written by Brian Babiuk. on 08/09/2002
Good Points
-Great installer, especially compared to Debian
-Debian stability
-apt-get package management system
Bad Points
-Based off Debian means older packages (KDE 2.2.2 - c'mon!)
General Comments
Libranet Linux is the perfect distribution from the newcomer to linux, or to someone who wants Debian's stability, security and package management system. I have tried a pile of RPM based distributions. I hated installing software because you'd try to install an ".rpm" and it had failed dependencies, so I'd download the dependencies, and they had failed dependencies. Debian's apt-get install fixes this. Say I want to install program x, but it had dependencies that weren't on my system, apt-get will flag the missing dependencies for installation and install them. This is an over-simplified explanation of what does actually happen, but it drives the point across. I can now install software and not get frustrated because I have to spend an evening tracking down failed dependencies. This makes Libranet or Debian ideal for newcomers, or "easily frustrated" people like me. So why would you want to download Libranet over Debian. Aren't they the same? Try installing Debian, and things will become obvious. Libranet simplifies the installation process. It is not a graphical installation program, but the text based installer is logical and easy to use.
My only complaint is the older packages. Libranet comes with KDE 2.2x. Most distributors have been shipping KDE 3.x for a bit now. The newest version of Libranet (2.7) comes with KDE 3.x and Gnome2. The free download version (2.0) makes due with the older versions.
It is worth checking out!