General Debian • Re: [Discussion] What change, if implemented, would cause you to leave Debian?

Thread question

What change, if implemented, would cause you to leave Debian?
Big or small, broad or niche, do you draw the line on a particular choice that future Debian might make? What change, if implemented, would induce you to move from Debian to some other distribution?

I started with Mint18.3 then i switched to LMDE3 and after that to Debian.. so i went back to root so to speak.

If i ever going to continue using Linux as desktop/laptop OS i will stay on Debian as there is no use to switch to a fork of debian as i can install all packages that is on other debian based distros on my installed Debian version.. so why install Mint if i can install software that is on Mint to my Debian install.

The question above ((would cause you to leave Debian?))
for me it is sadly the way around as i have to high demands and the linux kernel have problems for desktop usage when often using more memory then installed RAM.. memory overcommitment or what its called.
Linux kernel is more tuned for server usage and when using more memory then installed RAM it start to swap.. and that is good as windows and Mac does that too.
Sadly Linux kernel has some issues that is known as swapdeath since the 90's and its still a problem 25+ years later(i read about the bug/feature 1997 or 98). This cause they system to freeze up from everything from 1second to hours.. this is also called disk I/O trashing.. With modern SSD's and Nvme you dont get the system to freeze up for hours anymore.. but it can still freeze for 10 or 60seconds.
Linux kernel is really bad on memory swap.. This can also be noticed when setting the system to hibernation when you have 95+% memory usage and a few GB of memory swap in use.. With an HDD it can take the system 10 to 40minutes to write RAM to disk before the system shuts down.. with an SSD around 1:15/1:30minutes

as a comparison.. My computer i have to my TV as multimedia device is running windows 7 on a intel dual core E8200 2.66 GHz with 8GB ram and Sata2 HDD 5400RPM.. It takes that computer 55seconds from i push the button to write ram to disk(hibernate) to the power led is off.
My Laptop Debian12 Xfce is a Intel i3-2350M 12GB ram and an sata3 SSD.. This one is 15second slower then my win7 computer even it has a drive more then three time the write speed.
My desktop is a intel i3 8gen with 32GB ram and sata3 SSD.. this one is even a few seconds slower then my laptop.. as it has more ram to save to disk.

Then it is the uptime problem.. all my linux machines start to get small issues as zombie processes or things stops working after 100/150 days of uptime(i only poser down with hibernation to continue working the day after or when i get home again)

Then we have the known linux kernel laptop battery time thingi.

So the question above ((would cause you to leave Debian?)) i will change that to ((would cause you to stay on Debian?))
If the deban team manage to crack the kernel problem being optimized for server usage to become optimized for desktop/laptop usage i would stay on Debian as i do like Linux and i do like Debian as distro..
I am not only a home user i use my computers as a work tool and my needs seems to be a bit to high to stay on Linux as main/daily system.

I will still run Debian on my old hardware that can't handle running win-server2022.. But i will sadly go back to windows for time being as i need a system that can handle my usage... If Linux kernel becomes better in the future i might go back to linux as main/daily system.

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I still say keep up the good work Debian Team. Debian is really promising and becomes better for every generation.. I started with Debian9 and my last one is now Debian12.
But please do nag on the kernel developers to fix the darn disk I/O trashing bug (swapdeath), as that one has been well over-cooked for soon to be 30years now.

Edit..
Just in case someone react on my choice of win-server2022.. that is as windows LTSC can't be bought by normal people.. they only sell LTSC licenses to businesses and they are sick expensive.. But if you take win-server2022 and tweak it back for desktop usage, then it becomes windows LTSC..
win10/11 home/pro (rolling editions) is crap and should not be used in work environment as you need a stable system that dont change after an update.... and that is why i like Debian.. it is LTS and do not change the system after an update.
End Edit..

Statistics: Posted by Marie SWE — 2024-03-03 01:11

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