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Why do you use debian?

Here you can discuss every aspect of Debian. Note: not for support requests!
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Fossy
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#501 Post by Fossy »

After the release of Win 8 / 10 switched to Linux for my daily use personnal computers , starting around 2013 with Linux Mint based on Ubuntu , over quiet recently LMDE 4 based on Debian .

Debian : “ Unknown often means unloved “ … this changed with thank’s to “ debian-live-10.10.0-amd64-cinnamon+nonfree.iso

although I’m not a IT / ICT genius , far from , flawlessly installed and a real pleasure concerning maintenance & usability .
never felt more secured / comfortable since I adopted this operating system
ASUS GL753VD / X550LD / K54HR / X751LAB ( x2 )
Bookworm12.5_Cinnamon / Calamares Single Boot installations
Firefox ESR / DuckDuckGo / Thunderbird / LibreOffice / GIMP / eID Software

https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/cu ... so-hybrid/

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ticojohn
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#502 Post by ticojohn »

After having briefly tried other Linux distros, and having issues with things like automatic updates crashing the system, I think for me the biggest reason I use Debian is that I have confidence in the development team. Confidence that the devlopers are doing everything they can to maintain the integrity, stability and security of every package that they make available for installation. I've been using Debian for about 12 years and have yet to have an issue, other than one caused by my own actions. I cringe when I think about using any other OS, especially the one that over 90% of the world uses. GNU/Linux forever.
I am not irrational, I'm just quantum probabilistic.

Bulkley
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#503 Post by Bulkley »

ticojohn wrote: 2021-08-09 20:16 . . . I have confidence in the development team.
Me too. When we fetch and install from the Debian repos we know that what we get is clean of spam and malware.

invoinvo
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#504 Post by invoinvo »

centos was the go-to server hosting platform until redhat change their mind.
debian fit the requirement to take over centos as a secure server hosting platform.

hkoster1
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#505 Post by hkoster1 »

I've been using Debian GNU/Linux on and off since Bo, lately running as VMware Fusion or Parallels virtual machines on Macs. That doesn't suit me any longer since Apple's switch to the ARM64 architecture because my favourite programming language/environment Chez Scheme hasn't been ported to ARM64 (yet).

So, I've been busy the past few days installing Bullseye as the only OS on a recent (version 10) NUC, and what a beauty it is!
Real Debian users don't do chat...

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Re: Why do you use debian?

#506 Post by ve9cbc04 »

Simple. Since many distros are based on Debian, my thought was: why not use the original that those distros are based on. And I have come to find out that this Bullseye distro is one of the best ones I have ever used! Very stable & not memory hungry. All involved in this distro: you do awesome work!
Speed reading the manual and an early morning without coffee - is a recipe for disaster. :lol:

somePlebe
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#507 Post by somePlebe »

Been using Debian since 2004. It works and I know my way around. I just upgraded from stretch to Bullseye a few weeks ago. When doing a bunch of clean up the oldest stuff I found was Linux 3.2 the amazing part was the update went almost totally without a hitch. I stopped on buster long enough to make sure it booted and was on my way to Bullseye. Already apt-get updated sources.list bookworm but chickend out at upgrade. I'm going to wait a few more days.

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Yal
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#508 Post by Yal »

Hello,

For my very first post on the forum, why not explain how and why I started using Debian?

TL;DR I tried Debian without much expectations and was so impressed by it I decided to keep on using it.

Longer explanation:

I am no expert computer user, far from it. After 30+ years using Windows (with a bit of Apple), I switched to GNU/Linux maybe six months ago (tired of having to fight Microsoft (and more and nore more third-party apps too) to preserve some privacy on my computer). Next to a more recent desktop, I use a 2011 laptop.

With the first distribution I installed, the laptop would at times feel sluggish or, at best, it would lack snappiness (despite its 8g and SSD, and the light usage I have). Nothing too problematic, but it was odd nonetheless as I read everywhere Linux was supposed to work well with old hardware. And it was annoying. The worst of all was boot time (it took more than a minute if not more, just to unlock the encrypted drive before the boot would really begin). I tried reinstalling the distribution, and then tried another one, without much luck (it was faster, but still long).

I was slowly considering purchasing a newer laptop but was not happy about that (I like this machine) so, out of curiosity, I downloaded Debian 10, switched the SSD in the laptop with a spare I had lying around, and installed it. And wow.

Booting and unlocking the drive took mere seconds. And while using the laptop, absolutely everything felt snappy. It was almost the exact same laptop (with another SSD), the same DE (Xfce, albeit an older version, on Debian) and the same apps, but everything was working so much better!

I was so impressed that what was supposed to be a quick test before me purchasing a new laptop (I had even selected a few models), ended up in me using Debian for a couple more days on my trusty old laptop. Then a few more days, learning a lot while configuring Debian and using it. A week later, I realized I had almost never used my desktop: there was no need to, as the laptop was now comfortable enough to handle most tasks. Then, ready to break everything, I I upgraded Debian 10 to the RC2 of Debian Bullseye that was available at that tine, without a single issue.

That was a month ago. Yesterday, I 'upgraded' my desktop to Debian too. Both computers are now running Bullseyes, and I see very few reasons for this to change anytime soon.

As a noob wondering 'what Linux I should use', I had read a lot about Debian as being the source of so many other distributions, because of its stability and security, but also read it was not aimed at beginners like me, that if it was indeed rock solid it was also somewhat outdated in comparison to others. That’s why I never considered Debian as an option, and went for more beginner-friendly distributions instead.

That is too bad, as this hesitation ended up being a waste of time for me. Installing Debian, I realized it was not difficult at all (even the WiFi firmware, one just need to read the doc). Sure, there are docs to be read (a warm thank you to everyone working on them, btw) but that taught me quite a few things—I learned more in the couple days installing and configuring Debian than in the months I had been using the others. I was also worried using older versions of apps would be an issue. It is not, save maybe for two apps for which I ended using appimages for.

I am still a beginner and have a lot to learn but I am looking forward to that, using Debian ;)

mechanic
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#509 Post by mechanic »

Yes, but what we really miss is Solaris!

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Re: Why do you use debian?

#510 Post by Shamak »

Funny thing, I'd probably use Ubuntu as I like companies but there seems to always be something wrong with it. First it was that Chrome had a problem maximizing video windows (like YouTube). That was what first sent me over to Debian where it worked. Then after a while I figured out the problem on Ubuntu and went back to it.

Then something happened with Duplicity where it wouldn't work with an automated backup script from time to time but it worked on Debian. So back on Debian I went. Eventually I figured out a workaround. By then I had been on Debian for so long that I stayed.

Then at some point the Ubuntu live cd would take about 8 minutes to open on my computer after they added an EFI partition to the live cd. (The problem happened on some old computers. I guess they fixed it for a number of them but not on mine.) So I eventually found a bug report where someone came up with a way to use xorriso to modify the live cd and make it work.

So it's become something of a minor hobby to figure out how to solve Ubuntu problems. Wayland is now the Ubuntu 22.04 default and for some reason neither (snap) Firefox nor (snap) Chromium will open but they open on Xorg. I haven't figured that one out yet. Chromium at least used to work in Ubuntu 20.04 on Wayland and Firefox was still a .deb.

I have an old computer so maybe that's part of the problem. I know I could just ask on their forums but it's more fun to poke around to find solutions or workarounds.

Now I've come on here a couple of times with problems but they turned out to not actually be problems. One was an error or notification that I learned later was harmless and the other was something that was simply not included in Chromium (swiftshader) by the maintainer. So nothing was actually wrong with Debian in those cases.

So basically I'm on Debian because it works.

Fossy
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#511 Post by Fossy »

for the Rookies who got lost in the linux forest , start here :
https://www.debian.org/
https://www.debian.org/distrib/
https://www.debian.org/download
always bear in mind :
https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian
and of course .. ultimately :wink: :
https://forums.debian.net/

I can't imagine ever using another operating system in full confidence .
ASUS GL753VD / X550LD / K54HR / X751LAB ( x2 )
Bookworm12.5_Cinnamon / Calamares Single Boot installations
Firefox ESR / DuckDuckGo / Thunderbird / LibreOffice / GIMP / eID Software

https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/cu ... so-hybrid/

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Re: Why do you use debian?

#512 Post by Porbeagle »

I googled "Whats the stablestest of all stable distros, in terms of stability?", and here I am.

I think Debian is the best distro for people who are beginners, but who still want to try build and configure their own desktop "Arch-style". When you've set one thing up, it stays that way, and then you can move on to the next thing, one thing at the time in peace and quiet!

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Re: Why do you use debian?

#513 Post by Diesel330 »

Debian was my first try away from Windows, it was the Baster and it felt like a hack, it had problems but it worked, and I liked the Cinnamon desktop. Then I tried some other distributions but I concluded to Debian because I wanted something non-corporate something made by a community.

Then came the Debian 11, noob friendly, functional and more stable than Windows, so my search is over. Now I am in the state ''if it is not in the Debian repositories then no thank you''

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Re: Why do you use debian?

#514 Post by jmgibson1981 »

I use Debian on my server because I don't have to worry about it for the most part. I can leave it alone and it just does it's thing without a complaint.

My desktop is a bit more complicated and the only reason is because I still like games. I'm a World of Warcraft addict (from when it was released), and I also need a specific app in the Windows Store believe it or not. I've tried the Android verision via Anbox and it runs abysmally on my machine and I can't figure out why. Anbox is the number one recommended Android thing but for me it's as slow as molasses. Also the whole Anbox thing crashes every 5-10 minutes. As far as World of Warcraft and a few other games, I can make them work with Lutris / Proton in Steam. But a few things don't work and they can be day ending. I can't manage to run the scan and repair function on any of my Battle.net games, just errors out. The Blizzard store only works about 50% of the time. I'm also still frustrated that I have to find random lines to pass to wine in steam to make certain things work... voices in Skyrim comes to mind. The rest of the sound works though which makes it even more ridiculous.

*EDIT* I suppose I should be happy that they work at all to any degree being Windows based and not for Linux. Still frustrating. I don't like that I have to choose an OS based on what I want to run. That seems stupid to me. Software should be agnostic but that is a pipe dream. There is no true freedom in the software world. You are locked to whichever one will run what you want and it's just the way it is. I have no problem with closed source software but the OS is not a place where closed source belongs.

Regardless I've flopped back and forth. I can't seem to stick to either one. I much prefer the Linux system via Debian > Windows but sometimes I'm just tired of basically hacking it to get my games to work (which are Windows based). I'll probably get back after it on Debian again here soon. Already feeling the itch.

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Re: Why do you use debian?

#515 Post by Shamak »

I suppose for me the final straw with Ubuntu came with the two cve's CVE-2022-26485 and CVE-2022-26486 which as I understand it are/were zero day exploits for Firefox and Thunderbird. They were listed as priority high or critical depending on where you looked. Debian patched Thunderbird 3 days after the fix was released but Ubuntu sat on it for two months. The page where they listed the cve's listed Firefox as having the fix but Thunderbird just said it needed triage. Even now the Thunderbird entry has just disappeared.

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-26485

whereas the corresponding page for Debian shows Thunderbird versions that have been fixed and those that are still vulnerable.

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tra ... 2022-26485

I'm just a regular user. I can't tell from Ubuntu's pages if something was vulnerable or not. They seem to have not dealt with it at all and Thunderbird is in the Main repository which is run by Canonical itself. So now I have my doubts about the rest of Ubuntu. With Debian what is going on is clear from the security tracker page and I can see the update and when it happened.

https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/thunderbird

So here I am.

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Winston Payne
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#516 Post by Winston Payne »

I used Debian back when I was distro-hopping madly for a while. Iceweasel was still a relatively new thing, to date myself. I enjoyed it, but I left to chase newer software for a few years. I ended up settling on openSUSE Tumbleweed for a while. However, every once in a while an important application, or the system itself, would break. I could always roll back thanks to the btrfs filesystem and zypper, but it was still a major inconvenience, especially since I use my computers for my work! I eventually tired of this and returned to Debian for some much-needed stability. Not having to do a massive update several times a week is a huge relief too. :D

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Re: Why do you use debian?

#517 Post by panpan »

I hesitated to use Debian Xfce for a long time because of lack of configurations, since to reach a desired level of functionality require knowledge and time. But since the majority of the other Linux Distros became a ground of testing providing off course useful tools and services, for me my system became unstable with the other Distros, and for that reason I turned to the original of them, the Debian, which is stable and secure!

eionmac
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#518 Post by eionmac »

20220714 Why do you use Debian?
20220714
It works on very old hardware. I tutor seniors in a social club in the use of computers and how to keep their aged computers working when they cannot afford to buy a new computer, but want to keep running their email, browsing and entertainment (e,g. news sites like BBC [UK], Deutsche Well [Germany] and You Tube and Facebook etc.). Debian usually will always load and run, especially with small amounts of RAM and very old CPUs. This machine is circa 2006.

deadlyremote
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#519 Post by deadlyremote »

its simple, stable and does what i need it to do (playing games, internet, programming etc)

recursivecall
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Re: Why do you use debian?

#520 Post by recursivecall »

Simple, stable, somewhat bloatware free and still uses .deb packages only (no crap or flatcrap). It has a great community and it will likely be around forever unlike many useless projects which die the same day they are created. Finally it's one of the very first distro and I believe it's the only original distribution which is still around. I used to like Ubuntu better 10 years ago before Unity was introduced and I also used to be KDE fanboy but Debian + GNOME is perfect for me. I also like Fedora + GNOME but the deb distros receive more support from 3rd party applications/companies.

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