I feel better about Debian now

[hazel]

I've always sheared away from debian because I once had a bad experience trying to install it. But I'm getting a bit dissatisfied with Ubuntu. Although it's blissfully easy to use, it is big and complex and I can't understand how it all fits together. It's a bit like using Windows!

So I tried some "mini-linuxes". Puppy is very attractive but it sets my teeth on edge to be root all the time. dsl and dsl-n have a non-standard X-server that doesn't agree with my video card (shrunken desktop, weird colours, etc.) And dsl-n has more or less been abandoned by its creators and has poor repositories. I decided I needed something more "mainsteam". So I started to think cautiously about debian.

I went to their site and discovered something called "netinst". Basically you download a very small iso image which installs a skeleton debian system on your box and then you add the packages you want from the net. That sounded very much to my taste.

To my surprise, the installation went very smoothly. I chose to install "standard debian" but not the "desktop". I knew that meant gnome and I didn't want a second copy of that on my modest hard drive! So I am gradually building my own desktop. I started with xorg, fluxbox and the basic fonts packages recommended on the xorg site, and now I am adding in the apps. I try to use little ones that don't use the gnome libraries. Eventually, I hope to have a lean, mean system that might even replace my ageing Ubuntu Dapper.

[monday90]

I have to admit I have never really liked Ubuntu. A big part of that came from out of the box annoyances like no root access, awful colour scheme etc... I have never been a huge fan of Gnome either, I know there was Kubuntu and Xubuntu but these never really sold themselves to me either. I really liked Debian's package management though, having had nightmares with Yast and RPM it was refreshing to use Synaptic and Apt. I also really liked Portage but didn't enjoy the long compile times.

My main issue with Debian was getting all my hardware configured. Particularly webcams. When Mepis 7 was released (dropping its Ubuntu base) I found it does everything I need. I'm still playing with Debian and it is coming on in leaps and bounds (so am I) I have mainly used testing though as it is that bit more up to date.

[bigtomrodney]

I keep meaning to give Debian another shot. I have a lot of respect for it as a distro, I'm just less in the habit of changing distros these days.

That Iceweasel thing is a bit of a bugbear for me, and I've gotten lazy about manually loading drivers and firmware so that's held me back a bit but I would like to see the netinstall.

[oz]

...but I would like to see the netinstall.

It's been a few years since I last installed Debian, but the netinstall is definitely the way to go. It's quick and easy, or at least it always has been for me.

[monday90]

The Iceweasel thing has always irritated me but whats in a name?

[bigtomrodney]

The Iceweasel/IceCat thing has always irritated me but whats in a name?

I always thought that, and if it really was just that I'd be even more dissapointed in the uproar it has caused. Debian itself has trademarked logos after all...

My reason is that they disable also change some of the behaviour of the browser. Some of it is (or rather could be) for the better but they also remove proprietary or non-free plugins. While that may be a good thing to many I'd rather have the choice myself without having my arm twisted.

From wiki

Differences from Firefox
In addition to the fact that it is fully free software, as it removed the non-free artwork and the proprietary Talkback crash reporting system due to its non-free "binary only distribution" licensing (TalkBack was dropped on Firefox 3 however, replaced with an open-source crash reporter, Breakpad). The plugin finder service also offers only free plugins. Icecat also includes additional security features, such the option to block 3rd party zero-length image files resulting in 3rd party cookie, also known as web bugs (This feature is available in Firefox 1.0, 1.5, and 3.0, but the UI option was absent on 2.0). IceCat also provides warnings for URL redirection.

[gruven]

I installed my current Debian by using debootstrap from an ubuntu livecd since the debian install cd's do not support wireless.

I just booted up Ubuntu, put in my wpa key for my ralink wireless, installed debootstrap, and went along installing debian to my hard drive. It is a lot like a gentoo install, without the compiling.

I prefer debian because of the manually configuring things. Ubuntu won't let me use my own written conf files, even though some of the gui stuff doesn't work like I want, or do all that I want. It insists on writing over things, and I just don't like that. I hate network manager and don't use it, but Ubuntu prefers it.

It is just small stuff, but it really doesn't sit well with me, so I use Debian. I do put Ubuntu on family computers though because it is a great intro to Linux and it is very user friendly.