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By sticking to the GNU C library, the kFreeBSB branch avoids many of the issues that troubled an earlier Debian project to port the NetBSD kernel to Debian along with the BSD C library. However, this key library difference carries its own complexity — for instance, DTrace is practically unusable in kFreeBSD for now due to missing userland components. For a Debian-style distribution with better feature compatibility with Solaris (albeit with fewer available packages) check out Nexenta at nexenta.org.
When I spun up my first Debian kFreeBSD virtual instance, I noticed that FreeBSD lacks the enhanced “virtio” drivers that boost I/O performance with Linux or Windows operating systems running under KVM — a difference that was noticeable in the time it took my Linux and FreeBSD-based instances to install.
Given my interest in kFreeBSD’s potential for bringing previously inaccessible features into Debian, I was pleased to find ZFS as a partition option in the Debian installer application. However, over the course of several installations, I was unable to create an instance with a working ZFS partition from the installer — it appeared that the system wasn’t installing the needed packages to get ZFS working. I was, however, able to create ZFS volumes once I’d finished installing and booting into a standard install with UFS-formatted partitions.
I tested the amd64 version of Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 on a dual-core Dell notebook with 3GB of RAM, as well as on a handful of VMs (virtual machines) hosted under the KVM hypervisor on that test notebook. I created VMs for the 64- and 32-bit versions of the distribution in both its GNU/Linux and GNU/kFreeBSD configurations.
For most of my installs, I opted for Debian’s network-based install media — relatively small (around 140MB) disc images that reach over the network to Debian mirror servers to fetch the files needed for an installation. One of the benefits of this install route is that the system grabs all the pending updates during the install process, so there aren’t dozens of packages to fetch after first boot.
Debian 6 is also available in a LiveCD version, similar to what other Linux distributions offer, which enables users first to try out the operating system before installing it on their hard drives.
Unlike most other Linux distributions, installing Debian 6 comes with the additional wrinkle, depending on one’s hardware, of separately installing any device firmware that fails to meet Debian’s free licensing requirements. With version 6, the Debian project has managed to excise all non-free firmware from its default install sources — a long-time goal of the project.
My test machine required such a firmware file to drive its Intel 4965AGN wireless network adapter. The Debian installer prompted me to provide the needed file, which I attempted to do using a USB stick, but the installer couldn’t detect the the firmware. I tried with FAT and ext3-formatted USB media, but to no avail. I forged ahead with my wired NIC, which did not require additional firmware, and fetched the missing firmware from Debian’s optional non-free repository after installation.
Once my system was up and running, I was pleased to note that some of the software management tools I’m accustomed to using in Ubuntu (which is a Debian derivative) have made it back upstream. In particular, Ubuntu’s App Store-like Software Center, and its easy-to-use Update Manager tools, are available in Debian 6, both of which put a friendly face on the distribution’s massive collection of ready-to-install software packages.
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View Comments
Nice take on Debian 6 because you 're focusing more on the kFreeBSD side. Really good review in my opinion, thanks.
Your problem with firmware is not Debian fault but yours, because you must read the install notes before installing.
In doing so you learn that there's a netinstall CD (amd64 in your case) with firmware.
This is the official page with all install possibilities:
http://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze/debian-installer/
Debianero says "Your problem with firmware is not Debian fault but yours, because you must read the install notes before installing."
Why?
There are enough Debian-"based" distros in the Linux world, and they are much more user-friendly than Debian. You don't need to see Debian 6 by ONLY installing it, but by downloading the Debian 6 Live DVD, but the ONLY problem is that the Debian Website WON'T tell you such a thing is there, so most of the people had (and still do) downloaded the Netinstall, CDs, DVDs, but not the Live CD. Sort of a ploy by the Debian elders!
Even the Distrowatch release announcement on the 6th didn't even mention that, and there was NO additional announcement of such a release!
Why should any ordinary user bother about downloading and installing from those 'install' CDDVDs? When you look at the size of the DVDs, Debian becomes another distro, NOT an operating system!
Ubuntu is a perfectly excellent distro than "the rock that Ubuntu stands on". Aptosid, Saline OS Crunchbang are much more worthwhile and useful than "raw' Debian 6!
Before jumping at my throat READ the Debian website, and specially the http://www.debian.org/distrib/ and further. If you find ANY mention of Live DVDs, just like in ANY available distro in the Linux world, I'd take my word back, other wise I maintain that Debian is for geeks and other brainy developers, BUT not for the ordinary end-users!
W
While Debian's approach to the non-free hardware is a little rough around the edges, it clearly is the proper way to go.
The reason it is the proper way to go, is that eventually the non-free software will become a big issue that will threaten to stop the unpaid distribution of Linux, UNLESS the distribution is easily possible without the non-free software.
There are things that are not under a free license because no one that is in the position to change it are aware that it is non-free.
If you remember all of the derogatory things said about Debian for rebranding firefox iceweasel, you may not be aware of the fact that the ubuntu repositories include abrowser which was ubuntu doing the exact same thing as debian, until Mozilla backed down.
You can complain about the lack of polish, of removal of non-free software from the core, but, realize that the only way that this is going to get fixed, and the other linux distributions are going to stay easy to install is by debian making it an issue, and other distros following debian's lead.
Debian makes mistakes, but generally their policy and copyright/trademark stances tend to be much better thought out than other distributions.
Think of it as taking a long view, rather than a short term view of things.
This is one of the reasons that debian is so easy to upgrade, because the foundation was laid a long time ago.
Debian offers unofficial Debian 6.0 'Squeeze' network installation CDs which do include all the non-free firmwares. So if Debian installer asks you to provide some firmware then you might want to use those CD images intead of the default images. Those netinst CD images including non-free firmwares are avauilable from the Debian's main server.
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/
Those images imclude the same stuff as official netinst images + non-free firmwares.