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Debian is fine.

Folks like to complain that the packages are too old, but Flatpak makes that not even a thing anymore for most of us.

You know what I like? That I can pull out a laptop I haven't touched in three weeks and there's little that needs updating.

Debian? It's fine. If you like it, you're fine too.

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in reply to Veronica Explains

"Unchanging" is pretty great sometimes. If Debian offered (or offers in the future) an atomic build, I'll likely start running it on my HTPCs. Certain devices benefit from being static most of the time.
in reply to Zak :1password:

@zak I have a soft spot for Debian for sure. It was the first distro I got properly deep into. Lots of core memories for me. 😀 But.. I’ve been using various atomic/immutable/declarative distros for the past few years and don’t see myself going back to a traditional (ephemeral) distro. I hope Debian doesn’t get left behind in this movement and an official atomic Debian happens one day.
in reply to Paul Richards

@pauldoo Do you have one you prefer? I'm looking at them, and a shortcut from an experienced person in my research would be helpful and appreciated.
in reply to Veronica Explains

Whenever I feel bored I run pacman -Syu and most of the time nothing changes. A bit like playing the lottery but for free! :ablobcatattention:

(sometimes something breaks. Then I get to invent a solution. Not exactly like winning the lottery but at least it creates ... erm ... emotions?)

in reply to Veronica Explains

I wrote a post here some times ago explaining that, if I were doing things over, I would install Debian on my father computer rather than Xubuntu. The fact that there is few updates is a pro for him, not a con.
in reply to Veronica Explains

they did fix the really big problems. the linux ecosystem broadly came a long way toward making customization and experimentation easier.
in reply to Veronica Explains

my fav distro. I used to use it almost exclusively back in the 90s and 00s and after getting distracted by Ubuntu and Red Hat for a while I’m back to using Debian on everything I can.
in reply to Veronica Explains

Agreed. Debian pisses people off for the weirdest reasons but it just freaking works when I need it.
in reply to Veronica Explains

I agree, and personally I absolutely love Linux Mint Debian Edition, because you have a whole selection in the Mint repos that keep commonly used desktop packages like Firefox fairly recent, but all the system packages are based on Debian Stable, so you also don’t drown in updates. It’s the best of both worlds for a secondary/emergency computer for me
in reply to Veronica Explains

I just grow tired of comment after comment on my videos picking on Debian for being stable.

"How do you like running Plasma 5.27?"

Just fine. Have you seen Plasma 5? It's still pretty awesome!

in reply to Veronica Explains

I love my Debian stable system. Realisable, low-maintenance, FOSSy. It never lets me down, and I just use AppImages if I need anything newer.
in reply to Veronica Explains

No argument from me.

I need some kind of stability on my ThinkPad. And I never needed any Flatpaks or Snaps... Generally I rarely need the newest features. I script many things in bash and my filemanager is mc.

I think it's a matter of personal preferences. Some people like it rolling, others like it stable. That's fine.

in reply to Veronica Explains

to me, unchanging is a strength. Aside from security fixes, I have no desire for the latest updates unless I specifically need them for a package I actually use. Stability is much more important to me than new features.

In short, maybe I should be using Debian 😎

in reply to Veronica Explains

one of the things I love about #Gentoo is that it''s essentially the same. As long as you stick with packages that have been marked stable you've got a pretty smooth ride with well-tested software. If you need something bleeding edge it's just a matter of accepting the packages that aren't marked as stable and use those instead. And naturally you can go for all unstable packages if you like living dangerously (and updating often).
in reply to Veronica Explains

Plasma 6 recently landed in Debian Sid, so the wait for that is finally over, thank goodness.
in reply to Veronica Explains

Agreed. I personally like to be very up to date and the flexibility of other distributions, but ultimately the constant bickering between a lot of Linux users is really unnecessary, especially towards less bleeding edge ones. Just use whatever fits your needs best; it might be Debian, it might not be. The variety is what makes Linux an interesting option for many, there's no need to ruin the fun with bikeshedding.
in reply to Veronica Explains

"You know what I like? That I can pull out a laptop I haven't touched in three weeks and there's little that needs updating."

Agree, the constant updates on Windows is like a form of malware that stops you using your computer when you want to use it, or even shutting it down when you want to.

in reply to Veronica Explains

I think Debian is more than fine. Honestly, one of the best traits about Linux community is "to each his own." Personally, I am a proponent of Mint as my "it just works" distro. And Antix makes even a 32 bit potato usable, especially for writing. Find hardware you like running a distro you like and experiment as much as you want.

#Debian #mint #antix

in reply to Veronica Explains

stability is a really nice thing. Really nice. That's why LMDE has one out of regular Linux Mint in my house because Debian's stability is just so much better than Ubuntu's.
in reply to Veronica Explains

Debian plain and simple makes my life easier IMOO and I don't care what others think. End of story of many years.
in reply to Veronica Explains

I moved to Debian from Ubuntu because the extensive use of snaps in Ubuntu creates problems. Bughunting is more difficult with snaps and as snaps are used even for basic functionalities such as printing or browser, the amount of bughunting has grown.

The nastiest thing: people hanging on Ubuntu IRC support channel say simply "A problem with snap, not a Ubuntu package. Report to the maintainer of the snap." even if the snap would be from Ubuntu repositories.

There's no hope left for Ubuntu with this development. Ignorance is not a bliss on this field.

in reply to Veronica Explains

accepting that something you don't like or understand works for other people is part of personal growth.
I was probably a snotty judgmental teenager (and probably young adult). I wonder what some people get out of carrying that attitude through life.
in reply to Veronica Explains

As someone who has more older laptops than reason, Debian is my preferred linux distro. Arch is nice and well, if you run it daily, but when you start a device only once a few months it is a real pain.
in reply to Veronica Explains

Debian has always been the most stable system I have ever used

It's a good one to settle on, and that's coming from a Fedora user

in reply to Veronica Explains

I mean there's stable and then there's having packages that are several years old like on Debian stable. Not ideal for desktop usage imo.
in reply to Veronica Explains

@Veronica Explains @Dushman Also, I find that flatpaks (while not a perfect solution) tend to fill that gap for me.
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

Flatpaks are bloat. I use native packages for everything. Still better than snap tho.
in reply to Dushman

@dushman @me flatpaks are glorious and you’ll do better in this space being positive and not harping on things other folks like.
in reply to Veronica Explains

flatpaks are glorious and you’ll do better in this space being positive and not harping on things other folks like.


@vkc On Debian stable, I prefer using Guix as a second package manager to FlatPak whenever possible. They have much more fine-grained deduplication of package dependencies than FlatPak, and also make it easier to build the latest versions of many software from source. It is command-line only though, so I can’t recommend it to non-power-users.

@dushman @me

in reply to Ramin Honary

@ramin_hal9001 @dushman @me

While Guix is a great tool for development/system management (especially with Guix System,) I think you need to know your use case for it to make sense. You kind of need to be aware of the value in reproducible environments and systems in your workflow.

For a user who just wants to get the app they want to use, Flatpak is really remarkable, and I find it really convenient that I can just tell my friends to get whatever they need from GNOME Software or Discover.

Guix would be hard to integrate with a GUI while keeping the benefits, I think. Not that it's not possible, but configuration as code is its strongest aspect, and that means that it needs some programming skills, and we're not in a place where we can expect everyone to be able to do that.

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