[Discuss] Debian versus Ubuntu

[Alan W. Irwin]

On 2007-10-26 15:21-0700 Lloyd Budd wrote:

> On 10/25/07, Alan W. Irwin <irwin at beluga.phys.uvic.ca> wrote:
>> it is substantial extra work for me (mostly during the install
>> phase, but still it delayed the Ubuntu install substantially for me) to
>> expose the control I want on Ubuntu.
>
> That seems reason enough -- although of course I was hoping my
> argument of using the same tools as the larger audience would carry
> the day ;-)
>
> Aside, what sort of control do you expose? (Sorry, if there is already
> a thread on this, just point me at it)

* I like KDE because it gives a lot more control options than GNOME.  In
other words, I agree completely with Linus's objections to the dumbing down
of GNOME. This is relevant to Ubuntu because KDE still feels like a
second-class citizen there.  I will change my mind about that when someone
gives me hard numbers about there being roughly equal monetary support for
Ubuntu workers that support GNOME versus those that support KDE.  In the old
days the KDE Ubuntu (Kubuntu) support was mostly volunteer.  The question is
whether that situation has changed radically so a substantial number of paid
Ubuntu employess are working on the KDE side of things?  In contrast, KDE
feels like a first-class citizen for Debian.

* With Ubuntu, I had to take some extraordinary measures to replace the
dumbed-down KDE displayconfig module with the tried and true KDE kcontrol
module.  It's possible KDE has also caught the dumb-down fever and
is really replacing kcontrol with displayconfig.  OTOH, it may be that
Ubuntu specially selected displayconfig because it exposed less information
and gave users less control.  I will know the answer to this when I try
KDE for Debian testing.

* I like to use the root account rather than sudo

* I like to use the startx method of starting KDE rather than having it
start automatically from one of gdm, kdm, or xdm.  This is important when
you are not quite sure about the x.org compatibility of your video chipset.

* The Ubuntu install has much more limited options than the Debian install.
If you have main-stream equipment where you can just install from a bootable
CD it doesn't matter, but I had a non-bootable scsi CD situation which made
the Ubuntu install much more difficult for me.

I remember being pretty bugged at the time so I assume there were several
more Ubuntu install issues that I just cannot remember now.

I believe Ubuntu is doing some really good fundamental stuff that should
benefit all of Linux such as their new initialization system.  Also the
pressure the large numbers of new Ubuntu users put on hardware manufacturers
to cooperate with Linux rather than ignoring it is great. So Debian benefits
from Ubuntu in this general sense as well as from specific direct positive
interactions between Debian and Ubuntu packagers. Furthermore, most/all of
the Ubuntu quirks that bug me can be worked around with some extra effort at
install time.  Nevertheless, as an experienced, long-time Linux user, I am
just more comfortable with the Debian install defaults so that is what I
plan to stick to for this forthcoming install.

Well, you did ask... :-)

Alan
__________________________
Alan W. Irwin

Astronomical research affiliation with Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Victoria (astrowww.phys.uvic.ca).

Programming affiliations with the FreeEOS equation-of-state implementation
for stellar interiors (freeeos.sf.net); PLplot scientific plotting software
package (plplot.org); the libLASi project (unifont.org/lasi); the Loads of
Linux Links project (loll.sf.net); and the Linux Brochure Project
(lbproject.sf.net).
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Linux-powered Science
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