Hi

I'm thinking of swithing from Ubuntu to Debian. I have wanted to do this for a long time, but my question is, is it really worth it? What will Debian do for me that Ubuntu doesn't? After all, I have found in Ubuntu an OS that is stable and easy to configure, so is it worth my taking time to install Debian and put in the extra effort to learn a new OS? What does Debian do that Ubuntu doesn't do? I had Suse on my computer in the past and got very frustrated with how slow it was to download programmes and do system updates etc. This isn't a problem in Ubuntu - is Debian just as fast as Ubuntu on this front? How about NVIDIA graphics card drivers? This caused me a real headache in Suse, but has been no trouble at all in Ubuntu. How is it with Debian? Debian has a reputation for being complicated - although Etch is apparently considerably simpler than older versions. Is this so? Is Debian significantly more complicated than other distributions, and does Ubuntu in any way prepare you for Debian?

Thanks for your help,

James

In your other thread you suggested that we would have an opportunity to convince you to use Debian. That's not our job....
Just install it and try it.......I was set up with Mepis6 as default, and I have also installed Mepis65, SUSE102, and PCLOS2007. I spent a month jumping between them before settling on Mepis65 as the default.

Referring also to your other thread---If you want to go "distro-hopping", learn to setup GRUB. It is not that difficult once you learn the basic rules.

If your Linux experience is limited stick with what you feel comfortable with if you want to try something that will warm your blood and give you a rush because it is so fast and easy to install try Sidux but you need to be able to read, if you have problems with that find a distro that you don't need to read. think about it, what is learning?

If Ubuntu is doing everything you need, stick with it, no need to jump distros. If you feel like experimenting then do it by all means provided your basic elemental OS, Ubuntu in this case, is safe beforehand. At the end of the day its all about what works for you, not what you make work.

My

Debian is a much older distribution than Ubuntu, and earned its reputation for being difficult to set up long ago. In fact, Ubuntu is largely based on Debian and many of the improvements in Ubuntu have been shared with Debian. There are some differences, but they really aren't huge ones. You'll probably be more surprised by how similar Debian is to Ubuntu than by the differences.

From what I gather, the most common reason people switch from Ubuntu to Debian is frustration with something in Ubuntu eventually breaking at some point. If you don't run into this frustration, then there may not be a compelling reason to switch.

My personal reason for preferring Debian is that I just want my software to "work" and I do NOT want updated versions of software. When an application gets upgraded from one version to another, the user interface might change or configuration files might get messed up or some functionality might change. I use Debian Stable because it's the only option for this lack of software version updates combined with comprehensive security updates.

As for efficiency, Debian has been and remains significantly more efficient than Ubuntu. For old computers with less than 256megs of RAM, the difference in efficiency alone may be a compelling reason install Debian instead of Ubuntu.

Since Ubuntu is based off Debian, technically it'll give you not much more than you already have. Probably Ubuntu has a more user-friendly approach to you than Debian, I believe (that's why it's said geeks use Debian no offence), so if you want to have it as user-friendly as possible (providing you all those "Install/Remove applications" -tools for easy installation of non-free stuff, codecs etc.) I'd say stay with Ubuntu. But you don't really know before you do install Debian and try it out. I have the impression that first newbies fall in love with these user-friendly distributions of Linux like Ubuntu, and when they grow wiser/more geeky some of them try out those not-that-much-user-friendly distributions which they feel give more control to themselves.

I've tried quite a lot of distributions, found Debian (and a few Debian-based distributions) good but now that I've settled down to work with Slackware, I suddenly notice how much more easier I can configure the system - manually. I'm not a windozer and prefer to have control over stuff trough command-line and manual configurations, I don't "feel home" with all the fancy graphical wizards and stuff. Slackware is not as automated and as "good for everything right out of the box without you doing anything" as Ubuntu, Fedora or Suse are, but it's got what I need and doesn't force me to take what I don't want to. Took me three tries with Slackware before I got to this point, so if you start off trying Debian don't give up with it the first time you encounter trouble or find something difficult..but then again, if you feel Ubuntu is better for you, go for it. I found Ubuntu a great distribution, perhaps the best of today's binary distributions if I need something that I just plant on a computer and it works for a server, for a desktop and what most important, for a newbie (I've installed it to a few of my friends, nobody has yet complained).

my question would not be 'is debian worth it' but 'are you ready for debian'...
if you want to learn more stuff do a gentoo stage 1 or 2 install (not using the install gui)!

2 years ago I asked myself a different question. "How do I get access to more software than what's in Ubuntu?"

Back then I was new to open source and had to try everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. It didn't take long for me to realize there wasn't enough packages in ubuntus repos to satisfy me. After using ubuntu I was already familiar with aptitude (faster and better than synaptic if you ask me).

The main differences are debian has more stuff in apt, while ubuntu tries to do more for you and has updates every 6 months. I prefer the debian unstable branch where I get software updates as fast as they come in. That's unstable as in the software is always being updated, not unstable as in not 'stable' if you know what I mean.

So coming from somone who has been in your situation I say give it a try, if it's too hard how easy is it to switch? Debian has been great for me and it's not like I'm some genius. If I remember, I think the first thing I did was try fluxbox because gnome was too slow on that old machine. Well, I'm still using it

My own "Debian Bible" is Martin F. Krafft's book, The Debian System. One of it's more commented upon sections is Appendix B, "When is Debian the Right Choice?" Here are edited versions of some qualifications he makes.

i start with RedHat many years ago up thru RH9....when RH when comercial about 3 years ago i switch to Debian and have been satisfied.....Ubuntu is good version of Debian Sid...however, i prefer real thing and not a look alike...

I was a hardcore Windows user up until about 6 years ago. I've always been interested in computers, not only software but hardware as well. I was getting bored of Windows so a friend of mine introduced me to Debian Woody. He helped me get it all setup to replace my win2k server. I was completely lost at the whole thing. I mean, all these new programs getting thrown at me all at once, apache, ssh, apt, dselect, etc. I didn't know which way was up. For about 3 months that friend kept helping me almost everyday learn the basics of this Debian, and I wasn't really catching on too fast. I almost gave up on the whole idea a few times and thought about going back to Windows. It wasn't until after that friend and I lost contact with each other when I buckled down and started really learning Debian. I didn't want to be left alone with a box I didnt know how to use. So, I read. I would want to do a certain task, so I googled it. I took everything one step at a time, reading and learning as I went. I tell you, during the first 3 months right then is probably the most I've ever read in my whole life. I was constaly reading some kind of how to, or tutorial, or mailing list, or forum thread.
After learning the basics of how to do what I wanted to do on my server, I decided to take it a step farther, and I wiped Windows off my desktop and install Debian Sarge (which was Testing at the time). I figured if I can setup a desktop environment that I will use everyday to do every little detail (including reading more) of my everyday life, then I would surely learn this stuff even faster. I was right. The install of Debian was a task for me at first. I knew a lot of things from privious compouter setups, but Debian had a different way of doing things, like partitioning, etc. I didnt know what SWAP space was, or where my C:/ drive was. WTF is hd0? I was lost again. So I read again. I learned the basics of GRUB and how Linux uses the hard drives, etc. I learned about different partitioning shcemes, and how you can mount partitions to folders instead of drive letters. etc etc. Eventually I had a very minimal KDE environment which worked well. Slow, but well.
By now about 3 months had gone by since my first look at Debian, and I was feeling very comfortable around it. I knew how to install programs I needed. I knew how to configure things as I needed. Basically I felt comfortable around the basics, as long as I had google handy for reference I could do anything.

Now, 6 years later I'm STILL using Debian. I've gone through 2 stable release cycles, I've learned more about the Linux backend than I ever thought was possible, faster than I ever thoguht was possible. I've tried other disrtos, knoppix, ubuntu, xubuntu, red hat, storm 2000, mandrake 9.2, slackware, and I have to say NONE of them give me the feeling I get when I use pure Debian. Ubuntu comes very close. I like (X)Ubuntu a lot actually, but it lacks the ability to be fully 100% customizable. It's great for a newbie distro, and I recommend it to everyone I know (thats not at least somewhat a geek) and they all love it.

However, for those that I feel can handle the tasks Debian throws at them, I recommend Debian Testing (currently Lenny). If you don't know much about Linux now, I promise you will in 6 months time from now on a pure Debian system.

Ubuntu is great, but I just got fed up with it doing everything for me. With Debian (and Slackware) I'm learning more about GNU/Linux, and getting more pleasure out of it.

I know what you mean, brianL. I used to use Mandriva, then RedHat, dabbled with Gentoo, and finally settled on Debian.

Mandriva and RedHat made things too easy - their configuration programs abstracted from the details too much (and more often than not left me with an error at some point).

What I liked about Gentoo was that my system was built the way I wanted it to be. But I found it to be too big of a step for me - going from cushy configuration GUIs to hand-editing at the bat of an eye.

Debian is that nice area in between. Instead of having to configure EVERYTHING by hand, Debian has those nice little dialog-based questionnaires after you install some packages (like Xorg for instance) to ease the configuration, but not totally abstract you from it.

I think most previous posts have missed the point here with exception of the quote by rickh.
Ubuntu is a package based on Debian similar to Fedora/Mandriva etc. You install and you have an os with a number of commonly used applications that many people use. This makes for a bloated system which in most instances with modern fast processors is not a real problem. A few years back the bloat was a serious problem.
A Debian install on the other hand is a very basic system with no extras. Thereafter you decide what applications you want or need on your system. i.e. you decide what you want you want to do with your system and install the relevant components. Nobody is making the choice for you.
I have Debian installations on 5 different boxes and none of them are the same because they all have differing applications or the users have differing needs.
Debian also requires you to get "down and dirty" if you are into exploring the nuts and bolts of the system. This very concept gives one a great understanding of your own system. Because of this it is often a good idea to keep a diary of what was done on different systems and when because you forget.

That's exactly the point I was making regarding my preference for Debian over Ubuntu.