First Impressions: Debian

[Robert Bushman]

I've had my first Debian box for a little more
than a day, and already I have a serious problem.
I've suddenly become quite dissatisfied with my
five Mandrake boxes.


Advantages:

Fast - I'm not sure why, but Debian on this 900 Mhz
machine feels more responsive than any of my Mandrake
boxes.

apt - Schwing. It's like Red Carpet without the
annoying gui, a helluva lot more tweakability, and
much more software. Point and click is nice if you
have no idea what you're doing--apt has a slight
learning curve--but apt is vastly superior if you want
power. I'm also sure I've only seen the tip of the
iceberg.

Powerful Install - Just about everything can be
configured during the installation process. I suspect
this is what leads to some of the responsiveness, as
much that is unnecessary for this machine has been
left out of the kernel.


Disadvantages:

Intimidating Install - It's actually difficult to
make any serious mistakes (believe me, I tried),
but because it gives you so much freedom, it is
necessarily more interactive. It asks a lot of
questions that I didn't fully understand (though it
almost always has a sensible default).

X Configuration - I accepted the defaults and it
works perfectly. Still, I would have been happier
if it had an autodetection mechanism and a chance
to test the results before continuing.


Overall:

I don't think it's the right choice for your first
Linux machine, but once you're comfortable with
the OS, and you've got a spare machine to play
with, give it a try--you'll be quite pleased.


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 'Microsoft also warned today that the era of "open computing," the
 free exchange of digital information that has defined the personal
 computer industry, is ending.'

 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/25/technology/25NET.html
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