Debian GNU/Linux

Debian is a free and open-source operating system based off of the Linux kernel and the GNU Project. The latest stable release is 5.0, nicknamed "Lenny" Debian comes with over 18,730 precompiled packages, all free. Debian can be used in may ways. It can be either an operating system or a server, and the current release can run on eleven different architectures and has over 26,000 packages avaliable for install. Debian can be installed from one CD, and the packages can then be downloaded as the user requires them, or a user can download  a full install CD set that includes all of the packages. The current release has over 20 CDs of packages that can be used on the i386 architecture.

Debian Logo
MSRP $0.00
Release date August, 1993
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Pros & Cons5
Reviews1
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Pros & Cons

ProSCORE
1 review
100
negative
mixed
positive
1 positive
0 mixed
0 negative

[i] How is the ProSCORE calculated?

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Pros:
Do you agree?
•
Rock solid, even unstable/sid
+1agreedisagree

•
Linux OS that has spawned more successful offspring than any other Linux OS
+1agreedisagree

•
Apt/Dpkg are solid package management options
+1agreedisagree

•
Fantastic appserver platform
+1agreedisagree

•
PHP, OpenJDK, GCC, LLVM and more get solid testing support/SQA support
+1agreedisagree

Cons:
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Details

History

Debian was first announced by Ian Murdock in August of 1993. It was the second major attempt at a linux and software package release. The first, created by the Softlanding Linux system, failed to due to poor maintence and a vast amount of bugs. The name Debian is a combination of Ian Murdocks name, and his then girlfriend, later wife and ex-wife, Debra.

Releases    

Version Code name Release date Archs Packages Support Notes
1.1 buzz 17 June 1996 1 474 1996 dpkg, ELF transition, Linux 2.0
1.2 rex 12 December 1996 1 848 1996 -
1.3 bo 5 June 1997 1 974 1997 -
2.0 hamm 24 July 1998 2 ~ 1,500 1998 glibc transition, new architecture: m68k
2.1 slink 9 March 1999 4 ~ 2,250 2000-12 APT, new architectures: alpha, sparc
2.2 potato 15 August 2000 6 ~ 3,900 2003-04 New architectures: arm, powerpc
3.0 woody 19 July 2002 11 ~ 8,500 2006-08 New architectures: hppa, ia64, mips, mipsel, s390
3.1 sarge 6 June 2005 11 ~ 15,400 2008-04 Modular installer, semi-official amd64 support
4.0 etch 8 April 2007 11 ~ 18,000 2010-02 Graphical installer, udev transition, modular X.Org transition, new architecture: amd64, dropped architecture: m68k. Latest update 4.0r7 was released 2009-02-10
5.0 lenny 14 February 2009 12 ~23,000 TBA 32-bit SPARC architecture dropped. New architecture/binary ABI: armel. Almost complete UTF-8 support. Full Eee PC support. First Debian Live CD.
6.0 squeeze TBA TBA TBA TBA

source: wikipedia (link)

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This report was started November 27, 2007 at 10:05 pm by hipotecas
with the last edit occurring May 22, 2009 at 3:14 am by Marc J. Driftmeyer
This page has been viewed 386 times, with 66 edits by 13 contributors.
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Competitors

Debian GNU/Linux is ranked 4th among it's competitors.  See the top picks in Operating Systems »
Ubuntu

Ubuntu

MSRP  $0.00    Released  October, 2008
Pros
  • Regular releases every 6 months
  • Its FREE !
  • 'One-Click' Software install and Removal
Cons
  • Often ignored by hardware vendors when writing drivers.
  • I have problem with openVPN client, it just need a little workaround which is not that easy for regular user
  • Connecting through webdav with MS Windows is more stable than through Ubuntu, eventhough I did it through ubuntu, but not that easy for regular user
ProSCORE
30 reviews
91
Vote! (7 votes)
vote Debian GNU/Linux 29% vs. vote Ubuntu 71%
Apple Mac OS X

Apple Mac OS X

MSRP  $129.00    Released  March, 2001
Pros
  • Good looking
  • Easy to use
  • Stable. Yes, it can crash, but in my experience, it crashes far less often than any version of Windows.
Cons
  • only works on Apple hardware
  • Not as many applications/games available compared to Microsoft Windows
  • Cannot be virtualized
ProSCORE
16 reviews
76
Vote! (3 votes)
vote Debian GNU/Linux 33% vs. vote Apple Mac OS X 67%
Microsoft Windows XP

Microsoft Windows XP

MSRP  --    Released  --
Pros
  • Good driver support - lots of drivers even for oblique and legacy hardware
  • backwards compatible; very good gaming platform
  • Stable
Cons
  • Programs aren't isolated from one another, so one can take down the whole OS
  • File system Fragments
  • Poor security out of the box
ProSCORE
33 reviews
55
Vote! (10 votes)
vote Debian GNU/Linux 50% vs. vote Microsoft Windows XP 50%
Microsoft Windows Vista

Microsoft Windows Vista

MSRP  $199 - $380    Released  January, 2007
Pros
  • Simple instalation from scratch (GUI really helps installation)
  • Much better compatibility with 64-bit hardware
  • Much fewer security vulnerabilities than XP
Cons
  • Performance can be much better
  • Default installation comes with many bloated eye-candy settings enabled that slow your computer down
  • User Access Control is a huge pain
ProSCORE
29 reviews
38
Vote! (4 votes)
vote Debian GNU/Linux 50% vs. vote Microsoft Windows Vista 50%
Gentoo

Gentoo

MSRP  $0.00    Released  --
ProSCORE
0 reviews
N/A
Vote! (2 votes)
vote Debian GNU/Linux 50% vs. vote Gentoo 50%
Slackware: Standard-bearer for Old-school Linux

Slackware: Standard-bearer for Old-school Linux

MSRP  $0.00    Released  --

On the first day the distribution gods created SLS and Yggdrasil and saw that it was good. However, Patrick Volkerding became convinced it could be better, so he created the Slackware distribution in 1993. Slackware is the oldest living Linux distribution. Linux devotees feel a certain nostalgia for Slackware based on that fact alone....

ProSCORE
0 reviews
N/A
Vote! (1 vote)
vote Debian GNU/Linux 100% vs. vote Slackware: Standard-bearer for Old-school Linux 0%
Red Hat

Red Hat

MSRP  $0.00    Released  --
ProSCORE
0 reviews
N/A
Vote! (2 votes)
vote Debian GNU/Linux 100% vs. vote Red Hat 0%

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Reviews

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Marc J. Driftmeyer

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May 22, 2009
approved
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ProSCORE
100
negative
mixed
positive
5 pros
0 cons
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Pros

  • Rock solid, even unstable/sid
  • Linux OS that has spawned more successful offspring than any other Linux OS
  • Apt/Dpkg are solid package management options
  • Fantastic appserver platform
  • PHP, OpenJDK, GCC, LLVM and more get solid testing support/SQA support

Cons

Did not agree with any cons

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GNU, Linux, GNULinux