Debian GNU/Linux and My Comments

My Comments 

It is very difficult to give a summary of Debian. 

Ian Murdock died YOUNG, a tragic death after altercation with police following a minor binge.

No proper investigation was made after his tragic death.

I recommend Ubuntu for a newbie.

Ubuntu 21.10 could not configure my wireless mouse.

However Ubuntu 22.10 did configure the mouse but has significantly fewer packages.

Its GRUB has become finicky.

I use Debian for over 15 years and do not bother about updates.

It does not have AbiWord and therefore I use Emmabantus which is a superb distributions.

 It has MultSystem Utility by which one can boot or mount several distributions from a USB stick for testing and use on the Fly.

All distributions have Genome Partition Editor but after installation this package is taken out.

Emmabantus does not and I have formatted all my external SATA disks yesterday using GPT.

But I love Partition Magic and I have a CD and a USB stick.

It has gone commercial now.

I hate all commercial Linux distributions including PoP OS.

Endless OS is beautiful.

But I started using Russian Star Linux which has multitude of packages.

 

Its desktop and session management is good but SINGER USER, front. 

 

Sparky Linux has many varieties including for Linux Gamers.

 

Emmmabantus, Star Linux and Sparky Linux are Debian derivatives. 

 

I hate Steam OS now. 

 

Debian the Fall Guy

 

Debian is my “Fall Guy”, what I mean is when everything fails, I fall back to Debian for Rescue.

Recent Microsoft destruction (Indian guys working for Microsoft) of my NTFS partitions (not any of my Linux partitions and my data) made me to revise my options and drop every shade of Windows except Workplaces in Linux.

May be I can call myself fully liberated from the Microsoft Monopoly.

I could not have done this without Debian.

 

Many moons ago, it took almost one year for me to master and boot Debian in a 4 MB of RAM (not GIB) (an old) computer, NOW I can effortlessly boot Debian in many flavours.

Not only that all desktops are integrated to One Installation and one can pick and choose from Gnome Classic to LXDE to xfce and to many more flavous of desktops at boot time.

I love the Workplaces of Gnome Classic. 

 

They make multitasking easy.

I almost hated Ubuntu desktop, even though it was installed somewhere in my hard disk.

I loved Mandrake (when going was tough with Debian) which was easy to install (it had a Globe Trotter, portable boot up disk) and I am sad about its demise but I have a copy of OpenMandriva in my other computer.

Then I migrated to SuSe and its current distribution cannot boot up my other Linux distributions.

 

But with Debian’s superb GRUB file which detects seamlessly all other distributions, I am up and running.

I am going to say Good Bye to Peppermint since it cannot configure graphic of my TV monitor (I use an old TV monitor to ease my eyes with large fonts).

I say Good Bye to Ubuntu for its divergence.

I feel sad for the Ubuntu guys who a left high and dry by Canonical about turn.

 

This to say Thank You to the Debian’s Guys and Girls for keeping the spirit of Linux and flowing.

 

Now I can have AbiWord in Debian (it wasn't earlier).

AbiWord is the lightest but most powerful word processor.

Even Knoppix 8.1 the latest DVD has problems.

 

Following is an overview copied from www.distrowatch.com.

 

Debian GNU/Linux   

Debian GNU/Linux was first announced in 1993. 

Its founder, Ian Murdock, envisaged the creation of a completely non-commercial project developed by hundreds of volunteer developers in their spare time.

 With skeptics far outnumbering optimists at the time, it seemed destined to disintegrate and collapse, but the reality was very different. 

Debian not only survived, it thrived and, in less than a decade, it became the largest Linux distribution and possibly the largest collaborative software project ever created!

The success of Debian GNU/Linux can be illustrated by the following numbers. 

It is developed by over 1,000 volunteer developers, its software repositories contain close to 50,000 binary packages (compiled for eight processor architectures), and it is responsible for inspiring over 120 Debian-based distributions and live CDs. 

These figures are unmatched by any other Linux-based operating system. 

The actual development of Debian takes place in three main branches (or four if one includes the bleeding-edge "Experimental" branch) of increasing levels of stability: "Unstable" (also known as "Sid"), "Testing" and 

"Stable". This progressive integration and stabilization of packages and features, together with the project's well-established quality control mechanisms, has earned Debian its reputation of being one of the best-tested and most bug-free distributions available today.

However, this lengthy and complex development style also has some drawbacks: the stable releases of Debian are not particularly up-to-date and they age rapidly, especially since new stable releases are only published once every 2-3 years. Those users who prefer the latest packages and technologies are forced to use the potentially buggy Debian Testing or Unstable branches. The highly democratic structures of Debian have led to controversial decisions and gives rise to infighting among the developers. This has contributed to stagnation and reluctance to make radical decisions that would take the project forward.

Pros: Very stable; remarkable quality control; includes over 30,000 software packages; supports more processor architectures than any other Linux distribution

Cons: Conservative - due to its support for many processor architectures, newer technologies are not always included; slow release cycle (one stable release every 2 - 3 years); discussions on developer mailing lists and blogs can be uncultured at times

Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages

Available editions: Installation CD/DVD and live CD images for nine processor architectures, including all 32-bit and 64-bit processors from Intel, AMD, Power and others

Suggested Debian-based alternatives: Ubuntu, SparkyLinux, SolydXK (Xfce or KDE), Devuan, siduction