Re: A rookie's query: Want to about Debian and the related
On Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 12:50 AM, Doug <dmcgarrett@optonline.net> wrote:
> You are going to get a lot of opinions here, and as a result you may be
> just as confused as you are now!
Yes, but I guess reading the great experiences would just create a
broader picture in my mind. Though it is true that confusion could get
generated but still I would manage with one distribution to start with
and eventually see the LIVE CDs of all.
> But here are some points to consider:
> You're right that the kernel is just about the same for all. It's the
> realization of the system,
Ok. And I guess it is the "kernel" which is Linux.
> mainly two particulars, that distinguish each from another. The two are the Graphic User Interface (GUI) and
> the package manager.
> The GUI is responsible for much of the system requirements. You will
> be much better off using LXDE or XFCE as a GUI, since their system
> requirements are the lowest. You should not be looking at GNOME,
> in any of its variations, or KDE, with your low-end hardware.
Low-end hardware probably means the end users' hardware...
> PCLOS has an LXDE version which I have tried, and it works fine, altho I
> use its big brother KDE. But I have the hardware to do so.
> LXDE looks somewhat like Windows, so it should be easy to adapt to.
Well, and also I heard it is light weight.
> The other differentiator is the package manager. I have a very strong
> opinion here: the package manager MUST display the available programs
> that you can choose from. If it doesn't, you will have to have a list
> from somewhere. The idea of using "apt-get-install filename" is just
> beyond my belief. So you need some kind of file manager that displays
> all available files, and you just highlight one and tell it install.
> I am partial to Synaptic, which is available on Mint and PCLOS, and I
> don't know what else.
Oh.
> That said, for the user, there is not much to choose between deb and
> RPM. I haven't tried to create either of these from scratch, altho I
> have looked at the creation of RPMs, and it looks hairy. If you need
> to obtain some software that is not in the distro's repo, (they all
> tell you not to, but sometimes you must) most manufacturers who
> supply apps in deb also supply the same apps in RPM. Some don't
> supply either, and you have to unpack, compile, and install yourself,
> but that is not difficult.
> Now let the fur fly!
Well, thanks for this explanation. You mean for end users, it won't
really matter much which one to use. Just use one and get started!
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