Sebastião Guerra composed on 2017-04-25 19:44 (UTC-0300):

You guys recommend Ubuntu or Debian for best compatibility with TDE? Or no differences?

Ubuntu is based on Debian. There should be no compatibility differences.

The biggest difference between them is something TDE adherents don't use, Ubuntu's customized Gnome/Unity/Mate Desktop Environment. Secondarily, Ubuntu is supposedly easier for those less technically inclined, but most of that is about the DE. So which to choose really depends on your own personality and use case. If you are more of a do-it-yourself type, you may be happier with Ubuntu. If you want more extensive control, you may be happier with Debian, but again, such differences are mostly under the covers. While running TDE it's not easy to tell which it's running on, until it comes to following internet instructions that depend on running something in a terminal. Ubuntu employs sudo, which by default means there is no superuser, the opposite of Debian.

The time of release of your choice maybe should play a part as well. If you have any doubt, choosing the later released if your hardware is newer might be wise. Choosing the later released also gets a longer support life if it's an LTS release, which only 1 out of 4 Ubuntus are.

Thierry de Coulon composed on 2017-04-26 06:57 (UTC+0200):

On Wednesday 26 April 2017 01.34:38 Felix Miata wrote:

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Sebastião Guerra composed on 2017-04-25 19:44 (UTC-0300):

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You guys recommend Ubuntu or Debian for best compatibility with TDE? Or no differences?

...

Ubuntu is based on Debian. There should be no compatibility differences.

However, Ubuntu is not based on Debian stable. That does make a difference. This means Debian is ill suited to older hardware (kernel 3.16 for Jessie, for example).

As you wrote you've implied that unstable is better for older hardware than is stable. Is that what you meant? Most advanced users probably would say the opposite, stable best for older hardware, less likely to break hardware support before security support ends.

FWIW, I have at least twice as many Debian installations as I do *buntu.

I would like to mention SolydXK, a rolling distribution based on Debian stable. Works very well, comes with sudo but easily converted to su (*much* easyer than Ubuntu) and I could even install kernel 4.8 without any problem.

Easy on *buntu, simply 'sudo passwd root' plus a password makes root ready to use.

Thierry de Coulon wrote:

However, Ubuntu is not based on Debian stable. That does make a difference. This means Debian is ill suited to older hardware (kernel 3.16 for Jessie, for example).

but for technically experienced user make deb-pkg on the kernel source gives you newer kernel (with debian stable), which is my preferred choice.

On Thursday 27 April 2017 00.45:44 Lisi Reisz wrote:

Or simply use the kernel from the backports repository.

Lisi

The kernel alone is not always enough. Some developments go fast and always rely on a complex group of up-to-date libraries.

For these software Debian(s) often is years back in time, and even a brand new stable is usually not compatible.

So, as often, which distribution is "the best" may depend a lot on one's own requirements.

Thierry

On Thursday 27 April 2017 20.25:33 deloptes wrote:

Thierry de Coulon wrote:

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The kernel alone is  not always enough. Some developments go fast and always rely on a complex group of up-to-date libraries.

For these software Debian(s) often is years back in time, and even a brand new stable is usually not compatible.

I agree with you, so do you think Ubuntu delivers stable software ... from what I've seen it is not worth trying it. The only use I see in ubuntu is on usb stick to quickly repair something.

I have very little experience with Ubuntu, I never liked this distribution. I was just stating facts.

You could easily take debian testing or unstable if you want to catch up. Everything has pros and cons.

regards

As I have several computers (different generations...) and big disks, I usually run several species of Linux in multiboot (my standard install uses "only" 150 GB, so a 2 TB disk is more than enough).

Debian (or Debianbased) is my first choice for my main machine (with a newer kernel if necessary, such as support for a sound card (yes, Jessie does not support my 2012 card out of the box...).

openSUSE is generaly my second choice (because I can install TDE) but newer versions are no more up to what SuSE was :(

As you say, everything has pros and cons... but with Linux you always have another possibility!

Regards,

Thierry