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View Full Version : feisty made me switch to debian - in a good way



siman
April 22nd, 2007, 01:29 PM
I finally realized what I liked about ubuntu - everything being pre-configured, easy to setup and such. Taught me a lot about linux tech and now I feel ready to go to debian...

Why?

I canned Windows because it took to much control over my system and made assumptions about what I should/want/can do. Now I feel ubuntu is going in this direction too - which is actually a good thing for 99% of the users. Also ubuntu always had this mission, it's just with feisty I realized this.

I personally was very annoyed be the nvidia restricted drivers thing. Back in edgy I had to take care of installing the newest nvidia drivers myself (after every kernel update), now ubuntu wants to do that for me and I .. dont... want .. that :-)

So off to a start, thanks for all the fish, es war mir ein volkfest

darweth
April 22nd, 2007, 01:42 PM
Ubuntu certainly is great for many. Others will just use it as a stepping stone to something more 'advanced' out of the box. You and I both appear to fall in the latter. You with Debian and I with Arch. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. Ubuntu is still in my heart and I definitely recommend it for newbies. Switching from Windows to Ubuntu is a fun experience! Where that takes you is up to the users! Ubuntu can definitely be fine for many forever!

EdThaSlayer
April 22nd, 2007, 01:45 PM
Well, good luck. :)
I'm quite happy with the restricted drivers feature. Less chance of user error when installing it.

Onyros
April 22nd, 2007, 01:53 PM
I actually installed Debian etch on my Thinkpad X31 a few days ago, and I'm very pleased with it.

I may be upgrading to lenny or even sid, though. I prize stability, but Debian's kind is probably too conservative, if you know what I mean.

PilotJLR
April 22nd, 2007, 02:11 PM
I used to use only Fedora, until I got tired of dependency issues, using 3rd party repos for nvidia, mp3 codec, etc. I switched to Ubuntu precisely because it does a lot of that for me.

I like to do most everything manually on the servers I manage, but I'm happy with my desktop being easy! :-)

Iceni
April 22nd, 2007, 02:22 PM
I'm very happy with Ubuntu and Feisty, feeling like I've learned a lot the month or so I've been using it. I'm keeping it on my main computer. A few new projects tho

- Getting osx to run on this computer, first in vmware then as a dualboot option.
- Setting up gentoo with everything self-compiled on my gf's "old" laptop. Project is well underway:)

Bloodfen Razormaw
April 22nd, 2007, 02:30 PM
You realize that Debian provides a completely pre-configured desktop by default, too, right? When you install Debian it will ask you what task the computer is serving. By default "Desktop environment" is checked, which installs X and complete KDE and GNOME environments for you.

plb
April 22nd, 2007, 02:42 PM
Debian is a superb distro. Cheers and enjoy.

rolando2424
April 22nd, 2007, 03:31 PM
My first distro was Debian. Only after a few months, due to installing the Nvidia drivers, and image being putted a little to the right (the problem could easily be arranjed, if my screen buttons worked... which it didn't), I decided that since I would install another distro, I might as well give that Dapper (shipit rules :D) a try. So I did, and here I am on Edgy (Feisty is on the way).

That said, I might one day return to Debian... But not today :D

leg
April 22nd, 2007, 03:39 PM
I myself am going the other way. First started with Debian a few years ago now and then tried Fedora, Ubuntu and finally spent the last year using Gentoo. I am finding that I am spending too much time managing the computer and not actually working. I still have Gentoo and fedora installed on this machine but I am going to start using Fiesty as my day to day machine. Gentoo will become my hobby from now on.

eyelessfade
April 22nd, 2007, 03:45 PM
I may be upgrading to lenny or even sid, though. I prize stability, but Debian's kind is probably too conservative, if you know what I mean.

If you like stability I wouldn't go Sid. Sid is the punk from Toy Story. "the kid who break toys" ;)

I've run it and it is interesting, you never know when or if glibc will break and make your system unusable. Fun :-D

bwhite82
April 22nd, 2007, 03:46 PM
Ubuntu is great in its own right. I was actually stunned yesterday when I was answering some support questions from new users trying to install. What stunned me was who the demographic was. I was answering questions from total computer newbies, not just linux newbies. I was answering questions from 40+ year old ladies that heard about Ubuntu and didn't know which ISO to download (i386, etc). I could not believe my eyes, Ubuntu really IS succeeding at taking some of that desktop market.

With that said, comparing Debian and Ubuntu is really quite unfair for both sides. Both have completely different goals and ideologies. Ubuntu: Ease of use, Debian: Stability. Debian takes their stability to anal-retentive levels, this results in a superb distro without any issues. Ubuntu takes their ease-of-use to anal-retentive levels, this results in a superb distro that is very easy to use.

Again, I've said it many times, it comes down to your needs and wants from your computer. I prefer stability over polish. I don't mind having older versions of packages to attain this stability. My preference may not be so for you. It's as simple as that.

PartisanEntity
April 22nd, 2007, 03:50 PM
I personally was very annoyed be the nvidia restricted drivers thing. Back in edgy I had to take care of installing the newest nvidia drivers myself (after every kernel update), now ubuntu wants to do that for me and I .. dont... want .. that :-)

Correct me if I am wrong, but in Feisty you can ignore the restricted drivers for your graphics card and manually download the latest drivers from the nvidia site. No?

viciouslime
April 22nd, 2007, 03:54 PM
Correct me if I am wrong, but in Feisty you can ignore the restricted drivers for your graphics card and manually download the latest drivers from the nvidia site. No?

Correct. And as it is off by default anyway, i.e. doesn't try and install them without you telling it to do so, it's not really even like you're ignoring it. It simply has no effect what-so-ever, therefore there is nothing to ignore. If you have already used it to enable restrcited drivers, then you can run it again, disable them (untick the box and press ok, a very simple process) and you're set to install manually.

Though personally I love the way it takes care of it for me, like a previous poster said, you just end up spending more time managin your computer than actually using it to acomplish tasks. But as always, that's the great thing about linux, CHOICE! Each to his own :)

pseudonym
April 22nd, 2007, 04:00 PM
Correct me if I am wrong, but in Feisty you can ignore the restricted drivers for your graphics card and manually download the latest drivers from the nvidia site. No?

Yes, and it's recommended to do that (or via Synaptic/apt-get) if you want the latest nvidia driver, because the Restricted Drivers Manager downloads the 9631 version not the 9755. See bug 106649 (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-restricted-modules-2.6.20/+bug/106649).

PartisanEntity
April 22nd, 2007, 04:03 PM
@viciouslime:

Okay thanks for the clarification.

I personally think it is a good idea, since Ubuntu aims to make it easy for many users to use it, such features will help the less experienced.

Of course if you like a different distribution you're still part of the family :)

PartisanEntity
April 22nd, 2007, 04:06 PM
Yes, and it's recommended to do that if you want the latest nvidia driver, because the Restricted Drivers Manager downloads the 9631 version not the 9755. See bug 106649 (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-restricted-modules-2.6.20/+bug/106649).

Yeah I have that too. In my case I just ignore it since I had the 9755 drivers when I upgraded to Feisty.

Onyros
April 22nd, 2007, 04:29 PM
If you like stability I wouldn't go Sid. Sid is the punk from Toy Story. "the kid who break toys" ;)

I've run it and it is interesting, you never know when or if glibc will break and make your system unusable. Fun :-DYep, I know. Sid is and will always be "unstable", and Lenny's testing right now.

I know I won't stay with etch, that's for sure, I just have to decide whether I'm in a mood to try sid or stick with lenny. This is my first system with Debian and I'm enjoying the ride.

BTW, default desktop environment on my install was only GNOME, it didn't install KDE or any K* apps whatsoever. Which for me, is a big plus, as I'm not too fond on KDE.

Fluxbox works like a charm on Debian, too. Another big plus for me ;)

Next in line is my desktop. I'm gonna replace Gentoo with Arch. :D

Neobuntu
April 22nd, 2007, 05:21 PM
Debian has an install CD for KDE. It's like Kubuntu to Ubuntu.