Hi,

I heard than Debian uses only stable versions of packages.
This raises a doubt on me. Will I be able to install most of the packages (which uses libraries like libgtk, libglade) on Debian. Since most of the packages uses newer versions of libraries and Debian uses stable (thus old) releases, I don't think most of lthe softwares will be installed completely.

As an example,
If I am about to install Anjuta, and if requires gtk version > 2.2 and if Debian has gtk+2.0 only, then isn't it a great problem.

To my opinion when I tried to install Debian I end up with package install problems, thus I have never got my hands wet with Debian. I am a RH8 user (currently) and going to switch to Debian sooner.

Please fill my doubts.

Thank you

Debian has 3 versions:
Stable - packages 6-18 months old. Numerous patches and security patches applied. Stable but crusty! Good for server installs
Testing - packages 3-6 months old. Pre-stable 'staging' version
Unstable - latest and greatest packages. Whoohooo!

This site is good for showing what the current packages are:
http://www.distrowatch.com - also good for news and all distro information

My advice is install stable then switch to unstable. Change all references of 'stable' to 'unstable' in the sources.list file and then simply 'apt-get update' and 'apt-get dist upgrade'. I run unstable and rarely have had any issues. I upgrade all my packages about once a month to keep everything fresh.

I too started on RedHat and then tried Mandrake, Slackware, Gentoo and Debian. My thoughts:
Mandrake - good noobie distro, easy install, very much like Red Hat. RPM based, ugh!
Slackware - very stable distro. Upgrading can be a bear!
Gentoo - very promising but not stable. I clobbered my init scripts when doing package upgrades. Install takes forever even with broadband!
Debian - awesome package system! Install once and upgrade away! The package scripts even make menu entries for you. Slackware users can appreciate this. Stable for servers/unstable for desktops

I would of stayed with Slackware if it weren't for the package system. Botom line is, know your hardware and what drivers are needed. Good luck!

Ok. But I can affort to have an internet connection. Are they distributing unstable version in CDs or any ISO images available?

Your replies will be very useful for me?

Thanx

{edit}

I browsed debian.org, but unable to find the link to ISO images of unstable version.
Another query?

You are saying that unstable version of debian includes lots of NEWER version of packages. But unstable in debian is equivalent to latest stable in packages. Is there any version that ships latest beta (unstable) version of packages?

For example, anjuta latest unstable release is 1.1.1 (GNOME2 port)
But in debian unstable packages list it is 1.0.2 (Not a GNOME2 port)

No, I don't think so, at least I've never seen them.

There may be a backport of Anjuta which will work with stable woody? There is for the latest KDE, even though it's not in the stable branch. You'll have to try google.

Knoppix is "I believe" Debian Unstable. That is what I have heard. I did the harddrive install here at work.

I just apt-get Anjuta and it installed fine.

Dave

Knoppix is a mix of testing/unstable. Most of it seems to be unstable though.