All of the projects in Linux Toys II have been tested and run on Fedora Core, the communitydriven Linux system sponsored by Red Hat, Inc. In cases where you are constructing a selfcontained project (such as eMoviX where the result includes an operating system on a disk), the procedure for putting together the software side of those projects is done on Fedora Core. However, if you have another Linux operating system installed, most of the projects can be adapted to run in those systems. Because the Linux Toys II CD includes a version of Damn Small Linux, there are some aspects of the Linux Toys II projects you can do without having a Linux system installed at all. For example, the “Customizing a Live Linux Pen Drive” project (Chapter 6) can be done directly from a booted Linux Toys II CD, regardless of what operating system is installed on your hard disk. Choosing which Linux distribution to install is, for some people, almost a religious matter. Most long-term Linux enthusiasts will try out many different Linux distributions. For example, a Linux person might use Red Hat Enterprise Linux or SUSE at work, Debian or Fedora Core for a small office server, and Gentoo or Slackware for their personal use. Because most major open source software components are available for the major distributions, people will choose a Linux distribution for reasons other than what they can run with it. Different Linux distributions offer different approaches to software packaging, different quality levels of testing, and communities with very different personalities.
