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There are many reasons to run Debian as a user, why wouldn't there be? I'm sure there's also many reasons not to. By "derivative distro" I assume you mean for e

by hnarn 1y ago

There are many reasons to run Debian as a user, why wouldn't there be? I'm sure there's also many reasons not to. By "derivative distro" I assume you mean for example Ubuntu, or maybe Linux Mint -- personally my love for Debian is that it's _not_ Ubuntu. There's no "firefox installed as snap", it just feels cleaner and snappier while still being very similar to what I'm used to. Debian used to be slightly more difficult to install, but I don't feel that's the case anymore, especially not since they ship non-free firmware on the install media now.

edg5000 1y ago
The only reason I'm on Ubuntu is that Gnome on Ubuntu permanently displays a visible dock. In vanilla Gnome on Debian, there is a dock extension, but it's only visible when the full-screen Applications menu is visible. I don't get how people can work with this. How have you adressed this?
- jacooper 1y ago
  There's a gnome extension that does this, you just have to install it.
- rglullis 1y ago
  > How have you addressed this? In my case, by using XFCE.
Telaneo 1y ago
Most people I've heard from who want 'Ubuntu, but without the 'bs' end up on Mint, since there you get the benefits of Ubuntu, but without all the stuff nobody actually wants, rather than 'not Ubuntu to begin with'. I guess if you like Gnome that doesn't really apply, since that isn't availible easily on Mint, but Gnome is one of the reasons I didn't want Ubuntu.
- BrenBarn 1y ago
  It also doesn't apply if you want KDE.
- hnarn 1y ago
  My experience is that the only concrete "benefit of Ubuntu" is that ZFS ships pre-compiled as a kernel module instead of having to be compiled on upgrade, other than that I am not sure what benefits Ubuntu provide on desktop over Debian. Saying that Debian is "not Ubuntu to begin with" is of course technically true, but the similarities are so large that I have a hard time seeing anyone would have much of an issue switching, Ubuntu is and always has been based on Debian. On servers, my experience is that Ubuntu is, while not "better", far more common, simply because of the fact that they have a more clear and understandable paid support plan, which I guess makes sense. Not that most users bother to pay for it anyway, but at least it's there if you end up with an EOL system you can't decom.

by hnarn 1y ago

edg5000 1y ago

The only reason I'm on Ubuntu is that Gnome on Ubuntu permanently displays a visible dock. In vanilla Gnome on Debian, there is a dock extension, but it's only visible when the full-screen Applications menu is visible. I don't get how people can work with this. How have you adressed this?

jacooper 1y ago
There's a gnome extension that does this, you just have to install it.
rglullis 1y ago
> How have you addressed this? In my case, by using XFCE.

Telaneo 1y ago

Most people I've heard from who want 'Ubuntu, but without the 'bs' end up on Mint, since there you get the benefits of Ubuntu, but without all the stuff nobody actually wants, rather than 'not Ubuntu to begin with'. I guess if you like Gnome that doesn't really apply, since that isn't availible easily on Mint, but Gnome is one of the reasons I didn't want Ubuntu.

BrenBarn 1y ago
It also doesn't apply if you want KDE.
hnarn 1y ago
My experience is that the only concrete "benefit of Ubuntu" is that ZFS ships pre-compiled as a kernel module instead of having to be compiled on upgrade, other than that I am not sure what benefits Ubuntu provide on desktop over Debian. Saying that Debian is "not Ubuntu to begin with" is of course technically true, but the similarities are so large that I have a hard time seeing anyone would have much of an issue switching, Ubuntu is and always has been based on Debian. On servers, my experience is that Ubuntu is, while not "better", far more common, simply because of the fact that they have a more clear and understandable paid support plan, which I guess makes sense. Not that most users bother to pay for it anyway, but at least it's there if you end up with an EOL system you can't decom.