On Thu, Oct 10, 2024 at 03:41:35PM +0100, Chris Green wrote: > Hi all. > > I am a long time Linux user (since before 2000) and an xubuntu user > since somewhere in the early 2000s. > > However I'm finding various aspects of [x]ubuntu are becoming steadily > more annoying so I'm looking for other distributions and Debian would > seem to be an obvious way to go. > > I already run Debian on two Beaglebone Black single board computers > and I also run several Raspberry Pis with the default Rasbian[ish] OS. > I do most things on all my systems from the command line so I suspect > that I really won't see much difference if/when I move to Debian. > > However I do have a couple of questions:- > > 1 - Is keeping a Debian system up to date just like Ubuntu, i.e. one > just needs to run 'apt update;apt upgrade' at regular intervals? ... > and of course autoremove and clean as required. >
As Michael has said: apt-get update is my preferred but it doesn't really matter - Ubuntu got both apt-get and apt from Debian, originally :) There is also a prompt offering to install security updates automatically. I can't remember whether this is in every install or only the expert mode of the installer. 2 - Can I easily make a 'server' type installation without a GUI? This > is for a backup system in my garage which is (usually) headless. Even > better can I do the installation via ssh? > With tasksel, just uncheck all GUI and add in ssh server as mentioned. Installing via ssh is certainly possible: check in the installation manual - it is an involved process and you might need the expert install. [In the middle of mini-DebConf Cambridge and can't easily check myself but would be prepared to do a test installl into VM for you]. > 3 - Piece of string type question - what versions to install? On the > backup system stable is obvious. The other two systems are my desktop > which is also used as my mail server (running postfix) and my laptop. > I think I'll go for testing on the laptop but I'm not sure whether > stable or testing would be best for the desktop. I tended to keep my > desktop running Ubuntu LTS releases, would I get about the same 'feel' > with Debian stable? > Debian stable, first last and always. See also wiki.debian.org under Debian Releases. > -- > Chris Green > All the very best, as ever, Andy (amaca...@debian.org)
