[LUNI] debian??

[Larry Garfield]

Sounds like you used the Woody installer for Debian 3.0.  That was 
cutting edge as of 3 years ago. :-)  For a desktop, I recommend the 
Sarge installer, for the version of Debian that is just about to go 
stable.  If you don't want to reinstall, you can easily upgrade to it 
now by changing your /etc/apt/sources.list file to say "testing" instead 
of "stable".  Then run:

# apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade

Why Debian Is Cool:

1) For servers, "Stable" really is.  It is static for a LONG time, save 
for bug fixes, and before being declared stable it's hammered on a lot. 
  On 11 (now 12) architectures.  If you have a problem with a properly 
configured Stable box, you can be pretty sure it's hardware or something 
you did. :-)  When a new version is declared stable (Sarge is supposed 
to be in September, I think), the command above will upgrade the whole 
system cleanly to the next version.  Not even downtime unless you're 
upgrading the kernel too (which is downtime on any distro, period).

Keeping it patched against security holes is as easy as running:

# apt-get update && apt-get upgrade

about once a day or so.  Debian's turnaround time for security patches 
in Stable is measured in hours, in most cases.

2) For desktops, you get a HUGE archive of software that you can install 
with one or two commands with fully automated dependency management. 
Yes, Gentoo and Fedora now claim the same thing, but with Debian you 
don't have to wait for it to compile (good or bad, depending on your 
POV) and more importantly you have debconf.

Debconf?

debconf.  Debconf is the package setup script system that Debian uses. 
It's a wizard-style ncurses, dialog, Qt, or command line-based script 
that many packages use (any that require actual configuration) that lets 
you configure most parameters of the package without touching a config 
file.  For instance:

# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

Gives you a wizard interface to configure your X server.  No playing 
with the config file directly, and in Sarge it even does a damned good 
job of auto-detecting most settings.  Yes, X installation without a 
hassle.  Amazing, isn't it? :-)

Debian also has very nice kernel management tools.  You can download 
precompiled kernels, or use make-kpkg to compile a kernel from source 
and create a .deb package for it that you can install that will take 
care of all the symlinks and modules and lilo/grub and so on.  Having 
been burned by older RH systems' lack of ability to compile your own 
kernel AND keep the RPM database up to date (which made installing newer 
versions of some packages impossible), this is a godsend for me.

For a desktop, you want to run Testing or Unstable/Sid.  Unstable/Sid is 
actually fairly stable, most of the time, and it's what I use for my 
main desktop.  And yes, you can setup ext3 if you use a 2.4 kernel 
installer.  The Woody installer includes it as an option (bf24), or the 
Sarge installer uses it by default and gives you an option of 2.6.  You 
can also convert after the fact with whatever migration tools there 
usually are.

If Woody's your only view on Debian, then yeah, it will look like it 
sucks. :-)  But once you get a look at the bigger picture of Debian it 
becomes highly cool.

Ronald E. Petty wrote:
> I am new to Debian and was wondering a couple of things.  Not to start a
> flame war, but what is the advantage to Debian?  I just got it installed,
> messed up a couple of things on install (partitions that is, picked
> wrong place to boot from), however I am on the net.
> 
> I noticed uname -a
> 
> Linux debian 2.2.20-idepci #1 Sat Apr 20 12:45:19 EST 2002 i686 unknown
> 
> So the kernel seems a bit dated, and I also noticed I installed ext2,
> didn't see ext3 as a choice.
> 
> Do regular Debian users update to ex3/reiser?  How about the kernel?  What
> are my options for updating these things.  I can redo the whole install,
> just wandering why it seems so dated?  Is sarge coming soon?  The
> installer was very retro in feel :).
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Debian newbie
> 
> 

-- 
Larry Garfield			AIM: LOLG42
larry at garfieldtech.com		ICQ: 6817012

"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of 
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an 
idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it 
to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the 
possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of 
it."  -- Thomas Jefferson