Just installed Debian GNU/linux 6 to replace Linux Mint 10, as Mint is based on Debian “Squeeze” 6.0 and therefore I am happy to run this distribution and it loads way faster than the Linux Mint or OpenSuse distributions, as they are loaded down with Mono which slows down the desktop with unwanted bloat. I downloaded the 4.3 GiB DVD iso and installed from that using the graphical installer. Once I booted into the desktop I had to install the firmware to get my eth0 device working properly, but after that everything was working perfectly. Mp3 playback was working by default and also the open-source Gnash plugin that replaces Adobe flash was also installed and working extremely well. So now I have a totally free open-source desktop operating system with very easy package installation. OpenSuse is a good distribution and has some very good features, but it is getting very bloated and is slow to load up even with a custom 2.6.38 mainline kernel. OpenBSD loads much faster and is very easy to configure as well.
And Debian is the epitome of software freedom and should always be supported. A distribution like Ubuntu is also going in the same direction with a bloated desktop and trying out untested file-systems like Btrfs and the Gnome 3.0 netbook interface on a desktop operating system, which only makes sense on a desktop machine with a touch screen, but I would hate to use something like that myself. I wanted to post this earlier today, but my website was not accessible I think some idiot was DDOS attacking my site, maybe they did not like my stance on the Arch Linux package signing scandal, but what I have said is true and something needs to be done to improve security, and implementing signed packages is not too difficult apparently and it should be taken care of very soon indeed. Otherwise they will be woken up one day by a huge malware or trojan scandal and then Linux will have a black mark against it’s name. And that is just what Microsoft are waiting for.
And if you want to read about how the developers of Linux interfaces are destroying the chances of seeing Linux on the desktop then read this post. Then you can understand that we need a better Linux desktop than the ones available right now, Exempli Gratia, KDE 4.4 and 4.5 , which is bloated and slow beyond belief, needing a very fast graphics card and PC to run fast enough to use, that is why I prefer Gnome. And Debian 6.0 is faster to boot up than Ubuntu.