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On 4/8/07, James Kramer <kramerjm at gmail.com> wrote: > Just out of curiosity, what is the main difference between Ubuntu > Feisty and Debian Unstable. I like Ubuntu's interface but I am not > familiar with the cutting edge Debian. Well, Ubuntu packages up the most recent releases of software. Generally, their releases are closely tied to Gnome (every 6 months). For instance, Gnome version in Feisty is at 2.18, whereas Gnome version in Debian unstable is 2.14, and Debian experimental is 2.16. Also, I like that Ubuntu gives its users the choice of easily installable commercial packages. For instance, I can install Sun's Java binaries/sources and have them maintained by APT. I can do the same with flash, opera, etc. Tons of software choices, which makes things easier. Not as many packages as Gentoo, obviously, but I believe makes the most binary packages available than any other Linux distribution. Someone correct me if I am wrong here, but I seem to remember comparing using (dpkg -l / rpm -qa) | wc -l... Also, Ubuntu provides a very nice server version as well, which is locked down by default. Basically, the difference between Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server is merely the package ubuntu-desktop. The server version does not ship with a GUI by default, unlike RHEL. This does not differ from Debian though. And Ubuntu Server gets security updates immediately, which is not true of Debian unstable. And finally, I (and many others) have found Ubuntu to be the best distro for laptops. Hardware auto-configuration (like CPU frequency scaling) really makes it easier for the end user. And it all fits on one disc which also serves as a Live CD to boot (pun intended)! Ian Murdock uses it himself, so that should say something about it :-) -- Kristian Hermansen -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
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