Re: distributions: UBUNTU vs DEBIAN

On Sat, Apr 22, 2006 at 01:34:51PM -0700, Paul Johnson wrote:
On Saturday 22 April 2006 13:04, Steve Lamb wrote:
Paul Johnson wrote:
There's nothing stopping you from installing nonfree software on your
system. You just probably won't be able to apt-get it. Case in point:
You can get games for Linux at WalMart for around $20 per title.

Sure there is. We're talking about the install here. Network card not
found. Hmm, kinda hard to install if I can't get to the net to install
anything. Video card not configured, there goes games. Hm, no net, no
video, there goes Debian.

First, there isn't an Ethernet card Linux can't find these days, so that's
kind of an empty argument.

Second, so you go spend five minutes on nvidia.com downloading the drivers,
and another five to install them. Big fat hairy deal. If you're so pent up
about it, why not go make your own apt-source and slap it into your own
unofficial/non-free?

Afraid I have to back Steve Lamb here - The Debian Etch net install I
downloaded on April 12th failed to detect both ethernet *and* CD drive
on my Fujitsu Lifebook - either one would have been a bit of a show
stopper.

The CD drive problem was resolved by a fix to the problem workaround
instructions in the release notes - thanks to some help from the kind
help from the Debian install developers (a switch to the daily build
and alternate workaround instructions also worked).

The failure of the ipw2200 networking was a Debian policy issue preventing
the firmware being included on the install CD.

My Debian install is working fine now, but the bottom line is that the
Ubuntu install was up and running a lot sooner and with a lot less
effort.

For the record, my distribution of choice at the moment is still Debian,
because I prefer flexibility over simplicity. That is why I am on this
list. But the original assertion was that Ubuntu is simpler to install,
and my experience supports that.

Of course ease of setup isn't everything, otherwise we would all be
using what came pre-installed ;)

Regards,
DigbyT
--
Digby R. S. Tarvin digbyt(at)digbyt.com
http://www.digbyt.com


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