Debian 11 "Bullseye" Freezes Coming Up, Debian 13 To Be Trixie

[pmorph]

who is using pure Debian and why?

\o
I totally hate being "surprised" by my PC, so the boring debian stable is perfect for me.

[DRanged]

who is using pure Debian and why?

Using Debian testing since 2011 on my notebook and desktop. Apart from loosing the frglx driver, desktop 2x HD7870 in Crossfire years ago changed to Nvidia GTX1070 in 2016 with proprietary driver, no issues whatsever. Besides gaming and some developing/programing Debian testing has been rock solid for me. I don't use GNOME or KDE my DE environment is MATE.

[gcomi1977]

who is using pure Debian and why?

personally i prefer Debian over Ubuntu and over the other distros for the philosophy. I like using a distro owned by a no-profit, I like the Debian policies, I like about how non-free software in handled, I like to think that Debian isn't affected by some potential awful decisions that a company like Canonical, Microsoft etc.. can take. I feel more safe because I think that in a governance like Debian there arn't conflicts of interest like in private companies. I feel that Debian always try to do end users interests. Also from a practical point of view I prefer Debian, because is far more stable and performs far better then ubuntu. I don't like net plan I don't like snaps, I don't like unity, I don't like bloatware. I prefer Debian by far and I am very happy with it because it can do everything and do it better.

[moilami]

who is using pure Debian and why?

Been using mainly Debian since Potato 2.2. Before that used Redhat. Have used all sort of distros, of which some are fun hobby distros, but Debian is the best if you want to get a distro requiring least work while giving the best usability.

[amrs]

who is using pure Debian and why?

I don't know if it's pure but I do run Debian stable on my desktop. Not all software is from Debian packages though. My two little file servers also run Debian.

Simple reason is, it works. I installed Debian on my then only computer, a desktop PC after I complained to a coworker about some problems with RedHat 5 and he suggested Debian. This was in 1999 or thereabouts. Debian was version 2.0 or 2.1, can't remember any more. I ran that for almost a decade until it came time to switch to x86_64. That installation is still going although pretty much all parts of the PC have been replaced. Well, I still have the same keyboard.

So for sure there are other distributions and I've used some over the years. But I've never had a compelling reason to switch from Debian to anything. I actually have Arch on the desktop as well. I use it on occasion to check out the new features in latest KDE. I had the idea I could use Arch to run some other new software too but haven't needed to yet.

[waxhead]

who is using pure Debian and why?

I am , because...

• it's free!
  • Need I say more? everything you need is there
  • It's non free (as in gratis) as well
    • Makes your hardware work until someone develops a free driver for it.
• Debian is the biggest distribution out there
  • Most stuff is well supported on it
  • It's not going away or dropping support easily
  • Debian is a "big market" which means most programs are interested in supporting it.
  • Bugfixes are usually quick
  • Security fixes are handled quick as well.
  • It is well organized
  • It got a great QA system
  • The community is good
• The installer gives you fine grained control
  • Allows you to make the system as simple as you want. Install option for bare essentials, gives you something basic to build on which I prefer.
  • Allows you to make the system as complex as you want. Options for various desktop environments ready to go for those who prefers that.
• It comes in three flavors
  • Stable:
    • Old and rock solid. Great for servers and stuff where you just want things to work. Security updates are fast and simple.
  • Testing:
    • While the name puts people off , you can think of this as rolling. Rock solid (from years of experience), but requires you to keep an eye on updates. If something breaks (easy to see in if you use aptitude) you simply wait a week or two until it don't break anymore. Happens seldom so it is usually a non-issue. Pretty bleeding edge (I am on Kernel 5.9 as of writing this which is bleeding edge enough for me)
  • Unstable:
    • Not as scary as it sounds, but not for the easily spooked though.
• It simply just work!
  • No matter what hardware I throw Debian on it usually works out of the box. In some cases I need to add the non-free repo and install a firmware package for the hardware that does not work , but that is rare these days.
  • I have tried other distributions (Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, and a few others) but they always broke on me somehow. The last five years or so I have used exclusively only Debian and FreeBSD for various stuff.
  • It has a great package system
    • it simply does not "just break" without letting you know.
  • It is a great example of "Given enough eyeballs all bugs are shallow.

...And if you somehow do get in trouble ArchWiki is always there to save the day

[piorunz]

who is using pure Debian and why?

According to old legend, Ubuntu word translates directly to "I don't know how to install Debian" 🤣
It used to be the case, for sure. Nowadays, Debian is easy and super stable, and it has dedicated security and LTS teams to provide patches. No reason to Ubuntu anymore - Debian has matured and has got everything most users may need.