thinking of trying debian
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thinking of trying debian
I'm thinking about giving debian linux a try. I know it's going to require a bit of time to get all setup, but i figure i might be a good hobbie for the time being. Anybody using it have any pointers?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Re: thinking of trying debian
Hi !
It's a good solid, stable platform .... but it's a real hands on Distro ...
I would suggest you read and read and then read some more !
Going from mint to Debian will be a steep learning curve, depending on your Linux experience, but it will certainly
provide you with a great Linux education ....
If you have any questions then please just ask ... I'm happy to help!
Good luck and enjoy !
Mike.
I've been using Debian for years ... on Intel/AMD and PowerPC chips ....acithium wrote:I'm thinking about giving debian linux a try. I know it's going to require a bit of time to get all setup, but i figure i might be a good hobbie for the time being. Anybody using it have any pointers?
It's a good solid, stable platform .... but it's a real hands on Distro ...
I would suggest you read and read and then read some more !
Going from mint to Debian will be a steep learning curve, depending on your Linux experience, but it will certainly
provide you with a great Linux education ....
If you have any questions then please just ask ... I'm happy to help!
Good luck and enjoy !
Mike.
Re: thinking of trying debian
It's not so bad. I installed Debian Etch in December. Installing it is fairly easy, then you'll probably have some work to do getting things set up, but I didn't think it was as hard as people make it out to be. I ended up wishing that I hadn't waited so long to try it. Things are put together very well, and it's quickly become one of my favorite distros.
Re: thinking of trying debian
I seemed to be cursed when it comes to debian, not a single setup I've tried installing it on will run it properly. 50% of the times I got a boot failure, I barely got past the grub screen to see a blank page.
However, it seems like it is a pretty decent distribution, but it might need a bit of pushing to get it running like you want it to run
However, it seems like it is a pretty decent distribution, but it might need a bit of pushing to get it running like you want it to run
Re: thinking of trying debian
acithium, I would be interested in how your experience with Debian goes. Everyone says that Debian is fast and uses very little RAM. I would be most interested in how easy or difficult it is to get multimedia working.
Re: thinking of trying debian
I try Debian testing now and again to see how it's shaping up, I think it's gonna be great once final.
Good tip is to read as much as possible on the whole thing, search the forum and google.
Concerning exploder's question on multimedia, I found it was really easy to setup. Add the repositry to sources install flash, w32, gstreamers good, bad and ugly, dvd codec, this will play just about everything.
Good tip is to read as much as possible on the whole thing, search the forum and google.
Concerning exploder's question on multimedia, I found it was really easy to setup. Add the repositry to sources install flash, w32, gstreamers good, bad and ugly, dvd codec, this will play just about everything.
Re: thinking of trying debian
Debian Etch running XFCE in my experience is the fastest to desktop that I have ever seen. And thats before you tweak it.
Desktop Core i7 Linux Mint 21.1 / Laptop Dell Precision M6400 Linux Mint 21.1
Re: thinking of trying debian
When I tried debian everything work very well but when I install update a some packages which I needed and I reboot I login and nothing gnome freezed I check logs throught recovery mode of debian and I start gnome normal but only under root,under normal user gnome freezed. Have someone similary problems? I used latest snapshot of lenny and unstable debian packages.thx
//I hope that you'll understand me:D
//I hope that you'll understand me:D
Re: thinking of trying debian
Well, instead of installing it straight away, i'm going to running it though wmware first. That way i can give it the look around and see how the setup and stuff goes. I'm sure once i get it all installed i can configure it the way i want (or at least find how to do it on google). It's just the initial install that i'm worried about. I don't want it to mess with my other distro's i've got running.
Re: thinking of trying debian
Good idea, although I can't see it messing up your other distros. Also, I thought the initial installation was the easier part. Have fun!acithium wrote:Well, instead of installing it straight away, i'm going to running it though wmware first. That way i can give it the look around and see how the setup and stuff goes. I'm sure once i get it all installed i can configure it the way i want (or at least find how to do it on google). It's just the initial install that i'm worried about. I don't want it to mess with my other distro's i've got running.
Re: thinking of trying debian
i just found this site that is awesome for setting up numerous distros for " the perfect desktop". Although i don't need all the apps that this site suggests, i just get the ones i need. It's pretty straight to the point, and once i get everything installed i can start figuring our how to get my wireless working. Oh yea, using VMware is WAY easier than i thought, and its a good way to see if you want to try a distro that isn't a live cd before you install, or actually run the install to see what it's like.
Re: thinking of trying debian
RichS, thanks for the link! This looks like a good way to check out pure Debian!
Edit: It is too bad these are not installable...
Edit: It is too bad these are not installable...
Re: thinking of trying debian
Wow, RichS i like it, but trying do set some of this stuff up makes me want to eat nails (sometimes). I do like how you pretty much set it up how you want it. Where can i get all the good stuff like codecs and browser plugins. Does mplayer pretty much cover everything?
Re: thinking of trying debian
You might try downloading a daily build of Lenny. I am not sure about wireless though.
Elan Vital, aren't you a member of Hardware Central Discussion Forums?
Elan Vital, aren't you a member of Hardware Central Discussion Forums?
Re: thinking of trying debian
If you are considering playing with Debian sid, I have a couple of suggestions for you.
First you need to realize that Debian is a rolling distro. It is constantly being updated. A new version is just a snapshot of it at a given point in time, so it you keep it updated there isn't much point in reinstalling the latest version.
You may have heard that there are no security updates in sid. This is kinda true. Packages are upgraded at such a rapid pace that there really isn't much point in it. By the time a venerability is discovered and patched, a new version has already replaced it. There are some programs that get security patches however, if they stay in the system long enough.
You should forget all about synaptic, adept, and aptitude. Updates/upgrades should all be done from init 3 in the console. You can install one or two simple programs with apt from the terminal with x running but the more complicated the install the more likely you are to get into trouble.
You will break your install from time to time. Learn how to back out of an upgrade and go back to an earlier version of a program or library. Below is a link that I strongly recommend you read, learn, and follow. It is in the sidux manual but since sidux is pure Debian sid it applies to plain sid too.
http://manual.sidux.com/en/sys-admin-apt-en.htm
EDIT: If you decide to try sidux, (sid), there is a script called smxi that takes a lot of the work out of upgrading.
As AdvanceIT pointed out there is help if you get into trouble, but the object is to learn to work your way through problems. If you go to the trouble to learn to setup and maintain a sid or Lenny system you will have learned a lot about the plumbing of your system. You will also have one of the fastest, up-to-date systems available.
Fred
First you need to realize that Debian is a rolling distro. It is constantly being updated. A new version is just a snapshot of it at a given point in time, so it you keep it updated there isn't much point in reinstalling the latest version.
You may have heard that there are no security updates in sid. This is kinda true. Packages are upgraded at such a rapid pace that there really isn't much point in it. By the time a venerability is discovered and patched, a new version has already replaced it. There are some programs that get security patches however, if they stay in the system long enough.
You should forget all about synaptic, adept, and aptitude. Updates/upgrades should all be done from init 3 in the console. You can install one or two simple programs with apt from the terminal with x running but the more complicated the install the more likely you are to get into trouble.
You will break your install from time to time. Learn how to back out of an upgrade and go back to an earlier version of a program or library. Below is a link that I strongly recommend you read, learn, and follow. It is in the sidux manual but since sidux is pure Debian sid it applies to plain sid too.
http://manual.sidux.com/en/sys-admin-apt-en.htm
EDIT: If you decide to try sidux, (sid), there is a script called smxi that takes a lot of the work out of upgrading.
As AdvanceIT pointed out there is help if you get into trouble, but the object is to learn to work your way through problems. If you go to the trouble to learn to setup and maintain a sid or Lenny system you will have learned a lot about the plumbing of your system. You will also have one of the fastest, up-to-date systems available.
Fred