Debian in the Linux world and the general tech world is considered to be one of the most stable mature distributions that exists in the world of Linux today. You find will it on servers, in the sciences, education and even NASA, Debian is the distribution of choice on the International space station and of course on the home desktop/laptop.
I have run Debian since I was given a set of Debian 3.0 Woody discs back around the early 2000s. At the time I was using Redhat and Mandrake, ‘later to become Mandriva’. Actually that’s not quite true, I had used Debian earlier but was so new to Linux I found it difficult to get my head around. Someone then gave me a set of Mandrake Discs and I found at the time Mandrake to be much more user friendly. I was still interested in Debian and always reading about the virtues of stability and the Apt packaging system, remember this was the early 2000’s so the RPM Hell! Posts were alive and well.
I decided to give Debian another go. I had these Debian Woody discs and I kept reading so much about it. As I said my first attempt at Debian was well less than positive, but in true Linux fashion you wipe the disk and start all over again. Also in true Linux fashion you jump in head first without reading the documentation! The computer I used was a Cyrix 333mhz 356mb ram and a trident video card.
Eventually success I achieved X, Logged in and was presented with a shiny new installed Debian desktop. I can’t remember what desktop was default at the time but it was a desktop and not a command prompt. I did eventually read the documentation on how to use Apt and basic Debian usage.
Fast forward a bit and I was given a set of Redhat 9 discs, actually it was the same person that gave me the Debian 3.0 Woody discs. Unfortunately the excitement of trying a new version Redhat got the better of me and well Debian was wiped and RH9 was installed and WOW! What a polished distribution it was.
So I happily used RH9 and then it happened, the discontinuation of Redhat 9 and Redhat moving to a subscription model with RHEL. At first I was upset, I felt betrayed and all that, but also at the same time I kind of understood where Redhat was going and what they wanted to do and very successful they were too.
So after the discontinuation of Redhat 9 I hopped around for while, back to Mandrake, or Mandriva as they were now known, Fedora Core, Suse and a few others. Now this was the early 2000’s so PC mags were still a thing and these magazines were warming to Linux, they would have a Linux section and often accompanied with a Linux DVD attached. Anyway I came across an addition of APC Magazine and on he front cover a DVD of Debian 4-RC2 and I was sold. Purchased reformat installed done.
I was back on Debian and I loved it!.
The Ubuntu years
Happily living in my Debian world, I started to read about this new distro called Ubuntu, I didn’t really know much about it and and didn’t really want to know I was quite happy with Debian and did not want to start distro hopping again. But, I kept hearing about this Ubuntu thing ‘it’s 'Debian on Steroids’ they say.
Eventually after much resistance I decided to try Ubuntu, I missed the first release Ubuntu 4.10 (Warty Warthog) but 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog) had just been released and decided to try it.
Ubuntu was definitely a WOW moment for me and shows as I still use Ubuntu today more accurately Xubuntu and don’t see myself moving away anytime soon.
But wait this is about Debian? yes it is and though I use Ubuntu I never stopped using Debian, I run two main rigs my laptop and my Desktop, one one of them is either running Debian or Ubunu/Xubuntu.
I run other distributions/os’s on various hardware such as FreeBSD, Devuan etc.
I have run many Linux distributions over the years all great and all there to fit the needs of someone. For myself I find even though I may hop around a bit I always come home. Debian.
So why Debian? Well I like simple things, I like clean minimal design, I like small footprints in the sand of technology and the freedom to shape and design my own space.
But you can do this Ubuntu, why not just keep using that? Yes I can do it in Ubuntu, but Ubuntu is an enterprise distribution designed, owned and distributed by Canonical. They travel the enterprise path and there is nothing wrong with that.
What Ubuntu has brought to Linux over the years is truly amazing, It is rare these days to find hardware that is not supported by Linux. Ubuntu has allot to do with that, applications like Steam, again Ubuntu and it’s popularity.
But as I said Ubuntu walks it’s own path and I walk with Ubuntu on that path and don’t see myself moving away anytime soon, but I am somewhat nomadic and I like to walk alliterative paths as well and in the world of Linux all paths eventually cross.
But Debian has older packages and not bleeding edge!
Agreed, the packages in Debian do end up a few versions behind, but this is also what makes it so well tested and stable.
Also I think this is where use case comes in. What is your use case ?
* Is your hardware bleeding edge?
* Do you need the latest versions of certain software?
* Do you need the latest Linux kernel version?
* Do you just become enraged when your distribution ships with one or two applications one version behind?
If you answer yes to the questions above then maybe Debian is not for you.
So who is Debian for?
* Do you want stability security and longevity in your distribution?
* Do you run hardware that has not just left the factory floor?
* Do you enjoy the freedom of defaults where you create and design your on space?
* Do you enjoy the balance of ‘out of the box ready to go’ and ‘some assembly required’?
If you answer yes to the questions above then maybe Debian is for you.
I could go on with these questions but I think this is enough.
A note on older applications within Debian. A few years ago this was more of an issue, where really the only way to get newer versions was to add a repository to your sources.list and hope it didn’t either shut down or break your system. Now you can still do this, there are many repositories out there for Debian and some very good ones too. But there are also other ways you can get newer packages on Debian and that is with universal package formats,
* Appimages
* Snap Packages
* Flatpaks.
I wont go into what they are or how they work but to say they are an easy way to get new applications on your distribution without the need to upgrade the whole system.
My view on these package formats is they are a great way to get new software but use them sparingly and I mean put some thought into it. Ask the question, Why do I need the latest version of this software?
The drawbacks of using these packages is they can be quite bloated and at the time of writing this some packages don’t integrate that well with the OS, this is improving though. Personally I don’t feel they are up to the standard of the native package formats yet, but they are improving.
Think about this:
In the wise words of Debian, 'Don’t make a FrankenDebian!' There is great article on the Debian wiki all about this.
I’m not against these formats I have a few installed myself, again just put some thought into it before you decide to install them.
My current Debian install:
Debian: 12 (Bullseye) Kernel: 6.1.0-15-amd64 DE Xfce: 4.18 WM: Xfwm4 Theme: Yaru-blue-dark
Have I answered the question why I use Debian on my desktop? Probably not. Debian might not be for you, or it might be just what you are looking for. What ever distribution you use, embrace it, hack it and most importantly enjoy it!
RJ.