My introduction to Linux was through Mandrake 10. Not bad, very bloated, difficult to configure (IMO).

I was pondering about my dilemna with Linux the other day and thought, "Hell, my old P2 wants to grow arms and legs, so it can pin me to the floor and bash me for installing Mandrake on it. Maybe I'll try out another OS...".

So, I downloaded Debian. Seemed a good choice. Since Mandrake seemingly has a lot of Red Hat stuff in it, I thought something totally different would be interesting.

Anyway, I finished some of the downloads a while ago, and started installing Debian. Basic, no-frills installer. Nice. No driver issues. Nice. Easy config. NO BLOAT! Nice... now to installing packages.

This is where Debian thoroughly beat Mandrake to pulp: APT. I cannot believe how ugly and disgustingly awful RPM is, especially not after using APT. (Until today, I'd thought that all those people who said apt owned rpm were just the anti-rpm fanatics. Not so).


So, after all that ranting, is it just me that's found Debian really nice and easy to use?

although, DEBIAN is a good and very stable (plus, one of the oldest Linux distro), but considering that it takes 7 CDs to install, that's huge. Another thing; RPM is much better than dpkg (.DEB) since it's simple to use. That's why APT was invented. There's even APT4RPM. DEBIAN also have RPM support on their distro since there are drivers that are RPM ONLY.

xboxrulz

I find Debian really good too. However i use debian-based distros such as Knoppix or Guadalinex. I will install next week Suse to give it a try

Sure, you can use 7 cds... I've currently got the first four, and haven't needed the later one's yet... (considering the earlier cds have the more common, and the last ones have the more obscure).

I have to say, I've even tried dpkg and found it so much simpler to use that rpm. I was lucky if I ever got rpm to work like it was supposed to. Could just be me, though.

lol, if u want to see if u installed RPM try this command rpm -?

xboxrulz

Just so you know, you really only need about half a CD. Ever heard of net install? Install a barebones debian distro and then use the internet to download any/only packages you need. This is documented on the debian website. And if apt is too difficult, there is always aptitude.