Which ROLLING DISTRIBUTION based on Debian is right for me?

[Uewd]

Which ROLLING DISTRIBUTION based on Debian is right for me?
I want to compare ROLLING DISTRIBUTIONS based on Debian between:
1. Less manual maintenance required.
2. Stability.
3. Speed.
4. Fast availability of bug fixes and security updates.

Thank you.

[lmintnewb]

How big is your hard drive ? My biggest linux install is on a 12gb partition most of it still free ( 70%). Point Im getting at here. Why not try a bunch and see which you like the most ... 3 or 4 ( or if ya bashful just a couple ) of them bad mamma jammers. Though just a newbish opinion.

a. Might be worth the trouble of actually setting up separate /home partitions for Mint's debian stuff. b. And couldn't hurt more than likely to learn how to use n restore a backup app. etc. Which is good practice anyway me thinks and other people more experienced say the same thing. But with hdd's being so big n Mint installs being so small. Think the best way you'll know what's right for you is trying them. You can safely go Mint crazy, Mint maniacal ... MINT MAD !!! AHHHHHH D:


gd luck, if anything breaks ... It's all your fault.

(update) I don't do a lot of media storage obviously. Vids n 3mil mp3's etc sure you'd want to go mucho higher on the partition sizing of /home if you do that sorta stuff often. Random thought, is also not that difficult to set up a shared partition all the Minty installs you're trying can share between em too. They also should have no prob sharing the same swap. So ya won't need a swap partition for each one. The 3 I've got installed all share swap well enough with no problems.

n oh yeah, Robin gave ya some good advice on a similar thread about this. Haven't tried Mint's debian ( sure they are great stuff ) myself. But do know they advise people they are not as newb friendly. Think she gave ya some good advice about getting your feet wet with Mint's main releases too. But that's your choice to make. Either way ya go your comp isn't going to blow up. Mint buntu will more than likely be a smoother experience for ya though ... etc.

[exploder]

I have never found any Debian based rolling releases that really upgrades the way they should. Using Debian testing sort of works but things tend to break too often and the things you really want updated take forever. The only rolling release I have found that really holds up is PCLinuxOS but it is rpm based. In PCLinuxOS all my apps are up to date but things like xserver.org are not updated until everyone's hardware works reasonably well. I have had PCLinuxOS running for about two and a half months and have had no breakage from updates. These are just my opinions but I did a lot of searching for rolling releases and this is the very best solution I have found.

[ThistleWeb]

PCLinux is a rolling distro? This is new to me. You can switch any Debian based distro to rolling by changing the repos to Testing, and doing a dist-upgrade. The packages in Testing are pretty stable in terms of use, but many are quite old, so it depends on what you need, whether it's for you or not. Arch is a rolling distro on the cutting edge, giving very new packages, but the downside is that any update at any time could break something, leaving you to try and fix it. This is not ideal if you don't have the time or inclination for unexpected tech support.

OpenSUSE have a Tumbleweed option, turning a cyclic OpenSUSE into a rolling distro. This does seem like a nice balance between latest packages and stability, but the future of OpenSUSE seems very much up in the air right now, with Microsoft / Novell / Attachmate all still in meetings to decide what happens to Novell property, as well as various govt departments over antitrust concerns.

I like the idea of a rolling distro for my netbook. I've tried a few approaches, settling on Crunchbang (Squeeze) switched to Testing. I've since had a bit of an epiphany on the subject. The whole point of a rolling distro, is that there is no "end of the line" forcing you to backup, wipe and reinstall. I've never come even close to the end of the line with ANY distro I've used. I usually get bored and switch every few months anyway, and I usually use the latest version of a distro, which has an 18mnth cycle, and often only for a few months before I see another I want to try. So for me, a rolling distro is no real advantage, it's just a solution to a false premise.

I can't imagine having the same install of the same distro for a year, let alone 18mnths, for that I'd have to assume that the next 2 (in addition to the current one) releases of a distro don't cut it. Not only that, but it assumes that every other distro I'm interested in also have few releases that don't cut it. That's a lot of very unlikely events to all hit home at once. Every distro can have a bad release, or at least one that's considered below par; they're not likely to have 2 or 3 in a row or if they are, there's plenty of other distros out there.

[craig10x]

ThistleWeb...yep...PcLinuxOs IS a rolling distro...probably one of the few that is super reliable in terms of lack of breakages...
But i prefer mInt myself...i think Mint is far more polished looking then PcLinuxOs is...they need to work on that

I tried LMDE for awhile but got tired of the zillions of updates and the breakages that were VERY annoying to me...so it's back to Mint Main for me now....

[exploder]

But i prefer mInt myself...i think Mint is far more polished looking then PcLinuxOs is...they need to work on that

Look here.

http://screenshotsfrlinux.freeforums.or ... -t489.html

New application splash screens and some new icons have been added since those screenshots were posted. I just looked at the KDE test 2 iso and it looked pretty darn nice!

[Elisa]

ThistleWeb...yep...PcLinuxOs IS a rolling distro...probably one of the few that is super reliable in terms of lack of breakages...
But i prefer mInt myself...i think Mint is far more polished looking then PcLinuxOs is...they need to work on that

I tried LMDE for awhile but got tired of the zillions of updates and the breakages that were VERY annoying to me...so it's back to Mint Main for me now....

Why do u cerate another similar thread like this one ?
As I advices u in your 1st the other thread Debian Squeeze (as very long term support ) would fit your need but anyway it's not for noobs which don't wanna study and learn linux. For newbies is enough any LTS of Mint distros.

[MALsPa]

The only rolling release I have found that really holds up is PCLinuxOS but it is rpm based. In PCLinuxOS all my apps are up to date but things like xserver.org are not updated until everyone's hardware works reasonably well. I have had PCLinuxOS running for about two and a half months and have had no breakage from updates.

I added PCLinuxOS KDE 2010.07 back in August of last year. No major issues, still running fine. I know that the OP said "based on Debian" in the thread title, and I mostly go with .deb distros, but the fact that PCLOS is an .rpm distro hasn't been an issue here.

[linuxuser159]

i have been using LMDE for a while. it works great. no problems at all.

it is recommended that you use apt-get to do dist-upgrade instead of using the mintupdate GUI

all rolling distros do not claim to guarantee stability and things not to break down. this is part of the nature of rolling release.

[exploder]

I brought up PCLinuxOS because using Debian testing on a Debian based system does not seem like a rolling release to me. When new things like Gnome 3, etc come in to testing the packages do not all come in at once and there is breakage. The Debian testing repos were not set up to make Debian a rolling release, they were set up to test new packages. PCLinuxOS is a rolling release by design and only uses one repo for the normal day to day updates. It's hard to explain but the Mint Debian Xfce edition is a good example of what I am trying to say. When new Xfce packages came in to testing things started breaking like crazy, that's not how a rolling release should work in my opinion.

Having the latest applications is what most people want, you want the core elements updated as they mature and are free of serious bugs and regressions. Using Debian testing kind of throws everything at you all at once and there is too much breakage for the average user to depend on the system for daily use. Debian has mentioned creating a repo to make Debian a rolling release but it has not happened yet and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it.

[linuxuser159]

i see. interesting thought. however, maybe debian guys can slow down moving things into testing. there is no need for a new repo. they just need to be more careful about moving things from unstable to testing. this way, testing maintains its reputation for being almost-stable

I brought up PCLinuxOS because using Debian testing on a Debian based system does not seem like a rolling release to me. When new things like Gnome 3, etc come in to testing the packages do not all come in at once and there is breakage. The Debian testing repos were not set up to make Debian a rolling release, they were set up to test new packages. PCLinuxOS is a rolling release by design and only uses one repo for the normal day to day updates. It's hard to explain but the Mint Debian Xfce edition is a good example of what I am trying to say. When new Xfce packages came in to testing things started breaking like crazy, that's not how a rolling release should work in my opinion.

Having the latest applications is what most people want, you want the core elements updated as they mature and are free of serious bugs and regressions. Using Debian testing kind of throws everything at you all at once and there is too much breakage for the average user to depend on the system for daily use. Debian has mentioned creating a repo to make Debian a rolling release but it has not happened yet and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it.

[craig10x]

Debian seems to operate in weird ways anyway...Ubuntu "tames' it....that is why it generally works better overall...For example, Debian knows it has lousy font rendering and seems like it could care less...Ubuntu created patches which make debian look great and the only reason why LMDE now looks like main edition is because Clem put in those ubuntu patches when he released the December iso for LMDE...when LMDE was first released, it looked as bad as debian is...

The guy that maintains Google Chromium takes a year and a day to move in newer versions to testing....and as was pointed out, debian testing gets plenty of breakages because Debian doesn't really do a true, stable rolling release, it uses testing for...well TESTING....i don't want a "laboratory distro" that i constantly need to monitor, fix, work on...I would love to have a rolling distro that is very stable (much like PcLinuxOs)....and would switch except i still like MINT better as distro....

PCLinuxOS is fantastic technically but needs lots of appearance and coordination improvements (despite that pretty new desktop wallpaper that is coming for the 2011 iso)...that KDE panel on the bottom still looks weird to me...A lot of elements in the system as you putter around it look strange.....

For KDE....Kubuntu is the nicest looking distro i have ever seen...now if PCLinuxOS could look something like that...i'd run over to it in a minute
Actually, though i am more of a gnome guy...and PcLinuxOs gnome doesn't look as good or polished as Mint gnome either...
Sorry guys...otherwise i love what they are doing over there...

[MALsPa]

Why are default appearances even important? It's Linux... make it look how you want it to look!

[AlbertP]

Debian testing gets plenty of breakages because Debian doesn't really do a true, stable rolling release, it uses testing for...well TESTING....i don't want a "laboratory distro" that i constantly need to monitor, fix, work on...I would love to have a rolling distro that is very stable (much like PcLinuxOs)

Exactly why I prefer other bases than Debian Testing. Stable is a bit too old in my opinion (though my hardware works fine with it), and Mint 11 works OK for me; I don't worry about a reinstall and there are plenty of PPA's if some app is too old. But if you want a rolling distro but still a quite stable one, I think PCLOS would be a good choice (not tried it, however).

[exploder]

I removed a couple of icons from the panel to have this result.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Also, the panel was changed some in the kde test 2 iso and it looked pretty nice. I think the defaults for the panel are kept the way they are for familiarity, a couple of mouse clicks changes the panel any way you like it. I have seen a great deal of thought and effort by many to refine the new brushed metal theme in PCLInuxOS and I think it looks very nice. Adjusting the panel to my personal taste seems very trivial to me. There are also new splash screens for various applications, look here.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.ph ... 785.0.html

These guys built 12,818 applications from source, that's quite an accomplishment for a small group of packagers! These guys also maintain 7+ editions and that is not including mini editions and other editions that will be released with the 2011 release. PCLinuxOS stays right on top of updates to popular applications, it's amazing how quickly packages are updated. I have seen Texstar himself jump in to help a community member solve a problem and even go out of his way to build a new package to fix a problem for an individual user. You simply can not beat the effort and dedication the PCLinuxOS Team has. PCLinuxOS has the best support I have ever seen! PCLinuxOS is clearly the rolling release I want on my computer.

Edit: PCLinuxOS packages do not come from any single source, that is they are not based on any particular distribution. Even the Mandriva tools are modified to work in PCLinuxOS and there are very obvious differences if you compare.

[craig10x]

Exploder...the way you have your lower panel looks great And i do like that new desktop default wallpaper very much...
I looked at those splash screens and they look fabulous also...hope he (texstar) uses them in the release....
See..that is what i mean about "more polish needed" It's a great distro...they needed to make it LOOK as great as it IS...

By the way...any idea of when that release will be out? I am registered on their forums but haven't been on there for quite some time.....
Also, is there a place where i can download the testing iso for this new release...while i wouldn't consider installing until a final comes out,
i would love to preview it...Also if they have these isos for both the kde and gnome versions, would appreciate links for both...

Thanks

[AlbertP]

Here you can click a PCLOS flavour and download it: http://www.pclinuxos.com/?page_id=10

[craig10x]

Thank you AlbertP....although those links are for the isos that were posted back in December 2010...
In the PcLinuxOs Gnome Forums, the guy that moderates it and is also the one who works on the gnome version has a link to his last
testing iso for the 2011 edition that will be released shortly...so i am downloading that now...just wanted to take a look and see what's new in
there since the original December release...from what i have been reading over there, lots of change were and are being made for the updated iso release....

[Kendall]

There has been some talk within Debian about possible introducing a new release series that would be almost like testing but specifically designed to have a more frequent and stable update path (every couple of weeks or so). I can't for the life of me remember what they're calling that idea though.

[vrkalak]

There has been some talk within Debian about possible introducing a new release series that would be almost like testing but specifically designed to have a more frequent and stable update path (every couple of weeks or so). I can't for the life of me remember what they're calling that idea though.

Debian CUT . . . Constantly Usable Testing

Debian CUT > http://cut.debian.net/
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/03/debi ... g-release/