I'm an experienced (11 years) user of Linux, starting with Slackware. OK, some would say I'm a real Linux nerd/geek, and it wouldn't be so far off, I suppose. I've tried the following distros:
Slackware
Mandrake
Suse
Beehive
Gentoo
Zenwalk
Vector
DamnSmall
Slax
Ubuntu
Debian
openSuse
I recently had some bad stability issues with Ubuntu Gutsy (7.10) so I decide to take the plunge into the ever revered Debian-land. I figured, heck, I know what I'm doing, I'm a Slack veteran, if I run into trouble, there's a way out. I was deeply excited about adding a nice chapter of experience with a venerated old distro, almost as old as good-ol-Slack. I figured, Slack had it's day, but since it doesn't have a modern package system, Debian would 'feel' like Slack but with some nice touches
First, let me say this: apt-get, and the .deb packaging system in general, is great. The best system out there for Linux.
Beyond that, well, Debian is a major step backwards for Linux.
No newcomer, no I mean noone in general, should ever consider using Debian, period. Why:
1) If you can't get on the internet with a wireless card from the first go, using included drivers or ndiswrapper, that is a non-negotiable negative. Debian's brain-dead policy of zealous purity of usability is horse crap. And did I mention braindead? I spent 3 to 4 wasted hours trying to get my brother-in-laws wireless ipw2100 card to work on his Thinkpad. Still didn't work. Ubuntu 7.10, with all it's instability, started looking really sweet. No problem in Suse, no problem in Ubuntu, even Slackware has this driver, or at least ndiswrapper, available on it's disk. And guess what, we could have probably Googled for it, but you know what? We couldn't get online. Pathetic. No distro worth it's salt should have people saying, after install......"ok, so how do I get on the net?"
2) Ugly 1980 console aesthetics at boot. Let's move on, people, and get some sexy looks. Really, really ugly to have to look at these console messages. And to have to patch a kernel to get bootsplash, when every other modern distro (save Slackware) has a bootsplash theme? People coming from Apple or Windows see this shit and laugh, and you know what, they are right. It speaks volumes about how incredibly difficult things are going to be coming up.
3) My testing version of KDE didn't allow me to even boot into KDE. Pathetic. I wanted to see my shiny new desktop, and couldn't. Pathetic.
4) Luckily, I knew how to hack /etc/apt/source.list to add some sources, or at least knew how to look for a man page for some example source repositories. But if Grandma tried to use Debian after an install? She would use apt-get as the manual explained, only to get error messages about no repositories, with no instruction about what to do, and best left with a broken system. PATHETIC! Lenny came with a BLANK /etc/apt/sources. OR---the non-network install choice gave no warning about making network repos unavailable--in which case---whose design choice was that!?
5) Cups was absolutely broken in Lenny. Couldn't print. Root passwords first rejected, then hacked to work by changing /etc/group....Jesus, how many hoops do we have to jump through to friggin PRINT? Pathetic.
6) Like my brother-in-law said, instead of delivering a new car with the keys in it ready to go, Debian says: Here's the frame and engine of a car, you are welcome to go into our garage and assemble the car, and here's a gas can---the nearest gas station is a mile walk from here. Enjoy!
Pathetic.
I would never ever ever ever recommend Debian to anyone. Apart from apt, which is a jewel, it is a completely unintelligent, stupid, moronic piece of trash that could only be designed by a committee of utter zealots. C'mon---it's ok with Debian people that non-working wireless is the status-quo? (ndiswrapper and firmware is unavailable to people by default on the first install disk)? Do they think to themselves---"The user can simply go to the library and download the appropriate packages over an ethernet hard cable, after going to Radio Shack to purchase the cable; this is sound Debian social policy. Going to the library is good! Get some fresh air, walk a bit!"
Jeez. Anyway, right now, I'm using openSUSE 10.3, and I'm impressed. I can use KDE, which is more than I can say for Debian, I can get online with a Belkin wireless card right away without having to attach a hard cable, which is more than I can say for Debian. I can print, which is more than I can say for Debian. Everything except non-free codecs work out of box, and it's fast and stable. YaST is no apt, but it works. I'm installing apt.
Please, Debian people, stop your silly fundamentalism. People need to: get online, use desktops, and print.
Thanks for listening to this rant echo in your head.