iThank you all, I've created my list with your 5 cents. Here it is: Debian vs RedHat and the others:
1. Debian has a large number of packages (2400 in potato, and just under 2000 in slink). All of the package maintainers communicate, so thus the packages work more smoothly together. Nearly all software is packaged "offcicially"and quality controlled. Most RPMs are broken or incorrectly packaged or designed for a distribution other than the one you have; it's easy to break your system with these. Even the official Red hat RPMs don't have the quality of Debian packages; consider that Debian maintainers usual use the software themselves. 2. Debian is also a bit more stable. I think, that the support in chat rooms and mailing lists is far superior as well. All the software in the 'main' section is guaranteed to be distributable and usable for any purpose; no other distribution makes this guarantee. That means you have to read the license for every package and be sure you can include it on your CD. With Debian, just use the official CD and you're safe. Small touches: backspace/delete work right in most apps, for example. There are tons of little things like this that Debian gets right. 3. RH has the easy install method, debian has the easy upgrade of individual packages method (i.e., apt-get install package.deb.) But Debian also has an easy install: after installing the base system, install asks you to select the type of installation you want, and selects packages accordingly. Then dselect runs to allow you to configure more precisely. 4. DPKG vs RPM, two features make DPKG better: A. DPKG has multiple levels of depends, indicating that a program REQUIRES another program, RECOMMEDNS another program, or SUGGESTS another program. Also, Debian subdivides packages into multiple ones to avoid duplication and reduce download sizes when upgrades are made. B. With Debian and DFTP or APT, you don't have to worry about RedHat releasing a distribution. With Redhat you must reboot your computer with floppies specify upgrade and let the system migrate from one major number to the other. With debian you set into the sources.list the new distrib name next to the old in first time and let the system upgrade smoothly without reboot... 5. In debian the packages are more or less left as made by their authors, which means that the config files are in the same place as in the original source distribution and not in some impossible place like some RPM packages 6. Debian being the only non-commercial distribution, which means that the university can make copies of there own and sell them tot the students for any price. Licensing issues are not an issue in debian because everything has a license in the form of GPL (or similar). This allows free alterations and distribution. 7. Debian releases only when the dist is ready and not a day before. Deb can do this because the developers aren't working on a management-imposed release deadline. 8. Manuals are coming in the Dutch Language: http://panic.et.tudelft.nl/debian/handleiding/index.html -- Bernhard Dobbels Student Electronic Engineer option Automation and Computersystems. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: 25783372