Linked by Michael Katsevman on Thu 6th Nov 2003 19:33 UTC
Debian is widely considered the Linux distribution with the best package management tool, APT and one of the largest software bases (>13,000). However, the installation horror stories kept me away. Nevertheless, eager to try it out, I failed to install various other Debian GNU/Linux based distributions. Some failed to boot even after I tried to reinstall for the fourth time, and others just couldn't detect my hardware. While Knoppix is highly recommended, I decided to stick with hard-drive based distros (Although it is the distribution of choice for LiveCDs). Then came Libranet.
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I use Knoppix regularly and I adore it. However, this was a Libranet review, and not a Knoppix one. I did not have quite as much experience with Morphix, which is based on Knoppix (I don't really know what the difference is). Libranet 2.7 is, again, their old version that was released for free. Their Flagship Edition (2.8.1) is much more complete and up-to-date.
However, for a simple Debian install, Libranet 2.7 is perfect! It doesn't come with all the bloat that Knoppix does! Personally, as long as it fast, bloat's my best friend, but not always. If you want to run a server, and you are dead-set on using Debian, I would suggest Libranet instead of regular Debian. Why? Because you don't have to muck around as much!
And about APT: It is not the start-all-end-all of package management. But it does seem to be the "standard". Sure, there's yum, and portage, and urpmi, but they are not quite as comprehensive (not even close) as Debian repository.
APT might not be the ultimate but it amazingly convenient and accessible, and with synaptic (whom I do *not* like as much as consoe) it becomes much more powerful.
Yum has indeed intrigued me, and I intend to have a serious go at Fedora Core 1 when I'm done with other things I'm doing (I did have a quintuple booting machine once, and I did not enjoy the experience much... Windows didn't like it... *sigh*).
--Mike.