Assume that you have a high speed connection to one of the debian mirror sites and then read on (will help you in appreciating what is written below).
FAQs
How is it different from Red Hat and others?
Debian GNU linux is a free community distribution of linux.Just buy a base installation cd and make sure you have a high speed connection to one of the mirror site.
What is a mirror site
A site which contains all the .deb packages(similar to rpms) and interacts intelligently with your system. Provides you complete control while installing packages(using a small program called ’’dselect’’) coz it resolves all the dependencies right then and there.
Why I like Debian over any of the other distributions?
1: Its free.
2: You get all the brand new packages within a couple of days of its worldwide release.
3: While installing new packages you don’t have to worry about ’’not’’ finding the dependencies(which a big big downer with other cd based distributions)
4: You can try all the unstable releases too.
5: If you are well versed with its installation, gives u maximum control.
6: Doesn’t give any problems like ’’boot sector cannot be on partitions greater than 1024 cylinders’’(even in the older systems) .
What is not so good about Debian?
1: Network based installation(the preferred way) is a bit trickier(much trickier than red hat)
2: No point using it if you don’t have a dedicated high speed net connection or have a mirror site on your intranet.
3: Tougher to use than Red hat for the uninitiated ones.
All in all the better option for the serious linux users/developers provided......