Debian 6.0 Xfce Review - Linux Distro Reviews

[JoeZiehmer]

On an older Viewpad 1000 it runs and detects like a dream including the touch screen interface. Even with only 128MB RAM it is still a fast distro for Linux users. And, it stays on for four hours of battery life. As my first tablet install it is one of my favorite operating systems.

[EinstienJr]

what is xfce?

[JustMeTimbo]

After 2 years of (X)ubuntu I switched to LMDe Xfce which I found to be a bit bloated. It comes with a lot of preinstalled Software and tweaks that can be useful for Linux newcomers but I found that I wanted to apply tons of changes to the system. Long story short. I did a squeeze netinstall and added the repos to LMDe latest before I ran the first update. Now I have something inbetween Squeeze and testing the latter of which I am hesitant to use because I have to rely on my Notebook for my MA…

[Shayne2555]

can you install ppa or something to keep certain things up to date

[Cuteandbrutal]

dont like the new ubuntu unity , looks like lose of controll to me. looks so dumbed down now. and this seems to be more what i want

[tenchidbz]

Is Debian better/worse than Ubuntu?

[ljungren13]

@tenchidbz I prefer it.

[Monster597]

try Kubuntu 11.10.. Simply Awesome!

[KriegKadaver]

Does Debian have it's own software repositories like Ubuntu? If so - I gotta switch to it on my netbook..

[mcfartard]

@KriegKadaver um your kidding right ? debian has the largest repositories of them all that is one reason so many distros are debian based and i must mention the amazing stability...

[Terids]

@KriegKadaver Ubuntu is based on Debian. Make the switch :)

[KriegKadaver]

@Terids I was wondering particularly about software repositories that are provided by the distribution provider (I am aware that I can add any repositories to the repository list). In that sense - ubuntu is the best, because not only does it have its own repository for many many packages, but it also has mirrors for the closest location near you (it even has Latvian mirror, OMG!!). Since that post I have installed Debian on my old laptop, and am experimenting with it atm. Looks highly promising.

[kotapaka]

Oh yeah and I had 2GB of ram. Debian is, I think, the best distribution out there. It is geared towards normal, everyday users and it's very, very easy to use. I agree it might be a bit harder for absolute beginners who don't even know what a terminal is (like me several years ago) but after a month or two of using a linux distro you should be able to go to Debian and you'll find it no harder than any other distro.

[kotapaka]

My debian was running on about 30MB of ram. I had a graphical environment with windows and everything :D. Anyway if I remember correctly Squeeze was frozen around August of 2010. I also remember that they were about 9 months overdue. I mean most people thought that Squeeze will replace Lenny as the stable branch around Sept-Oct 2009. Then we thought they'll make it happen around Jan-Feb 2010. They managed to release a new stable as I said - around August.

[Exiliadomx]

I use Debian Squeeze with XFCE. I love it, it is better than gnome

[Unreadableanon]

Does this have the "software center?

[gadgetmanubuntu]

@Unreadableanon you can install it with "apt-get install software-center" (run in command line)

[Deliciousfruit233]

Wow, 74 megs of ram? I didn't think a fully featured desktop environment from this decade could go that low. I thought I would have to install DSL on my crappy Gateway from 2003. :)

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@Deliciousfruit233 Yeah, pretty impressive huh? Linux Mint Debian Xfce Edition is also a really good substitute for XP on old laptops. Got it running on a 6 y.o. Compaq with less than 512 MB of RAM! And it flies!!

[TheVanezBlane]

@InfinitelyGalactic other example: my old compaq needed at least 1-5minutes to start with windows, with kubuntu/ubuntu/linux mint it starts nearly as fast as an SSD

[morovis96]

@Deliciousfruit233 I just installed it on a Dell D620 and it "reboots" in 40 seconds and boots (from off) in less than 30 secs. I am amazed.. yup under 100 of RAM when idle

[experimental0000]

@Deliciousfruit233 that's about as good as slitaz (I think that's the one) and I would rather go for Debian if I could. Now all there is to see is Debian 6.x with gnome 3/shell in stable form.. I think I'll go for that soon

[merkur32123]

$su

Password:

# aptitude 'INSERT PARAMETERS HERE!'

Aptitude handles dependencies better than apt-get!! And also, if you don't add any parameters to the command, it will look and work pretty much like Synaptic!

[teegoat]

little note to the author: if you want to see a fully workable distro running under 60 mb memory load I recommend you take a look at crunchbang linux openbox (also based on debian squeeze) or arch linux with openbox. I once managed configuring #! so that it was taking up about 59mb after the reboot;)

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@teegoat Nice work! You could practically run that on a mobile phone with that sort of memory consumption!

[dontwastetime00]

@teegoat I ve got screenshot of my debian running under 38 mb of memory :) With conky, tint2, rox with pekwm.

[RadioFoxBG]

i`m very disappointed ....

[meoweo]

74 megs of ram is very impressive on a stable machine

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@meoweo No kidding. Very light indeed, and that's while I had stuff running!

[Gatorman32656]

Clean, concise, direct and great enunciation. Great job.

[CurtHowland]

On the "network manager", the default in Debian 6 is not "NetworkManager", it's WICD.

WICD is excellent software, very direct and easy to understand. There's only one problem in my opinion, it doesn't do IPv6. The WICD folks say it's a "future feature", but I wish they would get on with it. it's 2011, after all!

[CurtHowland]

One thing I'd like to say about Debian and the "bleeding edge", for those who want it:

Go right ahead.

Using Debian as a base, then building the latest-and-greatest is bloody easy. Take the Linux kernel as an excellent example of this.

The Debian utility "kernel-package" brings with it all the needed utilities, GCC, etc, to build kernels. Get the latest from kernel.org, and build with two commands:

make nconfig

fakeroot make-kpkg --append-to-version -yourname --initrd kernel_image

[CurtHowland]

Debian Stable is not good for the desktops of people who are tech savvy. What it makes is fantastic sense for servers and non-technical users because of its functional stability.

The "freeze" was back in October, which is why Xfce 4.8 didn't make it. Linux 2.6.32 is also a "long term stable" kernel, which fits the Debian Stable mission perfectly.

I run Debian Unstable, and find that it is far more stable, in use, than many other Linux distributions.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@CurtHowland I agree with you, the distros that pull from Debian Unstable seem to be just fine. (Mint Debian anyone?)

[CurtHowland]

@InfinitelyGalactic And Ubuntu, for that matter, also draws from Unstable.

The release of Debian 6 has inspired me to start a blog, in order to post screen-shots of not just KDE and GNOME, but Xfce, LXDE, Fvwm and as many other window managers and desktop environments as I can find, each showing at least the default menus with no tweaking by me so that people can know just how effective the Debian packaging of different desktops on top of a common infrastructure is.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@CurtHowland Great idea man, I'm also trying to cover a wide range of Desktop Environments, because, quite frankly, Linux's flexibility is one of its greatest strengths that is sometimes neglected.

[THERMODYNAMICS4]

@InfinitelyGalactic I have being using LMDE from a long time and it's a very fine Distro, better than some other distros, the Mint Team announce the new xfce debian based...

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@THERMODYNAMICS4 Yep, I saw that yesterday. That's awesome. If I get time (in my hectic college schedule) I'll check it out.

[FeelItRising]

I've been an Arch user for too long. It would drive me crazy to run Debian Stable and year old software. It'better to go with Debian Testing or Sid (Aptosid is a great Sid distro)

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@FeelItRising You know what? To be honest, the thought of running Debian stable on any of my machines is abhorrent (think: really horrible). I also could not stand running software a year old either. Linux development is just too fast and too awesome to fall asleep at. But this sort of distro is good for the enterprise IT manager who wants to convince his boss that Linux is stable. But, I agree with what you're saying. BTW, aptosid is a great distro!

[tostoday]

I think Peppermint OS is close to ram use.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@tostoday Very true, Peppermint is ==very== light, it'll be interesting to see what the Mint 10 LXDE version is like huh?