Debian Etch or Sid,,,

Adamant1988 · 05-29-2006, 09:57 PM

Hi, I'm currently pretty new to linux and debian at large, I just installed sarge on my laptop and I really like it, I was wondering if Debian Etch/Sid would be a good upgrade or if i should stick with sarge? (Currently I'm not experiencing any problems and I'm learning a lot from debian and Ubuntu... I just want to know if it's worth the upgrade to get a slightly more nice desktop...

slackhack · 05-29-2006, 10:17 PM

i'd definitely upgrade to etch if it were me. despite it being called testing it's actually very stable, and a lot more up to date for a desktop. i run etch on a server and it's been rock solid. you could probably even run sid with minimal problems, but as i like to play it a little safe, i would upgrade to etch first, and see how it goes.

craigevil · 05-29-2006, 10:17 PM

I would stick with Sarge or install Ubuntu until you get the hang of things, then update to Etch.

Granted using Etch or Sid will give you Xorg instead of Xfree, but it probably isn't worth the troubles your likely to have running either.

If you want to give Sid a shot try running Kanotix.

Moloko · 05-31-2006, 06:34 PM

Etch is about to upgrade to Xorg 7 (the modular version of Xorg) which will give some problems I expect and Gnome is currently broken in Sid as I have heard. Just make sure you have a backup of your current system.

alioop · 06-02-2006, 11:40 AM

If your computer is not doing anything critical then I see no reason not to upgrade to Etch. I've been running it for several months. Hasn't failed me once. But I'd do a fresh install. I've read too many post concerning Sarge to Etch upgrades problems. Especially with it going from Xfree to Xorg.

Michael_aust · 06-02-2006, 02:02 PM

there is always debian back ports if you want to upgrade certain packages e.g. gnome, openoffice, kde or to go to xorg. So you can remian on a sarge system but with some newer applications.

xxAlk3XKidXx · 02-21-2007, 12:25 AM

I recommend upgrading to Etch and not to worry about problems. I haven't ever had trouble with upgrading Sarge-> Etch. You will have many more up to date applications available. I had more trouble upgrading Ubuntu 6.06 to 6.10 than with pure Debian upgrades.