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On 08/04/11 17:01, Neil Winchurst wrote: > > Mint Xfce which is based on Debian. Aren't most distros are based on Debian these days? I think the point is "based on Debian" typically isn't Debian. There was a Debian Pure Blends project, which I can seem a good idea to me, I was involved in something similar at one point before Pure Blends (which didn't get very far alas). I don't quite get the idea of derivatives of Debian which are free software, I can kind of understand Debian plus multimedia drivers or Debian plus Adobe and Java type distros. In many cases I think the effort would be better spent improving Debian, forking is sometimes helpful but most of the time it just means more time and effort spent duplicating what already exists (bug trackers, mailing lists, etc). That said some of the "forked" distros are little more than Debian plus a small repository and that kind of makes sense in a Debian doesn't do what I need way. That said Mint and Ubuntu both have been more successful than Debian on the desktop, although it isn't clear to me the "advantages" that were promised still exist for Ubuntu as their rapid release cycle seems to mean even more crass bugs than those I keep stumbling over in Debian proper. Mind I've been in this too long and have been thinking for years we need a new operating system without a lot of the dross that has accumulated. I use Debian and the least bad of the free operating systems, with a view that the proprietary ones don't seem to be any better and the proprietary vendors just abuse their position of trust over users. Simon -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq