Hey All!
This is my first Linux distro review, so please forgive me for posting crap! As you all know, Debian Etch has been the "stable" distro since the last quarter of 2006, and it is high time they release v5, aka Lenny. Anyways, as long as Lenny isn't out there as Stable, I thought I might as well give it a try while it is still being experimented with. Before we get our hands down and dirty with Lenny, let me give you a fair warning. I have reviewed this from the point of view of KDE 3.5.10. I personally don't like Gnome, so please don't expect anything Gnome-ish here.
1. Installation
The installation process was quite simple. I had downloaded the etch minimal-cd while I installed Etch. I just popped it in and installed the minimal system with Etch. Most of the config, including internet was done automatically. Then I edited the "sources.list" file with nano, adding the proper Lenny repositories. Then it was a simple apt-get dist-upgrade, which downloaded about 87 MBs
#nano /etc/apt/sources.list
#apt-get update
#apt-get dist-upgrade
I rebooted the system, and Grub showed in addition to my Etch kernel, my Lenny kernel settings.
Then it was simply installing softwares. Since my preference is KDE 3.5, I chose to install it, along with multimedia apps and codecs.
#apt-get install sudo kdm kdebase xserver-xorg alsa-base alsa-utils amarok kaffeine xine timidity freepats kmid
After the install, just doing startx too me direct to the KDE Login Manager. But Alas! I found out I had no sound, in my CS46xx based soundcard; though Etch had perfect sound. After googling a bit, I found the solution. I had to download and compile the Alsa drivers from source.
#apt-get install build-essential
#tar -xf alsa-driver-(version).tar.gz
#cd alsa-driver-(version)
#./configure --with-cards=snd-cs46xx with-sequencer=yes && make && make install
To check whether my drivers were installed or not, I just run alsaconf
It showed my soundcard.............. I got working Sound.
Next I needed a package manager, made for KDE, plus office suite. I tried adept, but couldn't find it, hence I used KPackage, contrary to popular belief, it is quite snappy and easy to use, once you get the hang of it, a bit. For Office suite was the trusted Openoffice.org, which came in Lenny with version 2.4
#apt-get install kpackage openoffice.org
Finally, I needed NVIDIA drivers for my legacy GeForce2 card.
#apt-get install nvidia-glx-legacy-96xx
As easy as pie!
2.Having Fun!
As good as Free Software is, I just can't help but laugh at the idiocy sometimes these zealots do, in the name of Ethics. Since Debian Etch, Mozilla applications have been repackaged and rebranded as Iceweasel instead of Firefox and IceDove instead of Thunderbird. I just wanted to use the "original" softwares. I went to the mozilla site and downloaded the respective applications. Installing them was a cinch......... Just untar them into your home folder, double click on the named shell script and voila....... Firefox and Thunderbird running without any problems. I also installed certain games, like GLChess, GL117 and Frets on Fire....... All of them ran without any "Divine/Human Intervention". Unlike Etch, Kaffeine+Xine was able to handle most audio/video formats, including difficult (especially Microsoft)ones like .wmv, .wma and .flv.
3.Overall
Overall, I would Rate Debian Lenny 8/10 Stars. The base of Ubuntu is clearly leading the way in alternative technology. Other than my sound system, most of my crappy 2001-2002 era hardware was easily detected and configured automatically, including a rare Chinese GSM modem. A system still as stable as Debian Etch, I believe that it is high time the Debian team officially releases their latest brainchild!
