I Used Debian 12 For 5 Months - Long Term Review

[@TheLinuxCast]

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[@alienews0]

22:00 Above all, Samba is the port of the Windows file sharing system to Linux. Using it to share between Linux and Windows is classic, but why the hell use a Microsoft protocol to make 2 Linuxes communicate??! just use sshfs or nfs (or even rsync if it's enough for your use case)...

[@chrisMuc1966]

My favourite distro. For me, stability is everything. I don't need the latest and greatest software.

[@chris122380]

I agree with you and when I need the latest and greatest I get it from flatpak (except Firefox and then I install the binary).

[@jsizemo]

Well, yes and no. You can go too far in the other direction too. I wouldn’t necessarily called it “Stable” if it’s so old and deficient that it doesn’t meet your needs, or that of an organization. In some cases, even the developers of a project will discourage you from using an outdated project. RClone comes to mind.

[@tiktok.4527]

Agree, as long the distro and the app are stable, don't need the bleeding edge ones. And Debian is the best for that.

[@RoelandJansen]

Stability. You really think others don't have this, right?

[@chris122380]

Maybe Arch requires the AUR to get my printer to work where Debian just auto detects it. Oh and don't forget that stable arch has previously broken grub (should never have happened). In my experience Fedora is fairly stable but with the Red Hat controversy it can't be trusted. Ubuntu forces snaps and the latest release was way buggy for what should have been a stable release. How about wireless cards umm let's have fun getting those installed. Forget even trying to figure out Wi-Fi on opensuse (let's complicate the UI why don't we). I have had none of these issues with Debian as long as I had non-free firmware support (for my wireless card). Every other distro I've had some complications and each time return to Debian.

[@dannyize]

Kudos to Debian for putting the "Screenshot" button on the installer screens! This is helpful for newbies or anyone that has questions about installing or wants to investigate after installing.

[@HealyHQ]

Debian being "boring" is exactly what I love about it. It's the most stable Linux distribution IMHO. Rock-solid, indeed! :)

[@grantwiersum7394]

Hahah, exactly! "Excitement" isn't something I want from my OS. I get plenty from the work I'm trying to get it to do 😂

[@chrisMuc1966]

Debian is a collection of rancid software. And this collection is performing with the precision of a Swiss clockwork.

[@furcom]

That's why I use Debian on my Servers. It just runs.

[@alienews0]

yeah perso, it's debian for servers and ubuntu 24.04 with hyprland for my current desktop (i3 as fallback for X11 only apps) and too bad for the "btw" 🤣😉

[@JayElem]

Stable: The production version of Debian. Updates are usually security patches and critical bug fixes. Testing: Contains packages being tested for stability and compatibility. A preview for what will become the next Stable. Lots of people run this as a daily driver. Unstable: AKA "Sid," where new and updated packages are introduced. Not for production. suggested users: Devs and pkg maintainers -but lots of us normies run it. Debian isn't a distro I currently run, but it's probably the distro I respect the most.

[@wiktorwektor123]

Funny thing is that Debian "Sid" is more stable than majority of other distros.

[@JD-im4wu]

i use stable + backports i cant think of a better combination for myself

[@hopelessdecoy]

I just left Mint for Debian Testing on KDE :)

[@brantregare]

I have used Debian Sid as my daily driver on all my boxen that I have physical access to, since at 1998. I started on Bo and quickly moved to Hamm when that came out. I needed some newer software that was available in Sid, Slink was not an option as is was basically Hamm. I have never needed to look back. Currently on client production machines, I use stable with backports, again with physical access. On machines that I do not have physical access I use stable. Yes, with security fixes only. These machines rarely need bleeding edge releases of the software that they run. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," applies. Security fixes are another matter, the security team is quick and reliable. On my personal boxen I do play games that require modern hardware, I have a need for Sid, so that is what I use. As a software and network engineer, with 26+ years of Debian Linux experience, I am tech savvy and, can roll back an update that breaks my system from the command line, especially with snapshot.debian.org/ available. I have needed to use that with my NVIDIA graphics cards more that once. On the occasion that something breaks, submitting a bug report and actively participating, can get a fix into Sid within hours. My personal experience with Sid is, that it is more stable than testing. In the sense that, Sid has an active and dedicated developer and user base. Testing has a policy that has at least a 2 day delay before a fix can be applied from Sid, in Sid this could take hours not days. I am not saying a fix in Sid only takes hours, I am saying a fix in testing takes at least to 2 days more. Regarding flatpacks: Call me prejudiced, if you will, software only available through flatpack is software that I personally WILL NOT use. I would rather take the time to compile from source, than rely on a flatpack. Flatpack contains all the warts. So now I need to monitor my Distro and monitor my flatpacks. I have just doubled my load. No Thank you. I would rather do without.

[@liamsoape2233]

It's funny cause, as a trixie/sid runner (since they combined the two recently) debian testing is the most stable possible distro while still being relatively up to date

[@Lbf5677]

Linux poster on the wall,your nerdiness far exceeds mine, well done.

[@stevet7522]

Absolutely fell in love with debian it ended my distro hopping. Its stable and works great on all my computers. I dont usually need the latest and greatest software but when I do I can build from source, find a .deb file, or use flatpak. Now if i could just find a DE to stick with. KDE? GNOME? XFCE?... There are so many to play with.

[@matthiasbendewald1803]

Take KDE if you are not afraid of a huge plethora of configuration options. It's great in my opinion. Use Gnome if you like a modern workflow with a very nice and extensible environment. There is a ton of cool extensions, I love it too. XFCE can be nice if you like this "old-style" environment. It is working absolutely robust and also has a ton of options to get it looking really good. Also quite light-weight if you value that. Was my favourite for quite some time. And then you could also go for a tiling window manager. Best way to use multiple screens, really powerful, awesome... But you'll need to put some time to learn and configure it.

[@CTimmerman]

@@matthiasbendewald1803 My favorite DE is Cinnamon because it's like Windows 7 and comes with Nemo that shows file creation dates. Why did you switch from Xfce to Gnome? I find MacOS to require too many third party addons like Rectangle, AltTab, and XnViewMP to recommend.

[@haplozetetic9519]

If you have the time, you could put your own DE together with a window manager, policy kit, panel, and whatever else you want. I've been using Openbox for a while, and I like it.

[@stevet7522]

@haplozetetic9519 I experimented with a wm for a bit. It was i3. Customized everything, including every color theme I could find. It was kinda fun but not for me. Too many configuration files to hunt down in different places, and hand a hard time remembering all the key binds. I would rather have a menu to hunt through for whatever program I'm looking for that I can't remember the name of.

[@stevet7522]

@haplozetetic9519 is openbox still in development?

[@afroceltduck]

Great review of a great distro! I'm so amused that we both like the same distros. I only moved to Debian because I wanted something more community-based rather than corporate. It's been a great experience so far. Definitely not for new users, but if you know your way around and have the ability to do a little research, it's a fantastic option to use. I'm going to try and stick around for an entire release cycle to see if it works for me even when the packages are years out of date.

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

Just waiting for LMDE 6 to be released nd you doing the review

[@BaremetalFlesh]

is it a desktop environment?

[@BaremetalFlesh]

OOOOOH Linux mint debian edition?

[@TV-dd2dl]

Just tried lmde today. Everything was soo slow, cinnamon on mint looks so outdated, firefox with that ugly line on the top, no nvidia drivers out of the box. Just switched to endeavouos with cinnamon. I don't know what have they done with it, but it looks so much cooler, everything faster, installation and logging to all programs took only 20 minutes. So I don't know.. lmde is great but definitely not for everyone

[@uMalice]

I'm so glad that debian has kept it's installer. It's not flashy but works and works well! Yes, LXDE is supported!

[@donaldmickunas8552]

Debian was the first Distro that I loved back in the Debian 9 days. My tastes and preferences have changed since then. However, if stability and reliability were my main concerns, Debian would be my distro of choice.

[@pablosegalinas4261]

Debian Stable is the one distro that made my distrohopping issues go away. Kudos to the team, Debian 12 is nothing short of great.

[@JD-im4wu]

exactly i tried pop os and came running right back recently can't beat debian stable with some tweaking around like backports, snap etc

[@owlmostdead9492]

Yeah until it's terribly out of date again which is in about ~1 year give or take.

[@tristen_grant]

@@JD-im4wu Pop OS isn't a distro.

[@APerson-tk8cw]

@@owlmostdead9492 Yes, but if we are running same hardware for long, its not a bad choice.. atleast if the laptop is 1 year or older., than every debian release.. And now, since it supports proprietary drivers, it is okay to use, for hardware 1 year or older currently

[@KarriOjala]

@@owlmostdead9492 It will be up to date in security updates. The situations where you need the very latest feature updates are probably very few, if any. You can use flatpaks or backports if you must use the latest version of something.

[@dannyboy42223]

Been on debian forever and didn't know about the dedicated forum page, thank you.

[@Your_Degenerate]

I remember two minute start up times on my family's first PC. A throwaway my dad brought home with windows 95 still on it.

[@Tomas_F.]

This is the second video of yours I've seen, both were great. Thank you Matt and keep up the good work.

[@dustys5512]

Just found your channel. I just switched from Windows 10 to Debian 12 today. I'm not new to linux but it's been a while since I've ran it natively and not in a virtual machine. I am impressed with it. I've used Debian before but it has come a long way. It does 4k youtube with the proprietary Nvidia drivers with very smooth playback and it seems to work fine with my DacMagic 200M external dac.

[@Seticzech]

Boredom and stability are the best recommendations for server OS, which vanilla Debian in reality is. It was always my 1st choice for linux server distro and it never let me down. 👍

[@megathron3461]

Man, You really hit the nail on the head with this one. You dispelled many Debian myths and misconceptions. By giving a clear and accurate overview of what to expect with SW availability, outdated versions and possible solutions (Flatpak, Distrobox). The extra attrition with BTRFS, bluetooth being finnicky I can confirm has been a Debian issue for quite a while. Most important of all the target users for it. Great Job!

[@deultima]

I love Debian, I use it on all my servers and recently started using it as my daily driver because of gaming (Crazy, I know right?). I started having issues getting Day of Defeat: Source to launch and after doing some digging it turned out to be a bug in a library. This bug currently exists in all Arch and Ubuntu based distros as I tested a few. Then it hit me that Debian probably would be running the older version of the library file due to how they hold back packages and sure enough. Boom! I'm back in my favourite game. Just a coincidence, but this happened on September 15th (The 30th anniversary of the first release). I thought it was cool that all my machines were running Debian or a variant of it on that day.

[@Pryka_Iluvatar]

Some clarification regarding PIP, it's not blocked by any system. Warning says you must use python-venv and pipenv basically a containerised dev environment. So the PIP packages won't cause any issue with host system. It's a python thing since 3.3 if i remember correctly. But you can still use it, ignore warning and install packages in host system = and wait for disaster. :D Distros didn't care about it and it was bypassed by most of them for years. I use Debian stable for main system stuff etc, all aps I get from flatpak or backports. Fantastic combo.

[@ArthurKhazbs]

Pipenv FTW!

[@thgeremilrivera-thorsen9556]

I'm a research scientist and Debian is the rock solid foundation for my daily work. There are a few packages I like in newer versions, but I can usually get them from Flatpak or Snap. I actually do Tinker, but that is usually with my window manager or editor config, meaning that if I break something, I can still just log in to Gnome and get my work done. To me, that is the best of both worlds! Funny thing is, Bluetooth headset settings were not a problem with Debian 11, they came with the upgrade to 12. That is a bit annoying.

[@687ABC]

Been daily driving Debian Unstable Trixie/sid for the last few weeks. Haven't had any problems. They've even started rolling out Gnome 45 to it too.

[@mcdermg]

Great review, very detailed and its clear you know your stuff and have a real passion for this stuff. Was on the fence on whether or not to use Debian as distro on work machine and you made the decision easy to make

[@krystynahaywood1968]

Novice new linux user from windows.... I love mint, great video and look forward to a solid Mint LMDE but I might try Debian.

[@ArtfulCosumDust]

Oh God mint lmde is heaven. My only issue is having to make sure I keep installing certain packages because some of it is dated. But it's par from par with Ubuntu! I had an issue with GUI and stability and that issue was fixed.

[@matthewmoore757]

17:00 actually there is a Stable, Testing, Unstable (Sid), And Experimental branch. So when you Say you've been calling it "unstable" by mistake. That's actually a thing as well. One thing to keep in mind, the "Security" repo only applies to the Stable branch. You may or may not get zero day patches if you're on one of these other branches. Also Debian does have an "Unattended Upgrades" Option. You install the package, give it permission, and it sets up a cron job and will auto update the whole system for you. I have my mother's computer setup this way. I haven't touched it in 2 years. Still working fine. Also Pipewire is only on by default in the Gnome version. If you're using KDE you're on pulse. Even though Pipewire is mostly installed. Just FYI.

[@marbens]

Note that the Experimental branch is an extension to the Unstable, so Unstable must be enabled. It's like the testing repos on Arch.

[@KoopstaKlicca]

@44:50 you should be a chad and just say that you deserve a thumbs up if not more. You did put in 5mo of work after all lol ty, the vid was great

[@keylowmike85]

Great review! Debian is very stable (I once made a Spongebob "Ol'Reliable" meme about Debian, didn't realize how right that was) and to be honest I feel that it's stability is it's greatest strength. I installed Debian on my potato Hewlett Packard all-in-one desktop from 2018 and it runs pretty fluid. I chose XFCE because of my hardware limitations and it works well (plus I've used XFCE in the past and loved it because it's lightweight). I tried Nala because of this video and was so impressed that I think it's better than apt and pretty close to pacman. Yes, the software isn't bleeding edge, but with my potato desktop it doesn't need to be. I think Debian is where I'm going to stay for a while. Keep up the great work, Matt!

[@MyAmazingUsername]

Thanks Matt. This was really great, in depth review. Sometimes I wonder if I would be happy with Debian and Flatpaks, but then I remember that they are usually severely outdated on the desktop environment front. I prefer Fedora. Or my second choice, openSUSE Tumbleweed.

[@MyAmazingUsername]

@@mspenelopy Yeah that shocked me about Debian 12 too, and makes me curious if they continue that trend. If they do, I might check it out to see if a "stable distro" is really true. On Fedora, I occasionally have small issues due to bleeding edge updates. Like at the moment, NVIDIA crashes the computer on X11 if "Force Full Composition Pipeline" is enabled in the latest driver combined with the latest DXVK. I'd say something breaks 2-3 times per year, but it's usually so small that it doesn't matter and is usually fixable in a few minutes. But in return for slight instability, I get very updated apps which I love having.

[@wantgoodvibes6166]

Thanks Matt, Debian is so great for single purpose backend setups, I've had setups run for years with no interaction besides checking for updates here and there with extreme low worry about something breaking. Good video dude, :)

[@patrickprucha5522]

I agree with your choice of Debian. I am a dedicated Debian fan. I have found that Debian 12 with the latest KDE makes the Debian12 the best, in my opinion of course!

[@Wade_NZ]

I needed to host a Discord bot locally (don't want to pay to host it). I have an old laptop that I thought I could run it on. My go to was Debian specifically for it's stability. Bot's been running for months with no issues. Thanks Debian!

[@NatesRandomVideo]

“It’s been around for a little while…” lol

[@JoeHedrick]

Nice, thorough look at Debian. Not just a quick run around the bases but a genuine experience. Loved it. I've used Debian for so long that many of the reasons I chose it in the early 2000's are no longer particularly relevant and now I'm just so comfortable I can get it to do everything I want while maintaining a stable server, functional workstation, or more bleeding edge gaming experience I don't often look elsewhere. I think your long term review series here (with other distros) will likely spark that interest to check out others. Excellent work.

[@futuza]

As a software dev I like debian because they don't break my packages and it just works and to be honest I spend most of my time in the terminal and VSCode anyway so other kicks and giggles don't matter much to me than stability.

[@__Patrick]

I agree with 100% of what you said about Debian. Debian is rock solid. I've started using Debian instead of any of the Debian-based distros like Ubuntu. Some things take a little more doing, but I feel like its worth it in the end. Yes, Debian is a little old school, but it is very, very stable. The Debian wiki has been super helpful in resolving issues that I've run into while setting things up...

[@veyselerden72]

Debian has 4 pockets: Stable (or the codename of the last released version), Testing (or the codename of the next version; will continue to roll until the next version is released), Unstable (is also Sid and it always rolls) and Experimental (Which is literally what the name is, it's not a complete repo like the others but more like an addition to Unstable where things really get into it really fast and go when it lands to Unstable.)

[@phonewithoutquestion80]

On Debian 12 I recently switched from using Debian Sid/Unstable in a Distrobox container to using an Arch Linux Distrobox container. Absolutely slaps as a combination.

[@MarkusHobelsberger]

Great review! Longterm Debian fan and MX main here. Having very few updates is one of the main reasons I use Debian or non-Ubuntu Debian based distros. It's just super-comfy to use and doesn't require much maintenance. The boot taking a very long time might be because of file system checks during startup. But you'd easily see that from the logs and it shouldn't happen too often.

[@martinsportfoto2423]

Super helpful review for a Linux newbie like me. Reading and listening around for a while, I sort of had a idea of Debian, but this gave a more compolete picture of what it is about. For me who is looking to set up a stable and predictable working machine Debian seem pretty spot on. Most of the software I use for work is not very updated anyway (same goes for the user BTW :) so not having the latest and greatest sound relaxed and safe for me. Thanks!

[@oliverr4946]

Thanks, really helpful. With future state of Leap heading towards immutable containerized camp, I think Debian stable is the best fit for my use.

[@mebeingme947]

Great video! Running debian for a long time as I prefer stability over latest packages and as you say single programs can be pinned or you can get them through flatpaks or even snaps. I changed however from Gnome to KDE as it supports better my workflow. I'm running also dual monitor and had issues with them going to sleep. I found hower that switching off source detection on the monitor solved that issue. Another thing I noticed that looking at sleep modes, that suspend to ram was not there only S2idle and Deep. By enabling deep sleep mode in the bios it works like a charm with the energy settings in KDE. It seems to me where it comes down to dual monitor setup that the scan takes place from both ends, the monitor and the system and conflict, however I'm not an expert on that.

[@celltest7645]

Thanks for the review. Not sure if the guys on Debian watched your video but I installed it last week and I was able to setup btrfs through the normal installation that you showed at the beginning of the video. I haven't checked out yet how to setup sub volumes or such but my system is running well with the basic btrfs on all partitions.

[@iFixJapan]

I move from ubuntu to debian server, got error on ubuntu server cause to many fetching, and some time un able to update. found debian more efficient and stable. Thanks for the video dude, nice work.

[@misterscorpio6340]

I've been using LMDE 6 for about the past week and love it. I am not big on always having to update my system so like the fact there is very little updates.

[@richardgomes5420]

After a number of years with OpenSUSE, having been using OpenSUSE MicroOS Kalpa for about an year, I'm finally back to Debian. Not even OpenSUSE MicroOS, known by immutability and stability resisted the devastating power of Wayland. A lesson to be learned once for all: Debian and only Debian is rock solid stable.

[@kk-linux-rocks7269]

I don't care about how modern the installer is. It works fine. Now in terms of being newbie-friendly? Well, that's where it could use some help. Even if Debian used Calamares, they'd still want to keep the text-based installer because so many of us use it for setting it up as a server which doesn't need a gui installer.

[@henriquepicanco97]

Debian uses Calamares on the Live-CDs installations.

[@jason.r9273]

I have finally come to appreciate debian stable. I do not need weekly updates. Im now using debian gnome and ungoogled chromium. Both clean source. I am coming off a long 4 years of kde plasma kick. If i was to use anything else it would be Arch and no derivatives. Im sure i will be putting it on boxes soon. I tested out ubuntu to see gnome 45 and i am content with 43.6 from debian, but as time goes on it will be tempting to move to TESTING.

[@zeburgerkang]

When you record a video so fluid and streamlined that the editing is nier.

[@grantwiersum7394]

I think a point worth mentioning is that 5 months on Debian isn't strictly "long-term" even for continuous uptime. I do scientific computing, ML and AI; I don't want to worry about the OS when I'm doing weird stuff to optimize. Ubuntu is too chonky. Debian 11 was close to perfect. 12 is one step closer.

[@TheLinuxCast]

You never can satisfy people. Did a month. Not long enough. Did 5 Months. Not long enough.

[@LukasRotermund]

Wow, what a great video! Thank you very much!

[@jesse7631]

Great video as always, Matt!

[@ErnIIIV]

thank you for that in-depth review

[@whiskeylinux]

Debian's great and all, but nowadays I've found Manjaro Cinnamon to be the combo that just works and stays out of my way. The package update frequency is perfect imo.

[@lumeronswift]

One thing's for sure - this review will still be up to date! I like Debian, but mainly as a base. Prefer something downstream (Mint, PopOS) or adjacent (Manjaro). I often use newer hardware, which is finicky (even Mint required a non-default kernel to work with my motherboard).

[@eructationlyrique]

Instead of pinning unstable, you can also use backports as well. Not as many packages available, but it's less likely to cause issues and better supported

[@HikingFeral]

I saw a comment from someone involved who said the installer is that way because it needs to be able to tun on some weak hardware liker embedded or something with like 12Mb of video memory or RAM or something. That makes sense as Debian needs to think about Servers all the time.

[@TheLinuxCast]

I guess that's true. I didn't think about that.

[@davidcave5426]

I'm also an openSUSE fanboy, except I haven't signed up to be one. I've been using it since 11.4 if not earlier. I was using it with KDE 3, watched the PR disaster when they went to KDE 4 until it stabilized, watched again when it went to KDE 5. I haven't customized it like I could, but that's a me problem. I'm more autistic than artistic. I also have Debian as a vm in virtualbox. I'm going to be exploring how I want to design my systems going forward, i.e. start using flatpaks instead of distro versions. I already have a number of appimages, which I love, mainly for portability, but dislike that many appimages are no longer being kept up to date. I'm so old school, I remember the OG gaming consoles where the game came as a cartridge and everything you needed software-wise to play it was in the cartridge. It couldn't be updated. It can be shared between like consoles. I am waiting for the day that the kernel and related tools are bundled as an appimage and boot from that.

[@stepannovotny4291]

I'm on Debian with BTRFS and yeah, I had to learn about it to install it ...but it's GREAT!

[@settlece]

great was looking for a os just to run a 3 bits of software and that is it. i dont like to play about with the os and im not one for change. Debian fits, your review was spot on and answered all my questions. big thanks

[@GridlocSSB]

I also ran into a similar multi-monitor KDE issue, I personally solved it by creating a shell script to set the appropriate monitor states by calling the “kscreen-doctor” CLI utility, then for convenience adding a keyboard shortcut so I can trigger that script whenever the monitor issues do crop up. It’s not ideal and would be much nicer if issues didn’t happen, but it’s certainly a lot less painful of a workaround than opening system settings each time to fix things.

[@espinhudobr]

does this problem occurs only with more than 2 monitors?

[@GridlocSSB]

@@espinhudobr Unfortunately, I never tested with two monitors since I used three at the time. If I were still using KDE I would test again, but I’ve since hopped distros to Pop!_OS.

[@derricksullivan4958]

Debian is great, and especially Debian stable. I tried LMDE6 and love it. It is essentially Debian stable with a mint wrapper. It has all the perks of linux mint but the OS itself underneath is completely Debian 12 stable. It runs very well and is very customizable and extremely stable. Good distro whether you like Debian 12 by itself or LMDE6.

[@TrustJesusToday]

Debian 12.1 with KDE boots in 10 seconds. It's my daily. I also have it on a 2017 iMac. Sid 2023.1 with KDE

[@hopelessdecoy]

10 seconds is actually pretty slow for Debian. I bet you could cut that in half with some tweaking to your start up processes.

[@TrustJesusToday]

thanks

[@staninjapan07]

Thanks for this. Good of you to try it and give your thoughts. I must say that, though I cannot speak about the stability and other positive points you mentioned, and though I know orders of magnitude less than you appear to, having just tried it as a regular user, I thought it was an anti-climax. I ought to be clear that though I did not encounter stability issues, and it's almost certainly my novice skills that are the problem, I cannot agree that it is just easy to use and everything works. Multi-language input seems to be a problem for a start, but as I know so little, I may be wrong. Perhaps it is due to me having come from the Dark Side (The W operating system, not Doors but the other word...) via Mint (the Ubuntu Mint not the Debian Mint). I do have a genuine desire to learn some Linux (back-end) skills, but Debian (dual boot with Mint right now) will remain unused or very little used for a while I feel. I am sure I may find your love for it more convincing if I had even mediocre skills with it. Well, it's a learning process and folks like you making videos like this (above my level by far) do help to dispel some of the mysteriousness of it.

[@DeviOct]

pretty solid review 👍🏼

[@squidiebah]

S-tier distro!

[@becktronics]

Hey Matt, I'm so happy I discovered your channel! You are extremely thorough in your reviews regarding Linux and I can tell you put great care into crafting your content. Glad you reminded me about Hearthstone... I don't think I'll return to ladder (I played many years ago at the peak of Pirate Warrior, Handlock, Face Hunter, the Mage Deck with the Giants...) but the Bartender Bob Battlegrounds mode is so fun! I got absorbed so much when I switched to Arch. Unfortunately I chose it as my first distribution, so you can imagine how much of my time it garbled up :D Keep up the awesome content, I'm looking forward to seeing what else you make! :)

[@TheLinuxCast]

Man I wish I could get Hearthstone to work on OpenSuSE. I do still play ladder, but I was never any good at it anyway, so I don't mind not having all the fancy cards. I suck at Battlegrounds, but I'm getting better. Came in second the last time I played.

[@becktronics]

@@TheLinuxCast Oh yeah, I bought a decent chunk of cards back in the day... Too bad all my legendaries either phased out of meta or they were DE'd to make a different legendary that the same exact thing happened to... lol Let me know if you get it working on OpenSUSE! I'm still kind of noobish at the FOSS way of using my PC. I recall in one of your videos you said it felt overwhelming from learning so many programming languages at once. Learning to code whilst simultaneously learning Bash, Lua, web libraries, data science, OS fundamental and so forth, sometimes it gets a little cumbersome. Have you thought of inviting others on the channel for discussions or a podcast?

[@chrisMuc1966]

44:40 Very well done. Thank you very much.

[@lisaayres-zp5jj]

xfce doesn't need to modernise it's appearance, flat design is a plague of sterility sweeping software, it's nice to have a desktop environment that doesn't default to it

[@jackthatmonkey8994]

Debian is such a cool distro. I installed it on an 18 year old laptop with 1 GB of RAM. I thought the chance that I had to upgrade to 2 GB was pretty big. I run Xfce with Falkon as a browser, I hit maybe 350 MB usage. Granted I installed the netinstall and only installed coreutils and built the rest with apt from there. But I hardly imagine it makes that much of a difference

[@Gaius__]

"Boring" is perfect for an OS, to me. When I want excitement, I'll play a game. And if I want to spend three hours tinkering and tweaking non-essential stuff, just for fun ... hello, KDE Plasma.

[@mzs114]

Nice review, one nitpick is ABI stability is different from OS reliability, also try out Debian unstable/sid.

[@raddinox2707]

if you are using a Window manager you are most likely used to command line and it's easy to install Debian without desktop environment and then add your own stuff. That's what I do when I install my customized openbox "DE". mostly because I don't like that Debian installs libreOffice by default (I don't want no office stuff). IMO it would be better to run Stable Debian and using Flatpak for more recent applications. Because using testing/unstable applications may be compiled using a newer toolchain

[@jhonyortiz5]

For python stuff you can always use virtual environments. There is a lot of ways to do it, I like using miniconda with the forge repos. It's easy to create/recreate environments using yml files. Pip packages can also be installed from the yml file.

[@CTimmerman]

You mean pyproject.toml or a Dockerfile which replaces venv?

[@someITGuy]

Thank you Matt for this „mature“ review of Debian. As a relative new Linux user (I completely switched to Linux a year ago) I tried Debian some times and always struggled with that distro by means of installing and configuring my hardware. But this is not Debians fault but my lack of Linux experience so far. I started with Linux Mint ans Pop!_OS as those distros tend to ease the installation and use of the system really comfortably. My long time goal is to switch from an Ubuntu based distro to Debian and get rid of the Ubuntu base. Right now I play around with MX Linux and LMDE which bring the comfort of Ubuntu with the stability and the direct lineage of Debian. I want to love Debian but at the very moment I still will have to learn a lot to fully become a Debian adept.

[@crism8868]

Call me a boomer but I wouldn't be caught dead using discord lmao, good for Debian for sticking to a forum software that actually works with the open web, can be searched and indexed etc

[@TheLinuxCast]

lol, Discourse, not discord. Boomer. Jokes, aside tho, Discourse is an opensource forum software as well.

[@xarmandop]

Finally a very objective video about Debian 🎉

[@cerberes]

Great review. I switched to Debian based on some of your earlier review. I had previously been on Manjaro for a few years. The only thing I've had problems with is the native steam and element apps audio not working between the sound and microphone. The web app of Element worked great. I think Chrome may have had the permissions to the microphone locked down.

[@tylerdback2025]

Debian stable is my go-to distro for running a home server. It's so stable I sometimes forget it's even there

[@eyzake]

no matter what u say...i am installing it and gonna use it as long as it won't break

[@StellarStoic]

I'm constantly switching between linux and windows but on linux, debian is always a go to distro 💚

[@marcc5768]

I went to Debian 12 XFCE after Peppermint OS borked my Grub install from MInt 21.3 XFCE. This is on my thinkpad x200. Just wanted to try something different since I've been using Linux Mint for over 10 years as my my LInux Desktop OS of choice. I still run MInt 21.3 Cinnamon on my primary desktop since it is rock solid no issues. My work laptop I wanted to try something different. So far I like it, there were apps/progs I had to add via terminal, but that's ok. Did a lot of that last week when I got my first home server up and running with Debian 12 Standard. Also since I put debian 12 xfce on my work laptop, I just need a solid os that works, without as many updates in a week say like I get with Mint Cinnamon 21.3 on my daily driver. I'm kewl with the more minimal updates coming in on Debian 12 xfce.

[@raphael2407]

I'm on Debian since the age when we used to live in caves to hide from the dinosaurs... Whenever I use one the more "flashy" and less "boring" distributions, it kinda feels wrong. Debian just works. It's not flashy, it does not ship with themed desktops, very little branding (the default wallpaper, that's it), no browser highjacking (looking at you Mint), no flahsy colors, no moving things where they shouldn't be, no shitty bash configuration.. just a basic linux system that works and lets you do whatever you want, it's stable, it's "boring" because you don't need to fix things that never break, it just lets you use your computer, and I like it this way :) oh and, the community and the debian wiki are actualy really good.

[@swapnildarakhe9857]

The Bluetooth problem on Debain 12 KDE is real. I had the same issue with my Bluetooth headphones. They would pair but won't connect. Its something related to pulseaudio and pipewire. I don't remember actually which one works. Just remove the pre installed and install the new one. But after you fix the Bluetooth for some reason screen sharing and screen recorder fails so, after fixing the Bluetooth you might also have to fix the screen sharing. So basically its just the pipewire problem.

[@OldieBugger]

Yea, it took me about 15 minutes to find the ISO download from the Debian website. They had it hidden well, but not well enough!

[@OldieBugger]

But all in all, installing Debian to my test machine (real hardware) felt really awkward. They could do better.

[@kylehennkens9578]

​@@OldieBuggerDumb question, why use the full ISO as opppsed to the netinstall ISO?

[@OldieBugger]

@@kylehennkens9578 Out of habit.

[@1adamuk]

Excellent review. Thanks.

[@PRFECT11]

Im not sure if it's because of gnome or Debian itself but not having the ability to have homescreen folders or icons is very annoying and very irritating I've looked and searched for fixes but found none or none that work for me but I still use it nonetheless.

[@SirSomnolent]

Debian is great if you have two to three gen back hardware or as is the case right now, match your newish hardware to a new Debian release.

[@Nerdamania]

I installed Debian on my main machine after 5+ years of using Arch. I am looking at my screen already on at my work laptop so I wanted to minimize my time doing maintanance. While Debian is easier to install than Arch, (in fact its a breeze if you choose the calamares installer iso), its not easier to set up than Arch. Many new users will have problems in the beginning and may even screw up a config or two. I use btrfs for both snapshotting (timeshift) and incremental incremental backups (btrbk). For me it's not such a scare, as with Arch it has to be done similarly and considering you spend a bit of time setting up your machine that has support for 5 years, is not that bad really

[@errorsofmodernism7331]

excellent review

[@marccaracal7443]

I think I recognize a Dualshock 4 from the "Wireless Controller" label. It's worth noting that there are a huge number of counterfeit Dualshock 4s in circulation. These counterfeits can't connect to Linux via Bluetooth, only via USB. This could be the reason for this failure. Dualshock 4s also require additional bluez packages, so perhaps one or two were missing. But then, you seem to know your stuff, so I guess you already knew. Thanks for this video, I really enjoyed it.

[@LeeBeasley]

Net installer would actually be better for slower internet connections as you would be downloading less. You only download what your installing and not a full iso with multiple DEs and packages that may never get installed

[@illegalquantity]

And yet, it takes longer this way.. :) Because you sit there the whole time. If you download the whole thing, you can go from there until then, you can do something else until then. And the installation itself will be fast.

[@yurimodin7333]

I hate to admit it but I have a server that is still running Debian 6...............still works.

[@nerdCopter]

+1👍 💪 i've upgraded in-place, from Debian 8 through Debian 11 on my WORK computer. (yes, PC that old 😹) soon it shall be time for 12.

[@nerdCopter]

agree on some point of yours. Bluetooth sucks, also audio-system on occasion (pulseaudio). may have to look into xrandr scripting to fix screens. i've had to do this on both Debian and Xubuntu multi-screen machines.

[@VenSensei]

My first distro is D12. I've noticed that it's a good newbie distro, especially for those that are not comfortable using the terminal. But if you are comfortable using the terminal, it's a bit of a pain. Especially in regard to pip (installing python libraries) and some other admin related features. I also have an issue with bluetooth on D12, very similar to what you described in your video, so it's not just you. Again, I don't see this is the go-to distro for developers, but it's perfect for the generic user.

[@smarkson]

I did the reverse way: Long term OpenSUSE TW user, just moved my daily driver to Debian 12 + Plasma KDE. Yeah, it wasn't that good to expert install in order to put subvolumes ok, but I had zero issues after install and my full UX preserved using Plasma.

[@matijacizmar9372]

I think startup time depends on DE, the GUI needs a longest to process...i have 25 sec to boot on Desktop..i use Gnome..try cinnamon or any other DE and see if that helps..btw great video on debian 12 i am using it for 3 months now..from day one it works the same:D but for those who are installing live version be warned there is a raspi firmware issue(missing boot firmware)..at least for me and handfull of other people..but there is a command line to purge it and then it all works fine(sudo dpkg --purge raspi-firmware) btw your desktop looks very nice!! After struggling with fedora all i can say that i am in love with debian 12s stability and how polished it is.

[@TheLinuxCast]

The issue I'm having has something to do with plymoth

[@matijacizmar9372]

@@TheLinuxCast ok, i am glad that you find out:D

[@samjohnson5044]

As noted, this video was the push I needed to dump Ubuntu and move to Debian with Xfce. It's a relief to be free of the long-term bugs in Ubuntu, even if it means I'm downgraded to LibreOffice 7.4. Regarding the Bluetooth connections, it was a bit frustrating to see only the devices' addresses instead of their names in the device manager. Somehow it worked out after having a Windows machine and my Debian running simultaneously; no, I can't explain it. Now the Xfce Device Manager shows available devices with their names.

[@liquidatedrice5274]

Having an Angry Birds poster on display is a hard flex.

[@mageshinji]

great insight, appreciate it a lot

[@undersquire]

I enjoy Void the most because to me it feels in between Debian & Arch (best of both worlds?): rolling release, so I get updates fairly often, but not bleeding edge, so things break a lot less often (never in my experience).

[@folksurvival]

Same. It's also very minimal, lightweight and fast and doesn't have systemd.

[@funtorm]

How to install Systemd on void?

[@undersquire]

@@funtorm Not sure if you're joking, but the serious answer is you don't. If you want/need Systemd then Void isn't for you. Although it may technically be possible to manually install it by copying binaries and configuring things, I would highly recommend just using a different distribution like Archlinux which is quite similar to Void but uses Systemd.