[Liverpool] LUG Meeting update - 7pm tonight @ LSC

[David Hughes]

> 
>     Alternatively, would something like 'proper' Debian be an option?
>     After all, half of the world of distros seem to be based on the thing.
> 
> 
> I considered Debian Squeeze. Need to check the support life cycle on it.
> It doesn't solve the problem of changing interfaces though. I don't
> think we can keep them on Gnome 2 as it's not supported any more. MATE
> might be an option with Mint. Some of the more modern software packages
> they use are more likely to be packaged and available on Ubuntu as well.

Actually, Debian Squeeze is still on Gnome 2.
They haven't officially announced an end of life date for it. The
Wikipedia article gives a clue, though: Lenny was released 2009-02-14,
and supported upto 2012-02-06, whereas Squeeze was released 2011-02-06
and so will presumably be supported until February 2014.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian#Releases

The only problem with Debian is that the software versions often feel
quite ancient; they're still on Firefox 3, for example. (Except that in
Debian, for some reason, they've rebadged Firefox as Iceweasel.
Similarly, Thunderbird is called Icedove. I can't remember why.)
If all they use the machines for is web browsing, word processing and
emailing, it may not be a problem, though. It's a bit more effort to set
up, but you end up installing less stuff that you're probably never
going to use, which is probably better for an older machine.

How about Debian testing with an LXDE desktop? (which is what I've got
on my laptop at the moment) Debian testing has alreaady been through one
phase of testing (unstable, aka Sid), so it's stable enough for everyday
use, the packages aren't ancient, and it works on a rolling release
model - i.e. you won't need to worry about having to upgrade to a newer
version a year or two down the line.
LXDE is quite intuitive and has low overheads, and - as far as I know -
is going to be around in its current form for the forseeable future.

Cheers,

David