[LAU] Why Debian necessarily?... WAS... Re: The Many Ways of Pam Limits...

[Simon Wise]

sonofzev at iinet.net.au wrote:
>>> Agreed.
>>>
>>> If you want a Debian-based system, Ubuntu is much more focused on
>>> requirements for a general-purpose desktop.  Not specifically for
>>> musicians of course, but easier to adapt for that purpose.
>> maybe it is more of a trade-off -
> 
> This is the big If?.. Why specifically a Debian based distro?
> 
> Are you looking for the best performing music workstation, a politically correct
> distro, a server or a general purpose desktop? 
> 
> If the answer is music workstation, why does the choice need to be limited to
> Debian? 
> 
> Many would argue (including myself).. that a ground up type of distro, like
> Gentoo, Paludis or Arch are the best way to start. Although Debian if carefully
> installed will fit into this category. 
> 
> I have also found this personally in experience too. I've tried the pre-built
> distros for music Studio64, Apodio and UbuntuStudio and GP desktops Mandriva and
> Ubuntu and found they were 
> 
> a) bloated 
> b) did not contain everything I needed or had old versions of what I needed
> c) trying to add things not in the repos was more than trivial
> d) did not perform as fast as as a ground up distro... 
> e) a nightmare come upgrade if any customisations have been made.. 


I agree completely with what you say here, and was trying to make the 
same point - that a more general system like Gentoo or Debian [I 
carefully mentioned both as examples, a couple of lines down the email 
you quote!] was probably the best place to look, unless you are lucky 
enough to have a preconfigured distribution that happens to meet your 
needs well.

My choice happens to be Debian, probably just because I found it before 
Gentoo - which would certainly do the job as well!

I'm sure you could suggest the easiest ways to get started with Gentoo.

I was suggesting that if you want to install a basic, up-to-date, plain 
Debian system then maybe try Sidux for the installer. In the past 
installing Debian Unstable and keeping it up to date has been a 
challenge, but Sidux has helped a lot. It isn't a separate distribution, 
it is almost pure Debian and has made Sid [= Debian Unstable] much 
easier to install and maintain. For minimum bloat stick with the xfce 
version, but a KDE installer is also there if you prefer. The 
website/manual has become a great resource as well.


Simon