I have been looking at Linux Mint Debian Edition, because for the first time in years I'm interested in distro-hopping; and so I am reading that LMDE uses Debian's package base rather than Ubuntu's--that's the difference. Of course I know what a package is, but it seems that after fifteen years of daily Linux use, I still can't define a package base. My instincts say it's something so obvious that I probably know what it is but can't put it into words--I've never needed to.

Basic research isn't telling me yet--perfectly many explanations of what packages are, but not package bases.

Yep, it's easy. LMDE uses Debian package repositories rather than Ubuntu's. And packages in LMDE own repositories (they're not many) are built on Debian rather than on Ubuntu.

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Thanks, that's honestly what I thought. Practically, Debian package repositorities instead of Ubuntu.