DesktopLinux.com's executive editor recently decided to retire Red Hat 7 after seven years of loyal service as his home LAN's firewall/router OS. This article chronicles his trials and tribulations as he presses "pure Debian" into service, first as a server and then as a Linux desktop. Read the complete tale here.
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Member since:2005-07-12
"And even if you use the unstable (sid), the system works flawlessly without any major problems."
Eh, not so much. I've been burned using Debian Testing and Debian Sid. Both times by updates that rendered my system useless.
I use Debian stable on my server, and will continue to do so. As for desktop Linux, I go with Ubuntu or Slackware (yes, I know, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Slack).
Member since:2006-01-23
Member since:2005-08-28
Eh, not so much. I've been burned using Debian Testing and Debian Sid. Both times by updates that rendered my system useless.
I've run Unstable more or less continously since I started using apt-get in late 1999, and my system has never been rendered useless. Not that there hasn't been the occasional hickup, but nothing that I haven't been able to fix by simply reverting some packages (don't be too eager to delete downloaded packages from /var/cache/apt/archives/).
Not only that, but since 1999, I've only reinstalled twice. First in 2002, and the last time earlier this year. Not too shabby when running a system that is always on the 'bleeding edge'. Though, truth be told, Debian Unstable is often no more bleeding edge then the so-called 'stable' releases of some other systems, the difference is often just one of semantics.
Member since:
2006-09-22
Debian is not an out of the box distro for desktop but rather "a kit distro" (like kit cars) that needs your fine tuning and customization. If you have the time, curiosity and a bit of experience to do these type of things, Debian becomes "the ultimate desktop distro for you".
And even if you use the unstable (sid), the system works flawlessly without any major problems.