Match distro and desktop?

[Victor Odhner]

George Toft wrote:
> If you like the Environment, and are not comfortable with tweaking
> your system, you might want to go with the distro that supports your
> desktop of choice.  On the other hand, what better way to learn the
> intricacies of how everything works?

The new environment I'm setting up is Debian -- exactly because it
has the best system for downloading new packages and automatically
filling in the dependencies.  NOTE, I haven't gotten far with this
yet because I'm still tinkering with my basic X config.  But in an
old system (at work), I had a really bad time trying to use RPM for
installing new desktop stuff, so I decided that a good packaging
system would be my basic requirement.  Another caution:  I've heard
complaints that the Debian scheme is getting diminishing support
out there, so it might turn out I've bought a backwater distro as
far as finding releases for it is concerned.  Still, Debian is a
good place to learn the basics of "how everything works" as George
said.

Meanwhile I'm doing everything in a RH 7.1 dual-boot, and most of
what I'm working on requires direct tarball installs.

Vic