|
Home > Archive > Linux Debian support > February 2005 > How's Debian compare to others?
You are viewing an archived Text-only version of the thread.
To view this thread in it's original format and/or if you want to reply to
this thread please [click here]
| Author |
How's Debian compare to others?
|
|
| Adrian Hoe 2005-01-31, 5:45 pm |
| Hello,
I've been a Linux user since 1998. I started with Red Hat. But I didn't
like it and I switched to Caldera. Then I switched to SuSE after
Caldera was acquired by SCO. I pretty like SuSE though but I heard of
better distro from friends. I tried Gentoo but I did not succeed to
install one. :-(
Now, I heard about Debian and wanted to try Debian. I am especially
keen in the upgrading feature in Debian which allow users to upgrade to
newer version without installing the entire system again. Is it so? Is
there any drawbacks?
I'm a software developer and I use GCC and GNAT (Ada) heavily. Is
Debian a better platform for development?
I have seen a lot of RPM packages around the NET but I seldom come
across any DEB packages. Perhaps I have overlook or not interested at
it before. Will I have difficulties getting software for Debian?
Exactly, what kind of distro is Debian? Binary-based or source-based
(like Gentoo)?
What will be the benefit for me to switch from SuSE to Debian?
Does it come with DVD?
Is there any screenshots of Debian Desktop?
Thanks.
--
Adrian Hoe
| |
| Jim Bowering 2005-01-31, 5:45 pm |
| Adrian Hoe wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've been a Linux user since 1998. I started with Red Hat. But I didn't
> like it and I switched to Caldera. Then I switched to SuSE after
> Caldera was acquired by SCO. I pretty like SuSE though but I heard of
> better distro from friends. I tried Gentoo but I did not succeed to
> install one. :-(
Most of the people here have sampled different distributions. Everyone has
had better luck with some and worse with others.
> Now, I heard about Debian and wanted to try Debian. I am especially
> keen in the upgrading feature in Debian which allow users to upgrade to
> newer version without installing the entire system again. Is it so? Is
> there any drawbacks?
It is so. The drawback is you forfeit the fun of installing.-)
> I'm a software developer and I use GCC and GNAT (Ada) heavily. Is
> Debian a better platform for development?
I'm not a software developer.
> I have seen a lot of RPM packages around the NET but I seldom come
> across any DEB packages. Perhaps I have overlook or not interested at
> it before. Will I have difficulties getting software for Debian?
Once you get used to the Debian repositories and apt-get, you might stop
searching the net first and start using apt-get first.
> Exactly, what kind of distro is Debian? Binary-based or source-based
> (like Gentoo)?
It's and old distro, but it's still cute.
> What will be the benefit for me to switch from SuSE to Debian?
> Does it come with DVD?
> Is there any screenshots of Debian Desktop?
debatable, possibly and certainly.
> Thanks.
> --
> Adrian Hoe
--
OS squared: open software times open standards.
| |
| Jorey Bump 2005-01-31, 5:45 pm |
| "Adrian Hoe" <byhoe@greenlime.com> wrote in news:1107181856.768808.38980
@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
> Now, I heard about Debian and wanted to try Debian. I am especially
> keen in the upgrading feature in Debian which allow users to upgrade to
> newer version without installing the entire system again. Is it so? Is
> there any drawbacks?
I don't like upgrading to a new major version with any operating system.
I find I get better results with a fresh installation, then copying
important data back as I need it. I have upgraded from Woody to Sarge or
Sid. Sometimes it went smoothly, sometimes it didn't. This isn't a fair
review, because neither are stable at this time. In any case, it's very
dependent on your hardware and the applications you use. Support,
features and options can change significantly.
> I'm a software developer and I use GCC and GNAT (Ada) heavily. Is
> Debian a better platform for development?
If you're the developer, it's not bad. If you admin the machine for a
group of developers, it sucks. The reason is that Debian breaks out
headers and other development code into development packages. This is a
brilliant way for a binary distribution to reduce disk space demands and
improve security, but it may take a while to track down all of the
dependencies necessary to compile an application. I find that Slackware
offers a better development environment.
> I have seen a lot of RPM packages around the NET but I seldom come
> across any DEB packages. Perhaps I have overlook or not interested at
> it before. Will I have difficulties getting software for Debian?
Quite the opposite. Few people offer separate packages for Debian because
it maintains an enormous repository of software, already, possibly the
largest of any distribution. Most applications are a simple apt-get away.
Debian has the best and most stable packaging system available. There are
notable exceptions due to licensing or philosophical issues (Sun's Java,
for example).
> Exactly, what kind of distro is Debian? Binary-based or source-based
> (like Gentoo)?
Debian is a binary distribution that also has good support for compiling
and installing source packages.
> What will be the benefit for me to switch from SuSE to Debian?
It's free, in the truest sense of the word. After that, it's really up to
you to decide. I like Debian Woody because it's super stable, secure, and
easy to maintain. I use it 24/7 for servers, and every day as a
workstation. I also use Slackware (more cutting edge, good for
development), OpenBSD (obscenely secure, pf is the best firewall around),
and, obviously, Windows (on which I can't survive without Cygwin). I
don't use Sarge or Sid anymore for production boxes, because they require
too much maintenance. I'm happy to wait for Sarge to become stable,
because it's not quite there, yet.
> Does it come with DVD?
If you mean can it play DVDs, a lot of multimedia support is provided by
third party packages due to patent or licensing restrictions. Sometimes
it's just a matter of adding the repository to your apt source. It
depends on your needs. You can't play most US encrypted DVDs on a stock
Debian machine.
> Is there any screenshots of Debian Desktop?
Screenshots don't matter. Download the Knoppix live CD if you want to see
what kind of environment is *possible* with Debian. Unlike some other
distributions, Debian doesn't push you towards any specific desktop
environment or window manager, so everyone's desktop looks different.
| |
| thrillseeka 2005-01-31, 5:45 pm |
| On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 06:30:56 -0800, Adrian Hoe or one of his clones wrote:
> Now, I heard about Debian and wanted to try Debian. I am especially
> keen in the upgrading feature in Debian which allow users to upgrade to
> newer version without installing the entire system again. Is it so? Is
> there any drawbacks?
Oh yes! There are 3 versions of Debian: stable, testing and unstable
(there's also experimental). I've installad woody (stable) on my Intel P2,
then upgraded to sarge (testing) and now sid (unstable). No problems at
all.
> I have seen a lot of RPM packages around the NET but I seldom come
> across any DEB packages. Perhaps I have overlook or not interested at
> it before. Will I have difficulties getting software for Debian?
No, the world is full of debian's mirror (e.g. debian.fastweb.it)
> Exactly, what kind of distro is Debian? Binary-based or source-based
> (like Gentoo)?
Binary based, but there are some tools to build your package from scratch
> What will be the benefit for me to switch from SuSE to Debian?
IMO it's a different (and better) world.
> Does it come with DVD?
Unofficially.
> Is there any screenshots of Debian Desktop?
Send me an email (remove NOSPAM). I will send you screenshot of my desktop
(gnome 2.8)
> Thanks.
Sorry for my english, i'm Italian :D
--
Using Pan: A newsreader for GNOME
| |
| John Hasler 2005-01-31, 5:45 pm |
| Adrian Hoe wrote:
> I have seen a lot of RPM packages around the NET but I seldom come across
> any DEB packages. Perhaps I have overlook or not interested at it
> before. Will I have difficulties getting software for Debian?
No. You seldom see .deb packages "around the Net" because just about
everything is already in the Debian official archive. We have nearly 1000
developers and more than 10,000 packages in the Unstable archive.
--
John Hasler
| |
|
| On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 10:01:00 -0800, Jim Bowering
<iambat@otvcablelandot.net> wrote:
[vbcol=seagreen]
>Adrian Hoe wrote:
>Once you get used to the Debian repositories and apt-get, you might stop
>searching the net first and start using apt-get first.
The thing I like best about Debian is apt-get. You download and
install a package with a single command:
apt-get install packagename
If you're insterested in some specific package, it's more than likely
it will be on the repository.
Dan
| |
| laroygreen@yahoo.com 2005-02-01, 2:45 am |
| Dan wrote:
> On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 10:01:00 -0800, Jim Bowering
> <iambat@otvcablelandot.net> wrote:
>
>
at[vbcol=seagreen]
>
>
stop[vbcol=seagreen]
>
> The thing I like best about Debian is apt-get. You download and
> install a package with a single command:
>
> apt-get install packagename
>
> If you're insterested in some specific package, it's more than likely
> it will be on the repository.
>
> Dan
Well i'm a new debian user and this was also one of my major concerns,
butnow that i've been using it for about a month now i can honestly say
it
is so much easier to apt-cache search <package name> | grep <package
name>
or use synaptic. It turns out that as an rpm guy i visited rpm related
repositories such as pbhone, but as a deb guy i do the same, hardly see
a
rpm package at that! Also you don't have to worry about compatibility
such
as if a rpm was built for suse if it will work with mandrake because
the
format is pretty standard. Personally debian is the best distro for me
as
it has a equal balance of manual labour and autoconfiguration (not too
lazy as in mandrake, not too demanding as in slackware). You should
give
it a try 
|
|
|
|
|