I'll just have to figure out how to add the "Backports" repos, and probably some apt-pinning, as well (in the future).  All in all, I'm happy to be back!

But I plan to stick with Squeeze when it transitions to Stable, rather than changing my sources to Testing or Sid. I want a system that "just works" with a minimum of updates. If I want to play with the latest stuff, I can use Virtualbox or my netbook.

That would be my choice, as well . . . go with Debian 6.0 Squeeze (stable) and add the Squeeze Backports repros.  This should do well for some time to come.

snowpine wrote:

After much consideration I have decided to stick with "Squeeze" and enjoy the transition to a Debian Stable based #!. I've installed VirtualBox in case I need/want to experiment with the bleeding edge. Virtual Sid/Arch/Fedora/etc running on top of a Stable base system seems like the best of both worlds to me.

snowpine,

I'm a recent convert to #!, followed this thread (and http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … on-to-sid/ ), and am wondering why you've decided to go back to "stable"?  I just re-installed Statler Openbox (after another bout of massive distrohopping - sometimes changing distros the same day) and changed all my repos to aptosid & sid - so far, so good, and no error messages.

Is is just because you want the stability - or did your system get messed up somehow?  I'm in the process of setting up 2 concurrent Statler installs - one "normal" (i.e., based on Squeeze) - and the other the aptosid/sid hybrid, with a "shared" partition (NOT /home) mounted for data files, music, etc.

I think this is my 2nd or 3rd post here, but just wanted to say that this is one of the friendliest and most informative forums I've found !!

Thanks,
JustCreepin'

p.s.  Although addressed to snowpine, I would love any/every-one with experience to chime in, "5dolla" included

Correction--I am using "Squeeze" which is not Stable yet. But I plan to stick with Squeeze when it transitions to Stable, rather than changing my sources to Testing or Sid. I want a system that "just works" with a minimum of updates. If I want to play with the latest stuff, I can use Virtualbox or my netbook.

After much consideration I have decided to stick with "Squeeze" and enjoy the transition to a Debian Stable based #!. I've installed VirtualBox in case I need/want to experiment with the bleeding edge. Virtual Sid/Arch/Fedora/etc running on top of a Stable base system seems like the best of both worlds to me.

snowpine,

I'm a recent convert to #!, followed this thread (and http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … on-to-sid/ ), and am wondering why you've decided to go back to "stable"?  I just re-installed Statler Openbox (after another bout of massive distrohopping - sometimes changing distros the same day) and changed all my repos to aptosid & sid - so far, so good, and no error messages.

Is is just because you want the stability - or did your system get messed up somehow?  I'm in the process of setting up 2 concurrent Statler installs - one "normal" (i.e., based on Squeeze) - and the other the aptosid/sid hybrid, with a "shared" partition (NOT /home) mounted for data files, music, etc.

I think this is my 2nd or 3rd post here, but just wanted to say that this is one of the friendliest and most informative forums I've found !!

Thanks,
JustCreepin'

p.s.  Although addressed to snowpine, I would love any/every-one with experience to chime in, "5dolla" included

A: They sometimes are compatible, but care needs to be taken when installing them, as they are MADE for Ubuntu (usually, sometimes they would have a Debian version as well), so it's a good idea to install the .debs manually, and not adding the PPAs to your sources.list.

I see your point.

Q: Are app packages in the Launchpad PPA's compatible with a pure Debian distro or can they be used only with a Ubuntu based one?

In my opinion, the best thing about Debian is the incredible Debian repositories of stable, well-tested, pre-compiled application binaries. Personally I would add additional repositories with extreme caution (and I would never mix Debian and Ubuntu repos).

The better option as mentioned above is to compile the app you want directly from its developers (or if they provide a .deb for Debian, even better). You've probably heard the expression "open source" well this is exactly what it means: as a LInux user you have the inalienable right to install exactly the applications you want on your system, direct from the source (and furthermore can modify that source for your needs if necessary).

richs-lxh wrote:

.  They get some nice scripts posted as well, smxi etc.

Must be a few years since you last visited, but sidux is now dead to morph as aptosid and I can guarantee you won't see any mention of h2 scripts.

Yeah, it has been a while. Shame about h2 and his scripts, he put a lot into sidux back in the day.

.  They get some nice scripts posted as well, smxi etc.

Must be a few years since you last visited, but sidux is now dead to morph as aptosid and I can guarantee you won't see any mention of h2 scripts.

a.

@nolatux - if you must have the latest apps you should either switch distros or get used to compiling. It is "normal" that most distros do not always package the latest versions of apps into their repos.

As for Launchpad specifically, you can download the DEB files and sometimes it will install on Debian just fine. I would not add them to your sources.list however. Mixing Ubuntu and Debian is just asking for trouble.

I think I need to rephrase my question so it clarifies where I'm going with all this, so here goes:

Q: Are app packages in the Launchpad PPA's compatible with a pure Debian distro or can they be used only with a Ubuntu based one?

As for Launchpad specifically, you can download the DEB files and sometimes it will install on Debian just fine. I would not add them to your sources.list however. Mixing Ubuntu and Debian is just asking for trouble.

Alternately you can use a rolling release distro such as Arch (checked archlinux.com for you and they are at tint2 0.11).

Just FYI: It's archlinux.org.

nolatux wrote:

One thing I'm curious/concerned about is getting the most current version of apps (as they are released from the developer) with the least amount of lag time (and/or I may want daily builds of said apps as well), whether I'm using a Debian or Ubuntu based system.

You can wait for someone else to package it for you, or you can do it yourself.

Latest tint2 is always available from http://code.google.com/p/tint2/

Alternately you can use a rolling release distro such as Arch (checked archlinux.com for you and they are at tint2 0.11).

Thanks snowpine but my reference to Tint2 was used only to illustrate the differences between the Ubuntu repos, Launchpad and Debian repos.

One thing I'm curious/concerned about is getting the most current version of apps (as they are released from the developer) with the least amount of lag time (and/or I may want daily builds of said apps as well), whether I'm using a Debian or Ubuntu based system.

You can wait for someone else to package it for you, or you can do it yourself.

Latest tint2 is always available from http://code.google.com/p/tint2/

Alternately you can use a rolling release distro such as Arch (checked archlinux.com for you and they are at tint2 0.11).