31–40 of 91 posts
Just recently switched to Debian for a server distro. Early in my linux learning, I had been messing around with Gentoo, Fedora, and even Ubuntu. It's taken me so long to understand what Debian is and how important good package management is, but now I'm grateful. Thanks Debian!
Happy birthday to my first permanent GNU/Linux distribution, from Etch all the way to Jessie. It's --you've, we've-- come a long way. I hope to see the community remain as strong as ever. The Debian forums were always my weapon of last resort when Google didn't have the answer to my problem, and not once was I let down. And best of luck to the new DPL!
My first release was Potato. I still remember downloading so many (3? 6?) CDs... God, I feel old. I don't use Debian much these days, certainly not as a desktop, but it will forever be the "real" Linux distribution in my heart. Without the ongoing work of umpteen Debian package managers, you wouldn't have Ubuntu (and all its humongous downstream), Knoppix, and so on.
I quickly upgraded it using dist-upgrade to unstable, which was potato at the time (testing didn't exist yet).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Debian is a large part of that history isn't it? Debian was an early full Linux distribution, but it wasn't the first. Debians big (early) contribution was apt, which could install packages and resolve dependencies over the internet and made package management easier than rpm based distributions of the time.
> made package management easier That is quite the understatement. I can remember the shock and amazement that came over me the first time I used apt. It was one of those computing moments that I will always remember. Unfortunately I also remember being frightened whenever I had to read the XFree86 README and saw the section about video cards setting on fire.
Though, I have to admit, I downloaded Wheezy and gave it a go. Holy cow, I'm soooooo glad Ubuntu exists. It's amazing all the small touches that Ubuntu does to make Debian unbelievably usable.
That being said, Ubuntu wouldn't exist without Debian. Way to go, Debian!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> made package management easier That is quite the understatement. I can remember the shock and amazement that came over me the first time I used apt. It was one of those computing moments that I will always remember. Unfortunately I also remember being frightened whenever I had to read the XFree86 README and saw the section about video cards setting on fire.
apt still has that effect on me. Get new hardware and within 20 minutes youre on your way to have it setup exactly how you want it.
[1] And to a lesser extent xserver-xorg-{input-all|video-all}
I recently switched from Ubuntu to Debian, and I keep wondering to myself why I didn't switch much sooner. The lack of any integration with a specific desktop environment, and having pure GNU and Linux underneath a pure DE is something that is really quite satisfying. It gives you modularity and customizability without having anything break or feel out of place; something that often happened to me while switching DEs…
Very glad to see Debian hit 20! Pretty awesome. Though, I have to admit, I downloaded Wheezy and gave it a go. Holy cow, I'm soooooo glad Ubuntu exists. It's amazing all the small touches that Ubuntu does to make Debian unbelievably usable. That being said, Ubuntu wouldn't exist without Debian. Way to go, Debian!
