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05.05.2009 01:14:29

This is a comment from one reader reacting to the question
"Is Ubuntu bigger than Debian now?". I find it well balanced
and more importantly close to what I consider true about
the whole issue.


Epaminondas said:

I am a Desktop Linux user since 2002. Migratated from Apple Macintoshes (not Windows) to Linux when Apple abandoned MacOS 9 - I got tired of all the forced upgrades on Apple machines.

So I am a simple, "it just works" GUI kinda guy.

I have tried Lindows, Debian, Mandrake, Red Hat, Fedora, Mepis, KNOPPIX, Ubuntu, Puppy, DSL - and a few others along the way. And I have now settled down to what works for me.

Debian in 2002 was impossible for me to set up as a desktop machine with my limited Linux skillset. When I installed straight Debian I just ended up on the command line. I could not figure out what to do, despite searching through the Debian web site. I did get the impression on the Debian web site that Debian was built by technical people for technical people, that it was more a server distribution than a desktop distribution, and that I was in way over my head. The Debian culture that I saw just ended up making me feel too stupid for Debian. Definitely a newbie-unfriendly distribution. So I moved on.

Red Hat/Fedora would work OK until an update inevitably borked it. So I would try something else.

Mepis is just plain wonderful. I was home! Until an update would bork printing. Then, regretfully, on to try something else.

Ubuntu was garbage - at first. Display, printing, internet connection - problems all over the place. All hype - no substance. A bunch of silly overenthusiastic people on the boards. So I moved on.

Cycling back through Fedora and Mepis - which both again then borked during updates.

Back to try Ubuntu again. Not expecting success. Surprisingly, everything now actually worked. So I figured I would use Ubuntu until an update inevitably borked it. But updates - unlike Fedora and Mepis - have never once borked my Ubuntu machine.

So I now use Ubuntu. Because Ubuntu gets it right. And I recommend Ubuntu to others. And I now have no reason to change.

If Debian has become any friendlier to us desktop GUI types, I might give it a try if I ever have a problem with Ubuntu. However, Debian still leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I think how unwelcome I felt in the Debian community back in 2002.

A Debian-based - but friendly - desktop distribution may make more sense for the likes of me.

Oh - the secret to making any distribution work relatively well - Ubuntu, Mepis, Fedora, whatever:

(1) Backup!

(2) Never an early adopter be: always wait at least one month before adopting a new release. Check the boards before doing so for knowledge of problems and fixes. True of Ubuntu. Particularly true of Fedora!

(3) Multiboot. Keep your old functioning release on one partition as you are trying the new release on another. That way, if the new does not work out, you have a good fallback position.

(4) Keep trying different distributions until you find the one that works for you.


Best regards,

Epamonondas

This was posted on Internet.com as part of the discussion
on the question of Ubuntu vs. Debian.

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