[lug] distribution favorites?

[Daniel Webb]

On Thu, Nov 09, 2006 at 08:05:46PM -0700, Collins Richey wrote:

> >Same here.  I like Debian stable.  The plus for Debian stable is that once
> >you get it set up, you can go for a *long* time without fiddling.
> 
> You can probably say much the for most stable distros. I would very
> much agree with your conclusion for a server that is going to remain
> almost totally static, just serving content for years on end.

Is there any other distro where you can not upgrade for 2 years yet get
security updates?  That's one of the big advantages I see with Debian stable.
There are a few packages that get too old, and I install them from the
backports archive.  But mostly, I don't care that bind is 2 years old.  What
new features have been added to bind in the last 2 years that I need?  Same
thing with 95% of the packages I use.

> Once again, you'll spend a lot of front end time getting everything
> working right for any distribution.

That makes it sound like all distros are similarly easy to setup, and that's
just not the case.  Ubuntu seems to be getting good press as far as hardware
detection and so on.  I know for a fact that in the last 5 years Knoppix had
significantly better and easier hardware detection and support than a stock
Debian install because I have used both extensively.  All distros are
definitely not the same in this area.

> For a desktop system I (and most other non-commercial users on the
> planet) would prefer something a little less long in the tooth than
> Debian stable. At work I support Engineers (embedded code developers)
> who are still getting useful work done on ancient RH9 systems, but no
> home user would want something that old.

I don't agree with that either.  Most non-nerd home users have no idea that
they're using old software.  My mom would still be using Windows 98 if I
hadn't installed Linux on her computer (she barely knows the difference).
Another older friend is using a 8 year old Mac.  Only nerds care that they
have Firefox 2.0.1 when it comes out.  Most people just buy a computer and use
it until it's so clogged with spyware and crap that they buy a new one (unless
it's a Mac, in which case they buy a new one when it's too slow or the
hardware fails).