Debian Review

Over the last couple of posts I played with Debian, ran through the install, showed the desktop environment; which is Gnome 3, and went through some of the programs.  I learned a lot about Debian during the past week; their philosophy, how they manage their releases, and who creates the new releases.  Debian has a lot to offer in an operating system for Linux, but what I liked the most is the way it is put together.

Debian is not some fancy company sitting in an office building collecting money.  Debian is everyday users who donate their free time to programming, testing, documenting and fixing bugs.  You read that right. People all over the world help in the process of creating Debian.  Debian also doesn't shove out new releases before they're ready thus leaving you to install update after update in hopes that the bugs that you face are fixed during these updates.  When a new version of Debian is released you can be sure that it has gone through a very long process of testing and that you are getting a very stable version of the operating system.

Hurdles

When I initially set out to write this post I thought the best thing I could do was show my readers how to boot Linux from a thumb drive or CD.  As I started the process of collecting information, screen shots, and whatever else I would need for the post it dawned on me.  How can I inform my readers when they may not know yet which distribution they should go with.  It was an easy choice for me, I saw and tried Mint XFCE and fell in love.  It may not be as easy for you.

After getting into a conversation about the different Linux distributions with my very patient boyfriend, who is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to anything computer related it suddenly dawned on me. The issue that Windows or Mac OS users face when making decisions about Linux distributions or Linux in general is "How do I choose?"  

It became apparent that when you are on an operating system like Windows or Mac OS you are confined to your apartment, you can go into the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom, or the bathroom. When switching to Linux you realize that every apartment in the building is now accessible and each apartment has it's own pros, cons, and special amenities.  How do you choose which apartment you now want to live in?

So I am skipping the thumb drive post for at least a little while, instead I will be entering into the great wide world of distributions.  I will be testing out, comparing and writing about each of the major distributions.  Mint, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and Suse to name a few.  I'll even go into their respective derivatives.  At the end of each one I will give my own personal opinion, because this is my blog and I can share my opinion.  

My reasoning behind approaching it this way instead of just putting you on my personal favorite is because I do not want anyone who reads this blog to feel like they are trapped in yet another operating system.  While I don't personally believe any distribution could really limit you nearly as much as Windows or Mac OS has, I do want you to make your own choice on what may or may not work for you.  I want you to leave your apartment, become my roomie in other apartments before you make your decision on what would be best for you.  Sorry only virtual bacon can be shared, is there anyone working on being able to get food through the computer screen yet?