Patrick Wiseman writes:
Hello, fellow Debian users:I've had Debian on my computers for a very long time (can't remember exactly when but early 2000's for sure); and I've had Lenovo laptops for ages too. I finally need to replace my main laptop (an at least 10-year old ThinkPad), so I've bought an X1 from Lenovo, with Ubuntu pre-installed (to be delivered in January).So, a question. Should I side-grade to Debian (and, if so, how easy would it be to do that?)? Or will I be happy with Ubuntu (which is, after all, a Debian derivative)?
What is a side-grade in this context? I'd strongly advise against trying to replace the APT sources with Debian's and then trying to switch with an
`apt-get dist-upgrade`. Instead, I'd suggest the following course of action: * Create an image backup of the installed Ubuntu such that it is restorable in case of warranty or hardware compatibility issues that may surface later. If you do this from a Debian Live system you can also get a first impression about how well Debian runs on the new hardware. * Install Debian stable replacing the existing Ubuntu. If it works fine, stop there. If not, try backports or even Testing to see if it is an issue regarding hardware being too new :) * If all fails, the image allows reverting to Ubuntu easily enough.
I'm very familiar and comfortable with Debian (was happy with 'testing' for a long time, but have lately reverted to 'stable'). And, although I'm a rare participant on this list, I enjoy the lurk and would presumably need to go elsewhere if I had questions about my Ubuntu experience.
If you have been using Debian for a long time, by all means, stay with it.Ubuntu is a derivative and many things feel similar, but for an experienced Debian user there are tons of minor obstacles that you encounter if you want to do certain things on Ubuntu. Differences in Network Interfaces configuration come to mind. Also, Ubuntu likes to distribute certain applications as “snap” which is replacing traditional Ubuntu packages for e.g. Firefox. More differences exist of course but these are my top two :)
HTH Linux-Fan öö [...]
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