MEPIS Community Forum

True.

Well, when you look at the installation procedure, even from the live session, it doesn't look like they're really reaching out to newbies much. Nowhere near as simple as installing something like Mepis.

Yep.



Yeah, I logged into Squeeze tonight and there's an Iceweasel upgrade -- from 3.5.16-14 to 3.5.16-15.



Something I really like about Ubuntu, even with 10.04 LTS, the Chromium upgrades kept coming, which was great for me.

In Debian Stable as well as in Mepis, for a long time now I've just gone outside of the repos for my web browser of choice. Oh, well.

I'm maybe smug about updates because I'm testing Arch right now... but really... Iceweasel 3.5.16, feels like 2009...

For a few, yes. But there are plenty of reviews, blogs, and news articles out there for anyone smart enough to look. Which would mean that a 'recipe' would be available. To add more modern stuff for instance. Or to add additional functionalities. But even before that there would be up to date security at the time of making the .iso. That's the beauty of Linux and Unix. It can suit me as a very secure OS, having usable software that does what's needed. To those who want to see what's coming down the road and don't want to have a worry about security.

Doesn't Debian Stable have backports that would allow newer software?
The only advantage I can think of just using vanilla Stable 6 vs. Mepis 11 is an upgrade path. Am I correct in thinking that Mepis cannot be upgraded?
Doesn't Stable 6 use grub2 vs. Mepis using legacy grub? Am I correct in thinking that Mepis with legacy grub may not pick up other installs when duel or triple booting OS's with grub2?
Thanks.
kbd

Yes.


Yes. But it looks like the current Mepis version will be the last to come with grub-legacy.


Yes, but it isn't too difficult to add them to /boot/grub/menu.lst. grub2 makes all that easier, though.

One advantage of Debian Stable over Mepis is if you want to use another DE like Xfce or GNOME. You can install those in Mepis, I guess, but with Debian you can start out with something besides KDE, if you'd like.

Maybe there aren't many advantages besides that one. Except for bragging to your friends that you installed Debian.

Well, I gave it a shot, but both Xfce and KDE Debian Stable live refused to pick up my wireless, so that was a no go.
I like Debian Stable, but none of the friendly Debian Stable distros offer an upgrade path, the one downside IMO.
kbd

Not a big deal for me since Mepis (for example) is so quick and easy to install. But then, I prefer fresh installations over upgrades, even with Debian Stable.

I've never had problems upgrading Kubuntu although I've heard horror stories (but I'm skeptical, usually that's what happens when people don't bother to read the prompts and just press "yes").