Hello, I am a newbie to both Linux and Debian, so let me immediately apologize for my ignorance in my statements! I've tried many distributions, including Red Hat, Mandrake, Lycoris, Lindows, Elx, SuSe, and Vector, and so far I've found Debian to be most to my liking in terms of its excellent philosophy and the unbeatable apt-get system. Trust me, it was a steep learning curve for me, but once I got the hang of it I really liked the control and stability. But I have some concerns.
It seems to me, for my purposes, that to function on the internet and interact with the most prominent file types, it's necessary to use non- free or unstable packages. For example, I recently had to apt-get the non free Java (j2re1.3) from blackdown.org because certain websites I frequent wouldn't function without it. From perusing various groups, I've found that there are potential alternatives such as Kaffe for Virtual Machines, but there wasn't enough solid documentation for a newbie like me to be able to get it working under Mozilla (I had a hard enough time figuring out how to symbolically link the Java stuff to Mozilla to get it working--mind you I had no idea what a symbolic link was until doing this). Another site I frequent uses streaming Windows Media. Am I totally out of luck there? I know there's this Crossover package that will run WM, but it's definitely non-free. I haven't run into needing RealPlayer support yet, but I wonder if there's a free clone of that that works under debian-mozilla. Please understand that I'm trying to wean myself away from Microsoft products after years of frustration at their software despotism and my lack of control over their annoying software, but I'm having a hard time adapting to the Debian way of life. If I start plugging in all these non-free, non-stable packages into a stable Debian build, then is it really a stable system anymore? Yet it seems like I need to add a lot of these additional packages just to function. I'm confused! Believe me, I'm really, really drawn to Debian and can tell already after just a few weeks of use that I'm a user for life, but I wonder if there's some way to achieve a stable balance. I can live just fine with Gnome 1.4 and Mozilla 1.0, but the other stuff I mentioned earlier is harder to do without. And with all the backports for newer versions like Gnome 2.2 and such, I wonder: is there anyone out there who truly runs a stable-Debian only system? Well, consider this my introduction to the world of GNU/Linux and, especially, Debian. Feels good to be here! Appreciatively and Sincerely, M. Kirchhoff -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
