Home
| Calendar
| Mail Lists
| List Archives
| Desktop SIG
| Hardware Hacking SIG
Wiki | Flickr | PicasaWeb | Video | Maps & Directions | Installfests | Keysignings Linux Cafe | Meeting Notes | Linux Links | Bling | About BLU |
A couple of years ago when playing around with the various major versions of Linux - CentOS, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, and the BSDs (granted BSD is its own category), when performing an application update, something would break along the way. How to fix? CentOS and Fedora had no obvious/easy way out I could find, so I'd end up reinstalling. Ubuntu actually provided a Broken option under Synaptic. I used the Broken option, and my system reverted back to pre-broken status. I was sold. Now, a couple of years later, I'm upgrading from Ubuntu 8.04 to 8.10 desktop, using dist-upgrade path. I'd like to find out from Debian and Ubuntu users if Debian offers the same upgrade options as Ubuntu? Also, which distro seems to offer more current versions of applications (Firefox, etc)? Ubuntu seems to prefer their hacked helper (ubufox) to make Firefox really happy. Does Debian keep that kind of control over their distro? I've also found Ubuntu strongly prefers their hacked version of video drivers (such as NVidia) vs the manufacturer's-supplied ones. How is Debian in this arena? It has taken me almost 24 hours to upgrade Ubuntu - I am getting prompted if I want to keep or replace certain apps or config files (samba, apache, among others), and the installer cannot continue until I acknowledge. I would have thought the Ubuntu team would have made this completely transparent and trivial by now. Does Debian offer the same "Broken" option to help a user unbreak an update that went bad? Don't see updates go bad much these days (at least for me), but they can still happen, and it is nice to know the OS can handle much of it. So how does Debian stack up vs Ubuntu for 32-bit desktop use these days? Keeping up on applications (latest and security patched, unbreaking of updates, etc)? I'm not a developer - more of a knowledgeable user. Thanks. Scott
BLU is a member of BostonUserGroups | |
We also thank MIT for the use of their facilities. |