Back To The Debian Mothership

Awhile back I wrote of my struggles installing Debian. It has been my belief for awhile now that Debian is without a doubt the best, most reliable, fastest and lightest Linux distribution. The only real issue I had with it was getting it installed on a computer.

Recently I downloaded an iso image of Debian Wheezy Xfce disk 1, then used Unetbootin to put it on a usb stick, and booted it up on my computer. Everything looked right, so I began the install process which took about an hour. There were no hiccups, everything went well, and with high speed Internet it took about an hour to install it to the hard drive.

Maybe the stars were aligned, perhaps I just got lucky this time installing Debian, but it is my wish that anyone new to Linux could experience the easy install that I did, rather than my earlier experience where nothing seemed to go right. But I also realized that no newcomer to Linux would understand they needed to add flash to view web pages, add an assortment of codecs to play their music, and a few tweaks to polish their new Debian install for use. As unhappy as I am with Ubuntu, their idea of a single restricted-extras package to bring into use all these necessary things would be of much help to Debian newcomers.

I took my new install, and after adding everything I felt I needed, I also added another desktop, my favorite, KDE. I like to have two desktops on an install in case one gets borked, the two I usually choose are Xfce and KDE. Now I have a light, fast, solid, and reliable Debian installation. Since Debian Wheezy is in freeze, and not too many bugs remain, it is a very sound operating system, and getting quite close to becoming the new Debian Stable.

After installing Wheezy, I couldn't help but think to myself that now having everything I could want in an operating system, why would anyone want to add more crap to it,  making it less stable, more likely to break, bloated and slow? Why couldn't an Ubuntu merely take a solid, reliable Debian Stable, perhaps add some newer applications, definitely add their excellent installer, and their easy method of adding drivers, and release a slightly more polished and updated Debian without crapping it up, making it bloated and buggy? It's a mystery to me.

I began my Linux journey with SimplyMepis, a Debian Stable Linux distribution with a fairly easy installer and the excellent KDE desktop. Since then I have tried nearly every Linux distribution under the sun, some I was initially impressed with, only to be let down when an update broke something or a newer release came out and turned out to be much worse than an earlier release. I became slightly enamored with Gnome 2 desktop, only to see it trashed and replaced with what can only kindly be called "crap" Gnome 3. I saw Ubuntu get better on my computers with the 11.10 release only to be unusable on all but one of my computers with the 12.04 release. I saw Mint 12 flounder around trying to find its way after Gnome left it in the lurch, and Ubuntu go through the same withdrawal as it tried to sell its Unity desktop to unwilling buyers. I got excited by Mint Debian only to end up scratching my head trying to figure out which way to run the sources without breaking it. I sang praises to the heavens when SolusOS 1 was released, a Debian Stable that was so freaking good I almost cried, but then the upgrade to 1.2 messed up my netbooks, and then the developer decided to leave Debian in the future to pursue an independent distribution, I hope it works, but we will have to wait and see. Meanwhile I am a Debian guy, I know it works, doesn't break easily, has a bazillion packages, and plenty of developers.

So I'm back to the Mothership, good old reliable, lightweight, tough, doesn't change with the weather, Debian. I have given much consideration and time to other distributions. Some of them are pretty good, but I almost always have concerns or problems with them at some point. Only Debian, my first Linux love, has remained faithful. Not fracked up by goofy ideas, not derailed by dreamy developers void of common sense, not breaking because some money-driven distribution is racing forward on an unrealistic time-table and delivering broken, buggy, unfinished software to the masses.

Thinking back, when looking for a new operating system for my broken desktop computer, if I had chosen just about any other Linux distribution besides Mepis Debian Stable, I would probably not be using Linux today. I would have just bought a new desktop with Windows on it because all the other distributions would have let me down at some point. The fact is, if I had only used Mepis, and had left it on my computer instead of chasing other distros, it still would be running today, because in between my flirtation with other distributions I kept going back to Mepis, kept returning to Debian like a life preserver on a stormy sea. I can't help but think today, except for a massive learning experience, I would have saved myself a hell of a lot of frustrations and disappointments if I had just stayed with Debian to begin with and skipped the other Linux distributions. But we live and we learn.

Maybe some miracle Linux distribution will arrive tomorrow. Perhaps it will tie my shoes and make my coffee each morning, maybe it will be a polished dream that sings me softly to sleep each night, but I suspect the distribution that will still be working after all the others are long gone, the one that will still be running servers and firing up desktop computers during the apocalypse when the zombies are over-running the world, that Linux distribution will be Debian. It may not sing you to sleep, but it won't screw you over with updates that break your computer, it won't leave you high and dry because some nitwit developer wants to add some new shiny, and it won't hound you for money because Debian is free and always will be. Yes, I'm back to the Debian Mothership, and the air up here is clear and fine.
 

Looking At Linux Mint Debian

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Linux Mint Debian (LMDE). Because I am a Debian fan, LMDE instantly appealed to me. There are more facets to LMDE than perhaps any other Linux distribution. With LMDE you can use its excellent, easy installer to install Mint Debian and leave it alone, sticking with the Mint plan of using the Latest sources to follow a semi-rolling release version via update packs. You can change Mint Debian sources to run a regular Debian Sid (Unstable) install making it a true rolling release, or change the sources to straight Testing for an almost rolling release, or if you use a Mint Debian iso released near the time of Debian Stable you can change the sources for a Stable version of Mint Debian.

In truth there is far more that I love than dislike about Mint Debian, my main concern with it revolves around my own philosophy about Debian. Except for when Debian Testing goes into freeze and becomes more and more reliable as it moves closer to the new Debian Stable, I see Debian Testing as perhaps the worst of all Debian worlds. More prone to breakage by updates than the Debian Stable branch, and taking longer for breaks to get fixed than the Debian Unstable branch. Security updates/fixes reach both Stable and Unstable (Sid) quicker than they do Testing. You can get a snapshot of Debian Testing with serious bugs that take 'forever' to get fixed. Because of these issues I prefer a Debian Stable based release above all the Debian versions. Debian Stable is almost unbreakable and is thoroughly honed and polished, debugged and ready for prime time when released.

Mint's answer to the breaks and bugs of Debian Testing is to use update packs called Latest, where you get many updates released together in one package that have been tested by volunteers to reduce the chance of breakage. I think this is generally better than running straight Testing sources, which I have tried several times with bad results, the exception being during the freeze, so I commend Mint for seeking to tame Debian Testing for its users. Yet the downside of this is that the already slow coming updates to Testing get further slowed down by holding them back in update packs. Still, for those relatively new to Linux and wanting to use Debian, this may be the safest, easiest path next to using Debian Stable.

LMDE can be a great schoolyard for learning about Linux, and especially Debian Linux. I've learned a great deal about Linux and Debian by experimenting with LMDE. With the help of good people over on the Mint Forum I have learned how to change sources, tweak configuration files, experiment with Testing, Sid, and Stable Debian. I have changed desktop interfaces, login managers, experienced broken packages, learned how to fix packages, and how to totally screw up a system by getting it into dependency hell.

Recently I took the LMDE spin from back in April 201204 Mate/Cinnamon, ran the more than a gigabyte of of updates with the default Latest repository, and was pleased to see that nothing broke, everything continued to work fine. Debian is after all Debian, hard to break, generally solid as a rock.

I should say I'm not a fan of rolling releases. To me rolling release means: Constantly getting borked software. My closest tolerance for rolling release is the Linux Mint Debian semi-rolling release distribution. I think it was a pretty serious mess back when Gnome 2 switched to Gnome 3, I remember those updates didn't go so well, probably most users had to reinstall, and this is one of the big issues with rolling releases, big changes can break things and screw up your system. To Mint's credit, they do not recommend LMDE to novice users. But I would recommend it to novices who want to learn more about Linux, with the caveat that they install it to an external drive or usb stick, or an old machine they don't mind breaking, then beat the hell out of the operating system learning all they can. That way you will develop an appreciation for how reliable Debian is, and you will see that there are some things you can do to really bork your operating system.

Final Thoughts: I mostly love LMDE though it has sometimes been a PITA. I think that if you do not change the sources from Latest you will have a fairly reliable operating system. Yet you will sometimes wait for ages to get updates. Except for the ease of installing and having the codecs and other nice things like drivers included out of the box, some people might prefer just installing Debian Stable if they don't want to ever have to tweak their system. But if you are willing to just leave LMDE alone and wait patiently for update packs, or if you love to see if you can break things, or merely want to experiment and learn more about Linux and Debian, LMDE is well worth the time and effort. You can install it and have a system ready to go in a half hour or less. There are good people on Mint's forum to help you along. And whether it is the Mate, Cinnamon, or Xfce desktop, you will have a polished, easy to use operating system in LMDE.

The Future of Linux

Lately I have been thinking about the future of Linux. I must admit I feel somewhat pessimistic. I can imagine that five or more years ago things must have looked much brighter for Linux. Yet today we see more focus on devices like smart phones and tablets. Desktop computers are passing away, yet laptop computers are both popular and necessary in many instances. How does Linux fit into this changing world?

I'm not a Linux expert, just an interested Linux enthusiast, someone who uses Linux on all my computers. But even I can see rough waters ahead and some evidence that Linux will have great challenges down the road.

Perhaps the greatest danger to Linux is UEFI Secure Boot. Though Ubuntu, Fedora, and others are working out solutions, it looks like this threat has no easy solution, and even the ideas offered so far call into question the ability to multi-boot an operating system, and whether or not smaller Linux distributions may be left out of the equation. It seems Secure Boot is another obstacle in the way of Linux users, something to slow down its momentum.

In the screenshot at the top of this article is the donation request that is part of the download sequence on the Ubuntu home page. This in itself would not concern me if Ubuntu had not recently foisted Amazon ads into the Unity search lens, in essence invading your desktop with ads when you might simply be looking for a file on your computer. I understand the complaints about this feature has caused Ubuntu to allow it to be removed, but that, and the request for funds during download of Ubuntu makes one wonder about their financial stability.

All this brings me to the point of wondering what happens when companies like Canonical who make Ubuntu realize there is little to no money to be made from Linux. Will those in it for the money stick around? I find that unlikely. Can Linux survive on the donated time and funds of Linux enthusiasts? Will developers continue to donate time and effort toward their hobby?

I worry about the easy to use and install Ubuntu and Mint distributions of the world. I think Fedora will survive as long as Linux remains at all, for Red Hat is making money and Fedora is likely to survive because of it. Debian is needed for servers as well, and through donations and volunteers it will likely live on until Linux gives its final gasp. And there will always be the individuals who want their Linux a certain way and will work to make it so, then share their creation with the wider world. I don't think Linux will completely disappear in the foreseeable future, at the very least servers are likely to need Linux for a long while. My bigger concern is with the desktop computer user, in 3-5 years will they still have updated applications, reasonably bug free, usable desktop interfaces? Will they be able to easily install Linux on their computers?

My gut feeling is that Linux needs to get into bed with hardware makers as fast as they can. Linux pre-installed on computer hardware is a match made in heaven. No searching for drivers, no scratching your head wondering how to get it onto the machine, no worry about Secure Boot blocking the way. If Linux on the desktop will both survive and thrive it needs hardware vendors.

Linux fans will pay for their beloved software, will support its developers, but the reality is that people put up with much from Linux because it is free. The old song you get when you complain about bugs that aren't fixed or software that breaks when you update it will not fly once money leaves the pocket, so if those like Ubuntu want money, they must up their game, the breakage from updates and endless bugs that aren't fixed need to start going away. Make your Linux better, fix it faster, offer real support, and by all means--ask for money.

I'm not a Linux prophet. I will not claim to have a crystal ball showing me the future of Linux. Yet like one crying in the wilderness I will admit to growing concerns. I don't worry about the near future, but I think there must be some changes for down the road. We need hardware fast. We need better, faster bug fixes. We need to throttle updates that hold the potential to break users systems. Let's just focus on security updates on production systems and for those skittish about Linux in the first place, that's what I've been doing with Ubuntu recently. I won't put Ubuntu on anyone's system with full updates enabled, only security updates. It's too much to ask that Linux enthusiasts become the new tech guy/gal for everyone they encourage to use Linux.

The glass half-full guy in me wants to be optimistic about Linux. I love Debian, though it's a pain to install sometimes, I know that once it is installed it's hard to break. I see promising new distros like Ikey Dougherty's SolusOS, like Fuduntu, the little Red Hat fork that could, like Snowlinux bringing Debian to a new audience. I see the Mepis community, very nice and helpful folks. I see guys over at Mint with a passion for Linux. I see KDE fans, and Xfce fans, and fans of little LXDE who get excited about their Linux desktops. Perhaps the thing that keeps Linux alive, and will keep it going into the distant future are those with the enthusiasm to see beyond the quirks, irritations, frustrations, and momentary setbacks that come with this unique operating system.

I think there is hope for the future of Linux despite my concerns and some worrying signs. I still have my glass half-full at this point regarding Linux. What about you? What do you think the future holds for Linux? Please sound off in the comment section below.