Originally posted by SteveRiley
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And then, there is the "runaway" problem. I was using KNOPPIX, a German distro which, IIRC, introduced the idea of a repository. Or, at least, it was the first distro I used that embraced the concept. It also linked KPackageKit with its repository, much like Muon today. It was, and still is, a good distro. One day I was casually looking through the list of uninstalled files for KDE 3.x when I saw something was looked interesting. I selected it and clicked the "Install" button. I had done it so many times already that I ignored its message about "removing 295 applications and installing 304 applications". I assumed it was going to download and install one package but the first thing I saw was "removing 12 of 295".. :eek: It was too late. If I broke the install I'd have a broken desktop and/or distro. I let it roll. After 30 or so minutes a msg appeared stating "Installing 1 of 304", and the names of programs began to fly by. After another 30 or so minutes the process came to an end with the instruction to log out and log back in. I did. I was presented with the newest KDE 3.y desktop, without even asking for it. :cool:. A couple days later I found another program I thought would be neat to install. Infused with confidence I clicked the "Install" button. I saw another msg appear stating "Removing 1 of 305..." and 30 minutes later "Installing 1 of 295"...
Sure enough. It was downgrading my KDE installation to 3.x because the app I wanted to install required it. "Oh well", I thought, "KDE 3.x was OK", even if I couldn't use the app I had installed a couple days before. When it came time to log out and log back in (or, in effect, to restart the Xserver), I couldn't log back in without dropping to the console. KDE 3.x was hosed. If there was a package to install the KDE DE from scratch, or to repair a broken one, I didn't know about it.
That experience gave me the push to try a new distro called "LibraNet", based on Debian and using the deb packaging system and Aptitude. The differences between RPM and deb was stunning, at least to me. The LibraNet developer died and orphaned the distro, so I went distro hunting again. Never the less, I returned to the RPM and tried Mandrake, and later Mandriva, then PCLOS and back to Mandriva. I had tried Debian "way back when" it came on 15 floppies (or was it CD?) but was unsuccessful in installing it. I only switched to Kubuntu because, unlike Mandriva, it was installing the KDE 4.2 DE with Jaunty in the spring of 2009, and not waiting until the fall or winter of 2009 like Mandriva was. IMO, the deb/apt-get packaging/managing system is significantly superior to the RPM/whatever system to justify staying with deb/apt-get regardless of the distro.
Matter of fact, I wonder if it would be better to drop all the various *buntu names. There could be some benefit to becoming known as "KDE on Ubuntu." For one thing, it would clear up a lot of the confusion now. And the idea would naturally extend to any DE.
Ubuntu-Unity
Ubuntu-KDE
Ubuntu-Xfce
Ubuntu-Gnome
etc....
But, the msg I believe Shuttlesworth is sending is that he doesn't want to support such a wide variety of DE's any more.
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