Why do you use debian?

[F37U5G0D]

Why do you use debian and not another distrobution?

[julian67]

There are other distributions?

[acimmarusti]

I used Ubuntu first. Worked well on my laptop. Then I decided to try OpenSuSe and Fedora. Both were a total disaster on my laptop...sound problems, constant hangs...I went back to Ubuntu...but I felt I wanted to try something more stable and less buggy. So I went with Debian Lenny that had just come out by the time. It is, by far, the best distro I've had on my laptop and you get to learn a bunch of stuff!..it's awesome

[Dutchmaster]

Everything works flawlessly..... efficiently.....runs cooler..... with more software available.

It just works.

Why would I go anywhere else?

[BioTube]

I got tired of Freespire loosing my filesystem every week and Debian had the right version of the right driver.

[smallchange]

I was using debian bo and redhat 4.2 and couldn't really decide which was better, and then redhat 5.0 came out and they started adding a bunch of python scripts for configuration that would overwrite changes in configuration files, including xf86config. At that point I went debian entirely, when I could chose, and nothing else has ever come close for reliability. Then there is the attitude in debian which is awesome. People devoting a lot of effort to free software and all that it stands for, helping others who are willing to help themselves, being honest, even if it hurts. I have been using Kubuntu for the last month or so, and it has some benefits like newer KDE but then that came with newer Amarok and I am real glad debian has not done that yet. It is nice that Ubuntu is trying to bring Windows users to linux but I wish they would become linux users instead of Windows users running Ubuntu. Dealing with people who firmly believe that there must be a button they can click that will solve all their problems gets pretty trying.

[Bulkley]

Package management.

[Tadeas]

The more "difficult" and "demanding" distro the better - because it's me who is in charge, not the system. I took the common path: Ubuntu - openSuSE - Debian - (Gentoo) - (Debian) - (Gentoo) - (Debian)...
If Gentoo didn't have problems with certain packages I need (scipy, numpy.....), I'd go with Gentoo - it's really a nice distro, but Debian is sufficient for my purposes too. There are just no problems, it just works. BTW I use Sid .

[edbarx]

I use Debian because the following is true.

Debian = {stability, reliability, security, flexibility, total configurability, FOSS}

[Lavene]

I have come to realize that I stick with Debian much for the same reason people stick to Windows; I know it and it sort of works... switching distro would just be a big pita so i don't even look at the alternatives.

[edbarx]

People tend to be divided into two broad categories, some behave like inductors and some behave like capacitors!

I have a tendency to behave like a capacitor where I deem it necessary and behave like a network with infinite impedance where there are scams, gimmicks and hype.

[Absent Minded]

I have tried many different distros and Debian just meets my needs best. It is stable, secure and the package management is just AWESOME... I am so tired of having problems installing things do to dependency problems. Debian took all that away and I am now free to just use my computer however I want. Granted I miss the wizards and GUI tools of some other distros but it is a small price to pay for something as great as Debian.

[blarney]

I've spent a lot of time distro-hopping and getting to grips with the ideas behind FOSS. I have a great deal of respect for the 'easier' distros. Especially Pclinuxos which got me away from Microsoft. Texstar and the devs on that distro have produced something very special but like all the distros with tiny development teams aka Slackware, Mint, Blag and Mepis it has a big weakness. If the project leader gets ill, bored or whatever all the time invested in that distro could be wasted overnight. Packages won't get updated and security becomes an issue. The community fragments and eventually that once stable distro dies.

Debian however has an enormous development team that is truly international. It has a vast repository of packages that are updated regularly and last but definitely not least, they have a commitment to free software.

Personally, I'm not yet ready to give up 3D proprietary drivers or adobe flash/video codecs and Debian allows me to compromise on these issues which is why I'm using it, instead of gnewsense.

Cheers,
Blarney

[@johan]

After +/- 10 jaar with suse/opensuse, i like to change towards a new challenge and to a deb based distro.

[drokmed]

It keeps the noobs away.

I like the old perception that it's hard to learn. That means the fans are smarter and more experienced than in other distros

[craigevil]

What else is there?

What other distro can I upgrade on a daily basis and still have it run smoothly after 5 years?

[kabniel]

Because i am cool, and all the cool kids use Debian

[infinitycircuit]

There are many reasons I use Debian, many coming down to my respect for the vast infrastructure that supports Debian and keeps it running. I also use it because I understand how the system works and know how to package for Debian. But I think it ultimately comes down to what Lavene said--years ago I decided to invest time into learning Debian, and now the opportunity cost of switching means I stick with it.

[cynwulf]

It's hard to answer this without referring to that other distro. I use Debian because it's secure, stable, clean, truly free and no nonsense. I don't see the point in using Debian derivative distributions nor do I see how such distributions can make such absurd claims that their distro is somehow more "user friendly" and "easier" than other comparable GNU/Linux distributions when said distributions break much more often, are largely based on Debian Unstable and still end up requiring a lot of terminal work to get things fixed (though their forum regulars will tell you "just reinstall").

[MALsPa]

Currently multi-booting with Debian Lenny, Mepis 8, Mint Elyssa, and Ubuntu Hardy. Debian took a little longer to install and set up than the others, but after that it seems to require a little less maintenance. I continue multi-booting this way because comparing things in the different distros seems to help me learn things. The other distros were generally quicker to install and set up. Debian seems a bit more solid overall, but I really don't run into many problems with any of the four.