Debian?

[adrenaline]

I am seriously looking into Debian. I have a couple of questions:

1) Can debian do everything on a laptop, meaning will I have to sacrifice anything like wireless? DVD's? I have a poplular laptop (toshiba)

2) Is unstable more versitile that stable? Can I do more with it? what is the latest version now? and where do I get it?

3) Does it rock?

Please can someone point me in the right direction? I am also looking into Gentoo unless someone can talk me out of it.

thanks

[sl4ck3r]

well, let me answer number 3 first ---- Heck Yeah it Rocks!

number one - yes debian can do all that, any distro of linux will do that, you just have to have the right stuff installed

number two - unstable is just that, unstable. it isnt any more versatile than stable. packages get put in unstable for 10 days and then they get moved to stable (i think it is 10 days, could be longer)

back to number three - i have used many a distro and have always stuck with debian. it is extremely easy to update and maintain, has outstanding community support, and is rock steady

good luck!

[adrenaline]

Can you tell me where to get the latest and greatest version?

[lordnothing]

my first guess would be http://debian.org

[sl4ck3r]

i suggest the debian installer http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

grab the one for your architecture (i386 usually) from the "netinst CD image, with Debian base" section. it installs sarge which is the testing release. sarge is also about to become the next stable release replacing woody

good luck