Debian almost catches up with the rest of the Linux crowd
Debian GNU/Linux (Debian for short) is often criticised for the length of its development cycle but is, as a result, a very stable Linux distro, popular with business users.
This trend looks set to continue with the launch of the long-awaited Debian 5 release (‘Lenny’ to its friends), designed to bring the platform into line with all but the most go-ahead members of the Linux pack.
The Debian 5 distro is based on the 2.6.26 Linux kernel. It’s not cutting edge, but that’s not hugely important if you’re interested in Linux for business use where stability and security are the main issues.
Gnome is the default desktop, based mostly on Gnome 2.22 code which is also pretty recent, if not the latest there is. You can choose the K Desktop Environment, but the latest 4x release didn’t make it in. You also get Iceweasel 3 (Mozilla Firefox with a different name) and Icedove 2, the Debian incarnation of the Thunderbird email client.
Openoffice.org comes as standard, but it’s the 2.4 release – 3 wasn’t launched until after Lenny was finalised. Still, upgrading to the newer version isn’t difficult and there are a lot of new features in Debian 5, including Java support. And there’s plenty for netbook users including ACPI scripts specifically written for the Eee PC.
The Xen hypervisor is included for server users, together with Samba (3.2.5), the Apache Web server (2.2.9), plus MySQL and PostgreSQL databases. Indeed you can download over 23,000 ready-to-run packages – enough to keep even the keenest of Linux enthusiasts busy until the next release.
Debian has extensive platform support, from Intel/AMD-powered desktops and servers (32-bit and 64-bit) to Mips, PowerPC and Sparc-based systems. There is even an S/390 implementation, plus versions for handheld computers and some Linux-based storage appliances. Getting hold of the software and installing it is also easy and free.
