On Mon, 2007-01-01 at 18:18 +0000, Richard Green wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm building my first Linux desktop PC with an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
> and Asus P5b Deluxe motherboard.
>
I have Ubuntu running on a similar desktop, E6600 and Asus P5N32-SLI SE
with twin Nvidia 7900GTs. Very nice. I am sure you will be very happy
together :)
I ran Ubuntu Edgy on that for a while and then upgraded to Feisty.
> I have used Debian before on a virtual server and so would like to use
> either Debian or Ubuntu on my new pc but I'm not really sure which. I
> was tempted to use Debian unstable (or would testing be better?) What
> would I gain from using Ubuntu over Debian? I'm also planning to use KDE
> from my limited experience of it if that makes any difference. It would
> also be good if I could use an installer with a 2.6.18 or later kernel
> due to earlier kernels not working with my IDE chipset :(
>
I'd (obviously) recommend Kubuntu [0] then. If you want a very new,
stable desktop the Kubuntu Edgy is the way to go.
As for the difference between Debian and (K)Ubuntu for me, there's four
major things.
One, Debian release when it's ready, Ubuntu release (more or less) on
time every six months. It's up to you of course whether you actually
upgrade, but the option is there. I like to know when a release is
coming on the desktop. On a server at home I have Debian current stable
- sarge, and that's good enough, but I wouldn't like to try to run that
on this desktop.
Next is the supportability. Dapper (6.06.1) is supported for 5 years on
the server and 3 years on the desktop. Each time an LTS (Long Term
Support) release comes out that is the case. Between the LTS releases
are "normal" ones which have 18 months support (for fixes and security
updates). I like this because it means I can easily plan my upgrade
cycle. I run the very latest development release (Feisty 7.04) on a
deskop and the stable latest non-LTS release (Edgy 6.10) on a laptop.
However my brother and wife both run the LTS release (Dapper 6.06.1).
Third is the support tracker [1]. If you have a problem you can post a
support ticket which means you are able to access other experts in
Ubuntu outside the LUG very easily. It is also closely tied with the bug
tracker and can be searched by others, so problems you have and solve
can benefit the rest of the community.
Last is that community. There's a huge IRC [2] support system, lots of
official mailing lists [3], an Ubuntu "LoCo" [4] team headed up by Nik
Butler of Sussex LUG, a great wiki [5], and the people aren't bad
either :)
> servers primarily to test/develop or just for use on the LAN so there
> will be no high load on them. I will also be using vmware and/or xen.
>
Also take a look at kvm [6] and qemu [7], kvm is an open source kernel
module that utilises the VT instructions in the CPU you have to make
qemu run very nicely :)
Cheers,
Al.
[0]
http://kubuntu.org/
[1]
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+tickets
[2]
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InternetRelayChat
[3]
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/
[4]
http://ubuntu-uk.org/
[5]
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/
[6]
http://kvm.sf.net/
[7]
http://qemu.org/
