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Debian is a community project dedicated to creating and maintaining the best possible "stable" version of Linux.
   technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Corel based its Linux on a conservative version called Debian


Corel Linux installs easily and works well

April 2, 2000

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, The Syracuse Newspapers

   Corel based its new version of Linux on a variation of Linux called Debian. Fans of Debian Linux had good reason to cheer, but fans of some of the dozen or so other main Linux versions might have wished that Corel had chosen a more "standard" version as a model.
   Arguments about versions of Linux are in the same class as arguments about hemi-head engines or salad dressings -- nobody is ever right and nothing is ever decided -- but I'll take a chance that I can get through a quick discussion of Linux "distros" without making anyone upset.
   "Distros" are Linux distributions. In other words, they are versions of Linux. (They're called "distributions" for no good reason. If you still want a reason, I'll tell you they're called "distributions" because versions of Unix, the Big Daddy networking operating system Linux was modeled on, also were called distributions. And because Unix users often wear themselves out copying with lesser computers such as ones running Windows, they need to conserve energy. So they call distributions "distros." Rhymes with "bistros," if you're a fan of small night clubs, or kinda-sorta with "discos," if you're a fan of the late '70s.)
   There are oodles of "distros" of Linux. There could easily be hundreds if you counted ones that have been created just for a particular purpose, such as for running specialized scientific computers.
   In the mainstream Linux distributions, you'll find a half dozen that get the most attention. They include Red Hat, Suse, Mandrake, Caldera, Slackware and Debian.
   Let's take the time to look at the main ones.
   Red Hat is best known in North America. It's probably the only version of Linux many people have ever heard of.
   Red Hat has another distinction. Among all versions of Linux, Red Hat is the most "normal" and "regular" in ways that corporate America can understand. Walk into the boardroom of a big company and tell the directors your technical staff has just installed a dozen Slackware-based PCs and you'll get some weird looks. Tell them you did the same with Red Hat and you'll see smiles. Red Hat is trusted and steady going.
   (Or so corporate America thinks. Red Hat can be just as daring and oddball as any of the other distributions, but the folks who make decisions don't know that and never will.)
   Suse, pronounced "soosah," can be considered the Red Hat of Europe, widely trusted and admired. It's a commercial version, just as Red Hat is. (In other words, a real company that wants to make money is behind both Suse and Red Hat.)
   Mandrake is backed by a commercial company, too. For a while it seemed that mandrake was little more than repackaged Red Hat Linux -- such a thing is actually possible in the world of Linux, where software is freely copyable -- but lately Mandrake has been adding important extras to the Red Hat Linux it uses as its base.
   Caldera is based loosely on Red Hat, with an emphasis on "loosely." Caldera tries hard to make its version of Linux an ideal choice for businesses, and with a personality all its own.
   Slackware is popular with hobbyists. It's often thought of as the Linux for penniless college students and everyone else who can't afford to buy software.
   Debian is -- well, Debian is another thing altogether. Let me try to explain.
   Debian Linux is a community project. Linux partisans probably can argue that all of Linux is a community project because Linux is the most successful example of Open Source software -- software that everyone (with no exceptions) is free to use and improve.
   The secret to the success of Open Source software is the community spirit that infuses it: You write a program, I try it out and find a way to get it to do something else, your neighbor checks out what I did and discovers a minor problem and fixes it and gives it back to the rest of us to try out, and so on. It's often said that Windows would not be so buggy if it were Open Source because thousands upon thousands of users would be fixing Windows daily.
   You could think of Open Source as nothing more than the computing equivalent of a community garden plots. We all work together and share what we have, and nobody hides the good stuff. If something is especially good, we all benefit; if something is especially difficult, we all help get it working; if something is especially bad, we all pitch in to turn it into something good.
   This sounds like a bad imitation of 19th Century utopian schmaltz. But the amazing thing is that it actually works. No, that's not what I mean. The amazing thing is that it actually works WELL. Good open source software -- free software, mind you -- is often far better than good commercial software, as anyone who runs a large Web server using the famous Apache Web server software can tell you. Apache is the best example of Open Source doing what it does best at creating and maintaining a good software program, just as Linux itself is the best example of how Open Source can create and maintain a full operating system.
   Here's where Debian comes in. Debian is a community project dedicated to creating and maintaining the best possible "stable" version of Linux and its supporting software. "Stable" means the software installs right and works properly. That's all it means.
   The idea of "stable" software needs to be looked at here. What Debian means by "stable" is simple: If you have a program that Debian considers "stable," you know that it will install without a problem and will work as advertised.
   What's the big deal? Don't you get "stable" software when you go to the store and buy Microsoft Office? Don't you get "stable" software when you download a new version of Internet Explorer?
   Of course not. Downloading Internet Explorer, the Web browser that Microsoft has been giving away in the vain hope of driving all other browsers out of the market, does not give you a program that meets this simple definition of "stable." It does not install properly in many cases and it does not work properly in many others. This is particularly true when you download and install a new version of Internet Explorer. Even the biggest fans of Microsoft know that it doesn't get things right the first time. It never has and almost surely never will. Its customers are expected to finish the job, but of course the job is never finished; many bugs are never eradicated, some features that don't work right are never made to work properly and functions that are inexplicably missing never make it into the product despite years of so-called "upgrades." (Microsoft never even finished MS-DOS, its first important product from 10 years ago.)
   Microsoft Office isn't "stable" either. Remember the definition: The software installs properly and performs as advertised.
   So Debian is doing something unusual. A new program introduced into the other distributions of Linux -- a new audio program that plays MP3 music files, for example -- won't become part of Debian Linux for many months. The Debian volunteers test it thoroughly and ask for (or create their own) revisions when they find problems. Even the core of Linux, the kernel, is treated the same way. When Red Hat, Mandrake or Caldera introduce a new version of Linux based on a new version of the all-important kernel, you can be sure that the latest version of Debian Linux is well behind.
   This conservatism irks many fans of Linux because it keeps Debian users from enjoying the benefits of the newest kernels until long after other Linux users have enjoyed them. A good example is support for USB devices. The version of the Linux kernel just now becoming available (in the spring of 2000) allows a Linux PCs to use a keyboard, mouse and other devices hooked up through the USB connectors. This will be true in Red Hat Linux, for example, but not in Debian Linux. USB support for Debian will come later.
   Or it will come more or less on the sly. Corel can hardly ignore the booming market for USB devices, so it will have to choose. Should it stick with the Debian creed or should it dilute its own version of Debian Linux to get the benefits of USB?
   There are many other examples, of course. When PC technology changed only now and then, Debian Linux made sense. When it changes almost monthly, the Debian approach seems far too conservative.
   That's why Corel Linux users need to work a little harder than users of other Linux versions when they want new software or upgraded versions of their current software. Corel Linux comes with an outstanding update manager, but the updates it locates are all of the "safe" kind. Corel Linux users should consider going to the main Debian site -- there's a link in their Netscape browser for it -- and looking in the two other software categories that Debian lists, "Frozen" and "Unstable."
   "Frozen" software is considered ready for release in the "Stable" category except for minor details. (Documentation might need sprucing up, perhaps.) "Unstable" software doesn't run the way it should or install the way it should on some systems. If you don't mind taking a chance, you should look through the list of unstable software to see if the program you can't find otherwise is listed there.