Debian User Forums

Hey folks -

Not going to complain - just wanted to comment on how solid Testing is. I have been running Testing for about 6 months now and while I risk the chance of now getting an issue, to date I never had one. I can't believe how rock solid Testing is.

Back Story:
I started out on Debian a number of years ago but wondered over to CentOS/Fedora (due to a need at work to support Cent) then over to Ubuntu for my home system. While I still love Ubuntu, there was just something that just bugged me about Ubuntu - then one day Ubuntu opted to add Unity. Argh I thought, this is a huge mistake and I did what most others did. Complained, complained and complained.

Of course, nobody listened so I was stuck with it and begrudgingly, excepted it but never fully embraced it. Sure, I would try from time to time to install Debian on my lappy but it failed due to wireless drivers. I know what you're thinking ... Why didn't I just try the Non-Free ISO. To be honest, I didn't look into that much since I already had a working Linux system and tuned the way I wanted it. Perfectly happy except.... Unity.

When I heard the news that 17.10 was going back to Gnome, I was thrilled however, I was already researching on how to install Debian by that time and was already on my way to getting that done. I tried 17.10 on a spare system I had and actually liked it, A LOT. But, I was already way into getting back into Debian.

Current Day:
Anyways, I have since replaced my Ubuntu server with Debian 9 and my other 2 systems are happily running Testing. I just wanted to say a big thank you to the devs for all they do and it feels soooo damned good being back on Debian.

Cheers
Chris

Hmmm...It feels safe but it can be rodeo-like Debian.

Google thinks it's ok. Search for gLinux.
It's not for casual users, only for those who know how to use apt. If you're new, Stable is the only real choice.

Development builds can be rock solid, until they aren't. I've been running siduction (sid-based) and its forebears for nearly 10 years with only a handful of show stoppers and one forced reinstall when I couldn't fix it.
Always dual-boot a stable system just in case.

Debian Stable with some backports may be a better option than running Testing, especially for a system where you cannot afford downtime should something suddenly change without warning.

bdtc1 wrote:Debian Stable with some backports may be a better option than running Testing, especially for a system where you cannot afford downtime should something suddenly change without warning.

Yup - that is an option but I'm pretty happy with Testing and have several back-out plans should the unforeseen happen.
Good idea though if something catastrophic happens


Cheers
Chris

sunrat wrote:Development builds can be rock solid, until they aren't. I've been running siduction (sid-based) and its forebears for nearly 10 years with only a handful of show stoppers and one forced reinstall when I couldn't fix it.
Always dual-boot a stable system just in case.

Now that's interesting. I have (in the distant past) dabbled with Sid and have given it a thought or two recently. I'll have to keep this distro in mind should I opt to give it a shot.

Cheers
Chris

I have used Debian stable for many years and Testing and Sid for not quite as long.
Previously with Stable I would add repositories for VirtualBox, LibreOffice and so on. Now with stable, about the only thing I add is backports to use the latest kernel with my Intel 6th generation and later processors.
Testing and Sid are generally quite stable. When bugs come, you can choose to update or wait. Waiting usually provides a solution within a day or two.
I find there isn't so much difference between the Debian stable versions and the current versions of many programs. Whenever I find a new program that I want to install, it is usually included in the Debian repositories.
The only thing that I add now that aren't in the repositories are Tor Browser (updates only), and Signal.