Debian based closest to Debian?

[SaintStewart]

Hey all. Im looking for a Debian based distro that isnt 2nd, 3rd or 4th removed.

In other words, a Debian distro with usability like Ubuntu or Mint, but without having to be based off of Ubuntu or Mint as well. Id like Debian with ease. Im not sure if I am explaining myself very well, so I apologize.

OK, how Mint is Debian + Ubuntu + even more on top = Mint.
Id like Debian + Mint goodness - Mint.

Make sense? Sorry. :(

[cgroza]

MEPIS maybe...

[PCNetSpec]

Mint LMDE = Debian + Minty goodness, Ubuntu isn't anywhere to be seen ?

or

Debian + Mint - Mint = Debian :)

[SaintStewart]

Mint LMDE =Debian + Minty goodness, Ubuntu isn't anywhere to be seen ?

or

Debian + Mint - Mint = Debian :)

Id like to go plain Debian, but I cant ever get the wireless to work. I have spent days trying and cant get it to go. Not sure why, this is why I want Debian already setup and whatnot. Im also trying to make sure to learn more about Debian and how it works, so I can eventually know how to get it working easily. Im a beginner to early intermediate user for Linux.

[mips]

Sidux.

[sgosnell]

+1 for Linux Mint Debian Edition. It's Debian Testing with some Mint overlay stuff, and it will work out of the box. If you then want just plain Debian, you can remove the Mint stuff. Debian Testing is actually very stable. Ubuntu is based on Debian Unstable, which is one step out from Testing. You can also change the repositories to Debian Squeeze, which is now Debian Stable.

[mamamia88]

you have wireless trouble in debian? what card do you have? for both my computers i was able to get wireless to work just by following the wiki. just installed testing on my netbook runs great. only thing i don't like is that i had to connect to wired netwok via terminal to install network manager

[Deer Hunter]

Linux Mint Xfce is also based off Debian (as in, it's Ubuntu-free) now as well. Just saying, it's another option.

[wolfen69]

Why not just create your own Debian goodness? Do a cli install and control every aspect.

[Spice Weasel]

No mention of Crunchbang?

[snowpine]

Another vote for Debian as "Debian based closest to Debian." :)


Id like to go plain Debian, but I cant ever get the wireless to work.

What is your wireless chipset? Have you tried the Debian Wiki (http://wiki.debian.org/WiFi)?

[NightwishFan]

Debian is awesome. Currently my OS of choice. :) You wont find any Mint here.

[XubuRoxMySox]

Hey all. Im looking for a Debian based distro that isnt 2nd, 3rd or 4th removed.

In other words, a Debian distro with usability like Ubuntu or Mint, but without having to be based off of Ubuntu or Mint as well. Id like Debian with ease.

I wonder what the root of this is. I installed Debian/Xfce from a net install and it took 6 weeks of Googling, trial-and-error, and frustration to finally get it configured and everything (almost) working. When I had finally finished getting it (almost) just right, what I ended up with very little different from a minimal Xubuntu! The only real difference was that Xubuntu installed in about 20 hassle-free minutes rather than 6 weeks of frustration.

Ubuntu is only once-removed from Debian. So what's the difference between Debian-based Ubuntu and Debian-based anything else? Except that Ubuntu is effortless and the others are more of a hassle. Ubuntu makes Debian easier than any of the other Debian-based distros.

I don't know why it has become fashionable and "cool" for some Ubuntu-based distros to switch to a Debian base. Is it a snobbish desire to distance oneself from a "kiddie distro" which Ubuntu is often called? Is it out of some disdain for "greedy profit-seeking corporations?"

Crunchbang Linux was effortless to install and configure when it was Ubuntu-based. The new Statler is awesome, but alot more difficult now that it has switched to a Debian base. Same goes for Linux Mint's Debian Edition and the latest Mint Xfce edition (also now Debian-based).

I guess if you like to spend lots of time fussing over the OS to get it working and get it tweaked to perfection, fine. But that isn't what I bought a computer for. I've got better things to do with my household appliances than investing hours of time and research into incessantly tweaking and optimizing and customizing them.

If you want ease of installation and configurability on a Debian base, it just doesn't get any better than Ubuntu. I had some fun re-inventing the wheel and I learned alot. But in the end, I found that I'm not a "computer hobbyist." Just a computer user.

For those of us who would rather run applications than run an operating system, there's Ubuntu. For computer nerds and those who want to "learn Linux," there's Debian, Slackware, Arch, etc.

-Robin

[TBABill]

I wonder what the root of this is. I installed Debian/Xfce from a net install and it took 6 weeks of Googling, trial-and-error, and frustration to finally get it configured and everything (almost) working. When I had finally finished getting it (almost) just right, what I ended up with very little different from a minimal Xubuntu! The only real difference was that Xubuntu installed in about 20 hassle-free minutes rather than 6 weeks of frustration.

Ubuntu is only once-removed from Debian. So what's the difference between Debian-based Ubuntu and Debian-based anything else? Except that Ubuntu is effortless and the others are more of a hassle. Ubuntu makes Debian easier than any of the other Debian-based distros.

I don't know why it has become fashionable and "cool" for some Ubuntu-based distros to switch to a Debian base. Is it a snobbish desire to distance oneself from a "kiddie distro" which Ubuntu is often called? Is it out of some disdain for "greedy profit-seeking corporations?"

Crunchbang Linux was effortless to install and configure when it was Ubuntu-based. The new Statler is awesome, but alot more difficult now that it has switched to a Debian base. Same goes for Linux Mint's Debian Edition and the latest Mint Xfce edition (also now Debian-based).

I guess if you like to spend lots of time fussing over the OS to get it working and get it tweaked to perfection, fine. But that isn't what I bought a computer for. I've got better things to do with my household appliances than investing hours of time and research into incessantly tweaking and optimizing and customizing them.

If you want ease of installation and configurability on a Debian base, it just doesn't get any better than Ubuntu. I had some fun re-inventing the wheel and I learned alot. But in the end, I found that I'm not a "computer hobbyist." Just a computer user.


-Robin

I think a lot of it comes from the fact that Ubuntu is based on Debian Unstable. They take a snapshot of Sid, then from there it becomes Ubuntu after the team works on drivers (the easy setup/install), works on bugs, works on the kernel, and does all the other Ubuntu "stuff" that makes it Ubuntu. The result of that work is usually a buggy release with lots of issues for the first couple months, some of which are even show stoppers for some people. That's not a slam of Ubuntu at all, just a reality because they take an unstable base and try to make it stable within 6 months. Debian takes many more months to make Sid into stable, via testing for most of that time.

With 10.04 they took from Testing as a base and they ended up with a MUCH more stable distro. To this day it is pretty solid.

With the Unity and Gnome 3 debates, plus the removal of the fallback from 11.10 on, many people just want to move to a different base till the dust settles. Ubuntu gives the latest software versions, latest kernels and latest technologies....but that comes at the cost of stability. No way around that unless they spent more time testing/developing. But then you lose the edge by taking more time. So it's a give and take, of which Ubuntu tends to look to innovation over stability versus a Debian, CentOS, RHEL, etc. It's a tradeoff each user must choose between.

I don't care what others say about "for new users" or "adult distro" or whatever. That's all just elitist propoganda that serves no purpose. The reality is we each have to decide what's best at the time and what serves our purposes, regardless of the perception of others about our choices. I can, and do, run Debian, but I also run LMDE, Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS. I try others, but these are my main choices because they each serve a purpose. None of them does everything I need, but combined I get it all.

As for the OP's question, LMDE is no easier to setup for your hardware than plain Debian. You still need the wiki for wireless configuration if, like me, you have something that isn't just plug and play. My Broadcom takes about 2 minutes to setup in LMDE or Debian via terminal versus a couple clicks in Ubuntu. End result is the same and after you have done it once you won't care which way you do it. Mepis may make it easier for you than LMDE, but I found it slower on the desktop for some reason I cannot explain. It should be just as fast and that may have just been a personal experience, not an overall issue. The Debian based distros can be nice, especially when they add in all your multimedia and font settings for you, but in the grand scheme of things it seems to be more about the look, feel and support of the distro more than functionality because Debian can and does do all the things the others do, just at a cost of a few more minutes of configuration, which is not at all difficult.

Test and pick your poison. They're all great for the purposes they were built. And just to confirm, Debian Testing is very stable and reliable.

[SaintStewart]

Hey thanks all for the input. It is very appreciated to get some viewpoints on this. For the record, I was trying to install Debian on an Aspire One ZG5. Not sure where I was going wrong, but it's all a moot point now. Someone saw me with the ZG5, and wanted it, so they bought it off me. lol Anyhow, I'll keep playing around with Debian on another laptop I've got. We'll see how it goes. :)

Thank you all!

[BrokenKingpin]

I second Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). Basically Mint, but 100% compatible with Debian (instead of Ubuntu). There is also a Mint XFCE release built directly on top of Debian (like LMDE), which looks quite nice.

Additionally, you could look at these as well (as other have suggested)
- Sidux
- MEPIS

[malspa]

SalineOS is another one; I don't think it's been mentioned yet.

[XubuRoxMySox]

Sidux is Aptosid (http://aptosid.com/) now. Debian Sid (unstable) with Xfce.

-Robin

[malspa]

Test and pick your poison. They're all great for the purposes they were built.

That's how I feel, too.


And just to confirm, Debian Testing is very stable and reliable.

So I've heard. A good friend of mine, who was a Debian Stable user, has spent the last few years with Testing. From everything he's told me, Testing is a very good way to go -- like you said, stable and reliable.

[NightwishFan]

It is not stable by nature. Things upgrade and change sometimes twice a day under some circumstances. Reliable? Works for me so far. :)

[wolfen69]

In other words, a Debian distro with usability like Ubuntu or Mint, but without having to be based off of Ubuntu or Mint as well. Id like Debian with ease. Im not sure if I am explaining myself very well, so I apologize.

OK, how Mint is Debian + Ubuntu + even more on top = Mint.
Id like Debian + Mint goodness - Mint.

Make sense? Sorry. :(

Um, no. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. You wrote that just to screw with our heads, right? :shock: