April 7th, 2020 at 1:57 AM
Debian vs. Ubuntu. This seems like this question should be absolutely obvious. Ubuntu is based on Debian, and is generally the more popular of the two. Most people would choose Ubuntu in a heartbeat.
So the question is why. And the answer is that, generally speaking, Ubuntu is so much easier to use. It has PPAs which make third party software much easier to install, and it includes a lot of non-free components that are at least available. Doesn't mean they are necessarily well... out of the box, but being available is a great thing. Because sometimes you want to be able to play an MP3.
Debian sure does have its advantages though. I literally use it as my daily driver on my development virtual machine (and I do all C development, most of my HDL development, and a number of other things solely from the development box currently. I use it very frequently).
Debian, in my experience, is much more stable. And it actually has more packages than Ubuntu, by a long shot (Ubuntu removes a lot and makes you use Snaps or PPAs for some of the more obscure ones). It is a much cleaner experience and it very rarely ever crashes or has any issue whatsoever. So personally, even though I prefer Ubuntu on a server (newer software), I prefer Debian on the desktop.
The only downside to Debian is that a lot of Ubuntu's desktop Gnome improvements aren't really available on Debian, and stock Gnome have never been my cup of tea. I installed a lot of extensions and a highly customized theme to get around this issue, but it's definitely a challenge at first if you aren't used to using Gnome. Dash to Panel is a lifesaver.
What are your preferences?
So the question is why. And the answer is that, generally speaking, Ubuntu is so much easier to use. It has PPAs which make third party software much easier to install, and it includes a lot of non-free components that are at least available. Doesn't mean they are necessarily well... out of the box, but being available is a great thing. Because sometimes you want to be able to play an MP3.
Debian sure does have its advantages though. I literally use it as my daily driver on my development virtual machine (and I do all C development, most of my HDL development, and a number of other things solely from the development box currently. I use it very frequently).
Debian, in my experience, is much more stable. And it actually has more packages than Ubuntu, by a long shot (Ubuntu removes a lot and makes you use Snaps or PPAs for some of the more obscure ones). It is a much cleaner experience and it very rarely ever crashes or has any issue whatsoever. So personally, even though I prefer Ubuntu on a server (newer software), I prefer Debian on the desktop.
The only downside to Debian is that a lot of Ubuntu's desktop Gnome improvements aren't really available on Debian, and stock Gnome have never been my cup of tea. I installed a lot of extensions and a highly customized theme to get around this issue, but it's definitely a challenge at first if you aren't used to using Gnome. Dash to Panel is a lifesaver.
What are your preferences?
