Bonum Certa Men Certa

Why You Should Adopt Debian 10, Not Vista 10 (Windows Vista With Microsoft's Latest Surveillance Add-ons)

My desk photographed an hour ago

My desk



Summary: A little personal story and recommendation of Debian "Buster" (10) or Devuan (whose developers persist)

THIS year started slowly due to two machine failures. First it was my wife's and then (weeks later) it was mine. The hard-drive wasn't aging well (it's 11 years old) and risk of severe data loss had grown greater by the week. I had to reboot several times because the root filesystem kept locking up (to avert critical failure) and at that point the battery wasn't working, the screen had not worked for more than a year (I've an used external one on this laptop) and even the keyboard was defunct (so I've used an external one). The reboots are a pretty big deal because I ran some important things on this laptop (IRC logging for instance), on a 24/7 basis, and reboots were like an annual thing. Uptime was really good until the disk kept failing (becoming read-only until a file system check).



"Uptime was really good until the disk kept failing (becoming read-only until a file system check)."Due to hardware issues earlier this year we bought two used (refurbished/"preowned") laptops and put Debian 10 on them. It was pretty spectacular that everything worked well out of the box and was simple to set up. Configuring a printer took less time than it took to feed it paper (my wife did all that on her own yesterday).

The hardest thing about Debian wasn't setting it up as a system (post-installation). The installer still uses a lot of jargon (remember the old joke about the meaning of the word "Ubuntu") and if one needs firmware (binary blobs) to get Wi-Fi going, then things can get tricky. In the name of freedom and FSF endorsement, of course...

"Due to hardware issues earlier this year we bought two used (refurbished/"preowned") laptops and put Debian 10 on them. It was pretty spectacular that everything worked well out of the box and was simple to set up."After she had set up her laptop with Debian 10 (and included were all the desktop environments available) my wife installed it on mine as well. She didn't struggle, she was technical enough and all I needed to provide was a password.

Debian GNU/Linux does not spend billions of dollars on marketing; it does not bribe sites like ZDNet to totally control them -- even their "Linux" section.

Up until the start of this year I did OK under GNU/Linux with never a computer that had more than 2 GB of RAM. I did all my work just fine with such minimal specs.

In my experience, setting up GNU/Linux (major distributions and their derivatives) in 2020 is very easy. The last time I actually installed Windows I think I was using floppy disks, but people say it's still a difficult experience because one must pursue drivers and deal with various compatibility issues, sometimes licensing issues as well.

"In my experience, setting up GNU/Linux (major distributions and their derivatives) in 2020 is very easy."Debian now uses systemd, which some prominent Debian figures oppose and I cannot blame them. Devuan is still available for those looking to dodge systemd.

We're still planning to migrate the site to another operating system, maybe Devuan. A migration isn't as simple as initially hoped for various technical reasons and lack of spare hardware (one physical server and hypervisor). But we're still working on that whenever time permits.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Law Firms Facing the Consequences for Patently Abusive Litigation on Behalf of Microsoft Employees Who Got Arrested for Strangulation and Had Done Even Worse Things
Having spent 1.5 years bullying me with patronising letters on behalf of Microsofters, last week they got served a massive bill and, in effect, lost the Hearing
LLMs Breaking Everything
Computing and the Net became a playground for scammers and "bros", like people who "invented" fake currencies and also try to tell us that LLMs spewing out things will have some real value
1989: Free Software as "Open" Software (OSI Didn't Coin "Open Source", It Also Predates Linux)
"One man's fight for Free software"
 
The FSF Board and FSF Beard
So the FSF's Board has grown
New Report From the EPO's Staff Representatives in The Hague (LSCTH) Reveals Many Unsolved Issues
Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) wrote to staff just before the weekend
Links 22/06/2025: More Slop Lawsuits (Copyrights) and "America’s Oligarch Problem"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/06/2025: Gigantic Toolchest and Annoying Bots
Links for the day
The Calling
Persist and persevere, justice will come your way
So Far Every BetaNews 'Article' is LLM Slop, So BetaNews is Officially Just a Slopfarm
They just don't seem to value what they have
IBM Rumour: Mass Layoffs (RAs) Lists Being Made for Consulting, With Effect in July 2025
Bogus companies with no viable products and no world-leading (in their field) staff are doomed to perish
Links 21/06/2025: Data Breach With 16 Billion Passwords, Dutch Government Recommends Children Under 15 Stay off TikTok and Instagram
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/06/2025: Notes about Typst (and LaTeX) and Opos
Links for the day
Microsoft's Competition Tactics: Sabotage GNU/Linux Installs, Block Chrome
Edge is dying
The Microsoft OOXML Modus Operandi: Throw 1,000 Pages of Other People's Work for a Judge to Read Ahead of a One-Hour Meeting
No time to discuss this - that's the point
Formalities Officers (FOs) at the EPO Are in Trouble, Reveals Internal Report
We already know, based on an HR pattern we saw at IBM and elsewhere, that reallocating roles can be prerequisite for dismissal and those who do so expect many to resign anyway
The Web is Slop and FUD, Let's Go to Gemini Protocol
Lupa sees self-signed capsules at 92.4%
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 20, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 20, 2025
Links 21/06/2025: Phone Bans for Concerts, Tensions in Taiwan Strait
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/06/2025: Spoilers, Public Yggdrasil Node, Changes to AuraGem Search
Links for the day
"Six years of Gemini!"
From gemini://geminiprotocol.net
Gemini Links 20/06/2025: Summer Updates and Hardware Failures
Links for the day
Links 20/06/2025: Google Shareholder Sues Google and Google Sued for Defamatory Slop ('Hey Hi') Word Salads ('Summaries')
Links for the day
Linux Journal Might Have Become the Latest Slopfarm Targeting "Linux", the Trends Are Concerning for Dying News Sites
They tarnish the Web with junk and then die
On "Learning to Code"
quality may suffer, plus things get bloated
Quick Points Regarding This Week's Court Hearing
it paves the way for us to squash all the SLAPPs from Microsofters
Common Mistake: Believing Social Control Media Will Document Your Writings/Thoughts and Search Engines Like Google Will Help You Find These
Many news sites wrongly assumed that posting directly to Twitter would be acceptable
The Manchester Bees and This Hot Summer
We have had a fantastic week so far this week
Gemini Protocol Enters Its Seventh Year, Growth Has Accelerated!
Maybe in June 20 2026 there will be over 3,500 active capsules?
Mastodon and the Fediverse Have an Issue: Liability for Content (Even in Other Instances) and Costs
self-hosting is the only logical path forward
Why Microsoft and Its 'Hey Hi' (Slop) Frenzy Fail While Sinking in Deep, Growing Debt
Right now, like Twitter around the time it was sold to MElon, "open" "hey hi" is a big pile of debt with a lot to pay for that debt (interest payments)
Europe is Leaving Microsoft, the Press Coverage Isn't Sufficiently Helpful
The news is generally positive, but the press coverage leaves so much to be desired
Slopwatch: Linuxsecurity, BetaNews, and Linux Journal
slippery slope
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 19, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/06/2025: Gemini Protocol Turns 6!
Links for the day