Fwd: Etch

[kristian.hermansen at gmail.com (Kristian Hermansen)]

On 4/8/07, James Kramer <kramerjm at gmail.com> wrote:
> Just out of curiosity, what is the main difference between Ubuntu
> Feisty and Debian Unstable.  I like Ubuntu's interface but I am not
> familiar with the cutting edge Debian.

Well, Ubuntu packages up the most recent releases of software.
Generally, their releases are closely tied to Gnome (every 6 months).
For instance, Gnome version in Feisty is at 2.18, whereas Gnome
version in Debian unstable is 2.14, and Debian experimental is 2.16.
Also, I like that Ubuntu gives its users the choice of easily
installable commercial packages.  For instance, I can install Sun's
Java binaries/sources and have them maintained by APT.   I can do the
same with flash, opera, etc.  Tons of software choices, which makes
things easier.  Not as many packages as Gentoo, obviously, but I
believe makes the most binary packages available than any other Linux
distribution.  Someone correct me if I am wrong here, but I seem to
remember comparing using (dpkg -l / rpm -qa) | wc -l...

Also, Ubuntu provides a very nice server version as well, which is
locked down by default.  Basically, the difference between Ubuntu
Desktop and Ubuntu Server is merely the package ubuntu-desktop.  The
server version does not ship with a GUI by default, unlike RHEL.  This
does not differ from Debian though.  And Ubuntu Server gets security
updates immediately, which is not true of Debian unstable.

And finally, I (and many others) have found Ubuntu to be the best
distro for laptops.  Hardware auto-configuration (like CPU frequency
scaling) really makes it easier for the end user.  And it all fits on
one disc which also serves as a Live CD to boot (pun intended)!

Ian Murdock uses it himself, so that should say something about it :-)
-- 
Kristian Hermansen

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