Impact

Mar 7, 2020

Decided

At the moment of the decision, my desktop was the primary place I did work. Due to this, I can't have it blow up on me while I work. While Arch is interesting and powerful, Ubuntu offers (at least for me) a lot more stability and lets me focus on other things than maintaining my own OS installation.

299k views299k
Comments
Govind
Govind

Aug 5, 2020

Decided

Ubuntu is much more faster over Windows and helps to get software and other utilities easier and within a short span of time compared to Windows.

Ubuntu helps to get robustness and resiliency over Windows. Ubuntu runs faster than Windows on every computer that I have ever tested. LibreOffice (Ubuntu's default office suite) runs much faster than Microsoft Office on every computer that I have ever tested.

270k views270k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Yocto
Yocto
Ubuntu
Ubuntu

It is an open source collaboration project that helps developers create custom Linux-based systems regardless of the hardware architecture. It provides a flexible set of tools and a space where embedded developers worldwide can share technologies, software stacks, configurations, and best practices that can be used to create tailored Linux images for embedded and IOT devices, or anywhere a customized Linux OS is needed.

Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. The Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the world of computers.

Open source embedded Linux build system; package metadata; SDK generator;
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Statistics
Stacks
70
Stacks
80.4K
Followers
65
Followers
59.1K
Votes
0
Votes
468
Pros & Cons
No community feedback yet
Pros
  • 230
    Free to use
  • 96
    Easy setup for testing discord bot
  • 57
    Gateway Linux Distro
  • 54
    Simple interface
  • 9
    Don't need driver installation in most cases
Cons
  • 5
    Demanding system requirements
  • 4
    Adds overhead and unnecessary complexity over Debian
  • 2
    Snapd installed by default
  • 1
    Systemd
Integrations
Jenkins
Jenkins
Eclipse
Eclipse
No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Yocto, Ubuntu?

Debian

Debian

Debian systems currently use the Linux kernel or the FreeBSD kernel. Linux is a piece of software started by Linus Torvalds and supported by thousands of programmers worldwide. FreeBSD is an operating system including a kernel and other software.

Arch Linux

Arch Linux

A lightweight and flexible Linux distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.

Fedora

Fedora

Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that provides users with access to the latest free and open source software, in a stable, secure and easy to manage form. Fedora is the largest of many free software creations of the Fedora Project. Because of its predominance, the word "Fedora" is often used interchangeably to mean both the Fedora Project and the Fedora operating system.

AWS CloudFormation

AWS CloudFormation

You can use AWS CloudFormation’s sample templates or create your own templates to describe the AWS resources, and any associated dependencies or runtime parameters, required to run your application. You don’t need to figure out the order in which AWS services need to be provisioned or the subtleties of how to make those dependencies work.

Linux Mint

Linux Mint

The purpose of Linux Mint is to produce a modern, elegant and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use.

CentOS

CentOS

The CentOS Project is a community-driven free software effort focused on delivering a robust open source ecosystem. For users, we offer a consistent manageable platform that suits a wide variety of deployments. For open source communities, we offer a solid, predictable base to build upon, along with extensive resources to build, test, release, and maintain their code.

Linux

Linux

A clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance.

CoreOS

CoreOS

It is designed for security, consistency, and reliability. Instead of installing packages via yum or apt, it uses Linux containers to manage your services at a higher level of abstraction. A single service's code and all dependencies are packaged within a container that can be run on one or many machines.

Packer

Packer

Packer automates the creation of any type of machine image. It embraces modern configuration management by encouraging you to use automated scripts to install and configure the software within your Packer-made images.

Gentoo Linux

Gentoo Linux

It is a free operating system based on either Linux or FreeBSD that can be automatically optimized and customized for just about any application or need.

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