I am trying to figure out what version of Linux would best suit my needs, and would like to know what gui's Debian runs, as well as it's customizability. Also, I am a game fanatic and would like to know how well Debian runs Windows games with wine.

Debian3.1 installs a Gnome interface by default, and installation should be fast and painless unless you have some incompatible hardware. It installs a minimal set of programs compared to say SusE10 Pro. It is therefore quite customisable and has 1000's of programs.

What Windows games and Windows versions did you have in mind??

Cheers

If you don't have much Linux experience, I suggest Ubuntu or Kubuntu. Ubuntu has the Gnome Desktop, and Kubuntu has the KDE desktop.

They are Debian based, and have all the same features as Debian, but are more geared towards newbies.

I hope this helps
--Ian

You could try:

http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

For your gaming concerns, you should spend some time browsing the forums at Transgaming.com, the makers of Cedega - formerly known as WineX (the fork of Wine). Bear in mind that gaming in Linux is not as simple as it is under Windows. I'm a huge fan of Linux, but I'm not sure that I'd recommend it if your only centre of interest is gaming... but if you're doing non-gaming stuff then go for it

I haven't had a Debian machine before but I use to have Ubuntu on my laptop. It was a nice little distro.

Now I'm looking to set up a web server for an intranet. Will Ubuntu support that? Or should I go with the regular Debian install?

Thanks

Debian's Desktop Workstation software suite loads BOTH Gnome and KDE by default. I use Debian on all of my systems, but I don't use Gnome. I prefer KDE.

With Debian, you can easily try out both Gnome and KDE, as well as any number of more lightweight desktop environments and window managers.

Ubuntu/Kubuntu is actually NOT Debian, nor is it truly Debian based, the way that the Debian based distributions are. Ubuntu/Kubuntu can't reliably use the Debian software repositories, nor is that one of the Ubuntu project's goals. Also, some things are done differently in Ubuntu for no good reason (like the way the root password is handled). There is a LOT of Debian documentation out there, but you can't reliably use this information for an Ubuntu system.

The tradeoff between Debian and Ubuntu is more or less:

Pro Debian - solid, stable, easy to maintain. Choices in desktop environment. More software availability (not just in the Debian repositories, but also .deb files out on the internet). Choices between three parallel software repositories--stable, testing, and unstable--so you can choose between the latest software or the most stable software

Pro Ubuntu - easier to set up. better hardware detection. more "stuff" installed by default. more up-to-date software (think more "unstable" then "Debian unstable").

Ubuntu's basic philosophy is to try and do just one thing and do it well. Debian's basic philosophy is to give many choices.

As a former Ubuntu-user (currently Debian-user, for the time being), I should point out that in Ubuntu, the Musicbrainz "tag-guess" function in amaroK does not work with MP3 files (a dialog box states that the file in question does not exist in the Musicbrainz database). The reason for this is that the package in question (libtunepimp) has been compiled without mp3-support. To amend this, you either have to compile it from source yourself, or get Debian package which hasn't been altered in this way.

It isn't too difficult to correct, but this is what made me want to try out pure Debian - "what else might they have changed?". On the other hand, the forums at ubuntu.com are the most useful distro-forums I've ever come across. In fact, I would quite like something similar for pure Debian.

Ok I'll go from my experiences. Debian really isn't hard, if you think about LFS (linux from scratch). Infact debian is petty and easy, so are most distrubutions once your past the initial install. Why I like debian? It's because it's easy enough, but you can do more complex things if you which. I'd say it's almost in the middle from 1-10 on easy. Though gentoo seems to be very close to it as well, and don't go blabbing me on about "oh no gentoo is hard". Cause really, I could re-compile everything on my system and use the package manager to remove the installed binary packages and STILL keep a "debian" based system with all the "advantages" of compiling. Yeah I probably have a little more experience than somebody looking for an easy system, but I started out knowing nothing when I first ran knoppix and then switched to debian. Really all you need to learn is that in debian apt-get is your friend and watch what it installs/uninstalls. Everything else from that is your decisions to do really (in the terms of adding software). Though there are pretty big differences from using stable/unstable, I use unstable and still say it's pretty easy.

Now the other huge question is games? I wouldn't really say to use cedega anymore, it's beccoming short lived now that wine is getting closer to it's goals. Wine can run probably anything cedega can, and with better stability and update abilities. And for installing linux games? Not to bad, I install onto a chroot that's linked in my userspace, so if I say that's easy than regular 32bit is pretty simple. For the most part all you really need is to make sure OpenGL works properly.

Now onto windows programs? As I said earlier I wouldn't recomend cedega? Yeah I did, and I'd say use wine for your windows apps just as well. Though I'd say use native dll's, and oddly enough I use dll's that the transgaming made. It's ironic because transgaming makes cedega. Anyways, that's my imput on debian, I love it, infact I'd say it's hella better than windows. Just because it's got a lot more options that a computer junkie can use. =D

i would say if you are a frequent gamer, then dont try it with linux, or at least dual boot. there is no way you are going to get the correct results in any linux distro with modern games. however if you just like to play some old skool games theres loads of great free ones available. also, old skool windows games tend to work absolutely fine under wine. classics like heroes III, battle isle and the like will be the ones that keep me entertained the most

oh, debian is great tho, so long as you're not afraid of the command line.

as far as I know it depends on wine and not so much on your distro since you can install wine on any distro...

Yep, he's right there for the most part. And earlier when the guy says stick to older games I laugh. I play CS on linux and have herd of HL2 running just fine. A lot of games actually run, despite what people say about it. And they run pretty well considering your running it on desktop it wasn't ment for. Most modern games should run with decent hardware and average stability. Now what decent hardware and average stability means is up to you. =P

Thanks for the help

Ubuntu, has all the latest stuff you might want like KDE 3.5 and its stable, kind of like a cross between sarge and sid

I run KDE 3.5 on my Debian laptop too (rock solid) - the Ubuntu packages are actually based on a snapshot of Debian unstable ('based on' being the operative phrase)