For those of you who thought Debian Stable wasn't stable enough, Michael Larabel over at Phoronix is reporting that Debian 6.0 "Squeeze" is being turned into an LTS release.
Regular security support for Debian 6.0 "Squeeze" was set to end after next month, but now the Debian developers have decided to provide security support for this 2011 Debian Linux release until February 2016 - marking five years since the original Debian 6.0 release.
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Saturday April 19 2014, @01:52AM
I just want to say thank you. This is the best distro for my old Radeon HD3450.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday April 19 2014, @03:11PM
If you're brave enough to deal with a rolling release, Arch can cover HD2/3/4K cards and still give you the latest kernel and such. Just add
to the top of /etc/pacman.conf, install the catalyst-total-hd234k package, and reboot.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by jasassin on Saturday April 19 2014, @09:18PM
Hey, thanks for the tip! Good info. I'll try it. Sounds exactly like what I'm looking for.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday April 19 2014, @09:36PM
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday April 19 2014, @09:13PM
The fglrx-legacy backported to wheezy works for the hd2400, sees t_Legacy_13.1 [debian.org]
https://wiki.debian.org/ATIProprietary#AMD_Cataly
The LTS is a good thing, many servers do not need anything more than security upgrades who don't break stuff.
And I think I will keep wheezy stuff around until systemd either matures or becomes replaceable, whichever happens first. I know little about systemd but when I hear stuff like "we incorporate systemd because we can't split udev easily" a chill runs through my data bus.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1) by jasassin on Sunday April 20 2014, @02:05AM
Thanks! I didn't know wheezy had back ported fglrx! Kick ass!!! I might still try the arch dist for fun, but this will be my new Linux distro.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 19 2014, @03:03AM
"Compared to normal support, however, this "Squeeze LTS" Is just going to be i386 and amd64 support and there's some packages (such as some web browsers) that won't receive the five year support treatment."
Why not follow the ScientificLinux method and package Firefox ESR? That would keep a secure browser and only require three major release updates for the duration of Squeeze's remaining support cycle (FFX 30, 36, and 42 ESR).
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 19 2014, @03:11AM
I'm curious, is this decision made because the new Gnome is such a mess? I ask this as a CentOS user who has decided to stay with the 6.x line for as long as possible (support ends in 2020) because the upcoming 7.x branch with Gnome3 is horrible.
(Score: 1) by Refugee from beyond on Saturday April 19 2014, @06:32AM
There is MATE in testing, though.
Instantly better soylentnews: replace background on article and comment titles with #973131.
(Score: 2, Funny) by ButchDeLoria on Saturday April 19 2014, @03:53AM
Maybe they should rename it to mark this occasion. I suggest Debian XP.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday April 19 2014, @05:28AM
Does Debian even _do_ LTS? I mean, there is stable, but support? I was disappointed by the move to 6. I mean, Windows has already gone to 11. What ever happened to incremental releases? Do we really have to keep up with the corporates?
(Score: 3, Informative) by NCommander on Saturday April 19 2014, @06:15AM
Debian used to release so infrequently that it was never a problem, and point releases regularly. The average time for a Debian release used to be counted in years. The old support period was one year after the new release came out. Debian and Ubuntu have strict checks to prevent library skewing so upgrades are less likely to cause a boom than say CentOS (which officially recommends you reinstall
Still always moving
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday April 19 2014, @08:07AM
I am in awe the NCommander has responded to my lowly post! But the point, such as it was, still stands. Yes, Debian stable can be few and far between, but that is the point. Support is another issue, leading us into some kind of non-free software corporate hell of desks of Hell(P). Surely you see what I am saying? Or Shirley I should stop calling you "surely"? Yes, I am confused, but it is all in service of the final revolution,
(Score: 2) by clone141166 on Saturday April 19 2014, @07:37AM
Interesting story, grateful for the submission and the editing. But can we keep the humour to the "from the xxx-yyy-zzz department" byline.
The headline itself is a bit confusing. I get that "squeezed" is a wordplay, hilarious stuff, but I feel like headlines should be informative; departmental bylines are there to contain the clever puns.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Saturday April 19 2014, @10:23AM
Agreed. The headline is an uninformative non-sequitur (or whatever the reverse is) at best, even after reading the summary.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 1) by synaptik on Saturday April 19 2014, @06:41PM
Within traditional print media, there is a long-standing tradition of puns in headlines. For instance:0 6/chick.jpeg [pleated-jeans.com]
http://pleated-jeans.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/
synaptik (125) from slashdot.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday April 20 2014, @12:06AM
Yes (although that one's not really a pun even if it was deliberate, which it might easily not have been), but there's also a long-standing tradition of headlines, above all, giving some indication of what the story is about.
This one fails, entirely, to do so.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday April 19 2014, @12:39PM
I apologise for that. The heading is as it was received and I had intended to change it - for some reason I forgot. I will now stand in the corner facing the wall for a suitable period of time.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday April 19 2014, @03:21PM
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by clone141166 on Sunday April 20 2014, @04:57AM
Haha no worries. It was a great pun, just confusing as a headline.
(Score: 1) by tobia on Saturday April 19 2014, @01:52PM
This is excellent news. I manage hundreds of servers (virtual and physical) basically by myself and I can say Squeeze has been the most problem-free OS ever. No other Debian release, except maybe for the old Potato, nor any other OS has ever shown such a level of stability and security. On top of it, it has built-in support for the awesomeness that is OpenVZ.
Good job, everyone involved!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 19 2014, @07:54PM
We herd you like stability, so we put more stability in the stable so you can feel more stable while being stable!
Seriously though, wasn't the "stable" stable enough?
(Score: 2) by gallondr00nk on Wednesday May 07 2014, @01:04PM
One of the major upsides to Squeeze is that it's one of the only supported releases to still use Mesa 7, specifically Mesa 7.6. Since Trident DRI support got pulled in Mesa 7.7, and a lot of older DRI1 cards got pulled in Mesa 8, the alternative in other distributions often means very, very slow software rendering. You can imagine the performance hit on a Pentium III. It needs all the help it can get :)
This keeps my old ThinkPads and Satellite Pro working with hardware acceleration another few years.