[Gllug] What's so good about Debian?

[Ian Norton]

Debian is 'i think' the oldest of the linux distros, it is run by some very
quality obsessed people, apps only really get into the stable release from
testing when they really are stable :-)

if you have totally bog standard hardware, then debian is very quick to
install, frequently all you need is the arrow keys and enter,

there is a learning curve, i think its more that it feels a little more down
and dirty than other distros, but once you get the hang of it, you will like it
alot, 

i found, that in redhat / mdk once i got the hang of rpm, things were quite
easy to figure out, with debian, once you get the hang of apt (not dselect -
thats horrible imo) then you will wonder whay redhat doesnt use it aswell.

one little example, say, on a machine you wanted to upgrade to
the most recent version of mozilla in the distro

for debian it is usually like this ..

%> apt-get update
# wait a few secs
%> apt-get install mozilla-browser
# apt asks if you are sure?
# wait a few more (dload time etc)
# apt will also get the dependancies and install them

all done,

there arent too many GUI config tools for system stuff under debian, that is
what puts most ppl off, that and not much hardware detection when you install

Ian




On Thu, Oct 09, 2003 at 10:50:51AM +0100, Richard Jones wrote:
> Debian has a very steep learning curve. Indeed the installation
> process is rumoured to be so complex and unfriendly to keep the oiks
> out (this could be an urban myth!). But once you get it installed:
> 
> * Apt and dpkg are a great packaging system. It's really very well
>   thought out. It also does proper dependency analysis, which is a big
>   win over Red Hat < Fedora.
> 
> * Apt contains every possible package you're ever likely to use, so you
>   will rarely if ever need to install from source.
> 
> * The Debian policy means that all applications work the same. eg. They
>   all have their installation files under /etc/<appname> and they all
>   put their user binaries in /usr/bin and so on. This is much cleaner
>   and also means you don't need to go searching for a configuration file,
>   log file or documentation.
> 
> * Same stuff works on my i386 and Sparc boxen, because Debian doesn't
>   favour one architecture over any other.
> 
> * I can put 'stable' on my servers for peace of mind, and have the
>   excitement of 'testing' or 'unstable' on my desktop machines. There
>   are three branches of Debian: stable, which is old, but tracks
>   all security fixes, so it "just works"; testing, which is new stuff;
>   unstable, which is stuff which hasn't been widely used or tested, and
>   so might break things.
> 
> * You'll never have to reinstall again, because you can keep tracking
>   stable/testing.
> 
> Tip for easier installation: Spend a few quid and buy some CDs from
> the Linux Emporium.
> 
> Rich.
> 
> -- 
> Richard Jones. http://www.annexia.org/ http://freshmeat.net/users/rwmj
> Merjis Ltd. http://www.merjis.com/ - all your business data are belong to you.
> PTHRLIB is a library for writing small, efficient and fast servers in C.
> HTTP, CGI, DBI, lightweight threads: http://www.annexia.org/freeware/pthrlib/
> 
> -- 
> Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at linux.co.uk
> http://list.ftech.net/mailman/listinfo/gllug

-- 
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GCS dpu s--: a-- C++++ UL++ P+++ L+++ E--- W-- N+ o K w---
O M-- V-- PS++ PE-- Y+ PGP+ t+++ 5++ X++ R+++ !tv b DI D----
G++ e+ h++ r++ y+++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
----- Message of the Hour ------
Moooo :-)

-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at linux.co.uk
http://list.ftech.net/mailman/listinfo/gllug