The Problems Debian Is Facing In 2020

[neuralgya]

I've been using Debian sid (unstable) in my desktops for years. Yes, sometimes some things get broken, but that's not usual. For me it's a small price for having a up-to-date distro. And having some skills with apt usually solves the issue.

Debian with KDE it's not ugly at all. GNOME is ugly.

But the main reason for me is having a universal OS for all.

- Desktop -> Debian sid+Liquorix Kernel+Deb multimedia packages.
- Server : Debian stables
- Rapberry Pi: Raspbian
- Old servers with IA64 architecture, Debian old old stable.

Added to this:

- You can repackage debs easily download the sources. (can change compilations flags and repackage)
- It's quite easy to make custom backports (Download sources from sid and repackage for buster)

[skeevy420]

Debian Stable isn't intended for that use case. However, you can easily run Debian Testing. It's basically like Arch, but with six times the packages.

No, no it isn't. They don't even compare.

[Paul Frederick]

Debian Stable isn't intended for that use case. However, you can easily run Debian Testing. It's basically like Arch, but with six times the packages.

They could even run stable with a newer kernel. But you'd have to know what you're doing to pull that off. That's the problem with Debian, you have to know what you're doing in order to use it successfully. Debian is not inclusive enough with ignorant people. That's a giant segment of users we're missing out on too. That's not a problem just Debian faces either. There's a lot of this you have to know what you're doing thing surrounding Linux in general. It's holding us back!

[skeevy420]

They could even run stable with a newer kernel. But you'd have to know what you're doing to pull that off. That's the problem with Debian, you have to know what you're doing in order to use it successfully. Debian is not inclusive enough with ignorant people. That's a giant segment of users we're missing out on too. That's not a problem just Debian faces either. There's a lot of this you have to know what you're doing thing surrounding Linux in general. It's holding us back!

I never found I had that problem with Debian. Their documentation was good enough and the Arch Wiki was a good supplement so figuring out how to do A or B was no harder than figuring it out on any other OS. My problem with Debian, and this is coming from someone who used Debian for the first 8 years of my 19 on Linux, is that I could either pick Stable and have an outdated desktop that doesn't run games or pick Testing and have a somewhat stable desktop that's somewhat close to being up to date...but will then be out of date as soon as Debian gets close to a new release where I'd then be flooded with a bunch of updates and stability tanking until usually a reinstall.

Based on comments, the problems I had with Debian then are the same problems most seem to have with them now.

[Paul Frederick]

"Debian isn't pretty enough".

How pretty can a black terminal with white text get?

.

A black terminal with white text can get very pretty. It really is all in what font you select to use. Right now I am using urxvt -rv -fn "xft: Hack:style=Regular" and it is looking good to me. fixed turns me right off though. The fixed font takes me right out of the mood. A fixed font in a terminal is just like a cold shower. I mean what bundling board using puritan thought using fixed as the default was a bright idea? There's just no amore there at all!

[schmidtbag]

There's a lot wrong with the presentation....

• Debian doesn't need to be flashier. Debian is the go-to distro for Ubuntu users who don't want all the flashiness and bloat. In a user perspective, it's easier to make something pretty than it is to simplify.
• Debian gets sufficient marketing, the problem is the attention they get is usually negative. This is usually because of misguided leadership...
• Most of the problems I encounter is because of an arbitrary definition of stability. The stable branch is basically just old, and although it is unlikely to fail, it doesn't offer everything people are looking for. So, you could jump to testing, but even that has relatively outdated packages, and is very unstable. Arch offers newer packages with (to my understanding) fewer paid developers, and I encounter far fewer problems due to updates.
• "Lesten" isn't a word
• There is no timely manner for a message about BLM, or any political movement. I don't care whose side you're on - if it doesn't have anything to do with the development of the distro, keep politics separate.
• How do you lack diversity when you're an international organization?

[reavertm]

Debian is meta-distro nowadays. Like Gentoo, except it's outdated.

[skeevy420]

There's a lot wrong with the presentation....

• How do you lack diversity when you're an international organization?

Don't know why, but that reminds me of the Vogue Magazine England division's diversity crap they went though. They did a group photo and there were like 8 or 9 white ladies and 2 or 3 black ladies. They got hounded for not being "diverse" enough when, at least statistically, they were more diverse than the country of England they were supposed to represent.

[Mario Junior]

That's why I only use distros with corporations behind, like OpenSUSE, Fedora or distros without these re*ardism like Gentoo.

[skeevy420]

That's why I only use distros with corporations behind, like OpenSUSE, Fedora or distros without these re*ardism like Gentoo.

Is the word "relardism"? And is that where we bring back trans fats? Because I miss good tasting french fries