Re: Possible New User - Intro
On Tue, Jan 23, 2007 at 10:22:55AM -0600, Kevin Monceaux wrote:
> I'm teetering on the fence between Arch Linux and Debian Linux. So, I
> thought I'd post an intro in hopes that someone will give me a gentle nudge
> in the right direction. Forgive me if I ramble a bit.
>
> I've been a Linux user for years. I started with Slackware in the 1.x
> kernel days. I then used Makdrake for a while. For the past couple of
> years I've been using Gentoo. But, a few things about Gentoo have been
> getting on a couple of my nerves lately.
> One package I use heavily is the Hercules mainframe emulator. The package
> available for Arch Linux was a little outdated but it took me no time at all
> to create a package via ABS with the lastest Hercules version.
> I had tried Debian several years ago and really liked it
> but ended up going with another distribution because Debian's packages were
> so far behind the times. I thought that perhaps I should give Debian
> another try. With a little searching I learned that the "stable" release is
> still WAY behind the times(it still has Hercules 2.17.1-2, and Hercules 3.x
> has been out for years) but that Etch is fairly current and stable enough
> for my purposes. So, I downloaded a netinst CD and installed Debian under
> VMWare.
>
> Immediately I realized that Debian's package manager is one of the best, if
> not the best, that I've tried so far.
> With most software I don't mind being a version or three behind the
> times, but I do like to stay current with Hercules. The version in
> Etch is 3.03.1-1 and the latest version is 3.04.1. I might be able to
> live with that. After installing the needed development tools I was
> able to build a clip package thanks to the script it comes with.
> Looking through the documentation it appears that creating packages
> for Debian might be almost as simple as creating packages for Arch
> Linux. I think I've just about decided that Debian is the way to
> go. I just need that gentle nudge.
Hi Kevin.
Nudge > Debian.
You may want to start with Etch. Its currently testing but is almost
stable. When it becomes stable then the backlog from Sid will propogate
to the new testing (Lenny) and may not be as stable as Etch currently
is. Once that settles down you can change your sources.list from etch
to testing (or Lenny) and stay on the cutting edge that you seem to
like, without being on the bleeding edge of Sid. Sid is always
unstable. Check the website for a better description. In short, you
probably want to track testing except immediatly after a release (and
possibly then too, depending on your comfort level with instability).
I've never needed to but I understand that the deb-package package makes
making deb packages easy (if you follow that).
As far as keeping hercules more recent than current stable (or testing
for that matter) is to watch the bugs for the most recent version in
debian (which will likely be in Sid). That will tell you why it isn't
in testing (other than that its not ready for testing). Perhaps you can
assist in getting it ready sooner.
Good luck and enjoy.
Doug.
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