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Re: [LUG] Starting Debian



my 2p

i would say that mandrake/RH install too much and make many settings on your behalf without telling you.

slackware is probably the best distro for single purpose servers - web server/ cvs server etc. it is cut down and very fast.

debian is a good balanace between the two - there are some guys on this list run businesses based around OSS and they prefer debian. the packages don't get in a dependency twist even after a few years. also - the machines can be made to update their own packages every day.

it is also worth noting that all software packages have to pass through debian's strict quality control before they are made avalable in the 'stable' version. so whatever you download it will work well.

installation is currently tricky because the current testing version is being frozen to the new stable version - but if you go to

www.debian.org

or

www.uk.debian.org

all will be explained.


the best way to install is to install a really minimal installation first with just basic networking running and then install any other software you want from the debian servers. i.e. if you want apache you type


apt-get install apache

etc. etc.

kev



Alex Charrett wrote:
On Sat, 8 Jun 2002, Jonathan Melhuish wrote:


How might one start trying out Debian?


http://www.linuxemporium.co.uk/ would be a good start.



Heh, I was just going to post a very similar question. I guess Aaron's gloating about apt got us started...


Yeah I was going to ask about that, last I knew Aaron was a dedicated SuSE user :)


What I specifically wanted to ask, though, is *why* might one try Debian? In short, what has Debian got over the Mandrake I know and love? Anything apart from apt-get? Although admittedly the Mandrake Update is, to put it politely, shite: at least, *I've* never got it working! (anybody had more luck?)


To be honest, pakage managent is usally the biggest difference between distros, many are rpm based (Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE) and Debian uses dpkg, to which apt-get is a frontend.

Why else? Debian comes with exim installed (hooray) rather than sendmail (boo his), but if you like nice desktops Mandrake is prob a best bet.

Personally I ran Debian for about a year on my laptop and ended up going to back to Redhat.

Alex.





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