
Happy 20th birthday Debian - fcambus
http://bits.debian.org/2013/08/20-birthday-debian.html
======
kunai
I recently switched from Ubuntu to Debian, and I keep wondering to myself why
I didn't switch much sooner.

The lack of any integration with a specific desktop environment, and having
pure GNU and Linux underneath a pure DE is something that is really quite
satisfying. It gives you modularity and customizability without having
anything break or feel out of place; something that often happened to me while
switching DEs in Ubuntu.

It really has been the benchmark for all free software so far. And the Toy-
Story themed releases are a nice touch.

Happy birthday, Debian.

~~~
BadassFractal
Is it possible to run Steam on Debian? It's supported on Ubuntu, and I'm
wondering if that extends to debian as well.

~~~
gizmo686
I haven't tried it, but probably. Ubuntu is essentially Debian, especially at
a low level. Also, the Steam license explicitly allows for third parties to
repackage it to work on other platforms. In the event that their is an actual
incompatibility, you can always have two versions of whatever dependency
installed on the system.

------
aspensmonster
Happy birthday to my first permanent GNU/Linux distribution, from Etch all the
way to Jessie. It's --you've, we've-- come a long way. I hope to see the
community remain as strong as ever. The Debian forums were always my weapon of
last resort when Google didn't have the answer to my problem, and not once was
I let down. And best of luck to the new DPL!

~~~
toyg
My first release was Potato. I still remember downloading so many (3? 6?)
CDs...

God, I feel old.

I don't use Debian much these days, certainly not as a desktop, but it will
forever be the "real" Linux distribution in my heart. Without the ongoing work
of umpteen Debian package managers, you wouldn't have Ubuntu (and all its
humongous downstream), Knoppix, and so on.

~~~
leoedin
I spent about a week downloading perhaps 7 CDs for Woody (I guess it would
have been 2002). I'm fairly sure I never actually installed packages from most
of the CDs.

~~~
toyg
IIRC most of the x86 packages were on disc 1 and 3. I don't think I've ever
touched the rest.

~~~
mortehu
People can elect to install a package called "popularity-contest", which
reports what packages you've installed to a central server. At release, the
most popular packages are put on the first discs.

Each set of discs is for one architecture only.

------
m_ram
Today is also day 6 of DebConf13 [1]. They're live streaming many of the
talks. Downloadable videos, slides, and the talk schedule are also linked to
from that page.

[1] [http://debconf13.debconf.org](http://debconf13.debconf.org)

------
fingerprinter
Very glad to see Debian hit 20! Pretty awesome.

Though, I have to admit, I downloaded Wheezy and gave it a go. Holy cow, I'm
soooooo glad Ubuntu exists. It's amazing all the small touches that Ubuntu
does to make Debian unbelievably usable.

That being said, Ubuntu wouldn't exist without Debian. Way to go, Debian!

~~~
sigzero
Ubuntu desktop and Debian servers. Life is good.

~~~
fingerprinter
What do you like about Debian servers of Ubuntu server? I have always used
Ubuntu for all my servers and never bothered looking at debian for that.

The big reason I chose Ubuntu and just ran with it is support and security
updates. Ubuntu LTS, I believe still, is supported for much longer than Debian
is.

~~~
drone
LTS was a big deal for me switching over to Ubuntu for servers. We had
compliance issues (all software must be vendor supported) with Debian, and not
having to replace the entire OS on otherwise perfectly functional servers just
because a new release came out six months ago.

------
ctb_mg
Just recently switched to Debian for a server distro. Early in my linux
learning, I had been messing around with Gentoo, Fedora, and even Ubuntu. It's
taken me so long to understand what Debian is and how important good package
management is, but now I'm grateful. Thanks Debian!

~~~
facorreia
Please share what you found out. What characteristics of Debian make it a
better server OS than Ubuntu or CentOS?

~~~
vacri
Ubuntu's stated focus from the outset is making an enduser distro. Their
success in mindshare made them popular in the server arena, but there are
little things here and there where it falls behind. Making a server not based
on an LTS version is one early trap to fall into (all debian versions are
effectively LTS), but more importantly, debian is not fond of retrograde
breakages. Ubuntu is much more of a moving target than debian - when you want
to find out how to do something, it often changes between releases (one mildly
common desktop task (which I can't recall at the moment :/ ) had five
different ways to do it over the past five releases...). There's more unique
stuff in ubuntu - like upstart, a core feature which no-one else uses - and
that reduces your troubleshooting info pool. Ubuntu also has lots of
automagic-helpery stuff, which is good for an end-user distro, but gets in the
way a little on a server. One example is the 'did you mean?' thing when you
make a shell typo. That consumes time and is pointless on a server.

I'm not particularly familiar with CentOS. I've been an apt user since
rediscovering linux, and every time I venture onto an rpm-based system, yum
just spews hard-to-read crap at me. It feels like rearranging deck chairs, so
I head back to what I know.

~~~
facorreia
Thanks for sharing. I stick to the LTS versions but I hear you on Ubuntu being
a moving target. I'll try my hand with Debian.

------
leoedin
Debian was my first linux distribution. It took me perhaps a week to download
the 7 CDs for Woody (I don't think many of them ever actually got used). I was
only 12 and really didn't have a clue what I was doing. My main memories are
probably more of frustration than enlightenment... However, as the basis of
Knoppix (the first linux distribution that I had much success with) it was a
huge pillar in my (and no doubt many others') Linux education. The work put in
by the maintainers has had a fantastic knock on effect and provides the basis
for so much of the internet infrastructure. It's a brilliant project!

~~~
cenhyperion
I started hacking around in linux at 12 too!

~~~
gedrap
Same here. Although I can't call it hacking. I lived in the middle of nowhere
(tech wise, 30k people town in Lithuania) and somehow I found a book (probably
the only one about Linux in my native language at that time) about Mandriva
with a CD attached to it. Have no idea what that book was doing there in the
local book store. Usually it were a dozen of random IT books and they had 1-2
copies of each. After a couple of tries, I installed it. Didn't have any clue
what I was doing (I just heard that Linux was a cool thing) but that's how
it's started... :)

~~~
cenhyperion
I set up a web server with a friend. We had no idea what we were doing and it
was wonderful.

------
dewarrn1
Happy birthday, indeed! I love the independent spirit of the Debian project,
including such extraordinary measures as wrapping their userland around the
FreeBSD kernel in addition to Linux[0]. Recently, I've enjoyed using
Crunchbang[1], a slick, simple desktop built on top of Debian. To the next 20
years!

[0] [http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-
gnu/](http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/) [1]
[http://crunchbang.org/](http://crunchbang.org/)

------
agumonkey
Kudos. So large, so reliable and for so long. Rare feat.

------
agumonkey
A little reminder of debian (amongst the big three) legacy
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Gldt1009...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Gldt1009.svg)

------
arc_of_descent
I started using Debian around a year back. Been a Linux user for all my
professional life. Started with Red Hat, then Fedora, then ArchLinux. I was
always aware of Debian but I got the idea that the installation process was a
bit tricky (this was way back).

I finally installed Squeeze and the installation process was painless. The
dist-upgrade to Wheezy too was easy. And now I'm really glad to see they have
a 1 CD download containing only Xfce, which is my display manager of choice.

Happy Birthday to the Debian project!

------
buster
Happy Birthday, Debian! Operating System of my choice on my desktop and
server-side. To another 20 succesful years! :)

------
jlgaddis
My first experience with Linux came after downloading Slackware's "A" and "N"
sets and writing the images to 5.25" floppy disks. Somehow, this complete
"n00b" managed to get Linux installed and get the machine connected to the
Internet via dial-up (which was quite a chore back then).

A few weeks later, a handful of people I chatted with on IRC encouraged me to
get rid of Slackware and install Debian, so I did. It was a huge learning
curve and certainly not the best choice of distribution for a new user but I'm
glad I stuck with it. I was forced how to do everything from a command prompt
and reading TFM wasn't an option at the time, it was a requirement.

In the 17 years since, I have never regretted my decision. There was a short
period where the internal politics became overwhelming and I almost switched,
but I told myself to hold off. I am glad I did.

I'm a big fan of OS X and I've flirted with other distributions over the years
but I always come back to Debian for my personal machines. In a large
environment I actually prefer another distribution but Debian will always be
my true love.

I extend thanks to anyone who has been involved in the project over the years
and helped move it forward. I owe all of you a beer.

------
helloNSA_
Debian is the center of my linux universe. Happy Birthday and THANKS! to all
who contribute to what is the best representation of what computing freedom
should be.

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INTPenis
We had cake at the office today in honor of Debians 20th birthday. Of course I
had to keep reminding everyone why and what Debian was but it was still nice.
:)

------
dman
Use it on all my home machines since 2004. Provides very pragmatic engineering
- by the time changes hit you the noise has been filtered out.

------
ausjke
Happy Birthday Debian!!! You have been an essential part of my life since 10
years ago. Thank you so much.

------
cothomps
Next year we'll take Debian out and get it shitfaced.

------
acd
Happy birthday and big thanks to all Debian developers!

------
Arubis
Happy birthday, old steady. I haven't always been faithful, but always end up
coming back to Debian--it was the first distro I could stand to use (after
attempting floppy-based Slack, net-install FreeBSD before I knew how to
netinstall over a dialup connection, a brief experience in learning how awful
RPMs were, and then the absolutely fantastic magic that was and still is Apt),
and it's the only one I can ever stand to use for more than a few months.

------
pboris
Even I'm Gentoo fan, I have been used Debian for a long time and it was pure
satisfaction. Great Linux distro and I hope it will last forever. Happy B-day
debian :)

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davexunit
Happy birthday to the best OS out there!

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stox
OMG! Has it been 20 years already? Time flies when you're having fun!

------
spenrose
Thank you, Debian. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so very much!

------
mumbi
Happy Birthday Debian! Best servers I've ever had.

