January 29, 2007 at 10:27:45

The Linux Project part V

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By Robert Raitz (about the author) Page 1 of 2 page(s)

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The Linux Project part V:
Test four: Debian, the little system that couldn't.

Debian logo

What can I say about what I feel to be the most overly hyped Linux distribution I have worked with to date? Well, we can start at the very beginning, as in trying to get it to install. In the grand scheme of Linux distributions that I have installed on the test system, Debian is the worst of the lot as far as set up and install. It fails in other areas as well, which I promise I will get to soon.

Debian was actually the second distribution I installed on the test system just before I had the idea for doing The Linux Project. Frankly, Debian almost completely soured me on the idea of running Linux at all. However, maybe as a result of Debian, I decided to start work on The Linux Project. As much to give a warning to those who might want to try as to get the chance to stomp all over Debian in writing, and have an excuse to do so.

Even now, as I type this on my main machine, I am burning the third, as in first, second, third Debian net installation disk from the ISO file. For some reason, and I am just unsure as to why, Debian setup CD's have a really short life once they find their way into a CD ROM drive. Both previous disks failed miserably this last time to set up the system. Considering this is the official setup for the Debian test under The Linux Project, I'd say that Debian is starting off on the wrong foot. Mind you, they will get a hell of a hot foot from me if this newly minted (as in just popped out of the drive) disk fails to load and run. I may have some measure of patience, but I am not writing this review for myself as much as I am for the individual who knows nothing, or next to nothing, about what to expect from a Linux distribution.

If this install fails, I will rate Debian as it operated the last time on the test machine. Mind you, it won't be pretty. I am a fair man, and I am willing to accept much, but when it comes to temperamental computer operating systems, I have a short fuse and little willingness to deal with dumb shit.

Wish me luck, I am about to end this portion and see if the new disk will get a long better. If so, I will rate Debian from that point. If not, I will rate it as I recall its operation on the test system right before I began The Linux Project. If I have to go that route, you can rest assured I will rake Debian over the coals. Even if all goes well this time, I wouldn't count on me being kind to what is, for some reason, the root of many different distributions.

Luck was of no use. I had to reconfigure the test system to get the Debian setup disk to operate. For some reason, the burner that created the CD couldn't read it. However, the DVD ROM that used to be in this machine read the disk just fine. So, for the purposes of this test, and most likely for the remainder of The Linux Project, I am going to keep the DVD ROM drive in the test machine. That's no real problem, since Linux comes with DVD programs, well, Slackware does anyway.

I digress...

Back to Debian. As of now, it gets two stars for installation. Now, although by all rights I should gig it for forcing me to reconfigure the test system, bad drives aren't the fault of the software package. Since the test system is a bit of a throw together, a few hardware bugs are to be expected. Frustrating as they may be, it would be unfair of me to slap Debian down for such things. Besides that, as far as I can see, Debian doesn't need help in sucking. It sucks fairly well on its own.

I give it two stars because of the manner in which you have to install it. The stock Debian distribution is ten CD's. That's a lot of ISO files to download. When in reality, you probably only need two, who wants to gamble on that? The only options are to purchase the full package of disks from Debian directly, or to use the net setup option.

The first option means paying money. One of my unwritten rules of The Linux Project is the distributions must be free. Just by making that a rule, I have excluded some possibly good systems, such as Red Hat. However, what's the point of spending money for buggy systems when you can spend money and get good functional stuff from Microsoft? Even if I did have the money to pay for the disks, I'd still have to wait three or more weeks. I don't want to do that!

The other option, which is the one I am taking even now, is the net install. When I say net install, I mean that you begin by installing a small functional core on your system, make sure you have full exclusive access and use of your DSL line, and lots of time. The net install option is definitely a "smoke 'em if you got 'em" proposition. Once the small functional core is installed, you reboot your system and tell it which packages you want to install, and let 'er rip! For fun, you can smoke 'em if you got 'em, listen to the radio, or, if you happen to have another system sitting around, like me, you write the review as the lights flash on the network hub. There is a timer that tells you how long it will take to download all the packages you selected. When I let 'er rip, it told me it would take about twenty-eight minutes. That was about twenty minutes ago or so.

The timer only times how long it will take for the packages to get to your computer. Once there, they have to be unpacked (decompressed), installed (placed in their proper directories), and configured (made functional). If you assume that means it's going to take a little longer than what the timer tells you, by golly, you are right as rain. This is the third time I have traveled this path with Debian. I know of what I speak. All told, including the lockup that occurs halfway through the configuration of X-Windows (it happened twice already, I'm sure it will happen again), it will probably take two hours more or less to get to a place where you have something resembling an operating system, such as it is considering it's Debian.

So, I give Debian low marks on installation because they don't make it easy. They offer a ten-disk package for purchase, which puts it beyond the scope of The Linux Project. The offer ten ISO's and all the time required burning them, which is, once again, a no-go situation. Or they offer the net install, which is a time consuming operation. Slackware only has three disks. Solaris, the open source option from Sun Microsystems has five. Debian just has to be all things to all people with ten. I doubt all those would be needed, and if I tried to install them all, I'm sure the hard drive would run out of room. Debian is just not a friendly installation, no matter how you look at it.

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