Re: Is Debian the last OS ? (Long reply)
At 20:53 2000/07/30 -0500, you wrote:
On Sun, Jul 30, 2000 at 10:42:29AM -0400, Adam Scriven wrote:
> I'm still very much getting used to Debian, however, and the long time
> between releases is stopping my Dad from switching, since he wants to
> switch to the most updated release possible if he switches, but even
> Potato's just 2.2.16/17.
As opposed to what? An unstable 2.3.x release? A 2.4.x with known
problems? That's a silly argument to not use a distribution (and always
has been).
Kernel sources are *always* available at www.kernel.org.
They are, but he's not advanced enough yet to compile his own kernel.
He's a very bright guy, and he'll figure it out eventually, but it's a very
minor hobby for him right now, and he just hasn't gotten there yet.
But, because of the slow updates, and because it is now 2 releases behind,
it's difficult to argue the change from RedHat to Debian. The only stable
Debian release is Slink, which is 2.0.36. He has that already with RedHat
5.2 (I think that's what he's got, it's definitely 2.0.36). If he were to
upgrade to RedHat 6, which has been out for quite a long time, he'd get (I
believe) 2.2. The 2.2 kernel has made some great leaps from the 2.0 series
of kernels that he'd like to use (diald upgrades, to mention just one), but
the upgrade from 2.0 to 2.2 for RedHat is, AFAIK, rather strange, and
unadvised by RedHat themselves (last I checked).
So, for him to go to 2.2, and get the upgrades that he wants, he needs to
reinstall. He has no problem with this, and I've recommend Debian, but no
matter how "stable" the frozen version is, it IS STILL frozen, and not the
officially released version, so he's not comfortable switching to it.
So that leaves him with RedHat, since he understands it.
Also, as you mentioned, kernel 2.4 is out now, however many "known
problems" it has, it is out. 2.2 has "known problems" as well, it just has
less of them.
Which means that Debian, for all it's good things (and I am using it, and I
will continue to use it, because I like it), is SLOW in it's release
schedule, and this IS a deterrent for some intelligent people, who are
LEARNING Linux.
I don't find the argument of a slow distribution schedule silly in the
least, and to be perfectly honest, I find the attitude rather condescending.
Linux is a wonderful tool. We all know it. But it IS just that, a
tool. If a distribution, no matter how good it's intentions, can't keep
up, then it will be relegated to the footers of history, and the world will
turn around it.
I don't want to see this happen with Debian.
I apologize for the rant, and I hope I didn't offend anyone too much, but
this attitude is one of the things that's personally stopping me from
learning more about Linux.
Some of us learn slower, or just differently. Seeing all the pluses of
Debian, including the philosophy behind it (which I happen to agree with),
I get frustrated having to tell people, who are less than comfortable with
Linux, to use an (IMHO) inferior distribution, merely to get the options
that they need.
Thanks for the read.
Adam
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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