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Why would you recommend Debian over Ubuntu
I hear Debian is difficult to configure.
I have a del M90 laptop. Why would you recommend debian over ubuntu ? |
If you're a newbie, stick with Ubuntu ... The Ubuntu community has generated terrific newbie help resources and tends to have more and more non-free drivers and other kernel modules installed in their default distribution. There is enough foreignness in Linux for a Windows convert just getting it installed without adding the confusion of hardware configuration.
A somewhat experienced Linux user should move to Debian because it's the best and most stable installation possible without building the whole thing from scratch. As people become more familiar with Linux and the philosophy of FOSS, the issue of "free as in liberty" should become more important. Debian is the undisputed leader among the major distros in that arena. The testing environment (currently Etch) is more stable than new releases of any other distro, and the available binary package collection is in a league of its own. Debian users, while helpful, generally do not suffer fools nearly as gladly as Ubuntu, and you can expect a certain amount of impatience from them. RTFM and "google" recommendations are much more common. I'm fond of the saying, "Debian is the distro we move to, not from," and I do believe newbies should try another distro first. |
I'm no linux expert, but I have some familiarity with linux, been using it for 10 years as my main OS.
I have edited /etc/fstab; installed software via ./confugure ...; have set a couple of cron jobs, changed group permissions -- but nothing major. Think I'm ready for debian ? |
Debian isn't any harder than Ubuntu or any other distro. Follow the install guide for Etch and read the APT Howto and your good to go.
Reasons to Choose Debian Pretty much sums up why anyone should choose Debian. 20k ready to go packages in Etch is another good reason and almost 22k in Sid, more if you use experimental. Debian was one of the first distros I installed, played around with many others, but I have stayed with Debian for over 2 years. Nothing else even comes close. A few of useful Debian tutorial sites are: debiantutorials.org Has a nice Howto multimedia guide Debian Admin Debian Wiki Follow nVidia install guide here. Debian Linux Tutorial And of course the various documentation that Debian.org has available. Learning how to use Google:linux is the best way to find help. Very workable list of peoples /etc/apt/sources.list Post your source.list - LinuxQuestions.org http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=330913 Debian Configuration Post-Install - LinuxQuestions.org http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=224547 Debian IRC channel faq http://www.linuks.mine.nu/debian-faq-wiki/ Using all of the above and this forum should be more than enough information to allow anyone to install and start using Debian. |
Much thanks for that extensive list.
I was wondering if Ubuntu is a flavor of debian, with good hardware support built in, why would anyone go for "plain" debian ? |
Hi,
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The difference is not only the hardware support. You should also think at what cost you are having "good" hardware support. In my opinion it comes at the expense of 1. Stability (remember Ubuntu is based on sid - unstable branch of debian) 2. Freedom (some of the non-free drivers and/or software they use ) If you are experienced enough and can handle the unstable branch, you can get better h/w support and bleeding edge software with debian installing from sid. But most of the people who are using debian also value the freedom in using FOSS so they dont change to something which in their opinion compromises this freedom in some ways. Ubuntu is a great distro and if you like and feel comfortable with it, you should use it. Of course it gives more level of freedom than ms windows for that matter. Afterall, linux in general and FOSS is all about choice, so you should be able to choose what is good for you. regards, Hardik |
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They are applicable to any debian/debian based distribution. If you go with stright debian, then these are a valuable resource. |
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People often say how they came to Debian because of apt-get, or that apt is the killer app for Debian. But apt-get is not what makes the experience so great: apt-get is a feature readily reproduced (and, in my opinion, never equalled), by other distributions -- call it urpmi, apt4rpm, yum, or what have you. The differentiating factor is Debian policy, and the stringent package format QA process (look at things like apt-listchanges, apt-list-bugs, dpkg-builddeps, pbuilder, pbuilder-uml -- none of which could be implemented so readily lacking a policy (imagine listchangelog without a robust changelog format)). It is really really easy to install software on a Debian box.
Add to that the Debian QA team which does non maintainer uploads (NMUs), helps with bug cleanup, performs security updates, and ensure that there is someone looking at the system holistically, and working to create an integrated OS, as opposed to merely fixing individual packages in isolation That is what makes people swear by Debian. The Debian bug tracking system is a key to the quality of the distribution. Since releases are linked to the numbers of release critical bugs in the system, it ensure that the quality of the release is better than any proprietary UNIX I have run. The Release Manager is fairly ruthless about throwing out any non essential package with RC bugs if they do not get fixed -- or delaying the release if it is a critical package with the bug. Compared to commercial Linux distributions, Debian has far higher developer to package ratios. Added to the lack of business cycle driven deadlines, Debian tends to do things right, rather than do things to get a new version out in time for Christmas. Add to all the above Debian's Social Contract, and you have several reasons many people run Debian as opposed to a Debian based distro like Ubuntu. Use what works for you, many people like Ubuntu, I have tried it and personal I will stick with Debian. |
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For no reason. Eventhough I am crazy about debian, its everybody's choice...
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For me, Debian was around when I decided to try Linux several years ago and I'd heard about it before. I couldn't quite get it to work right then (Woody) but when I came back to it about a year ago, I decided to use what had worked for me before. Except this time everything worked right on install. (I tried to install Gentoo, but it froze on boot for some reason)
This summer, I tried to install ubuntu on my friend's computer and while the install worked well, it seemed like you had less control of the process as a whole, alot more of the options were decided for you. (Not necessarily a bad thing if you don't know whats going on) Also, its more like windows in that it comes with alot of preinstalled software that you aren't sure if you actually want or need. I guess you can't say that Debian is better than Ubuntu or vice versa because neither is always the BEST choice. Debian seems to be the choice if you want to actually Understand what is going on. Ubuntu is good if you just want a nice, simple computer experience. But don't quote me on any of that because I am by no means an expert. |
I came to Debian from Mandrake. Apart from the excellent reasons given above the real puller was Debian's freedom. In order to upgrade my Xfree86 in Mandriva I would have had to join the paid-for "club".
It's not the money, it's the fact that the company can impose any restrictions they like. I moved out of Windows to escape the MS tyranny. I don't plan to get caught again. Ubuntu could go the same way. Debian cannot. That said, I have to agree that Debian may be a little difficult for a newbie to handle so that a more "handholding" distro like Mandriva or Ubuntu may be more suitable initially. |
This question is meaningless.
I hate Ubuntu for many reasons but none of which may effect you. Try installing Debian. The "difficult to install" is based on old installers from Debian and not really valid anymore. Is you run into a hiccup, we would be happy to help you. But pondering a question like this will not result in an installed system. |
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