Debian is a bit harder, but better in the long run
Written: Feb 23 '01 (Updated Aug 13 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: very stable, quick help turnaround, plenty of help resources
Cons: difficult install, much self configuration needed, sometimes a little out of date
The Bottom Line: If you are willing to put up with the install, this is the installation to go with for ease of update and stability
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| Tibullus's Full Review: Debian GNU |
What is Debian?
Debian is a distribution of the Linux operating system [1]. What this means is that the Debian group works on putting together all of the programs that make the computer usable, and makes sure that it is ready for use by the general public. This is basically what every Linux distribution does, if you would like to read more on this, please see the footnoted review [2].
What makes Debian different externally?
There are two major things that keep Debian different from the rest. The first of these is its commitment to free software. There are many different types of open source and free software [3], and I could go on describing it for days, but I'm going to cut that short and say that Debian has its own definition of free software which can be found on its website [4]. You will also note that the website contains its social contract, which is another thing that separates it from the rest, but is a little bit different than what I really intended to cover in this paragraph.
The second thing which separates Debian from the rest of the flock is the way that it is organized. With most other distributions there is a company or a person behind everything that is making the decisions, and that person really isn't a representative of the people. Decisions for the Debian distribution are made through a Republic style government where there is a yearly elected leader and then the developers of the distribution form a voting "Senate" which makes general decisions. With this in mind, Debian is a distribution of the developers, for the developers and by the developers.
What makes Debian different internally?
Well, without getting too much into the sordid technical details I will attempt to tie this into the way that Debian is run. With a democratic system, things are going to move slow. One person will have to do a lot of work to get things changed and it takes time. The result of this tends to be something which is much more stable than other solutions, because many people have their fingers in the pie [5]. Thus, what comes out of Debian is rock solid stable. When they finally release a product (and I emphasize the word _finally_), it tends to be unbelievably stable. Its also a bit old and outdated, but it is very stable.
Other than that, the programs that are included tend to be rather standard among the different distributions, with the exception of package management. Package management is the manner in which many linux distributions keep their programs up to date. They provide a quick and easy manner in which to install/remove/update programs. There is a suite of tools which Debian uses (which I cover more a bit later) which are quite usefull. The base of these is dkpg, upon which is built dselect and apt. These systems seperate Debian from the rest in my opinion.
What's good about Debian?
Besides the fact that it is as stable as I have made claims (some may disagree, but many people don't), there are a few things that I think make Debian superior over other distributions. To many, the costs outweigh the benefits, and to some others, those benefits are non-existent, but that really doesn't matter to me.
Perhaps the greatest thing about Debian is the political structure. It is accessible to the people. If you really want to, you can start writing emails to people (whose addresses are all quite public) and harass them about just about anything to do with Debian (and even if it doesn't, though they probably won't appreciate it as much). Also, with enough time and proof of your ability, you can become a developer in Debian and thus become part of the "Senate", with full franchise. Thus, Debian seems more accessible to me than other distributions.
The next thing that I will bring up is its package management system. If you don't understand what I'm saying, then you probably won't get anything out of this paragraph at all, but that's beside the point. I personally believe that the program known as Apt is the greatest thing since buttered bread. Apt together with dpkg form a system which allows you to update your machine and keep it updated with minimal effort and with the greatest ease for new users. Instead of sending people out to find all of the packages that they need and download them, only to find out that they depend on others is a real hassle for new users. With Apt, all of this is done for you, a simple statement of "apt-get install gnucash" will go to the server, find every file that you need for gnucash, download them, and finally download and install them in the proper order. If this isn't a beautiful application, then I really am missing out on something.
What's bad about Debian?
Well, with the good must come the bad. Because Debian is a product of developers, they usually assume that every person using it has as much knowledge as they do. Thus, one of the first areas that took a hit in Debian was the installer. They just haven't devoted all that much time to developing an installer that is really easy to use. I go so far as to circumvent it as much as I humanly can, because its just not that fun to use (especially when there are other much easier to use options out there from other distributions). The summarize... installing Debian is evil.
The other thing that is really bad about Debian would be the release cycles. Because of the manner in which they do things, releases take quite some time until everyone agrees that the product can go out. The results of this are twofold: one, the product is very stable; two, the product takes forever to release. However, there are ways to get around this, if you use the "testing" distribution instead of the "stable" distribution you get something that is more up to date, but is more buggy than the "stable" version.
Conclusions
Debian has a way of attracting very loyal followers due to the philosophy behind it and its accessibility. If you can't tell already, I've been pulled into the trap and I'm quite the fan of this little distro. Were it not for the installer, I would have no problem recommending it to everyone that I meet... however, this is not the case, so usually I don't.
If you are very confident in your computer skills, and don't mind learning much more about your computer than you could every possibly want to know, then I suggest you use Debian as your operating system. However, if you are not quite the glutton for punishment that I am, I would suggest that you use another one [6].
footnotes:
[1] -- for an explanation of what linux is, see this review:
http://tibullus.epinions.com/content_1348575364
[2] -- http://tibullus.epinions.com/content_1348640900
[3] -- http://www.gnu.org
[4] -- http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines
[5] -- I'm not trying to make general political statements here, anything drawn from this is done strictly of your own volition.
[6] -- There is a new distribution out which was made by the founder of Debian. It is called Progeny, and is based on the Debian distribution. The big advantage here, however, is that many of the user friendly features of other distributions have been included here and makes this distro a much happier one for beginners.
Recommended:
Yes
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Tibullus
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Member: Marc Chapman
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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