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I want to install a debian based distro. Which one seems to be a good choice? I have a 3.0 ghz P4 with 1 gig ram. I know that Ubuntu and Kanatix use there own repositories, I would like a debian distro that I can just apt-get stuff without the worry of crossing repos..

We're sorta getting to the point were the Debian-based distros are branching more or less, because you can't install Ubuntu packages on a Debian system and neither vice versa, so you really kinda need to choose between Debian and Ubuntu.

Both have quite big package repositories so you can use apt-get to your heart's content on both Ubuntu and Debian.

What would you recommend. Should I go with pure debian or climb onboard the Ubuntu train like everybody else. I'm more advanced than a newbie user but would like a stable debian distro. I liked SUSE 10.... but it did not like my onboard sound. That's why figured I would try debian over RPM based distro..
Ive tried slack based distros but nothing came close to the apt-get goodness that i loved.

Try either Debian Etch, or Ubuntu Dapper.

http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/dapper/flight-7/

How about something like Damn Small Linux.

Never installed myself, but from what I've read, once it's installed it's a Debian system.

dookiesmack wrote:What would you recommend. Should I go with pure debian or climb onboard the Ubuntu train like everybody else. I'm more advanced than a newbie user but would like a stable debian distro. I liked SUSE 10.... but it did not like my onboard sound. That's why figured I would try debian over RPM based distro..
Ive tried slack based distros but nothing came close to the apt-get goodness that i loved.

hehe try Gentoo I tried Portage a long time ago and after trying out a bunch of distros ended up going back. Did the same thing a couple weeks ago after trying SUSE (10.0 and 10.1).

Anyways I always found that Debian unstable (Sid I think) will break...A LOT...so maybe testing will be better as long as you do not require bleeding edge packages. And I have found the best Debian based system is Debian (or Deeeeeeeeebian ). Although I have not tried a whole lot recently.

dookiesmack wrote:What would you recommend. Should I go with pure debian or climb onboard the Ubuntu train like everybody else. I'm more advanced than a newbie user but would like a stable debian distro.

In my opinion, it kind of depends on what your needs are. Pat posed an interested poll (viewtopic.php?t=1154) about what matters the most when choosing a distro. If you prioritize stability over everything else, I say go with Debian Sarge, Debian Sarge is not that bad either when it comes to speed. If you want more up to date software, I'd say go with the latest stable version of Ubuntu, at this point I'd wait for the Dapper Drake release which will be released in 8 or 9 days, I know you can install one of the "Flight" editions, but I really don't like using development branches on my primary workstation, but that's just me.

dookiesmack wrote:I liked SUSE 10.... but it did not like my onboard sound. That's why figured I would try debian over RPM based distro..

I seriously doubt that the RPM / DEB difference would make any difference in terms of hardware support, what soundcard do you have?

If you liked SUSE 10.0, you could also try 10.1, I'm personally loving it, but that's of course your choice.

If you liked SUSE 10.0, you could also try 10.1, I'm personally loving it, but that's of course your choice.

me too - their gnome is really perdy. catch myself using it more and more

I installed it and it has been up ever since - dam stable.

jsusanka wrote:

If you liked SUSE 10.0, you could also try 10.1, I'm personally loving it, but that's of course your choice.

me too - their gnome is really perdy. catch myself using it more and more

I installed it and it has been up ever since - dam stable.

Both KDE and GNOME in SUSE 10.1 look very very slick, package management is a little effy, but that's eaisily fixed by installing smart, which is very apt-like when you get down to it.

CptnObvious999 wrote:

dookiesmack wrote:What would you recommend. Should I go with pure debian or climb onboard the Ubuntu train like everybody else. I'm more advanced than a newbie user but would like a stable debian distro. I liked SUSE 10.... but it did not like my onboard sound. That's why figured I would try debian over RPM based distro..
Ive tried slack based distros but nothing came close to the apt-get goodness that i loved.

hehe try Gentoo I tried Portage a long time ago and after trying out a bunch of distros ended up going back. Did the same thing a couple weeks ago after trying SUSE (10.0 and 10.1).

Anyways I always found that Debian unstable (Sid I think) will break...A LOT...so maybe testing will be better as long as you do not require bleeding edge packages. And I have found the best Debian based system is Debian (or Deeeeeeeeebian ). Although I have not tried a whole lot recently.

Testing Etch is actually pretty bleeding edge, without being subjected to the breakage that unstable goes through. As of right now, Etch has the latest Gnome, KDE, and Firefox packages, which should satisfy anyone looking to run Deeebian on the desktop.

FWIW you _can_ install packages from Debian on an Ubuntu system - the multiverse repository is essentially the rest of the Debian unstable repo (including non-free, and stuff like that). Ubuntu is firmly committed to syncing with Debian Unstable on a regular basis, so that all changes are sent back upstream.

<edit>Sorry - universe is the rest of Unstable, multiverse is contrib+non-free</edit>

"Both KDE and GNOME in SUSE 10.1 look very very slick, package management is a little effy, but that's eaisily fixed by installing smart, which is very apt-like when you get down to it."

couple of days ago I started using xgl in gnome and I can really start to get use to it - like the way they did it. glad I can get this with vista today - oh wait - it's not out yet - windows - such innovation. their next innovation will be drm hardware lockin - can't wait.