I (heart) Debian

As I mentioned, I am using a virtual installation of Debian "etch" to learn how a Linux server works, and I wanted to write about how impressed I am with Debian in particular as a rock-solid, stable, and principled Linux distribution. I was just reading through some of the online documentation provided on their website and I just get the warm fuzzies about it :-). Of course, this is a sign that I've either 1) finally lost it or 2) have achieved a level of geekdom seldom dreamed about or 3) a bit of both. Okay, here's what I love about Debian:

Stability and Functionality

Debian takes great care testing software and making sure that it is as bug-free as possible, which results in situation where it is both a) never on the cutting edge of software technology and b) extremely reliable and functional. They maintain three versions of Debian at a time: the stable distribution (currently named "etch"), the testing distribution (currently named "lenny") and the unstable distribution (always named "sid"). The names come from the Pixar film Toy Story, a fact which I just recently learned. Debian is often criticized in the Linux community for being so slow to release, and is not nearly as popular as a desktop distribution as, say, Ubuntu (more about this comparison to follow).

Strong Principles

In the late 1990s, when the free-software movement developed the term "open source" to describe free software projects in a way that the business world could understand, the creators based the Open Source Definition (OSD) on the Debian Free Software Guidelines. Debian as an organization adheres very strictly to these when choosing software to include in its distributions, and there have been controversies (in the free/open source software world) about the policy, including a high-profile rejection of the Mozilla Firefox brand name. For the average end user, this does not amount to much, of course, but that's one of the main reasons Debian is able to keep its reputation for integrity - they are willing to make controversial or otherwise unpopular decisions. Debian also insists on officially being called "Debian GNU/Linux" in reference to the fact that the Linux kernel is only a part of the operating system as a whole. Free software pioneer Richard Stallman has an opinion about this as well.

Foundational for Other Great Distributions

Debian is the basis for many other distributions, most notably Knoppix and (of course) Ubuntu. Since I moved to Ubuntu, I have often thought of it as Debian's "really unstable" branch, though Ubuntu has a different mission in mind and is associated closely with Canonical, which, like Red Hat, is a for-profit company seeking to gain an enterprise Linux market share (not that there's anything wrong with that :-)). Debian was my first choice as a Linux distribution when I got into all this, and I'm happy I went with it.

Downloading Software for Ubuntu

Using Linux as my primary home operating system has changed my expectations about what I want my computer to do, particularly in the realm of adding new software. As a Windows user, when you think you need a new software program, you go out on the web to read about it, check Consumer Reports, Amazon.com reviews, etc. to see if it's worth purchasing, then you either:

1. Order it from Amazon (or some other seller), which means you wait a few days.
2. Go to a store and buy it, which means you pay the full retail price, OR
   
3. Download the software after buying it over the web.

That applies to "shrink wrapped" programs (like Adobe Photoshop or Dreamweaver), but even in the case of free software, that too, involves some work with Windows. My method is as follows:

1. Go to Google and type in the name of the program or the type of program I'm looking for.
2. Navigate to the appropriate download page.
3. Select the correct version of Windows.
4. Download & install the software, which almost always fights with your antivirus/firewall software, and involves agreeing to a bunch of legalese that no one really reads.

That's the current Windows way of doing things.

With Linux, you can do the same thing, go to the web site, download the product, and install it. (Doing it this way can involve a lot of command-line activity and scary-sounding procedures like "recompiling the Linux kernel," which at this point in my Linux life, I don't really like getting into). One of the absolute coolest features of Debian and Ubuntu is the Synaptic Package Manager, which allows you to peruse a list of available software programs, and to download them. There are so many programs and applications available on the list that you often have to search. Here's a screenshot:


I still sometimes catch myself doing things the "old" way when using Linux, only to find that the program I'm looking for is already available through Synaptic.

I think Microsoft and Apple would do well to consider this sort of arrangement. Since I use Windows at home and at work, I find myself wanting this feature. Suddenly, the old "search - click - download" procedure seems archaic!

3/22 Update: I just came upon this page: How to Install ANYTHING in Ubuntu.

Network Card Issues

**NOTE: This post, along with all the posts dated August 2007, is about my first experiences using Linux on a computer I have since parted with. I installed Debian "etch" onto a hand-me-down desktop computer just to see if I could do it. I note this since all of the posts from 2008 deal with an entirely different computer!

My network card has not worked since I began the installation process. Here's what's happening: I have some connectivity, but it is slow and inconsistent. When on the web, I can view pages, but they load very slowly. This limited connectivity has been very useful, though, and I was able to download Debian package elements from the Web. Since my dad never got it to work either, this card may not work well at all, but right now I'm convinced the problem is the driver. Here's why:

1. The light on the back of the computer that indicates an active Ethernet connection is on. The light on the router is also on. This has not been consistently the case, but most of the time the lights are on.
2. The connection works, if slowly ("jerky" is a term someone had for a similar problem on a Linux discussion site - it's an accurate description), which makes me think the hardware is not the problem. The router is also working, because I'm allowed onto the Web.

Another interesting feature of the current connection is that is works faster when I am opening a program. This means that if I'm downloading a file from the Web, it works much faster if I just keep opening programs - games, apps - whatever. When I'm up and running again I will detail the processes I've gone through so far to solve the problem.

Up and Running!

I used CD 1 to get Linux up and running. I kind of surprised myself by deciding to change my strategy for getting this project underway. Since I'm such a newbie at Linux, I decided to install the GUI and start with a standard system. That way I can get a handle on the way things work and then hopefully work with the web and file server options.

I'm VERY impressed with the Gnome GUI. It's clean and very attractive, like Apple. Windows looks decidedly UN-graceful in comparison. Here's a screenshot:


I'm very pleased. After using it for a couple of days I'm getting used to the Linux mindset, if gradually.

Jigdo? ISO? = new lingo

Well, following the advice on Debian's website, I downloaded Jigdo and began downloading CDs. I selected all 21 Debian CDs, and it took all night to get through to CD 8! What Jigdo (a contraction of "Jigsaw Download" does is take the files from several different mirror sites across the country and the world, and use them to create full CDs. This lessens the load on specific mirrors (it's all explained here).

Anyway, I did this for two nights in a row, only getting to CD 15 - then I read somewhere that I only really needed CD 1 to get started! Oh, well.

I also learned a bit about CD images (ISOs). ISO files are compressed versions of all the single files you need on a CD. You can't just write the ISO file to a CD, which is what will happen if you use Windows XP's built in CD writing utility. I initially used an ISO Recorder program I came across on the web, but the first CD I burned with it had an error, so I tried Burn 4 Free, which worked fine.

Choosing a Linux Distribution

Since I work in a very busy suburban public library, I see a lot of interesting books come through. I have been casually reading about Linux and Apache and MySQL and other similar projects for the past couple of years. I came across a book done by PC Magazine about Linux, and it included a CD with Knoppix on it. I decided to try it out on my Dell desktop (our family PC running Win XP). For some reason there was a problem with the display, and it looked too strange to use.

When I got my parents' old PC, I tried the Knoppix CD and the display looked fine. When I tried to open programs like Open Office, or Internet browsers, there wasn't really enough memory to run them (since the live CD boots using RAM and not hard drive space, this shrinks the amount of memory considerably). I was impressed by the clean interface of KDE and thought how great open source software is.

After reading through my book, I decided to choose Debian for its stability and its many different software packages. The book described Debian's relative stodginess, that years can pass between new distributions, while other Linux distributions are out on the cutting edge. Well, my interests are in stability, not cutting edge, and I have been approaching this cautiously, so the seeming conservatism of Debian is actually attractive to me.

So Debian it is!

Preparing for Linux

With some trepidation, I began looking at my parents old PC. It was loaded with software that I knew was extraneous for my purposes. I decided to run ScanDisk and to defragment the drive (did I need to do this? I don't know, but I wanted to be safe). I also began sleuthing my hardware, as suggested by one of the Linux books I was referencing. I discovered the following specs about the computer:

Intel Pentium III Processor
40 GB hard drive
128 MB of RAM
CD-ROM drive (predates CD-R/RW capability)
2 USB ports (not sure which type, but presumably 1.0)
3 1/2" floppy drive
Iomega ZIP drive
Linksys Gigabit Network Card EG1032 v.2

Basically, the layout for a top of the line workhorse computer c. 2000.

I deleted as much of the extraneous software as I could and considered the computer ready for Linux.