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: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: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.