>>>>> "Sven" == Sven Burgener <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Hello debian freaks out there! I am not totally new to
> Linux. Have set up run web, mail, dns servers on linux. Also
> done some work with things like shell / awk and nice tools of
> that kind. I've been using the suse distro during all that
> time. I dont have much experience on other distros, but I heard
> about debian and about how nice it is.
> That's exactly my question: what's the _major_ advantage of
> using debian over using any other distro and adjusting that
> other distro to your needs?
For me, the major advatange of the debian was the dpkg/apt/dselect
package management system. After playing with Redhat and RPMS for a
while, i switched to debian and never looked back. With things like
Depends:, Suggests:, Recommends:, Conficts:, etc. package management
is easy. It's better that searching the web for so and so RPM that
you want to run. Try to install it, but it needs so and so RPM, which
you have an older or newer version, and you just have to muck around
to much. (Which is not always a bad thing, but sometimes, it's just
unnessecary.)
This leads to a the distribution method. I find upgradeing with apt
so much easier than say upgradeing with RPMS. I don't know how the
other distibutions work now, but with debian you just point you
sources list and the nearest mirror, and say 'apt-get upgrade', wait,
and everything will be done for you, usually. And for fixes, and
stuff, I've never had to wait more than a week for dependance fixes.
And if there are dependancy problems, apt will usually put the upgrade
on hold until things are fixed up. Incremental upgrades are easy with
debian, and you don't have to wait for the next release to try out the
newest and greatest. I remember when I was working with RedHat.
Trying to get onto the rawhide server was almost impossible, and they
were in the middle of the glibc 2.0/2.1 switch, so I couldn't run
anything anyways.
There is also the gazillion packages that debian has. This wonderful
mailing list for help. Dedication to free (as in speech) software.
There's probably more, but these are the ones I can think of.
> I am thinking of extending my O'Reilly library by buying
> "Learning debian GNU / Linux". In your opinion, is that a good
> thing to do when one is in my situation (not new to Linux, but
> new to debian) and when one only has a dial-up at home?
I do recommend getting a CD for the first install. Getting X over a
phone line just sucks. I've heard rumors that the O'reilly book has
Debian 2.1+, as it is a mix between 2.1 and 2.2. I could be mistaken
though. 2.2 will be released "soon" (few months?) so there will be a
bit of a change happening. You might want to take that into
consideration too.
G'luck!
Marshal
> Thanks for answers in advance! S. Burgener
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