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APT vs RPM


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OK, this is meant to be serious rather than a slagging match.

I'm seriously thinking of trying a debian disto (which one?)

 

Its a big step for me because I'm kinda busy at the moment and don't have as much time as I used to.

 

Ive only ever used RH based distros and so I'll need to invest considerable time over relearning some stuff.

 

I though APT packaging was more rigid than RPM's in terms of dependencies. Is this true or not?

I want something I don't need a constant Internet connection to install something and the most frustrating part with the RPM's is the dependency tree, especially in MMedia stuff. If I download a set of rpm's at work, stick em on CD to go back to hotel then find dependencies I can get pissed. Then I come in, find the packages, burn em on CD and then get home to find that they to have dependencies.

 

So, informed opinion (by which I mean if you havn't tried a debian distro then say so pls)

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http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php?t=5054

Libranet is the most user friendly debian based distro that I'm aware of....but it ain't cheap. The 2 main devels that run it really care about a quality/ bugfree env (within reason). It's just been released, lagging behind all the big boys but guess what?...the big boys all had updates galore....Libranet-2.8....only had 1 (libgtop).

 

You can't compare apt to rpm. The correct comparison is

apt to urpmi (your dep resolver/internet)

dpkg to rpm (your command line/hd installer)

 

I though APT packaging was more rigid than RPM's in terms of dependencies. Is this true or not?
I haven't noticed a diff. The prob with deps is going to exist and pretty much be the same regardless of the distro you use. The question is.....how to best resolve the deps. Apt and urpmi are the best, and I think apt is better. Not a lot, but it is. It's older, more glitch free. The entire debian system revolves around apt instead of urpmi revolving around mandrake. I think that's the diff in a nutshell.

 

Synaptic is available for debian (distros), mandrake, and red hat. Give it a try. If you don't have much time and don't really want to learn the ins and outs of another distro, just get apt and synaptic for mandrake. I've tried LFS-4, Slackware-9.0, ML-8.1 through 9.1, and now Libranet-2.8.... and I shouldn't say this, but I haven't booted to ML since intalling Libranet....I love it. [bvc ducks and runs] :P Oh...and RH9 is tonight :wink:

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I don't mean to hijack the thread, but how do you install sources in apt. Per the above from bvc's and anon's suggestions, I installed apt on Md9.1 with urpmi and tried to install synaptic with:

 

# apt-get install synaptic

 

Got an error message re no sources.

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Apt works great on Mandrake 9.1. I use it more than urpmi

 

Ditto for me too :) , and another 'upside' is you don't have to set up the devices, or change fstab settings to mount a windows partition or network shares, recompile a kernel for nvidia drivers, all the little cli things that just generally p**s me off.

 

Not to take away from the debian based distro's, xandros is awsome if you have the power to drive the generally slower kde2, as userfreindly as mandrake out of the box with a few added goodies, ie: codeweavers, win4lin (30 day trial), xandros file manager is second to none.

 

Libranet is another good choice, made somewhat easier to install and with it's own 'xadminmenu', which is a Libranet developed tool to tweak. Not unlike the mandrake control panel with a few less options.

 

Raw debian, to me is just a pita to install and set up, if you have a plastic pocket liner in your shirt pocket with a couple of H-4 pencils, then this could be the distro for you.

 

Their are a few other flavours that fall somewhere in between. That's what I like so much about linux in general, their's something for everyone, and they all aren't for everyone. It make's life as a 'distro_ho' more fun. :lol:

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If you're short on time and want to try debian, try knoppix. http://www.knoppix.org and the forums at http://www.knoppix.net

 

It runs live from CD and you can do a harddrive install by executing knx-hdinstall

 

You can a have a fully running and configured debin OS on your harddrive in less than 20 minutes.

 

And I love apt-get.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Talked to someone today about Danix, which is a spinoff of Knoppix... He said Knoppix now includes Java, and as such, can not be distributed to other people - they need to download it and burn it themselves or something. Stupid, IMHO. Anyhow Danix comes out today, and it will include the latest dev version of DIE (die.sf.net). I may check it out.

 

Anyhow, yeah, Debian may be a pain to set up, but you only do it once. None of this upgrade every 6 months crap where you need to back everything up, format, and install. Once you get it running, it's a lot easier to maintain than other distros.

 

deborphan is great.

apt is great.

 

This is how Linux was meant to be. Oh yeah, there's the synaptic GUI for you lamerz who don't like command lines. ;)

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there's also Gnoppix which is supposed to come out sometime here (don't think there is even a beta yet...don't know). i believe it's going to be basically the knoppix idea only using gnome instead of kde....saw it over on distrowatch the other day.

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I can't see why all the slanging about gnome vs kde.

Perhaps I'm just nieve but what the big fuss.

 

I started using KDE before evolution becuase kmail was good for me and starting the whole DCOP server for one app seemed as waste.

 

I mean they're both fine desktops I just started using KDE more and liked it and it stuck. (perhaps I m getting old). I also stopped using RH partly becauuse of the KDE vs RH war parly becuae of glibc issues in 7.0!!

 

Some really good kde stuff has come out like k3rb etc. which has kept me with it but seriously what am I missing.

In same vein as thread. Serious points not mindless slanging matches.

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honestly...gnome and kde are just two different ways of doing the same thing. and it's all about which you like better.

 

KDE: more of a polished, pretty, shiny look.

Gnome: more of an artsy, simple look.

 

that's my opinion. i like Gnome better because, for whatever reason, DCOP was always a pain in my arse. although for quite some time i was into the whole light WM thing, i.e.: the box series (flux, black, open, etc.) and then waimea (very similar to all the box ones, just a few neat added extras). somehow when i installed Gentoo I got hooked on Gnome.

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I sorta thought the same thing, it was I started using it for kmail and then got used to it but I never hated gnome.

I can't understand the posts slagging off one vs the other, thats why I asked: like am I just to stupid to see something obvious.

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like am I just to stupid to see something obvious.
nah, people are just stupid and have to argue that their choice is better than the other choice-i guess you could blame in on faithfulness.
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I used to hate Gnome. I used to swear by KDE.

 

I had my fun with WMs, and now I'm back to a DE. I use Gnome now.

 

Why? Because I just wanted to give it a fair shot. I found it to be faster than KDE, more elegant, in a way, and - most importantly - I can drag and drop images into Gimp to open them! It's that way with all of Gnome... I can do a lot more drag and dropping of things in here than I can in KDE. Not to mention that the help system actually works as you'd expect!

 

Don't get me wrong - I love KDE for its amazing flexibility, but I just prefer Gnome because of usability and speed nowadays. I don't think it's worth fighting over; but it'd sure be nice if both were as good as the other. I believe that day is coming.

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