<s>
BioLinux	B-Application
is	O
a	O
term	O
used	O
in	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
projects	O
involved	O
in	O
making	O
access	O
to	O
bioinformatics	O
software	O
on	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
platform	O
easier	O
using	O
one	O
or	O
more	O
of	O
the	O
following	O
methods	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
now	O
various	O
projects	O
with	O
similar	O
aims	O
,	O
on	O
both	O
Linux	B-Application
systems	O
and	O
other	O
Unices	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
selection	O
of	O
these	O
are	O
given	O
below	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
is	O
also	O
an	O
overview	O
in	O
the	O
Canadian	O
Bioinformatics	O
Helpdesk	O
Newsletter	O
that	O
details	O
some	O
of	O
the	O
Linux-based	O
projects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
Linux	B-Application
packages	O
are	O
compatible	O
with	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
and	O
there	O
are	O
several	O
projects	O
which	O
attempt	O
to	O
make	O
it	O
easy	O
to	O
install	O
selected	O
Linux	B-Application
packages	O
(	O
including	O
bioinformatics	O
software	O
)	O
on	O
a	O
computer	O
running	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
contain	O
more	O
than	O
3,770	O
packages	O
for	O
Arch	O
Linux	B-Application
and	O
Arch	O
Linux	B-Application
based	O
distribution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Debian	O
is	O
another	O
very	O
popular	O
Linux	B-Application
distribution	I-Application
in	O
use	O
in	O
many	O
academic	O
institutions	O
,	O
and	O
some	O
bioinformaticians	O
have	O
made	O
their	O
own	O
software	O
packages	O
available	O
for	O
this	O
distribution	O
in	O
the	O
deb	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Package	O
repositories	O
are	O
generally	O
specific	O
to	O
the	O
distribution	O
of	O
Linux	B-Application
the	O
bioinformatician	O
is	O
using	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
number	O
of	O
Linux	B-Application
variants	O
are	O
prevalent	O
in	O
bioinformatics	O
work	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
users	O
of	O
bioinformatics	O
applications	O
have	O
produced	O
RPMs	B-Application
(	O
Red	O
Hat	O
's	O
package	O
format	O
)	O
designed	O
to	O
work	O
with	O
Fedora	O
,	O
which	O
you	O
can	O
potentially	O
also	O
install	O
on	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Enterprise	O
Linux	B-Application
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
distributions	O
such	O
as	O
Mandriva	O
and	O
SUSE	O
use	O
RPMs	B-Application
,	O
so	O
these	O
packages	O
may	O
also	O
work	O
on	O
these	O
distributions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Slackware	B-Application
is	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
less	O
used	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
popular	O
with	O
those	O
who	O
have	O
better	O
knowledge	O
of	O
the	O
Linux	B-Application
operating	I-Application
system	I-Application
and	O
who	O
prefer	O
the	O
command	O
line	O
over	O
the	O
various	O
GUIs	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
most	O
widely	O
known	O
live	O
distribution	O
based	O
on	O
Slackware	B-Application
is	O
Slax	O
and	O
it	O
has	O
been	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
base	O
for	O
many	O
of	O
the	O
bioinformatics	O
distributions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Live	O
DVDs	O
or	O
CDs	B-Device
are	O
not	O
an	O
ideal	O
way	O
to	O
provide	O
bioinformatics	O
computing	O
,	O
as	O
they	O
run	O
from	O
a	O
CD/DVD	O
drive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
they	O
can	O
be	O
suitable	O
for	O
providing	O
ad	O
hoc	O
solutions	O
where	O
no	O
other	O
Linux	B-Application
access	O
is	O
available	O
,	O
and	O
may	O
even	O
be	O
used	O
as	O
the	O
basis	O
for	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
installation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
general	O
,	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	I-Application
have	O
a	O
wide	O
range	O
of	O
official	O
packages	O
available	O
,	O
but	O
this	O
does	O
not	O
usually	O
include	O
much	O
in	O
the	O
way	O
of	O
scientific	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gentoo	B-Application
Linux	I-Application
provides	O
over	O
156	O
bioinformatics	O
applications	O
(	O
see	O
)	O
in	O
the	O
form	O
of	O
ebuilds	O
,	O
which	O
build	O
the	O
applications	O
from	O
source	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
a	O
very	O
flexible	O
system	O
with	O
excellent	O
community	O
support	O
,	O
the	O
requirement	O
to	O
install	O
from	O
source	O
means	O
that	O
Gentoo	B-Application
systems	O
are	O
often	O
slow	O
to	O
install	O
,	O
and	O
require	O
considerable	O
maintenance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FreeBSD	B-Operating_System
is	O
not	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
distribution	I-Application
,	O
but	O
a	O
version	O
of	O
Unix	B-Operating_System
that	O
it	O
is	O
very	O
similar	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
ports	B-Application
are	O
analogous	O
Gentoo	B-Application
's	O
ebuilds	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
the	O
project	O
continuously	O
builds	O
pre-compiled	O
binary	O
packages	O
for	O
Tier-1	O
platforms	O
such	O
as	O
x86	B-Operating_System
and	O
ARM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
build-from-source	O
option	O
also	O
allows	O
the	O
ports	B-Application
system	I-Application
to	O
automate	O
installation	O
of	O
software	O
with	O
a	O
license	O
that	O
does	O
not	O
permit	O
redistribution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ports	B-Application
collection	I-Application
contains	O
over	O
31,000	O
ports	B-Application
,	O
of	O
which	O
over	O
2,200	O
are	O
in	O
scientific	O
categories	O
,	O
and	O
over	O
240	O
are	O
biology-related	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
New	O
ports	B-Application
and	O
updates	O
are	O
listed	O
on	O
the	O
Fresh	O
Ports	B-Application
site	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
pkgsrc	B-Application
package	O
manager	O
,	O
originally	O
forked	O
from	O
FreeBSD	B-Application
ports	I-Application
,	O
is	O
maintained	O
by	O
the	O
NetBSD	B-Device
project	O
,	O
but	O
aims	O
to	O
support	O
all	O
POSIX-compatible	O
operating	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
well-tested	O
on	O
NetBSD	B-Device
,	O
many	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	I-Application
,	O
macOS	B-Application
,	O
and	O
SunOS	B-Operating_System
derivatives	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Like	O
FreeBSD	B-Application
ports	I-Application
,	O
pre-compiled	O
binary	O
packages	O
are	O
maintained	O
for	O
some	O
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
pkgsrc	B-Application
collection	O
contains	O
over	O
19,000	O
packages	O
,	O
of	O
which	O
nearly	O
800	O
are	O
in	O
scientific	O
categories	O
,	O
and	O
over	O
60	O
are	O
biology-related	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NEBC	O
Bio-Linux	O
packages	O
can	O
also	O
be	O
installed	O
on	O
a	O
standard	O
Debian	O
system	O
as	O
long	O
as	O
the	O
bio-linux-base	O
package	O
is	O
also	O
installed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Debian	O
packages	O
may	O
also	O
work	O
on	O
Ubuntu	B-Operating_System
Linux	I-Operating_System
or	O
other	O
Debian-derived	O
installations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Providing	O
support	O
and	O
documentation	O
should	O
be	O
an	O
important	O
part	O
of	O
any	O
BioLinux	B-Application
project	O
,	O
so	O
that	O
scientists	O
who	O
are	O
not	O
IT	O
specialists	O
may	O
quickly	O
find	O
answers	O
to	O
their	O
specific	O
problems	O
.	O
</s>
