Thursday, May 28, 2009

Latest and Greatest

I run a multi-boot, all-Linux set-up, with Debian, Mepis, Mint, and Ubuntu, but with the exception of Mepis (currently using Mepis 8), I haven't kept up with the latest versions of each distro.

With Debian, I'm sticking with the "Stable" version, currently Debian Lenny. Debian Testing sounds fine -- my buddy ComputerBob has been using it, with few problems. But Lenny will remain as the "Stable" version for a few years, and I don't plan to change anything until then.

Mint and Ubuntu put out LTS (Long-Term Service) versions. The last of these were Mint Elyssa and Ubuntu Hardy; these will be supported for a few more years yet. Since then, Mint has released Felicia, and this week, Gloria. Ubuntu has come out with Intrepid and Jaunty, and will release Karmic Koala later this year.

Mepis has no long-term version, and it isn't a "rolling release," so I go with each new release with that distro. I'll keep doing so for as long as it remains a solid distro on my machines.

I'm happy to see things continuing to move forward, but have no desire to try to keep up. Next year, I plan to install Mepis 9 when it comes out, but barring something unforeseen, perhaps hard drive failures or any new computers falling into my lap, I should be sticking with Debian Stable and the LTS versions of Mint and Ubuntu for a few years. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Seems like a good approach to me.

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