Debian 11 "Bullseye" Released

[reba]

There is nothing kiddie about Ubuntu.
I use and like both distros, but for desktop I much prefer Ubuntu with snaps, ppas, hardware drivers, updated hwe kernels and the availability of newer releases every 6 months (on laptop I don't need LTS, but i usually do stay on LTS releases).
For servers, if it is my own server Debian and Ubuntu are equally fine. If is it cloud or a container image I usually have more options with Ubuntu.

Last but not least, if you are feeling tempted to move to Debian now because it is fresh out, you will be back on Ubuntu's camp quite soon.

Or switch to Debian testing or unstable, which are more like rolling releases without point-releases

[reba]

Good to know, thanks. I'm backing up some data and thinking about doing it soon. My GPT and partition table got all screwy (though everything still works, hanging on a thread), so I'm looking to re-do my RAID partition and start fresh with a Debian-based distro (just can't do arch, unfortunately).

I was wondering, can you tell me some things you've liked over Ubuntu. I've disabled a crap ton of Ubuntu stuff, it's really more Debian now, which is why I was saying it might be a waste of time, but it also might not be either. Only one way to find out...

Depending on where you come from you can install a minimal Debian with just some essential packages and then use apt-get to install only the packages you are interested in.
I made a shell-script which I run after a minimal install, which installs all the programs and packages I am interested in and sets up the whole system for my needs.

For example xanmod kernel:

#!/bin/bash
#
# Installs the xanmod kernel.
# See: https://xanmod.org/
#



echo
echo "--- Install the xanmod kernel ---"
echo

echo "Adding the repository..."
echo "deb http://deb.xanmod.org releases main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xanmod-kernel.list
checkIfError

echo "Installing gnupg to be able to import the signing key..."
apt-get --yes install gnupg
checkIfError

echo "Installing the GPG key..."
wget -qO - "https://dl.xanmod.org/gpg.key" | apt-key --keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/xanmod-kernel.gpg add -
checkIfError

echo "Updating package cache..."
apt-get --yes update
checkIfError

echo "Installing the xanmod kernel..."
apt-get --yes install linux-xanmod
checkIfError
checkIfRebootRequired

"Essential" programs:

#!/bin/bash
#
# Install the packages that make up the system.
#



echo
echo "--- Install desired packages ---"
echo

# Will contain the names of all the packages to install
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL=

# Install GPU firmware: AMD, Intel does not need one, fuck Nvidia
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL="${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
firmware-amd-graphics
"

# Install CPU microcode: AMD, Intel
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL="${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
amd64-microcode
intel-microcode
iucode-tool
"

# Install console must-have packages
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL="${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
lm-sensors
net-tools
"

# Install console optional packages
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL="${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
aptitude
git
htop
hyphen-de
hyphen-en-us
libdvd-pkg
s-tui
syncthing
tree
youtube-dl
zram-tools
zstd
"

# Install plasma desktop and sddm display manager
# add later: plasma-workspace-wayland
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL="${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
plasma-desktop
sddm
"

# Install GUI must-have packages
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL="${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
ark
dolphin
dolphin-plugins
kate
kcalc
konsole
partitionmanager
plasma-nm
plasma-widgets-addons
print-manager
"

# Install GUI main packages
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL="${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
thunderbird
"

# Check if package "firefox" is known, otherwise install "firefox-esr"
echo "Is package 'firefox' available?..."
if [ -z "`apt-cache search '^firefox$'`" ]; then
echo "No, installing package 'firefox-esr'"
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL="${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
firefox-esr
"
else
echo "Yes, installing package 'firefox'"
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL="${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
firefox
"
fi

# Install GUI optional packages
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL="${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
audacious
filelight
gimp
gimp-help-en
gwenview
kolourpaint
libavcodec-extra
libreoffice-calc
libreoffice-draw
libreoffice-impress
libreoffice-writer
libreoffice-help-en-us
mpv
okular
okular-extra-backends
"

# Install Vulkan driver and tools
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL="${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
mesa-vulkan-drivers
vulkan-tools
"

echo "Installing desired packages..."
apt-get --yes install ${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
checkIfError
checkIfRebootRequired

Virtualbox:

#!/bin/bash
#
# Install the packages that make up VirtualBox.
#



echo
echo "--- Install VirtualBox and their Guest Additions and video driver ---"
echo

# Will contain the names of all the packages to install
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL=

echo "Is package 'virtualbox' available?..."
if [ -z "`apt-cache search '^virtualbox$'`" ]; then
echo "No, skipping installation of VirtualBox"
else
echo "Yes, installing VirtualBox et. al."
PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL="${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
virtualbox
virtualbox-guest-x11
xserver-xorg-video-vmware
"
fi

echo "Installing desired packages..."
apt-get --yes install ${PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL}
checkIfError
checkIfRebootRequired

echo "Stopping and disabling vboxweb.service..."
systemctl stop vboxweb.service
# do not check for errors as this service is not always available
systemctl disable vboxweb.service
# do not check for errors as this service is not always available
checkIfRebootRequired

As an inspiration, YMMV

Hm, might as well publish the repo sometime...

[uid313]

GNOME 3.38?
No GNOME 40?

The new Debian 11 seems already outdated.

[mbello]

There is nothing kiddie about Ubuntu.
I use and like both distros, but for desktop I much prefer Ubuntu with snaps, ppas, hardware drivers, updated hwe kernels and the availability of newer releases every 6 months (on laptop I don't need LTS, but i usually do stay on LTS releases).
For servers, if it is my own server Debian and Ubuntu are equally fine. If is it cloud or a container image I usually have more options with Ubuntu.

Last but not least, if you are feeling tempted to move to Debian now because it is fresh out, you will be back on Ubuntu's camp quite soon.

[perpetually high]

Don't have time to go into details, and you did not ask me, but lets just say Debian is pro and Ubuntu is kiddie.

Fair, thanks for the response. Way less overhead without all the things that Ubuntu adds on top. I think I'm gonna do it soon.

[p4r4d0x]

I like Debian and I run it and Devuan on some computers, but I've never understood why the freeze packages that are clearly in active development and clearly broken.
For example, why freeze PipeWire at 3.19 (which doesn't really work that well), when they could bump the version on something that isn't default anyways and get bugs ironed out for the next release?
Freezing based on date and not actual bugs seems kinda weird to me.

[moilami]

Good to know, thanks. I'm backing up some data and thinking about doing it soon. My GPT and partition table got all screwy (though everything still works, hanging on a thread), so I'm looking to re-do my RAID partition and start fresh with a Debian-based distro (just can't do arch, unfortunately).

I was wondering, can you tell me some things you've liked over Ubuntu. I've disabled a crap ton of Ubuntu stuff, it's really more Debian now, which is why I was saying it might be a waste of time, but it also might not be either. Only one way to find out...

Don't have time to go into details, and you did not ask me, but lets just say Debian is pro and Ubuntu is kiddie.

[perpetually high]

I switched from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS to Debian Testing earlier this year. Have been a happy camper ever since! No looking back!

Good to know, thanks. I'm backing up some data and thinking about doing it soon. My GPT and partition table got all screwy (though everything still works, hanging on a thread), so I'm looking to re-do my RAID partition and start fresh with a Debian-based distro (just can't do arch, unfortunately).

I was wondering, can you tell me some things you've liked over Ubuntu. I've disabled a crap ton of Ubuntu stuff, it's really more Debian now, which is why I was saying it might be a waste of time, but it also might not be either. Only one way to find out...

[moilami]

Are there any stats for who the people and companies behind Debian are? E.g. similar to the git stats sometimes shown for the Linux kernel.

Maybe an idea for an upcoming Phoronix article?

No. Debian is an universal conspiracy.

[Veto]

Are there any stats for who the people and companies behind Debian are? E.g. similar to the git stats sometimes shown for the Linux kernel.

Maybe an idea for an upcoming Phoronix article?