Re: Please, help Linus install Debian!
On Tuesday 24 July 2007, Shane Geiger wrote:
> I think it is fair to say that Ubuntu is starting to fill the void
> that Debian wasn't filling--that is, a simple Debian. They even
> have a LiveCD, another thing Debian has failed to do. I personally
> have enjoyed Debian for a long time, and I haven't bothered with
> the other distros. Effort I have put into it has been well worth
> it, and over time I have found the system easy to use, as I have
> learned a lot about it. However, Ubuntu might be the distro I
> would install on a desktop for myself these days. (Definitely it
> is what I recommend for newbies who want an installed system.)
>
> It is interesting to keep in mind those things that both Ubuntu and
> Knoppix have been criticized for.
>
> Ubuntu: It is not free enough by RMS standards. I think they are
> actually working on that, based on what I have seen. They are also
> pushing people to define what the ideal open hardware laptop would
> be. That's an interesting development.
>
> My criticism of their LiveCD is that it is much, much slower (and
> not as love-filled) as the Knoppix LiveCD, which seems to have been
> polished and polished out of love.
>
> The main criticisms of Knoppix from the Debian camp are that its
> hard drive installation is not Debian (because it violates Debian
> package policy) and that it has software that doesn't meet Debian's
> Free Software Guidelines. I'm not sure that one can get around
> this, due to Knoppix's goals.
>
> Gilles Pelletier wrote:
> > "So the only major distribution I’ve never used has actually been
> > Debian, exactly because that has traditionally been harder to
> > install. Which sounds kind of strange, since Debian is also
> > considered to be the “hard-core technical” distribution, but
> > that’s literally exactly what I personally do not want in a
> > distro. I’ll take the nice ones with simple installers etc,
> > because to me, that’s the whole and only point of using a
> > distribution in the first place."
> >
IMO Slackware is the hard core technical distro. Installation is
again IMO pretty straightforward, but gives a lot more flexibility
for partition use etc. than Ubuntu. The Knoppix equivalent in the
Slackware world is Slax, but with emphasis on small size, faster load
times and faster run times. Slax offers most packages as addons, not
inclusions, but of course you can roll your own cd similar to
Knoppix.
The prize for nighmarish install procedures is Gentoo. Never again.
The Slackware people like to say "Ubuntu is an African word meaning I
can't handle Slackware." :<) I see lots of problems on various
software lists that boil down to "It is an Ubuntu problem." Tried it
once. Again: never again.
--
John Culleton
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