[Sorry about continuing this OT thread]

I was considering Debian, but it appeared to me that several packages
were a bit outdated.  It also seemed like they aren't up to the 2.4
kernel yet (which I need).  When I read a little more, I found a lot of
discussion about the quality of Debian  starting to suffer and
complaints about them not being able to keep up with the latest
packages.

Are these valid issues?

- Stephen

> -----Original Message-----
> From: squeak-dev-admin at lists.squeakfoundation.org 
> [mailto:squeak-dev-admin at lists.squeakfoundation.org] On 
> Behalf Of Simon Michael
> Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 11:19 AM
> To: squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org
> Subject: [OT] Re: Linux woes (was Re: Learning Squeak)
> 
> 
> Tim,
> 
> I'd like to help. Here's a bit of debian advocacy in case 
> you're interested. No slur intended on other distros, but I 
> consider many of these linux configuration woes a Solved Problem.
> 
> The installation and general out-of-box-experience will not 
> necessarily be as "pleasant" as other distros at this time. 
> If you chose to explore this I would be willing to assist you 
> over any hurdles to 1. get a basic setup running, and 2. work 
> through the quirks of getting your hardware fully supported 
> (may require building a custom kernel or two, etc.).
> 
> Why do this ? With debian the hardest part is up front - then 
> it just keeps getting better. They have solved the software 
> updating problem, and because of their organization can scale 
> like noone else. An army of accountable package maintainers 
> attends to each nook and cranny of the system. The result is 
> a consistent high level of attention to detail, and a sense 
> of intelligence at work in the default configurations.
> 
> More unsubstantiated claims: it's no bed of roses, but IMHO 
> it sucks a lot less than the alternatives and will continue 
> to do so. People switch TO debian but not FROM it.
> 
> Ok, end of advocacy, and yes maybe I've laid it on a bit too 
> strong. Dilute to taste. :) Best regards,
> 
> -Simon
>