Debian User Forums

It's taken me a while to finally "commit" to running Debian because I didn't understand it after many years of running Ubuntu, Fedora, and OpenSUSE. I'm glad that I took the time to read the wiki's and forums. I run Debian because they stand for open-source software, their Social Contract, stability, security, and community. It's great distro and I finally feel like my distro-hopping days are behind me. I am running their XFCE version and I am very impressed. Keep up the great work!

For me it comes down to two main points.

1. I have the opportunity to run a rolling release distribution that is still more stable then other so called 'stable' systems.
2. I can have that with the wonderful package management.

I spent years bouncing between various distros and at the end of the day there is no need. Not when there is Debian that will do everything I need and do it effeciently and stably.

I use Debian because Debian with LXDE running on ext3/4 is the only distro that works well with my old notebook. Compaq Presario R3000/Nvidia/Amd.

There have been several frustrations with Debian throughout these 3 years, which led me to try other distros. But the fact remains that, for my system - nobody can do it like Debian. Now I understand Debian so well, it would not make sense to change.

This would probably be a good time to thank everybody for the work that you do. I might only ever be an end-user. That said I am a computer guru. My specialty is making systems perform as the designers intended.

My only limitation is that I will never be able to capture sound with any desktop recorder. I have determined that this is a system restriction/limitation - which is not very important. Every other device or hardware; scanner, printer, camera photo transfer, ebook creator, sound - has been resolved. Was it pretty - no.

edbarx just said it!

edbarx wrote:I use Debian because the following is true.

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

I use Debian because, along with Arch, it is one of the best distros you can use for a minimalist, ground-up experience. I always use the netinstall, unselect all the package groups, and grab just what I need with "aptitude install --without-recommends". Usually a lightweight wm (evilwm or dwm), some lightweight apps, and a minimum of services. On Arch, I have busybox init set up with the minirc package from the AUR. I'd like to do this on Debian, too, though I'm not exactly sure how at the moment. I may research it, soon. Even without it, I usually have my basic GUI desktop running in less than 35 MB's RAM. And that's pretty attractive for an obsessive downsizer like myself.

I use Debian because it's disturbing and appeals to my obsessive compulsion.

The people who use Debian are actually quite clinically maniacal in the strict lego-medical sense. At least half of them suffer from near complete paranoia. The 'government' is most likely after them, and they are definintely being monitored.

And that's why it's enjoyable and usable on production machines, space stations, toys, and pieces of junk.

You are all NSA.

anastasis wrote:I use Debian because it's disturbing and appeals to my obsessive compulsion.

The people who use Debian are actually quite clinically maniacal in the strict lego-medical sense. At least half of them suffer from near complete paranoia. The 'government' is most likely after them, and they are definintely being monitored.

And that's why it's enjoyable and usable on production machines, space stations, toys, and pieces of junk.

You are all NSA.

You cracked me up, I needed a good laugh, thanx.

I use Debian because it loves my machine and my machine loves it, it's rock solid and it's not bloated (unless you want it to be, just install kde-full, PAH!). I know anastasis was mostly joking (I hope, lol) but he or she is right to a degree, it's a tweaker's dream distro.

Long (kinda) story. My Arch installation fucked up (my fault) and I wanted to start from scratch so I decided to just reinstall it and start from 0. I had these little paper notes (I know. Old school... It's the only computer I had available so yeah...) with simple steps on how to install Arch for my particular system... turns out I had lost one of the notes so I had an icomplete version of my guide. I then decided to install it by just remembering what to do. I thought I had everything installed but I rebooted and I guess I missed a step or something and that failed. It was 4 in the morning too and I HATE going to bed without fixing any computer issue I might have... it drives me nuts.

I didn't have the patience to do it again so I just ended up installing an Ubuntu 14.04 ISO I had burned somewhere before so I didn't go to bed with that horrible feeling of not fixing things. (it was the Unity version. I installed LXDE instead and jesus christ I don't know what the hell those guys put into the default install... I tried removing some stuff I didn't need and I still ended up with a crap ton of packages and barley any actually useful programs).

I used it for a bit but then got the urge out of nowhere to go pure Debian. I installed Wheezy and was pretty happy with it but then due to lack of MPV and other things in the Stable repos I upgraded to Testing and so far I'm pretty happy.

Rocking dat Jessie with Openbox now.

Sounds good to me lucas7.

lucas7 wrote:... turns out I had lost one of the notes so I had an icomplete version of my guide.......It was 4 in the morning too ... I tried removing some stuff I didn't need and I still ended up with a crap ton of packages and barley any actually useful programs...

COUGH *clonezilla* COUGH

lucas7 wrote:I installed Wheezy and was pretty happy with it but then due to lack of MPV and other things in the Stable repos I upgraded to Testing and so far I'm pretty happy.

The best combo for me is Wheezy with the Wheezy backports (deb <your-local-mirror>/debian/ wheezy-backports main non-free contrib) and Wheezy dmo (deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org/ wheezy main non-free) enabled but not pinned (not giving them the higher preference status but still available when needed). Indestructible yet functional.

Disclaimer: Although I don't have any problems, I have to say apply at your own risk anyway.

Linadian wrote:

lucas7 wrote:I installed Wheezy and was pretty happy with it but then due to lack of MPV and other things in the Stable repos I upgraded to Testing and so far I'm pretty happy.

The best combo for me is Wheezy with the Wheezy backports (deb <your-local-mirror>/debian/ wheezy-backports main non-free contrib) and Wheezy dmo (deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org/ wheezy main non-free) enabled but not pinned (not giving them the higher preference status but still available when needed). Indestructible yet functional.

Disclaimer: Although I don't have any problems, I have to say apply at your own risk anyway.

I had wheezy-backports but MPV wasn't there and compiling it myself along with some other ffmpeg version was a pain and I was lazy . I hadn't thought of deb-multimedia though. I'm just gonna stay here on Testing and if something goes terribly wrong I'll go Stable and try that repo.

Also it may sound stupid but I kinda miss Iceweasel ESR... It had the old style (classic theme restorer is just not the same ) and was smooth as hell on this old PC too. Can I install that on Testing?...

Debian is the best distro to use as a base when you create your own Linux From Scratch.

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

Note: This is not a plug. I just like Debian and trying to build my own Linux is very interesting!

lucas7 wrote:Also it may sound stupid but I kinda miss Iceweasel ESR... It had the old style (classic theme restorer is just not the same ) and was smooth as hell on this old PC too. Can I install that on Testing?...

Of course you can, as long as the package is still somewhere and dependencies can be satisfied you easily can do pretty much all you want on testing/unstable.

Installing Iceweasel 24 esr on testing/unstable as of right now is feasible: you simply need to pull the package (and dependencies) from Stable and pin it (pin them) to prevent them being upgrades the next update.
The subtlety is that even though mixing branches while on testing/unstable is part of what they are supposed to endure being development branches, because of their inherently unstable nature (read the link in my signature for the meaning of the concept of stability in Debian), what works now might not work some other day.

Anyway, read the following thread to understand mixing branches and apt-pinning:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=15612

Ehy, remember, testing/unstable are development branches: they are not supposed to work in the same way the official Debian release does, so you can tinker, but when it breaks you also keep the pieces.

Bye

I use Debian GNU/Linux because it is Free Software in name and practice and is not owned or dictated by corporate interests. Concurrently, it allows users to own the means of production for such tasks as multimedia production -- everything from graphic design to video editing -- without sacrificing freedom for a perceived sense of increased productivity provided by proprietary software.

Well ..... long ago (I think about 7 years) I turned my back to Win***s and tried Linux-based distributions. My first one was OpenSuse, but it had too many bugs and broke my system after a short while, then I tried Fedora, but the "bleeding edge" sometimes was too "bleeding" and their community was a bit harsh when I tried to describe my problems refering to their religion on their forum, Mandriva was the same experience. All these 3 distros didn't seem to fit my needs. So I stumbled over Ubuntu, a Debian Linux based user friendly distribution with a reputation of working right out-of-the-box. Nowadays I am thinking of Ubuntu as bloatware with a company politics, which makes me vomit (Amazon shopping lense, E.T. calling home, spyware, bloatware, etc.). I now use Debian for quite a good time and I never was disappointed. I used Arch derivates for testing (Antergos, Archbang), but the many of their community members policy of not signing packages and not taking security for serious plus the AUR which maybe user-friendly but also risky made me come back.

I now have got a "pimped" Debian testing Jessie XFCE plus contrib & nonfree apt-sources on my HP laptop with kernel 3.16rc3 installed and it works like charm. I want to learn a bit in my spare time so Debian seems perfect for that. Don't get me wrong, I am far away of being a super-nerd knowing anything about everything but I can upgrade kernels, use the command line, add or remove users and groups, etc. So I would call myself a newbie who is willing to open his eyes.

Rolling distro (sort of). Large package library. Binary packages. Stability.

Reliable, stability, security, vast library of packages, customisable. It is just amazing.

1.Everything I need to work, works!
2.No need to reinstall in order to upgrade!
3.It's free!
4.Very stable, even when using backports!
5.Very experienced users in case I need help!
6.Debian is very cool and awesome!

Because my computer has never worked better or been more functional, private and secure in the 17 years I've been tinkering (self taught, building, fixing, loading PCs and laptops). That includes 4 Windows versions (95 up to and including XP with the exception Millennium), and numerous other distros, including some Ubuntu derivatives. All my tinkering paid off, because Debian is not Mint, that's for sure, I've got nothing against Mint, great distro, great training wheels until you're ready for Debian.