Introduction to Debian

[vmlinuz] writes "SitePoint has an article that I wrote that introduces Debian and has guidelines on installing it. This could be usefull for managers, new users and other people that may be interested in using Debian." And honestly, who among us isn't interested in using the obviously superior Linux Distribution against which there can be no other contenders? (Oh dear god don't flame me! It's a joke people!)

Comments

I thought the beauty of open source was...

[zubernerd]

to quote the article: "There is a distinct possibility that some Linux vendors may close up shop, change their business direction or adjust their practices in some other way. Thus, the distribution you use today may not be around in 10 years. "
I thought the beauty of open source was that even if the original author (be it a natural person(s) or a company) decides to no longer support a project that the source is there for you to look at and provide your own support.

Superior Linux Distribution

[Anonymous Coward]

And honestly, who among us isn't interested in using the obviously superior Linux Distribution against which there can be no other contenders? (Oh dear god don't flame me! It's a joke people!)

Well if debian could get their installer and hardware detection right I don't know how far off that statement would be :-) Debian just needs to get over the fear of anything new, such as anything graphical. Judging by unstable it looks like they are moving in the right direction.

Re:On a similar note,

[Anonymous Coward]

And yes, I am aware of the other debian-based distros that are more up to date, but they're all (to my knowledge) pay distros, and I am looking for something cheap/free

There's always Gentoo :)

Re:Installer

[Tyler Eaves]

Almost right.

The install is fine.

It's dselect that sucks.

Installer, unstable and a bunch of whiners

[j-kjaer]

I've been using Debian GNU/Linux (unstable) for the last 3-4 years and it runs perfectly stable. I update my system almost every day without dependency problems - I have never reinstalled the system from scratch since the package managment (dpkg/apt-get, whatever) takes care of my system and doesn't mess up anything.

The old Debian installer is somewhat technical, but who doesn't like that? I find the old installer much more easy to use than Windows XP's setup. If the only reason for hating Debian is the (soon to be deprecated) text mode installer, you really should just run away.

Debian is the superior distribution!

Re:Installer

[Gsus411]

What is wrong about the Debian installer? It's straightforward without any of the annoying frills. It is very functional. Someone scared of the text based installer?

Re:The first person to mention

[saden1]

Sorry but Debian installation is a pain in the ass. The average user can't install it.

If you can't f'ing install it you can't evaluate its superiority. Mandrake is by far the easiest distro to install. Until Debian is as easy to install I don't think it will ever get bigger Linux market share. If you want to give a taste of Debian to average user your best bet is to give them a Lindows CD.

Re:Installer

[peeping_Thomist]

What is wrong about the Debian installer?

Recently I had to install GNU/Linux on a laptop, and had no idea what was inside it. I could have spent a lot of time trying to find out, but instead I slipped in a Knoppix cd, completed the installation in about 15 minutes, and had a working Debian box. If I'd had to use the Debian installer, it might have taken hours.

Re:The first person to mention

[ax_42]

Sorry but Debian installation is a pain in the ass. The average user can't install it.

a) That is an (old) prejudice, the Debian install is pretty easy by now (including the tasklist --- if you want X, then click "X-Windows".

b) "Pain in the ass" to the average user means full control for me. Debian will give you a tight, small system by default. The amount of software that Mandrake tries to call a "basic install" is scary.

c) Debian will give you a very happy text-only system if necessary. Again, this may be a pain in the ass for the "average user" but I prefer the command line, thanks.

What I love about Debian is that you can start with a very basic install which I can expand as much or as little as I want. Painlessly. For example, I can take my console only system, type "apt-get install gimp" and have all required libraries etc installed automatically (and working).

Mandrake is about the lowest common denominator, Debian is about control.

Looking at it the wrong way

[Copid]

When it comes to new Linux users, the install is the last thing you want them to have to worry about. Installing Linux is the hardest way to learn unless you're a serious gearhead. When I want to teach somebody Linux, I frequently choose Debian as the tool of choice to begin with. Here's why:

1) I do the install and get the hardware working. Even Mandrake can screw up on some hardware, and if you don't even know how to edit text files, you're not going to be able to recover. Most people learn an OS that's pre-installed for them. Why not Linux?

2) They don't have to stress about packaged depends. It's taken care of in a very simple, powerful, and elegant way. I've been using APT for years now, and I still learn something new about cool ways to use it almost weekly.

3) Packages aren't broken "out of the box" as they frequently are in RH or Mandrake. Users can use a subset of the utilities and get used to them rather than searching for which text editor crashes the least.

4) The rules on how packages behave are standardized, and file location/behavior is very predictable. Good for people to learn about good UNIX directory structure use.

5) Things work and configure properly on their own, but you can hand-tune text config files without breaking some bizarre mother configuration script that depends on it being the only thing that ever edits the files.

Once the user gets used to the shell, the directory structure, and basic system management, we talk about the installation process, and they can ususally basically handle it on their own. I learned Linux through the "trial by fire" of installing it wihtout even knowing how to use the text editors. It was painful and it took forever. No matter how pretty a face you put on the installer, you can't get around the fact that OS installs are usually not for beginners. Better to make the system self-consistent and manageable than to allow the user to easily install an OS himself that he has no hope of properly managing for himself.