Mepis to switch from Ubuntu to Debian

[ubuntu-geek]

Kind of a kick in the face to Ubuntu it's been only just over a year since they switched from Debian to Ubuntu.

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS6170488551.html

What's everyone's thoughts on this ?

[LaRoza]

Their reasons seem valid, and since Ubuntu is based off Debian, it makes little difference.

[tigerpants]

Good for him. I think Mepis is a really nice distro.

[happy-and-lost]

From my experince on Debian Etch, the KDE in the Etch repos is horribly buggy and unstable. Surely this is a big step backwards for them?

[newbie2]

Woodford explained that Ubuntu is rebuilt almost from scratch every six months using source packages from Debian EXPERIMENTAL. "This is a wonderful thing from the point of view of improving the Debian EXPERIMENTAL code. Over time the improvements will make their way through Debian Unstable, Debian Testing and finally to Debian Stable."

But, Woodford said, for MEPIS users this means that Ubuntu does not provide a foundation for long term incremental upgrades. "Ubuntu is almost a whole new distro each time it's released," he said. "By using the EXPERIMENTAL code, each and every time, the Ubuntu code tree is inherently less stable than the Debian code tree, which contains additional levels of testing and vetting and fixing of code."

so this means that 'the average' ubuntu-user should not 'hop on the wagon' each time a new version is released ?.. or am i mistaken that? :???: and if so... what's 'the golden rule' ?...

[loell]

ahh, seems i've made a duplicate topic an hour ago :lolflag:

so are they going to etch? or to lenny on this?

[skirkpatrick]

So Mepis was hoping that the Dapper backports would be updated continuously? I thought that Ubuntu said that the LTS would get security and bug updates but nothing else officially from Ubuntu.

[dca]

From my experince on Debian Etch, the KDE in the Etch repos is horribly buggy and unstable. Surely this is a big step backwards for them?

Agreed.

[handy]

so this means that 'the average' ubuntu-user should not 'hop on the wagon' each time a new version is released ?.. or am i mistaken that? :???: and if so... what's 'the golden rule' ?...

If a new version of Ubuntu works for you great, if not go back to the one that did. That's what I do.

When Dapper is no longer supported & no current version works, I'll have to use a different distro', or a BSD. Though my problem is a strange motherboard incompatibility it would seem, & m/boards don't last forever.

There are lots of wonderful OS choices for us, & they all keep getting better, which is nice.

[loell]

Surely this is a big step backwards for them?

when they switched to dapper, long time mepis users thought they were stepping backwards too.

[beefcurry]

I can see that they would definately have complained alot from using the old packages in dapper, back in Edgy I would still be pulling my hair out having to compile 3 different dependencies for DigiKam. I'm glad Mepis decided on the switch.

[ashvala]

From my experince on Debian Etch, the KDE in the Etch repos is horribly buggy and unstable. Surely this is a big step backwards for them?

However Gnome is stable around here!

[FuturePilot]

Well it seems that they misunderstood how the repos worked. They're frozen at every release and updates are only bug fixes and security updates. It seemed that they thought the version numbers would change.

[b9anders]

a bit weird that a developer should make such an obvious mistake. Also noted he claimed Ubuntu is based off a snapshot of experimental. Should do his homework before deciding what to base his distro on really.

[drascus]

I don't know why they wouldn't just stick with LSTP version if they don't like upgrading every 6 months. Then when the next LSTP version comes out they can just switch to that. I think people should use what ever distro they are comfortable with. If you are use to Debian and thats the thing that you are all about cool. Stick with Debian. I think if you bash Ubuntu you are kind of bashing Debian by default because they are our parent Distro. Not to mention Debian and Ubuntu are in the habit of collaborating and sharing info so I am not sure what their angle is. I know I am happy with Ubuntu so it doesn't change my opinion at all.

[awakatanka]

I don't know why they wouldn't just stick with LSTP version if they don't like upgrading every 6 months. Then when the next LSTP version comes out they can just switch to that. I think people should use what ever distro they are comfortable with. If you are use to Debian and thats the thing that you are all about cool. Stick with Debian. I think if you bash Ubuntu you are kind of bashing Debian by default because they are our parent Distro. Not to mention Debian and Ubuntu are in the habit of collaborating and sharing info so I am not sure what their angle is. I know I am happy with Ubuntu so it doesn't change my opinion at all.
They want newer version of applications, and that isn't always possible in the way ubuntu makes the deb pools. Like firefox has version 1.5 in dapper and mepis developers had to make 2.0 for there users because ubuntu didn't backport it. This goes for more applications.

[b9anders]

I don't know why they wouldn't just stick with LSTP version if they don't like upgrading every 6 months. Then when the next LSTP version comes out they can just switch to that. I think people should use what ever distro they are comfortable with. If you are use to Debian and thats the thing that you are all about cool. Stick with Debian. I think if you bash Ubuntu you are kind of bashing Debian by default because they are our parent Distro. Not to mention Debian and Ubuntu are in the habit of collaborating and sharing info so I am not sure what their angle is. I know I am happy with Ubuntu so it doesn't change my opinion at all.


A lot of the bashing actually comes from Debian users because they aren't happy with the compatability between Ubuntu and Debian that makes collaboration difficult.

Ideally, you should be able to use a debian package on any debian based sitro without issue. Mostly you can, except a lot of packages are now being packaged for Ubuntu instead and these don't necessarily work all that smoothly on other debian-based systems.

[whitefort]

I think their reason makes total sense.

I'm a very happy Feisty user, but I started with Dapper, and got very disillusioned for a while when I found that 'long term support' only meant security fixes, not updated packages (in other words, I can fully understand what annoyed the Mepis users).

So, they don't want to be stuck in a LTS time warp for 18 months, but the Mepis makers can't keep up with the 6-monthly releases... their choice makes total sense, and doesn't reflect badly on either them or Ubuntu.

[izanbardprince]

Kind of a kick in the face to Ubuntu it's been only just over a year since they switched from Debian to Ubuntu.

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS6170488551.html

What's everyone's thoughts on this ?

The guy has a valid point, he was confused as to what an LTS release of Ubuntu was, and that to get new packages, he's have to base off the 6 month releases, which are essentially built from scratch every time, so it's like spending his blood and sweat working on MEPIS, just to have to start over with a blank slate next time Ubuntu releases a new version.

The reason basing on Ubuntu works so well for the folks over at Linspire is because they're basically just looking for somebody else's distro to hijack, throw in a whole bunch of multimedia codecs and proprietary binary blobs into, call it their own, and sell it for profit, they don't care if they have to start over every 6 months because they hardly did anything to Ubuntu to begin with except to take the concept of free and open source and give it a thorough raping.

[izanbardprince]

A lot of the bashing actually comes from Debian users because they aren't happy with the compatability between Ubuntu and Debian that makes collaboration difficult.

Ideally, you should be able to use a debian package on any debian based sitro without issue. Mostly you can, except a lot of packages are now being packaged for Ubuntu instead and these don't necessarily work all that smoothly on other debian-based systems.

That's because Ubuntu has singlehandedly turned DEB packages into the new RPM.

[luca.b]

Not to be picky, but if you want to compare package systems, you can't compare APT with RPM. The proper comparison would be either DPKG vs RPM, or APT versus other tools such as SMART, urpmi, YUM...

[RAV TUX]

Kind of a kick in the face to Ubuntu it's been only just over a year since they switched from Debian to Ubuntu.

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS6170488551.html

What's everyone's thoughts on this ?

I think it makes Mepis look very bad, as an OS and on a development level....

This is the third base that Mepis will be based on, how many times will this continue?

I never know what Mepis will be based on next, I'll stick with an OS that doesn't change it's base at every passing whim.