# Debian second best distro

Debian is a (very) old GNU/Linux distribution. Which has done a lot
(lot) to the Free Software movement. And we owe it almost every
GNU/Linux distribution. Such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Deepin. And many,
many more. It started in 1993 by Ian Murdock (✝). The name Debian is
the combination of his name and his girlfriend's name (Deborah + Ian)

There's the Debian Manifesto, which you can read
[here](http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/project-history/ap-manifesto.html)
Where a 100% Free (As in freedom) GNU/Linux distribution is stated.

There's also the DFSG (Debian Free Software guidelines). Which are the
guides that a package must follow for it to be considered Free
Software by Debian. I am not going to state them here. But you can read it [here](https://www.debian.org/social_contract.html#guidelines).

Debian has a lot of good stuff and a bit of bad stuff. But the bad
stuff can be easily fixed

* Since it is a very old GNU/Linux distribution, there's a lot of
  documentation written. So it is useful for new GNU/Linux users.
* Xorg just works.
* Lots of packages. 
* Runs on everything. Almost as NetBSD, and not planning to drop i386
  support, so my x60 can sleep in peace tonight.
* A lot of ISOs to choose from. Netinst for network installation or
  even a full image.
* Lot of mirrors around the world. So apt downloads can be very fast.

But there's also bad stuff. 

* systemd by default. You can change it. But it is a very bad idea. If
  you want Debian without systemd. Use [Devuan](https://devuan.org),
  which is the distro I use (2020-06-05) (not anymore)
* apt is slow as fuck while unpackaging.
* same as dpkg
* Old packages if you don't use Debian testing/sid. Which is not a big
  problem since you can edit sources.list or install Debian testing
  directly.

That's all about Debian. Probably my favorite distro and you should
use it if you're new to GNU/Linux.
