What are your thoughts on etch?

[danbuter]

Just curious how everyone likes etch, now that it's been out for a month. Also, is there a big difference between it and Ubuntu? Thanks!

[IsaacKuo]

I'm very happy with Debian 4.0. Compared to Debian 3.1, I'm glad that plugging USB thumbdrives and inserting DVDs/CDs "just works". I'm glad that GNOME and KDE are able to shutdown KDM and GDM directly. Overall, there are a lot of little things which didn't fully work in 3.1 which just plain work in 4.0.

Debian 4.0 remains lean and efficient, even on very old hardware, which is important for me.

The best thing about Debian remains its extensive and properly maintained standard repositories.

[Zelmo]

I loved Etch while I used it. (I always use the "testing" release, so stopped using Etch once it because stable.) It was quite reliable even before the official release.

As far as how it compares to Ubuntu, it's been a while since I used Ubuntu, but as I recall Ubuntu had a lot of things (installed packages, settings, whatnot) pre-set to make things as easy as possible for as many people as possible right off the bat. Debian gives you more of a clean slate to begin with (kind of a generic feel), and you build it up any way you want to. This just requires that you already know how you want to build it up.

[bidi]

I was using Etch back when it was Testing and now I'm using Lenny (now that it's Testing). I find Testing best for desktop use, but use Stable for my NFS server! As for your question, I like Debian better than Ubuntu, it gives me a lot more control over what's in here, but then again that might not be what you consider better. Besides that, I find no differences between Debian and Ubuntu.

[netstrider]

Debian is my choice of OS, I like etch, however I also use some others but etch remains my "main distro". The netinstaller is particularly nice, since you get a base system and build it from there with apt via the repositories.

I find Debian faster than Ubuntu too, even if you strip all the unnecessary stuff from Ubuntu..I'm just happy with debian

[machiner]

I'm surprised 500 people haven't already chimed in with comments like:

Pfft -- who are you kidding, Etch rules.

There are certain things that we all know to do or not do: don't piss into the wind, sit up straight, look before crossing, want Linux? Use Debian.

Now -- onto you. Why do you care what we like? It's your box. Your time, your efforts. You like whatever you want to like -- for whatever reasons.

There was this thing in tech, probably still is, it was -- nobody ever got fired for buying Microsoft. Well, nobody ever gets bitten in the ass by running Debian.

[loopback]

machiner, your as rough as a cob. I guess that's what I love about you. You go boy!

Although I have Ubuntu 7.04 and Etch on two boxes, Etch is my main OS. I guess it's the fact that it's Debain. Plain and simple Debian. And that makes it my choice of distros.

In a few months, I might take the plunge and upgrade to Lenny. After all, I ran with Etch way before it was Stable and hadn't any problems.

But to get back to the main topic: Debian Etch rules!

[Juan Pablo]

I used it while it was on 'testing' and I like it very much but because of some strange reason I need a lot of control over my kernel in order to feel comfortable with a distro

[machiner]

machiner, your as rough as a cob. I guess that's what I love about you. You go boy!

You're gonna make me feel all gushy -- knock it off.

D'ya see my last crappy article? It's for pre-n00bs. Hell, I could even hone it a bit and get it published somewhere respectable...or so I was told.

[justaguy]

After being with Ubuntu since Warty, I think Debian is no more difficult to install. Any linux distro I have happened to install/use: RH, Suse, Slackware, etc, required "tweaking" to some certain extent. That is what Linux is all about, really, isn't it? We are given the opportunity to make "our" choices, therefore we do just that. Sure, I agree, Debian does things a little differently as compared to Ubuntu, but I, for one, haven't let that hurdle stand in my way when trying any new distro out.

I have both Etch and Lenny installed, and will continue my "evaluation" on what I will eventually run/keep before moving on to something "different" to toy around with.

I must add that I was removing my Ubuntu install 2 weeks after installing Etch. I had no problems with hardware compatibilty while all was working fine. I don't plan on looking back at this juncture.

Thanks Debian........................