On Wednesday 13 Jul 2005 13:37, Jim Rippon wrote:
Feeling brave (i was under the mistaken impression it would be difficult) I tried Debian on my desktop in about 2002, and haven't looked back since.
:
I am sure many ALUG-ers run debian or one of the numerous debian-based distros such as Ubuntu, Progeny, Mepis, Xandros etc.
In the short time I have been lurking on this mailing list it does seem that Debian is particularly popular - especially amongst the power users out there.
I have been a Windows developer for some time [ ... saloon pianist stops mid-bar. All eyes turn with thinly disguised contempt on the new entrant, who hurriedly tries to rescue the situation by quickly stating .. ] but I have run almost exclusively Linux (Mandrake) at home for a couple of years.
Before my current employment I was on UNIX so in some ways I could quickly get to grips with Linux. However the guys in charge at work have shown little interest in Linux and especially not in OSS development.
I guess power users fall into two groups - administrators and developers (and many that do both of course). Are there particular features of Debian that make it stand out as a Developers' distro or am I making too fine a distinction?
Limited spare time means that I haven't had much experience of many different distros or of many different development tools so I cannot yet call myself a Linux power user :-( However the FOSS ideal appeals to me so in investigating the personal-development path for me to become one I guess it would be good to find the best place to start.
I have just recently installed Debian on a P II 266MHz PC at work that was very nearly sent to the skip. Early days but I am very happy with it so far especially the package management.
The team are unhappy with the current Version Control software - TeamSource bundled with Borland C++ Builder (they had nothing before I arrived!). So I am hoping to trial Subversion and have another go at OSS advocacy ;-) This is possibly a little ambitious on the doddery PC I am using but beggars can't be choosers.
Martin