Re: Debian Desktop... but which Debian on my Desktop... now?!
> is there any news about debian-desktop yet?
> Any kind of release / preview / something in sight?
The Debian Desktop Distribution (DDD) archive is running but waiting for some
mirrors... Then we need some d-i customization and package selection. :)
> I'm a bit stuck right now - don't know what to use for the systems I set up
> to be used by 'real users' (i.e. not Debian Unstable).
> I'm still pretty much a Windows admin and don't know half as much as I'd
> like to get all my Debian installations working the way I want them to. So
> I'm quite dependant on as much out-of-the-box and just-works (tm) as I can
> get so I don't have to think about everything on all the systems myself.
> One typical issue is some form of auto-mounting for usb sticks and the
> like. Looks like GNOME already solved this, but a KDE Volume Manager seems
> rather far off... Got a Logitech MX1000 mouse and to get it going I have to
> patch evdev into my system - that's the kind of thing a good Desktop
> Distribution could take care off... anyway I'm getting a bit off topic
> here.
Welcome to the club. There are a lot of users in the same seat as you.
BTW, a KDE Volume Manager is being developed in KDE CVS.
> What I really need right now is a more or less 'just-works like' and clean
> Debian based system (won't go near something else for real productive
> (private ;)) use right now) that does most of the "standard desktop stuff"
> out of the box.
>
> Right now there are MEPIS, Ubuntu, Munjoy and pure Debian unstable or
> testing.
>
> MEPIS is more and more going it's own way and doesn't seem to be all that
> clean and pure (the debian way) anymore - I've got some strange slowdowns
> using it I've not been able to reproduce with any other Debian based
> systems.
>
> Munjoy hasn't had a (preview) release for some time and is quite a bit of
> work to get working properly / the way I need it.
>
> Ubuntu is GNOME - I can't use that (not meant as a flame) - and the KDE
> support (it _is_ there) isn't the best - beeing still based on 3.2 and
> having to install everything you need by hand. Had quite a few problems
> with samba on Ubuntu - could be me though. But I've read about quite a few
> other problems with it, and that's with supported packages - though that's
> to be expected from a preview.
>
> The last candidate would be Debian Unstable or Testing (tend to unstable
> because testing's desktop side already feels 'old' to me) - and from my
> experience it's a lot of work to get a desktop system going the way a
> windows convert would expect it. There's no automounting without a custom
> build kernel, and the inavailability of a simple one-CD install version
> with KDE (and GNOME if need be) is a real problem for me since I'm on
> dialup and what I would use (unstable I guess) is always changing.
You can make stuff automount without patching your kernel. Candidates are
autofs and the parts that form Project Utopia (udev, dbus, hal). OTOH,
automounting on disc insertion is not really needed if the DE can mount the
disc on access IMHO.
Now for some shameless self-promotion... The Kalyxo project will provide
periodic stable releases of DDD together with a desktop-friendly KDE system.
Read more on http://www.kalyxo.org/.
> What would you recommend me to do right now? Personally I could maybe find
> my luck somewhere between pure Debian unstable and Munjoy, but what to do
> with the PC of my girlfriend (.NET programmer btw) who is just atm fed up
> with Windows' problems (JPEG exploit) and wouldn't mind a change. I'd
> refuse to just throw SuSE or the likes at her system because that might
> turn her away from Linux again quickly.
I'm not too fond of SuSE either, but what makes it so bad?
> Somehow I feel that DDD is _just_ what I'm waiting for but there doesn't
> seem to be even a sign of it's arrival - maybe there's some preview one
> could have a look at already?
Yer, I believe so too. I'm not aware of any good preview unfortunately.
*/ Christoffer Sawicki <qerub@home.se>
Reply to: