Hi Chris, I do not know what programs you run or how up to date you want your system to be which means my answers to your questions might not give you the answer you are looking for.
I only run programs that are in Debian's stable collection (I guess I am ultra conservative when it comes to running programs). I do run a few non-debian packaged programs, like Discord, a game called Genshin Impact, Eclipse, etc. I only care about having a stable experience and have no need for the "latest and greatest" version. At times I thought I was missing out. About six months ago I used Arch Linux (KDE) on one computer for hardware reasons and to try a rolling release distribution. Arch Linux is about as "latest and greatest" as one can get. As I do not require the latest programs, I have found no benefit in using Arch Linux. I found Arch Linux to be stable. I have only been using Arch Linux for six months and have enjoyed the experience. At one time something when wrong with the installer and I had to look up the Internet for a fix, but once I corrected the issue, all worked well again. I am amazed how stable most Linux distributions are today. I would not suggest running Debian unstable as a primary work OS. I understand many people do, but it is not officially recommended, and I agree as unstable is for getting new releases ready, hence expect change and conflicts from time to time. I have used XFCE for most of my Debian times, but recently have been using KDE. KDE is very attractive, XFCE is nice, simple, and configurable. When using KDE I change back to using X11 (in both Debian and Arch Linux) as I believe that Wayland is not production ready as yet. Hopefully I am wrong and Wayland now works. To update Debian I use: # apt update && apt full-upgrade --autoremove -y && apt autoremove -y && apt clean and # apt update && apt update && apt full-upgrade --autoremove -y && apt autoremove -y && apt clean (I like to double read the repository) for Arch Linux # pacman -Syu By choice, I do not use flatpacks or snaps. I only use apt packages. I guess both have their uses? I use Debian to run my headless servers (for Minecraft, Arch Survival Evolved, SAMBA, Web, Email, etc servers). During the install process I unselect the desktop environment, and do not install any GUI, install SSH server and there after use ssh to maintain the server remotely. I think Debian stable makes an excellent server. I always install Debian in text mode, using the Expert install option, it gives me one or two other options that I like. I struggle to see a real difference between Expert install and non-expert install. I use Virt-Manager a lot these days, it is simple and effective for managing my VMs on my KVM servers, or on my Desktop PCs, for spinning up a Distro for review or testing. A long time ago I used to use VMware Workstation, vSphere and ESXi. In summary, I really appreciate Debian and Apt. When I have used Arch Linux or Linux Mint Debian Edition, they too have been excellent. I like stability and all three have provided me with this. I have used Debian the longest. All the best in your choice. George. On Friday, 11-10-2024 at 01:41 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. > > 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? > > 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? > > -- > Chris Green > >
