Hey guys,

I've only recently started to suss out Debian as a distribution on my new desktop. To be honest i thought it wasnt as respected as slackware or gentoo, but after doing research i have realized this is not the case. I'm a computer science student at QUT (thats queensland, aus) and i have been using slackware for quiet some time. But when i found out that our local university servers were using Debian i was quiet intrigued. I thought server disros were Gentoo, slack, Red hat.

Before i install it on my NEW desktop i just want to make sure that im in the right place. Am i still going to learn swapping to Debian ?? Does any one have any 'real world' examples of where Debian is used, or experiences with it and how it has helped your future studies?? (they say once you get DDD ((down and dirty with debian)) you never turn back??)

Weird question i know but any suggestions would be great

post script - the whole 'real world' is the motto of the university that you see in commercials and radio :P haha brain washing!

Debian is together with RHEL and SLES one of the most used distros in server environments. It is one of the oldest living distros, AFAIK only Slackware is older and still alive.
May I ask why you see the need to switch to Debian, just because the servers at your university run with it? If you want to learn debian, do it. If you are comfortable with Slackware, why not stick with it? I see no downsides to that.

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Being stubborn i guess,

If i find a job with only Debian servers, or their machines are based around Debian, will i cope and be familiar with the system?? I know my way around slack but just dont want to be left behind focusing on one distro.

If you're after the educational path, try LPI or similar courses. It's designed around 'distro-neutrality' so either way, you're covered. As for the rest, I agree with Tobi: if you're comfortable using Slack, why not stick with it? The one thing sticking out for Debian is its enormous software repository and ease of use for a sys-admin with the apt system.

Poll made on linuxquestions.org :

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...e-year-855888/

I don't think that's such a major issue. If you generally know where things are, how things are set up, etc, you'll have an idea of what you're looking for (and should be able to learn quite quickly anyway). I was helping to get networking working on a Debian machine the other day and it didn't take me long to work out how the config files were structured, where the init scripts were and so on.

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+1 Nylex and TobiSGD.

If you are used to slackware, debian might have a bit of a learning curve, but its not going to be that big. You'll get your head around it pretty quicky. It is one of the more used server distros, I knew of a few places in brisneyland that were using debian (I've lots track of the guys I knew who used to work with debian, so I dont know for sure if those businesses are still using it).

Still, running debian for a while at least to see how it goes is probably not a bad idea, if onyl for general experience. If you dont have a spare machine to install it onto, and dont want to go through all the fun and games of dualbooting your current boxxen, I could sell you a junkbox cheap. Gawds onyl know I need to get rid of a system or 3.....

Thats just all that QUT could think of to get back at UQ (a university with a real quad) Griffith (a university with a real image problem) and bond (a university for the really rich). LOL

If you're interesten in playing around with Debian but like Slackware, you can try Debian in VirtualBox (if your computer is powerful enough). No dual-booting or risking your data, and you can use both OSes at once.

You will have to install, use and learn about Debian to see if it's for you. It may take a while.

To answer some of your questions;
Who's using Debian?
Debian Users Worldmap
Debian memberships in other organizations
Partners
Awards

There's more to it, but you'll find that out if you stick with Debian.

Generally speaking, you shouldn't have a problem if you decide to switch from Slackware to Debian.

I just started administering a Debian server ~2.5 months ago after ~15 months of Ubuntu and ~17 months of Slackware; no real surprises, easy transition, easier than the CentOS server I was working with for a couple of months before Debian.