Re: Switching from Ubuntu
Hi, Shawn.
On Sep 02 2009, Shawn H. Corey wrote:
> I have a PowerBook G4 and I running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. I am not
> completely satisfied with it and I am thinking of converting to
> Debain.
What exactly are the problems with Ubuntu?
(Well, I have my share of problems, but some of them are actually tied
to Linux, not exactly to a given distribution, even though some of them
*are* distribution problems---I'm filing bugs in Ubuntu regarding the
packages that I maintain to get them sync'ed with Debian).
> Just how different is the 'Official CD/DVD images of the "stable"
> release' <http://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/#stable> from Ubuntu?
Mathematically speaking, they are different. :-) You might want to check
the testing release, perhaps, if you need newer packages. Or, if you
want a middle ground between stable and testing, you may want to check
debian-volatile and debian-backports.
> Does it use GNOME? How hard is it to set up the internet (if I get
> that going, I can <strike>bug</strike> ask you about anything else)?
What is "set up the internet"? If you need a simple DHCP client, this is
quite easy and I'd think that the default "user" installation would give
you something like dhcp 3.
Otherwise, the files that Debian uses are the same that Ubuntu uses:
just look at /etc/network/interfaces, for instance.
Regarding, what "desktop environment" gets installed, the first CD
determines what gets installed. The default is GNOME, but, of course,
you can change that.
As a side note, to get support about things that are not specifically
PowerPC, you might want to check debian-user, instead of debian-powerpc.
This way, you will get a good amount more of people reading your posts
and answering them.
If, OTOH, you need PowerPC-specific things, this is the right mailing
list to check.
But, do you really need a whole DVD (or CD, for that matter) for the
installation?
If you can have an Internet connection on the powerbook, you might want
to grab the "netinstall" CD images, instead. That way, you only get what
you need and you help save some of the mirrors' bandwidth.
> I have my /home mounted on a separate partition. Can I easily
> remount it under Debian? (I will make backups before I start).
Yes, don't forget to take backups (well, I wish that mondo already
supported powerpc, since that's what I use everyday---but I may be
implementing that in the not-so-distant future; at least for NewWorld
macs).
Regarding your /home filesystem, it should present you no problems
mounting on Debian. I would expect to be zero problems with that.
Regards, Rogério Brito.
--
Rogério Brito : rbrito@{mackenzie,ime.usp}.br : GPG key 1024D/7C2CAEB8
http://www.ime.usp.br/~rbrito : http://meusite.mackenzie.com.br/rbrito
Projects: algorithms.berlios.de : lame.sf.net : vrms.alioth.debian.org
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