Debian

rock solid for older pc ... love it

I prefer Debian because it aligns my personal beliefs regarding FOSS. I find that I dislike distros that are backed by corporations, because they always seem to have an alterior motive of some sort, and sometimes questionable practices, so I tend to avoid those. To me, Debian stable is perfectly suitable for server usage, but not so much for the desktop because of the age of the packages. When I have tried the corporate backed distros, I really felt that I was just their beta tester and/or information source, so I figured if I was going to be anyone's beta tester, I would prefer to be Debian's. My background is that I have worked in IT and computer programming for the last 25 years. I have been running Debian testing for years on my personal laptop (I have never had an update break it, requiring a reinstall), so that I can report any bugs that I find, as a way that I can give back. One of the big drawbacks to using testing is that it doesn't be timely security updates, so to mitigate that somewhat, I have added SID and pull Firefox and Thunderbird from there.

I like debian testing, but it can be a bit tricky to get going. IE you need it apt install cups to get your printer going. It is a great distro to learn more about your computer.

Debian just works. It's stable as a rock. Even it's testing branch is solid if you make sure to stay on top of updates. The only issues I've had with it is getting nonfree firmware installed but even that's as simple as adding a few words in your /etc/apt/sources.list. I'd recommend debian for anyone who is familiar with Linux and wants an experience that works out of the box but is as extensible as you want it to be

I have used Debian for years along with many other distros. I have always been impressed with Debian's stability as well as it's ability to upgrade from one major version to the next with little to now issues. Debian is a rock solid choice for a server, and it makes a great desktop too.

Since Ubuntu is dropping the ball a lot lately, which is also affecting downstream distros, I went distro hopping looking for the best distro to get away from Ubuntu with. I tried pure Arch and it's derivatives, Fedora, openSuse, and other Debian bases and none of it was for me. Then I finally hopped on pure Debian and found it to be perfect for me. I can't believe I never tried Debian earlier because it really is the best. It's so stable and if you want newer software you can easily just convert it to "Testing" or "Unstable" making it a rolling release. I see why Debian is king now, everything just works and works extremely well.

Debain is great for Servers and it works well on something like a Raspberry pi but it's not for everyone on a Desktop.

Since 2000 diehard user of Debian. As an IT Pro, despite all the other distros I've tried, I keep coming back to it.

It runs great, everything just works, great selection of software in the repositories. If you do not mind to have the latest and greatest applications it is awesome. Debian is the first distro that made me love linux coming as a total beginner. I actually recommend it for a newcomer to linux. If you are willing to learn and play with your operating system, it is easy, logical and enjoyable and better than fully pre-configured distros that work without you knowing why. As a server is great too, set it and forget it.

Debian is the granddaddy of many Linux distributions. It has always held a place on the server (for anyone not using RHEL) and has had a fairly useable desktop experience to boot. When I was last looking at it, it was too slow moving for my liking, but it had a lot of software available.

Debian is the best server distribution. It's easy to understand and very, very stable. It rarely changes (except for fast security updates) so it's very easy to maintain. It has a large repository and 99% of the time if the software is available in Linux it has a .deb (Debian package) available. In the rare cases that the software won't run or is difficult to install in Debian (I'm looking at you Red Hat) I will look for an alternative before supporting multiple server distros.

They add very little spit-polish to the stock software they package. There is no coherent layer of sweet icing spread over all the underlying building blocks, which oftentimes have gaps between them, which average users will fall into. But on the server it's great, as the security fixes are very timely, and the support lasts a long time. The server could use more spit-polish as well, and I wish some of the Ubuntu painpoint and papercut fixes would get upstreamed back to Debian!

There is a reason Debian is the basis for so many other more specialised Linux distributions. It is solid and it provides a base upon which you can build a server, or with a little work a desktop with all the required bells and whistles, or with a lot of work an entire distribution which can run to almost any requirement. For a distribution guided and built by a community to achieve this level which many focused company built distributions can only dream of, is a real testament to how good Debian is.

I've been using Debian Testing for quite a while. Solid and fast.

Not stable, just old. Old bugs are known bugs that are rarely fixed post-release because the Debian BTS is massively user-hostile. Still a solid choice for servers.

I've always considered Debian to be 'Mother Linux' since so many other distros are derived from it. It's very stable, has slower development and adheres to the no proprietary software rule which is appeals to FOSS lovers. Debian is great on older machines too, and really fast with the XFCE desktop environment.

Used to 'refresh' very old laptop computers (e.g.Vista Windows era) with a modern workable laptop for everyday use , browsing, email, replies to utility companies etc., for old folk who cannot afford to purchase a new laptop. About 7 machines so refreshed. Server and IoT use not used, . Leaving these at one star when not used seems odd, why not capability to remove them from survey if not applicable?

Another stable, reliable distro. However Debian does not make it easy to install proprietary drivers and it may not be straight forward for a novice to know if their computer requires any. For example, it can be difficult for a new user to find the model of Wifi card, where to find the software and how to install it. If you don't have Ethernet you may not have internet until the driver is installed. Don't let this turn you off giving Debian a go, just do some research before you get started. Debian is a popular choice for those wanting to harden a system for privacy and security while still having an excellent daily driver.

This is an overall great distribution that has been around for ages that has been overlooked. Debian is not the prettiest and not often the newest looking distro. If a user is expecting to constantly get the latest and greatest features, they will find themselves dissappointed. However, this is a strength of Debian. When they release a new stable, it lives up to the name. Debian goes with a set of packages and sticks with them, with most updates being for security or bug fixes. This leads to the great stability it has. This distro is for someone who wants a reliable system that they can use to get real work done. The sitting on old packages takes way from the distractions of new features.

Debian fits a very broad range of uses which is why it is the base distro for literally 1000's of other distros. For stability and well tested software it is hard to be beaten. On the desktop though it is perfectly usable and reliable it will lag behind by a year or two for stable releases. However in practice I have found that running testing has also become very stable while still getting newer iterations of software but no cutting edge or betas. It is true propriety software is not a clean fit sometimes but it is also not impossible to make it work. For server work because of it's standardised software stack it is easier to target for server software and when leveraging docker and kvm it is possible to have very light server images and visualise all of the services. For embedded electronics.. There is a reason the default OS for the Raspberry Pi Raspbian is based on Debian and not Ubuntu. That is because you not only can compile for far more architectures (Alpha, Arm, Armel, Armhf, Arm64, hppa, i386, amd64, m68k, mips, mipsel, PowerPC, s390x) but it is able to run a very minimal base system and add selective services relatively easily.

Solid server. Decent desktop. I use it for servers at work. I used to run it on my personal computer at home. The slow release cycle makes it boring as a daily driver, but it's fantastic for production servers. The fact that they're now enabling AppArmor by default increases my trust in the security of the system. Truth be told, I don't really trust any system that doesn't implement some sort of Mandatory Access Control out-of-the-box. It's not an ideal distribution for new users, but it's a great step towards Linux proficiency in regard to sysadmin tasks.

Debian Stable is the best distro for stability. You might need to work a little to get it installed (I had to provide it with a driver for my machine via a USB drive); this kind of thing would usually cost a distro a star, but I think it's seriously reliable enough to warrant 5 stars. The Debian website is old-fashioned but has lots of interesting info.

Debian is the best all around Linux distro and is famed for its stability and reliability. Less appreciated is Debian's abilities on as a desktop OS and for gaming builds. For performance desktops and gaming, the Debian testing provides an excellent update path for those that need more frequent updates, and the SID version provides an alternative for those looking for real time updates more akin to rolling distros - however both require a little more effort on behalf of the user.

Solid, stable, and minimal assumptions about the system, enables Debian to be used for pretty much any purpose that you could think of. I started with Debian 2.2 (woody) and have used it on Desktop/Laptops since. These days I'm running the "testing" which generally gets newer features faster than the main release, known as 'stable', after a few days in the unstable branch.

I've always loved Debian. I started off with this, with the tutorials from http://aboutdebian.com/. Always a solid platform. I just upgraded from version 7 to version 9, and it was a success.

definately very good choice for a server, but if configured with care it is also a very good dev. desktop.