LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Angus Wallace <angus.wallace@flinders.edu.au>
  To  : <posmond@operamail.com>
  Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 09:03:11 +0930

Re: Mandrake / vs Debian

Ooooh. this sounds like it could start another holy war  ;-)

I've got little experience, but I can tell you this.

I've just installed Debian, and Knoppix (which is really just a fully 
configured debian distro - one you may wish to consider) and have come 
from the Redhat/Mandrake world. My initial impressions are that it is 
less user friendly.

However, it is not nearly as 'bad' as some of the internet sites I've 
read would have me believe. I also think it is faster (esp to boot) than 
either Redhat or Mandrake (though this could be due to my configuration)

The Debian install does not automate many things (for example, DRI 
drivers are not installed - even for ATI which has open source drivers) 
Also, the stable install of Debian (it comes in three flavours: stable 
('Woody'), testing ('Sarge') and unstable ('Sid')) is comprised of quite 
outdated packages (i.e. XFree 4.1, kde 2.2.2, etc) this is one reason 
why Knoppix is great - it has all the latest stuff, and its on a single 
compressed cd.

Don't worry about rpms, debian can install them directly using the 
program 'alien', and it also has its own package format .deb (which 
predates .rpm, I believe)

It seems to me that Debian puts the user more in controll, but also 
expects that the user has a greater amount of knowledge in order to 
exert that control.

One thing I like about it (I could be completely wrong here ;-) is that 
it seems as though there are fewer configuration scripts/files. Debian 
prides itself on its structured layout, and I think this _could_ mean it 
  has less duplication of files (for instance, I noticed in my RH 
distro, that there were no fewer than four XF86Config files (determine 
the graphical behaviour of XFree)... this seemed a little silly!

Hope this helps,
-Angus


posmond@operamail.com wrote:
> Hi ,
>    I have used both Mandrake 7 to 9.1 , redhat 7 to 9.0 for a couple of years now on and off for the last few months I have used Mandrake 9.1 consistantly . I personally prefer Mandrake to redhat more because that is what i am used to i think more than any other reason. I have also thought installing Debian. 
> 
> I dont know a lot about Debian although I have read on its greater stability.
>  
> I would like to know any thoughts please and also how many users use what distro and why. I do like the rpm format of install so that does influence me to stay with either redhat or mandrake but i would like other opinions.   
> 
> Regards 
> 
> Peter Osmond

-- 
Angus Wallace              o__     o__     o__     o__     o__
Flinders University        ,>/'_   ,>/'_   ,>/'_   ,>/'_   ,>/'_
Ph. (08) 82013363         (_)\(_) (_)\(_) (_)\(_) (_)\(_) (_)\(_)
angus.wallace@flinders.edu.au    Ride a Bike!




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