The Linux Experiment

This post was originally published on August 21, 2009. The original can be found here.

Like many of the other varieties of Linux, Debian gives the end user a number of different installation choices. In addition to the choice of installer that Tyler B has already mentioned, the Debian community maintains three different distributions, which means that even though I’ve picked a distribution, I still haven’t picked a distribution! In the case of Debian, these distributions are as follows:

1. Stable: Last updated on July 27th, 2009, this was the last major Debian release, codenamed “Lenny.” This is the currently supported version of Debian, and receives security patches from the community as they are developed, but no new features. The upside of this feature freeze is that the code is stable and almost bug free, with the downside that the software it contains is somewhat dated.
2. Testing: Codenamed “Squeeze,” this distribution contains code that is destined for the next major release of Debian. Code is kept in the Testing distribution as long as it doesn’t contain any major bugs that might prevent a proper release (This system is explained here). The upside of running this distribution is that your system always has all of the newest (and mostly) bug free code available to users. The downside is that if a major bug is found, the fix for that bug may be obliged to spend a good deal of time in the Unstable distribution before it is considered stable enough to move over to Testing. As a result, your computer could be left with broken code for weeks on end. Further, this distribution doesn’t get security patches as fast as Stable, which poses a potential danger to the inexperienced user.
3. Unstable: Nicknamed Sid after the psychotic next door neighbour in Toy Story who destroys toys as a hobby, this is where all of Debian’s newest and potentially buggy code lives. According to what I’ve read, Sid is like a developer’s build – new users who don’t know their way around the system don’t generally use this distribution because the build could break at any time, and there is absolutely no security support.

I’m currently leaning towards running the Testing distribution, mostly because I like new shiny toys, and (I think) want the challenge of becoming a part of the Debian community. Since we’ve been getting a lot of support from the various development communities lately, perhaps some of our readers could set me straight on any information that I might have missed, and perhaps set me straight on which distribution I should run.

One of the articles Tyler passed me this morning was a brief post on three problems with Gentoo by Dion Moult. There are a few things he’s mentioned that I definitely agree with. Having used the distribution for a little over a month, some minor changes would go a long way to making the experience less painful and more usable.

Updated Documentation
This is the biggest factor that I think impacts Gentoo uptake, adoption and continued use. While the installation guide is very detailed, it’s beginning to show its age: there’s no mention of the ext4 filesystem, and it only details XFS briefly. Since choosing a filesystem and partitioning scheme is one of the first things that needs to be done during the installation process, it’s important to give the most amount of information possible to prevent users from having to change things down the line.

Likewise, the X.org configuration guide discusses the difference between using /dev/input/mice and /dev/mouse as a pointer input device, but both configurations neglect the more recent evdev and HAL. To their credit, the wiki maintainers indicate that the information is out of date, but getting X.org up and running is absolutely essential for a desktop or workstation configuration.

Hardware
Dion mentions that things should just work out of the box. As far as hardware goes, my only difficulty so far has been getting my mouse to work (due to the evdev/HAL issue mentioned above.) I run an nVidia card and by following the nVidia guide, I had no issues with getting accelerated graphics working. Likewise, after installing GNOME and setting USE flags, my external hard drives and USB devices are now working consistently.

Since my main machine is a desktop, I haven’t really investigated the usual problem points of hibernate and standby. One thing that might improve compatibility would be an installer or set of meta-packages that takes care of the hardware usually present for desktops or laptops. For example, a set of common wireless modules, power management tools and ACPI/DSDT fixes would provide a convenient way to get a netbook or laptop user up and running.

Better communication between developers and users
I also agree that when developers maintain a dialog with their users, it’s much easier to understand the rationale behind program design decisions or why a package isn’t included in the distribution. As of this point, I have no idea why the default KDE version in Gentoo is 3.5 – and searching through bug reporting databases isn’t an easy way to figure this out. I expect it’s due to stability concerns, but at least make the reasons behind that known. Providing easy instructions for adding overlays or unmasking packages to achieve a user’s goals also helps foster good relationships.

The Songbird ebuild is another case in which I don’t know what to do. Is there a way to install the package or not? I’m satisfied with the stability of Songbird on my own system, but there’s no clear and easy way to get it loaded into Portato.

Wrap-up
Perhaps the only way to really understand the Gentoo installation process is to install Gentoo itself, then try again and use what you’ve learned. 🙂

Like many of the other varieties of Linux, Debian gives the end user a number of different installation choices. In addition to the choice of installer that Tyler B has already mentioned, the Debian community maintains three different distributions, which means that even though I’ve picked a distribution, I still haven’t picked a distribution! In the case of Debian, these distributions are as follows:

1. Stable: Last updated on July 27th, 2009, this was the last major Debian release, codenamed “Lenny.” This is the currently supported version of Debian, and receives security patches from the community as they are developed, but no new features. The upside of this feature freeze is that the code is stable and almost bug free, with the downside that the software it contains is somewhat dated.
2. Testing: Codenamed “Squeeze,” this distribution contains code that is destined for the next major release of Debian. Code is kept in the Testing distribution as long as it doesn’t contain any major bugs that might prevent a proper release (This system is explained here). The upside of running this distribution is that your system always has all of the newest (and mostly) bug free code available to users. The downside is that if a major bug is found, the fix for that bug may be obliged to spend a good deal of time in the Unstable distribution before it is considered stable enough to move over to Testing. As a result, your computer could be left with broken code for weeks on end. Further, this distribution doesn’t get security patches as fast as Stable, which poses a potential danger to the inexperienced user.
3. Unstable: Nicknamed Sid after the psychotic next door neighbour in Toy Story who destroys toys as a hobby, this is where all of Debian’s newest and potentially buggy code lives. According to what I’ve read, Sid is like a developer’s build – new users who don’t know their way around the system don’t generally use this distribution because the build could break at any time, and there is absolutely no security support.

I’m currently leaning towards running the Testing distribution, mostly because I like new shiny toys, and (I think) want the challenge of becoming a part of the Debian community. Since we’ve been getting a lot of support from the various development communities lately, perhaps some of our readers could set me straight on any information that I might have missed, and perhaps set me straight on which distribution I should run.