[plug] Thinking about Debian

[Craig Ringer]

> .....and my understanding is that Debian is (particularly) for Server-based
> operations that require stability at the nuts and bolts level (ie not all
> GUI).  Is this the main intention behind that distribution?  No flame; just
> as a curious (and helpful) add-on Q.

Debian tends to provide that stability with its slow and steady (woody 
release anybody? *grin*) development methodology and careful testing. It 
isn't biased toward server or desktop systems really, it depends 
entirely on what you install. The base system would probably (still) fit 
on an un-upgraded 386's disk (what, 100mb?) but you can install whatever 
you want on top of that, be it kde (version two, 3 isn't out for debian 
yet) and Xfree86 and Openoffice etc or Apache and Posgresql and PHP4. Or 
you can install all of them, it doesn't care.

The only significant issue with debian for a desktop/workstation is that 
it can get a little behind the times, usually preparing for a release. 
Using "stable" for desktops is mad IMHO it isn't anywhere near 
sufficiently up-to-date.

Other issues do exist for desktop-type use, such as the lack of GUI 
config tools for most tasks (not an issue for me but some like 'em and 
heck I use webmin for some stuff) and the fact that sometimes you need 
to install a package that isn't an explicity dependency to get some 
facet of a program's operation working (eg gnome-help-browser to get any 
gnome help working - its usually obvious but not always).

I've been running woody for ages - I even use it on the servers because 
potato is so mouldy with age. I use it on both server and desktop 
systems, and would reccomend it for both roles.

-- 
Craig Ringer
GPG Key Fingerprint: AF1C ABFE 7E64 E9C8 FC27  C16E D3CE CDC0 0E93 380D
	-- if it ain't broke, add features 'till it is. (or:)
	while (! broken) { feature ++ ; }