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Questions about the Debian Project

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  Questions about the Debian Project David <david.hochfellner34@gmail.com> - 2021-03-09 14:50 +0100
    Re: Questions about the Debian Project Davide Prina <davide.prina@gmail.com> - 2021-03-09 21:20 +0100
      Re: Questions about the Debian Project Sergio Moraes <sergiomoraes@ieee.org> - 2021-03-09 23:10 +0100
    Re: Questions about the Debian Project Paul Wise <pabs@debian.org> - 2021-03-10 03:20 +0100

#12178 — Questions about the Debian Project

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Hi, my name is David and I'm a 17 years old student from Austria. I don't
know if somebody in the developer team speaks German so I write in English.
Please excuse that my English isn't the best. If you have someone who
speaks German I can write the mail also in German.  However I have to write
a VWA (Vorwissenschaftliche Arbeit), I don't know how it's called in
English, basically it's a work you have to write to finish school. I'm
writing about homenetworks with Open Source and freeware, so I have two
questions about  Debian.

   - Do you think Debian is the perfect operating system for a homeserver?
   - If you think so, why?

I would like to publish them in my work, I would also write down who
answered me the questions. I hope you answer my mail and my questions.
With greetings,
David Hochfellner

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#12179

Hi David,

On 09/03/21 14:35, David wrote:
> Hi, my name is David and I'm a 17 years old student from Austria

I'm a normal Debian user.

> I have to write a VWA (Vorwissenschaftliche Arbeit)

> it's a work you have to write to finish school. I'm
> writing about homenetworks with Open Source and freeware

first of all Open Source and freeware are two different concepts and one 
software cannot be open source and freeware at the same time.

Most Debian software isn't freeware software, there are very few exceptions
If you want to know more read this (you can select German language)
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.en.html

You can have nearly 100% free software (someone call it also open 
source, but if you have read the link above you know already the 
difference) using Debian, it is your choice.

I prefer to speak about free software, if you want to know more read that:
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

> I have two questions about  Debian.

you can read the Debian FAQ (also available in German language):
https://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals#faq

and you can take a look in the Debian reference:
https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/

to know more about Debian

>     - Do you think Debian is the perfect operating system for a homeserver?

I think that the reply depend on who have to install and do the admin 
work on that homeserver.

If you don't know one operative system (OS) than that OS is not for you 
for a server environment.

So if you know Debian and are able to admin a Debian system than you can 
use it for a homeserver with great success.

>     - If you think so, why?

I'm using Debian GNU/Linux basically as a Desktop system on all my PCs.

You must understand, if you have never used a GNU/Linux system, that you 
must learn a lot of things (you can compare it as you will transfer to a 
foreign country (or different time) and you don't know the language, the 
behavior, ... of the other people you must interact with).
If you don't know what is a GNU/Linux distro it is very hard to really 
understand a lot of thing.

I will try to tell you some good points on using Debian GNU/Linux as a 
homeserver:

* you can install it also on old PC (actually I'm using the Debian 
GNU/Linux Bullseye or testing on a 12 year old PC, my main PC, using 
Gnome 3 as desktop environment... OK I make some "special" 
configurations for have better performance)

* you can install it without a Desktop Environment or any graphics 
interface (a server, if it is a server, don't need a graphics 
interface... normally servers don't have also a monitor because they are 
reached by remote connection using ssh or similar)

* Debian give you a very good security support for all package in the 
main repository and you can have this for a very long time (upgrading an 
operative system for a server is normally critical and you want to 
upgrade it only after years you have installed it)

* very easy to install/upgrade software from the Debian repositories

* a vast software selection in the Debian repositories

* you can have security news on package you have installed from main 
repository

* Debian can run on very different hardware architecture (amd64 (this is 
intel/amd processor with 64 bits), arm64, i386, armel, armhf, ia64, 
mips, powerpc, ppc64el, s390x). I don't know any other Operative System 
that can give you that versatility

* you can use your system with a lot of language, but it is better to 
know also English because not all is translated in all language

* you can ask help to other people that use Debian, using the mailing 
list, forum, irc, ...

* you can contact directly people who manage the packages (called DD: 
Debian Developer) and also to the upstream that manage the source code 
(in same case the DD are also the upstream). Naturally you must contact 
they with "interesting" question and if you have 
installation/configuration/usage problem it is better to use first other 
channels: mailing list, forum, irc, ... (DD can also reply in that channels)

* you can report bugs

* you can have the source code of all packages in main repository, so if 
you are able you can customize, patch, ... the software you use

* you can contribute to the development of Debian and become also a DD

* you can run your server without reboot for a very long time and reboot 
are required only in very few case

* you can replace hardware without reinstall all the system (for example 
you can change the motherboard and the processor type from Intel to AMD 
and you can reboot your system... naturally you need to know that you 
must have a generic kernel or you must install previously the right 
kernel for your new CPU. I have done this to the PC of my brother. 
Naturally that don't work if you change the hardware architecture, in 
that case you must reinstall the whole system, for example from Intel to 
Arm)

* you can have support for old hardware without need to buy new one when 
you use a new operative system version

* you can upgrade your system with a new operative system version very 
easy, with few simple commands (naturally you need to backup all your 
data before as precaution) and you can always recover you system and 
reboot it if there are software problem (naturally if you hard disk 
broke it isn't a system operative fault)

* you can have a lot of tools that you can need to manage your server, 
to monitor it, to generate alerts, ...

* as I have said before you can participate on all Debian phases and you 
can use "your" operative system and you can be part of it with your 
contributions

* a lot of software that let you make backups

* ... a lot more...

Ciao
Davide
-- 
I didn't use Microsoft machines when I was in my operational phase, 
because I couldn't trust them.
Not because I knew that there was a particular back door or anything 
like that, but because I couldn't be sure.
Edward Snowden

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#12180

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

 Hi David,

Davide's reply is great and I second that.
Like him, I'm not a developer, so I won't directly reply to your questions.
But I'd like to add a few suggestions.

If you're familiar with IRC, you might have some luck getting an answer in
there. Additionally, you can get involved with the community and make some
friends.

Here is a page to help you connect to the IRC:
https://www.debian.org/support#irc

Also, there's a Debian channel there dedicated to German speakers, although
I don't know how many people you will find there. The channel is #debian.de

You can find more here: https://wiki.debian.org/IRC

Good luck.


*--Sergio Moraes*
*Data Management Analyst*
Phone: (734) 262-9830


On Tue, Mar 9, 2021 at 12:16 PM Davide Prina <davide.prina@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi David,
>
> On 09/03/21 14:35, David wrote:
> > Hi, my name is David and I'm a 17 years old student from Austria
>
> I'm a normal Debian user.
>
> > I have to write a VWA (Vorwissenschaftliche Arbeit)
>
> > it's a work you have to write to finish school. I'm
> > writing about homenetworks with Open Source and freeware
>
> first of all Open Source and freeware are two different concepts and one
> software cannot be open source and freeware at the same time.
>
> Most Debian software isn't freeware software, there are very few exceptions
> If you want to know more read this (you can select German language)
> https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.en.html
>
> You can have nearly 100% free software (someone call it also open
> source, but if you have read the link above you know already the
> difference) using Debian, it is your choice.
>
> I prefer to speak about free software, if you want to know more read that:
> https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
>
> > I have two questions about  Debian.
>
> you can read the Debian FAQ (also available in German language):
> https://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals#faq
>
> and you can take a look in the Debian reference:
> https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/
>
> to know more about Debian
>
> >     - Do you think Debian is the perfect operating system for a
> homeserver?
>
> I think that the reply depend on who have to install and do the admin
> work on that homeserver.
>
> If you don't know one operative system (OS) than that OS is not for you
> for a server environment.
>
> So if you know Debian and are able to admin a Debian system than you can
> use it for a homeserver with great success.
>
> >     - If you think so, why?
>
> I'm using Debian GNU/Linux basically as a Desktop system on all my PCs.
>
> You must understand, if you have never used a GNU/Linux system, that you
> must learn a lot of things (you can compare it as you will transfer to a
> foreign country (or different time) and you don't know the language, the
> behavior, ... of the other people you must interact with).
> If you don't know what is a GNU/Linux distro it is very hard to really
> understand a lot of thing.
>
> I will try to tell you some good points on using Debian GNU/Linux as a
> homeserver:
>
> * you can install it also on old PC (actually I'm using the Debian
> GNU/Linux Bullseye or testing on a 12 year old PC, my main PC, using
> Gnome 3 as desktop environment... OK I make some "special"
> configurations for have better performance)
>
> * you can install it without a Desktop Environment or any graphics
> interface (a server, if it is a server, don't need a graphics
> interface... normally servers don't have also a monitor because they are
> reached by remote connection using ssh or similar)
>
> * Debian give you a very good security support for all package in the
> main repository and you can have this for a very long time (upgrading an
> operative system for a server is normally critical and you want to
> upgrade it only after years you have installed it)
>
> * very easy to install/upgrade software from the Debian repositories
>
> * a vast software selection in the Debian repositories
>
> * you can have security news on package you have installed from main
> repository
>
> * Debian can run on very different hardware architecture (amd64 (this is
> intel/amd processor with 64 bits), arm64, i386, armel, armhf, ia64,
> mips, powerpc, ppc64el, s390x). I don't know any other Operative System
> that can give you that versatility
>
> * you can use your system with a lot of language, but it is better to
> know also English because not all is translated in all language
>
> * you can ask help to other people that use Debian, using the mailing
> list, forum, irc, ...
>
> * you can contact directly people who manage the packages (called DD:
> Debian Developer) and also to the upstream that manage the source code
> (in same case the DD are also the upstream). Naturally you must contact
> they with "interesting" question and if you have
> installation/configuration/usage problem it is better to use first other
> channels: mailing list, forum, irc, ... (DD can also reply in that
> channels)
>
> * you can report bugs
>
> * you can have the source code of all packages in main repository, so if
> you are able you can customize, patch, ... the software you use
>
> * you can contribute to the development of Debian and become also a DD
>
> * you can run your server without reboot for a very long time and reboot
> are required only in very few case
>
> * you can replace hardware without reinstall all the system (for example
> you can change the motherboard and the processor type from Intel to AMD
> and you can reboot your system... naturally you need to know that you
> must have a generic kernel or you must install previously the right
> kernel for your new CPU. I have done this to the PC of my brother.
> Naturally that don't work if you change the hardware architecture, in
> that case you must reinstall the whole system, for example from Intel to
> Arm)
>
> * you can have support for old hardware without need to buy new one when
> you use a new operative system version
>
> * you can upgrade your system with a new operative system version very
> easy, with few simple commands (naturally you need to backup all your
> data before as precaution) and you can always recover you system and
> reboot it if there are software problem (naturally if you hard disk
> broke it isn't a system operative fault)
>
> * you can have a lot of tools that you can need to manage your server,
> to monitor it, to generate alerts, ...
>
> * as I have said before you can participate on all Debian phases and you
> can use "your" operative system and you can be part of it with your
> contributions
>
> * a lot of software that let you make backups
>
> * ... a lot more...
>
> Ciao
> Davide
> --
> I didn't use Microsoft machines when I was in my operational phase,
> because I couldn't trust them.
> Not because I knew that there was a particular back door or anything
> like that, but because I couldn't be sure.
> Edward Snowden
>
>

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#12181

On Tue, Mar 9, 2021 at 1:43 PM David wrote:

> Hi, my name is David and I'm a 17 years old student from Austria.

Welcome!

Please keep Debian in mind if you decide to join the Google Summer of
Code program when you reach university. GSoC is the main paid
internship program for Free Software and Open Source projects, but
there are other ones, and various unpaid mentoring opportunities too.

https://wiki.debian.org/SummerOfCode
https://wiki.debian.org/Mentoring
https://github.com/fossjobs/fossjobs/wiki/resources#internships

> I don't know if somebody in the developer team speaks German so I write in English.

There are many German speakers in Debian, enough that there is a
German translation team.

https://www.debian.org/international/german/

> Please excuse that my English isn't the best.

It is much better than my non-existent German :)

> Do you think Debian is the perfect operating system for a homeserver?
> If you think so, why?

Apart from what Davide wrote, you should also be aware of the Debian
related project called FreedomBox, which aims to provide a homeserver
implementation using Debian. They alsomuch  sell FreedomBox
preinstalled on hardware.

https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox
https://www.freedombox.org/
https://freedomboxfoundation.org/

-- 
bye,
pabs

https://wiki.debian.org/PaulWise

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