Countdown to Debian Squeeze at Robert Pogson

Debian GNU/Linux releases “when it’s ready” and things are looking good. Estimated days to go:

While the exclusion of things non-free from the installation media of the “Official” release may be an obstacle for some, there are workarounds at CDimages with non-free firmware. That’s a relief to me because I love installations over the network and the non-free firmware blobs are essential unless I carry along some NICs just for installations or supply drivers on a separate medium. Many machines have e100 drivers for NICs and the firmware is distributable legally but closed source/non-free. Getting stuff from the web is not an option if the NIC is down. This is a problem that still needs work, not workarounds. A lot of controllers are ARMed. Perhaps the manufacturers could publish the source code that could be built in Debian GNU/Linux and other distros. Perhaps the manufacturers will rationalize their devices to eliminate this problem. As the proportion of GNU/Linux users rises this may evolve.

There’s lots of great software in Squeeze. I just touch the tip of the iceberg with 1630 packages on this notebook out of 28K+ in the repository. Some of my favourites are LyX, LibreOffice, GIMP, InkScape, vlc, Dia and mplayer on the desktop and Apache, MySQL and PHP on the server. For making my own software I use vim, FreePascal and BASH usually. So much software. So little time.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.

2 Responses to “Countdown to Debian Squeeze”

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1 Ray Feb 1st, 2011 at 8:21 am

I can see Debian-testers screaming in horror, that unstable packages will make their way to Debian-testing…
2 oliver Feb 2nd, 2011 at 2:36 am

Just noticed, that CD #1 does not contain Gnome’s network-manager, my favorite tool to access internet with my mobile broadband stick. Is this going to be changed?
People with limited broadband data plan are depending on cd sized images, which let them access the repositories for installing further packages.