4 ms·

> If you see ANYTHING wrong with Debian, go fix it, or shut up and go to sell your stuff to another one. Ok, so Debian is a developers-only distribution? > Fe

> If you see ANYTHING wrong with Debian, go fix it, or shut up and go to sell your stuff to another one. Ok, so Debian is a developers-only distribution? > Feel free to downvote without reasoning why. I didn't bother, but "Please don't bait other users by inviting them to downvote you or announce that you expect to get downvoted." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

mwcampbell 11y ago
> Ok, so Debian is a developers-only distribution? For all practical purposes, I'd say yes. GNU/Linux as a PC operating system for non-programmers is a lost cause. Sure, some organizations make it work, but it probably requires a lot of technical support; they'd probably be better off using Android tablets and/or Chromebooks if they need something less expensive than a Windows PC, let alone a Mac. And when non-programmers need web hosting, they don't reach for a DigitalOcean droplet; they use a shared host that offers an abstraction over the LAMP stack like cPanel, or an even more non-developer-friendly service like Squarespace.
- ableal 11y ago
  > GNU/Linux as a PC operating system for non-programmers is a lost cause. Engineering workstations. Lots of them.
  - auxym 11y ago
    In the 90s maybe? Even CATIA doesn't officially support UNIX anymore.
cbd1984 11y ago
> Ok, so Debian is a developers-only distribution? This might not be a bad characterization of where it sits now. If you want a hand-holding "user-friendly" (and I use the term advisedly, based on the common, flawed conception of what a "user" is), create one based on Debian, leveraging the Debian tools and packages and processes to make an Ubuntu or Mint or something else. Debian isn't a meta-distribution. It is a distribution in its own right. However, it is commonly used as the foundation for a different distribution, with different goals and different ways of relating to the world. Debian itself remains unchanged, ready to base another distribution off of, and another, and another...
- yebyen 11y ago
  For a plug of my friend Thanatermesis' great Debian-based distribution, which recognizes the distro and free-software ethos is not always fully conducive to a positive user experience at the forefront... http://www.elivecd.org/ http://www.elivecd.org/ - The latest release is always based on Debian Stable and is currently under active development. The whole system is changed in (mostly subtle) ways to make it more attractive to a new Linux user. This is Debian, with some additions. I push this to any friends who say they are interested in Linux, but maybe just want to try it first. I would not recommend Ubuntu to a new user (unless they were my employee, we use it at work) or Mint for that matter. I would not recommend Debian in spite of using it myself at home, because I don't always want to be the Debian support guy, or have to be the one to say RTFM. Elive tries to be as self-explanatory as possible, even in its somewhat Tarzanic way.
  - chei0aiV 11y ago
    Hmm, the website says "Elive is not made for newbies".
    - yebyen 11y ago
      The website says a lot of things, he's probably right, but as a newbie IMHO your first task is to compile enlightenment, and in elive that's already done for you...
txutxu 11y ago
> Ok, so Debian is a developers-only distribution? Well, as an user of a openly licensed system, you are free to use the source. As well as, you're free to don't use it :) But regarding voluntary work, it's useless and ugly to harm and bash it, without helping the cause. Didn't know that guidelines, thanks, and sorry.
chei0aiV 11y ago
> Ok, so Debian is a developers-only distribution? Absolutely not. You can use Debian and help improve Debian without being a developer and even without being very technical. https://www.debian.org/intro/help https://www.debian.org/intro/help

mwcampbell 11y ago

> Ok, so Debian is a developers-only distribution? For all practical purposes, I'd say yes. GNU/Linux as a PC operating system for non-programmers is a lost cause. Sure, some organizations make it work, but it probably requires a lot of technical support; they'd probably be better off using Android tablets and/or Chromebooks if they need something less expensive than a Windows PC, let alone a Mac. And when non-programmers need web hosting, they don't reach for a DigitalOcean droplet; they use a shared host that offers an abstraction over the LAMP stack like cPanel, or an even more non-developer-friendly service like Squarespace.

ableal 11y ago
> GNU/Linux as a PC operating system for non-programmers is a lost cause. Engineering workstations. Lots of them.
- auxym 11y ago
  In the 90s maybe? Even CATIA doesn't officially support UNIX anymore.

cbd1984 11y ago

> Ok, so Debian is a developers-only distribution? This might not be a bad characterization of where it sits now. If you want a hand-holding "user-friendly" (and I use the term advisedly, based on the common, flawed conception of what a "user" is), create one based on Debian, leveraging the Debian tools and packages and processes to make an Ubuntu or Mint or something else. Debian isn't a meta-distribution. It is a distribution in its own right. However, it is commonly used as the foundation for a different distribution, with different goals and different ways of relating to the world. Debian itself remains unchanged, ready to base another distribution off of, and another, and another...

yebyen 11y ago
For a plug of my friend Thanatermesis' great Debian-based distribution, which recognizes the distro and free-software ethos is not always fully conducive to a positive user experience at the forefront... http://www.elivecd.org/ http://www.elivecd.org/ - The latest release is always based on Debian Stable and is currently under active development. The whole system is changed in (mostly subtle) ways to make it more attractive to a new Linux user. This is Debian, with some additions. I push this to any friends who say they are interested in Linux, but maybe just want to try it first. I would not recommend Ubuntu to a new user (unless they were my employee, we use it at work) or Mint for that matter. I would not recommend Debian in spite of using it myself at home, because I don't always want to be the Debian support guy, or have to be the one to say RTFM. Elive tries to be as self-explanatory as possible, even in its somewhat Tarzanic way.
- chei0aiV 11y ago
  Hmm, the website says "Elive is not made for newbies".
  - yebyen 11y ago
    The website says a lot of things, he's probably right, but as a newbie IMHO your first task is to compile enlightenment, and in elive that's already done for you...

txutxu 11y ago

> Ok, so Debian is a developers-only distribution? Well, as an user of a openly licensed system, you are free to use the source. As well as, you're free to don't use it :) But regarding voluntary work, it's useless and ugly to harm and bash it, without helping the cause. Didn't know that guidelines, thanks, and sorry.

chei0aiV 11y ago

> Ok, so Debian is a developers-only distribution? Absolutely not. You can use Debian and help improve Debian without being a developer and even without being very technical. https://www.debian.org/intro/help https://www.debian.org/intro/help