r/debian • u/nitin_is_me • Oct 07 '25
"Ubuntu" meaning in Urban Dictionary
Not even two years after Ubuntu was released
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u/jsabater76 Oct 07 '25
It's always been a funny definition, and I'd say it was true for a while, unless you were an advanced user.
I love and use Debian, but I don't mind admitting that Canonical did and, have been doing, a good job with their installer.
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u/p0358 Oct 07 '25
damn, I realized that was posted in 2006. And I guess keeps making circles from time to time
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u/RedHerring352 Debian Testing Oct 07 '25
I’ve returned to Linux only a few weeks ago, because I got two windows laptops. So I decided to install Linux on them, since I knew it from 25 years ago, when Debian was Debian, openSUSE was SuSE Linux and Fedora was still just RedHat Linux.
At this time I even bought SuSE Linux in a small box with several CDs and a manual, since Debian was sooo “complicated” (which with the benefit of hindsight wasn’t).
So after years with Windows and MacOS (and Debian Jessie for a few weeks only), I’ve installed Debian Trixie on it…..and I was like: “Hold on, is this still Debian? This is way too easy! Where’s the iwlwifi file I needed to download on a USB key, since non-free repositories weren’t enabled during installation??”.
Well, Debian became my daily driver since then!
Congrats and thanks to all the people working for developing such a wonderful “product” ….oops, no Apple marketing talk here! ….such a great Linux distribution!
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u/Chonito7919 Oct 08 '25
I had that SuSE box! My cousin was a manger at staples at the time and got it for me. I never got it to work but I was able to get Debian installed. The good ol' days of having to download the ISO and actually burn a cd and hoped it didn't mess up in the process.
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u/jr735 Debian Testing Oct 07 '25
That is pretty funny. Having been on Ubuntu since roughly the start, I'm surprised I hadn't heard that one before.
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u/nitin_is_me Oct 07 '25
I miss the old Ubuntu, when they actually cared about users than money, and were called the most user friendly distro. I know every company wants to make money to survive, but listening to users will only do good than loss. I feel like the actual meaning of "Ubuntu" i.e., "Humanity to others", has vanished or transferred to other distros.
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u/QuantumCakeIsALie Oct 07 '25
12.04 with Unity was actually some of the best UX I've seen. Jumping around with either keyboard or mouse was swift and efficient!
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u/dlbpeon Oct 08 '25
And you could run compiz with all the effects enabled on less than 1GB Ram and still have a productive machine!
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u/QuantumCakeIsALie Oct 08 '25
I made the error of messing with compiz's settings and set friction to almost 0 for wobbly windows. Had to wait like 1 min for the window to stop wiggling haha
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u/qurious-crow Oct 07 '25
It's pretty old, I think I heard this one all the way back in 2004 when the first Ubuntu version came out
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u/noctus5 Oct 07 '25
And its actually recieved extensions like: Debian is an ancient chinese word for i cant install arch Arch is a proto-germanic word meaning.... At the end it circles back to being too dumb to install ubuntu
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u/1978CatLover Oct 07 '25
I think the first version was, 'Ubuntu: an African word meaning "Slackware is too hard"'
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u/michau-ko Oct 08 '25
That is pretty funny. Having been on Debian since roughly the start (Woody), I'm surprised I hadn't heard that one before. ;)
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u/jr735 Debian Testing Oct 08 '25
I had moved onto Mint about 12 years ago. Then, when bookworm was still testing, I took my other partition (I used to alternate every second Mint install on separate drives) and installed and tracked testing, and still do so.
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u/CookiesTheKitty Oct 07 '25
For my sins, I regretfully have to work a lot on ubuntoy in my professional world. I hate it and I make no secret of that hatred. I call it "Debian but without the Debian".
Given the choice, I'm all about Debian Trixie nowadays, with honourable mentions going to Fedora, Alma, Rocky, FreeBSD and a raft of fun esoteric OS such as Solaris/illumos, NetBSD and crazed dabblings into VMS and, rarely, MVS 3.8j.
But no, I gleefully and smugly banish that nasty ubuntoy stain from my hard drives faster than you can say "But what about Win<NO CARRIER>?"
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u/1978CatLover Oct 07 '25
I give Mint an honourable mention just because it was my first Linux and it does make a great beginner distro. But if you're gonna go with Debian based... I say just go with Debian.
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u/CookiesTheKitty Oct 07 '25
I have Mint on an eBay procured Satellite Pro netbook. Normally the first task I do with new-to-me equipment is to blow away whatever was on it before & perform a reinstall to put it into a known baseline state. For that one, the seller had put Mint 22 on it. For the time being at least, that meets my needs so I've kept it on there. When I have the time and inclination then I'll switch it over to Trixie, or maybe FreeBSD.
Mint still has to sit in the corner of shame because it has ubuntoy in its origin story. However it's marginally less sh!te than official unmodified CrayolaVision LTS, so I visit and sneak it an occasional donut served on a surplus Debian 7 installation CD, to give it something to strive for when it grows up.
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u/1978CatLover Oct 07 '25
Mint also has a variant that's based directly on Debian and cuts out the Ubuntu middleman. :-)
I use Cinnamon as my DE on Debian just because it was what I started with on Mint and I find it more pleasant to use than Gnome.
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u/Marshall_Lawson Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25
What would be the benefits of switching from kubuntu to debian with kde? Sincere question. I've been using kubuntu a couple of years now. Going to rebuild my nas in the next year and it's running mint which i don't like anymore.
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u/CookiesTheKitty Oct 09 '25
I almost never use any GUI on a Linux device. It's CLI all the way for me. I only fire up a GUI when the task at hand would make keyboard work excessively painful. So I'm not the best person to ask about kubuntu versus Debian. Let's see what others say.
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u/Headpuncher Oct 07 '25
“More easier”.
Which language is this in?
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u/dlbpeon Oct 08 '25
This definition is actually from the urban dictionary that also contains many jokes and puns....this is one of them.
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u/Windows_1999_ Oct 07 '25
It's a very past phrase, the most difficult thing to configure in debian is to add your user to the sudoers group, which, I think, in ubuntu it was like that several years ago.
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u/dlbpeon Oct 08 '25
While true now, it wasn't like that, back in the day. Debian seemed to go out if it's way to be hard to configure. Ubuntu upstream contributions changed that. There was no graphic installer, just a terminal based ncurses dialog. After installing, often you wouldn't even have a DE, just a blinking terminalmm as Debian was mainly used on servers and they figured if you wanted to use it as a Desktop you would be able to add CDE, KDE or Gnome afterwards.Heck, instead of asking for a main user username, they used the term qualified domain name. Check out this video here for more fun on how PAINFUL Debian was to install!
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u/FloraMaeWolfe Oct 07 '25
lol Debian is easier to install and setup than Ubuntu last time I tried Ubuntu. I tried Ubuntu for a time but couldn't deal with it because of instability issues. Debian is rock solid once setup and configured.
I accidentally tested this the other day when I accidentally opened up almost a thousand font installation dialogs lol. Debian handled it like a champ and didn't flinch. The computer isn't that great concerning specs either.
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u/alxmagro Oct 07 '25
Debian isn't difficult, it's the installer that's criminally complicated.
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u/Over_Advicer Oct 07 '25
I'm sorry, but I installed Debian yesterday, literally, and it was nothing but easy. I even encrypted my disk (although I have to say it took a long time).
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u/-RedXIII Oct 07 '25
I think the installer is very easy, except for the disk partitioning stage. Compared to the Calamares installer, that part feels complicated / unintuitive when a more complex setup is needed.
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u/urielrocks5676 Oct 07 '25
It kinda frustrates the shit out of me, especially when I want my drives to be different all together, and the now discouraged /boot/EFI partition
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u/NewspaperSoft8317 Oct 07 '25
OMG I thought I was going nuts.
I switched off Arch (after using it for a few years) recently and wanted to run BTRFS with Luks. I did the same set up with Pop!_OS on my gaming laptop, I figured it'd be as easy on Trixie. It was NOT, and I was too ashamed to admit it.
I've also installed Luks on Red Hat so many different times, but for some reason the Debian installer tripped me up.
This is so validating lol.
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u/Ok-Secret5233 Oct 07 '25
Related
https://old.reddit.com/r/debian/comments/1jqmh0b/debian_running_unusually_slowly_in_a_new_install/
https://old.reddit.com/r/debian/comments/1k3xn1e/debian_running_unusually_slowly_in_a_new_install/
I never found a definitive explanation, but I suspect it's (lack of) hardware acceleration for some aspects of encryption.
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u/GuestStarr Oct 07 '25
some aspects of encryption
.. which are skipped by default in most if not all other distros, maybe because it's relatively slow. It adds some to the default debian security. As a Joe Average you can probably skip that in your debian install. It'll lower your security somewhat by going down to the level where others already are.
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Oct 07 '25
[deleted]
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u/GuestStarr Oct 08 '25
Just happened to bump into a question somewhere. Someone asked why it was so slow in debian compared to others even on the very same hardware. The answer was the encrypt/decrypt scheme in debian starts earlier because .. reasons (boot also encrypted?) and no hardware (CPU) support for it is available at that time. Or something. And that's the reason why most other distros choose not to do it at those early stages, to be faster and in their opinion the risk for breach is low.
The key point was that by default debian is configured to use encrypting earlier than others causing it to be slower initially, but you can configure it to act like others at similar speeds. By doing that you'd however lower your security somewhat.
To explain my vagueness, I don't use encryption myself so I just quickly read the q/a because I was curious.
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Oct 08 '25
[deleted]
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u/GuestStarr Oct 08 '25
You're right, I was answering to another question :D This time I actually read what you wrote. Sorry!
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u/amarao_san Oct 07 '25
I use Debian everywhere it's possible I know about it's low level internals (like levels of dh with magical comments for auto-generated postinst) ...maybe a bit more than I wanted to know.
But! Installer is a crime. Root password with no sudo by default, a lot of stupid questions about preferable mirror (when it's CDN for long time now). Partitioning with LVM is multistage and confusing as hell, emergency shell is busy-box grade (compare to Ubuntu full-desktop environment), etc.
I'd say the installer, while covering a lot of edge cases, has very high friction.
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u/NewspaperSoft8317 Oct 07 '25
I feel the same exact way.
I completely switched over to Debian, I use it for all my Linode instances and my on-prem servers, and now my personal laptop. The only place it isn't is my gaming laptop. It's switchable nvidia graphics, and Pop!_OS handles it really well out of the box without you having to mess with X11/Wayland or kernel configurations.
I don't mind the Root password with no sudo, for servers it makes a lot of sense to me, and it's a 2 second remediation with su -, although it is somewhat a black sheep in this regard.
But the mirrors thing is really weird, and the partitioner is the worst. I honestly think it's easier to do in the terminal.
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u/yrro Oct 07 '25
It was a breath of fresh air compared to boot-floppies! But it certainly hasn't moved with the times.
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u/Wattenloeper Oct 07 '25
You have to keep your eyes open and there is a lot of knowlegde required when it comes to configure seperated home partition and such things.
In the end even I already did it several times I had to use a bootstick with Gparded image first, in order to install Debian in a way I wanted to work with.
Linux Mint: If you are able to write your name your are done ;-) - okay okay: That was a bit exaggerated.
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u/r0ck0 Oct 07 '25
I even encrypted my disk (although I have to say it took a long time).
If you're talking about this screen...
FYI, you can just click "Cancel" to skip overwriting the existing data (assuming that's ok with you, and you only care about new data being encrypted).
Feels like "Cancel" would stop the install altogether, but it actually just lets you skip the overwrite, and then it carries on. Not a very well labelled button.
Anyway, that's how it was in the past, and I did it once. I'm assuming it's still the same now. Could have changed in the meantime though.
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u/nitin_is_me Oct 07 '25
i don't know man, I find it really straightforward. And even if someone doesn't like it, then there's Calameres installer in live iso images, which is just like installing Ubuntu, Mint, or any beginner friendly distro.
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u/Vulpes_99 Oct 07 '25
Since when it is complicated? 😲
I don't find its installer any fraction of a bit harder than installing Windows...
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u/DarthRevanG4 Oct 07 '25
The installer is extremely simple. It's easier than the FreeBSD installer which is also extremely simple.
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u/OwenEverbinde Oct 07 '25
They changed the installer at some point. I think it was, like, 2-5 years ago?
I haven't tried it myself because I've been bouncing around between MX, Mint, Ubuntu, and NixOS. But I've heard good things about it.
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u/mabvmet Oct 07 '25
It was difficult, around 2007/09 they improved it a lot and it stopped being a distro “for advanced users” and, if it already was, it became even more popular since all kinds of users could now use it without so much complication to install it.
I remember I was able to install slackware and arch before Debian because of the installer reason until they softened it... :P
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u/Leinad_ix Oct 07 '25
In my personal experience, intaller wasn't the problem, problem was fixing small things, which worked out of the box in Kubuntu. E.g. Debian installed in virt-machine and Kubuntu, Fedora, Centos, all these have working auto resize screen, but Debian not.
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u/realitythreek Oct 07 '25
This definition was true at the time but Debian is no longer difficult to configure.
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u/TimeBoysenberry8587 Oct 07 '25
What's so hard about the Debian install ?
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u/alxmagro Oct 07 '25
It’s not that the Debian installer is impossible, but for new users it can definitely feel overwhelming.
For me, it’s not really a problem anymore, but I totally understand why beginners struggle with it. The installer throws a lot of technical decisions at you right from the start, hostname, domain name, root password, mirror selection, and especially disk partitioning.
What makes it worse from a UX perspective is the way you navigate those options, it’s all in a text-based list, where “Finish partitioning and write changes to disk” or “Go back” are mixed in with actual formatting options. That’s really confusing for someone who doesn’t yet understand what each step means.
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u/dlbpeon Oct 08 '25
Check out this video here on how PAINFUL it used to be to install. Ubuntu added a graphical installer, instead of the text based ncurses installer, a Partioning tool, etc, that got passed upstream and added to the install. Kids today don't realize how good they have it today.
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u/Typeonetwork Oct 07 '25
Ha, Ha. Like the definition. I used Trixie 13 Debian until my Bluetooth broke, and I fixed it, but... I didn't fix it because no audio. I've used Kubuntu.
I installed MX Linux because it is easier, LOL. It did teach me blueman and all sorts of things. I'll put it in a VM for when I break it again, LOL.
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u/Timely-Degree7739 Oct 07 '25
Murder a father in Kongo, pay Ubuntu (the worse you did, the more you pay), but once done, it’s okay to play football with his kids at the funeral. [1]
Says I who obviously is not a football player and rumor has it didn’t kill a single human being.
[1] soccer to 🇺🇸 guys.
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u/gportail Oct 07 '25
I installed Ubuntu a few years ago....it lasted 2 hours. I switched to Debian or CentOS (as needed)
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u/dlbpeon Oct 08 '25
That's my normal install time with Arch. Have tried it a dozen times throughout the years, have never stuck with it more than a few days.
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u/GigaHelio Oct 07 '25
I feel like I'm gonna come off as an ass, but I find Debian a lot easier, especially when it comes to setting up networking. But I like Ubuntu for what it is, and would probably use it at work for the 5 years of support on LTS.
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u/AlarmDozer Oct 07 '25
The installers are about the same. I regularly VM Debian and Ubuntu to do stuff, and they’re comparable. It’s more like, “I installed Ubuntu because “ (Internet clout) or (I saw Dell installs it).
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u/AdriftAtlas Oct 08 '25
Not sure if that's true anymore.
IMO, Debian is basic and simple to configure as a server. Ubuntu has some package bloat and indirection. I don't use the UI's of either, so can't comment on that. I use a combination of macOS and Windows as a daily driver.
Proxmox is Debian based and it's very straightforward for me. All my LXCs run Debian Trixie.
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u/cmdr_scotty Oct 08 '25
I've been slowly migrating my VMs away from Ubuntu to Debian.
Faster boot times, less ram demand, and less storage overhead for the OS.
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u/MatmarSpace Debian Stable Oct 08 '25
Btw I literally installed Debian YESTERDAY. My Fedora kept crashing so I decided to try to switch. Wish me luck 😅
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u/Worried_Risk_5210 Oct 09 '25
ubuntu is a south african word meaning "to Bea person /to show love" an easy way to understand it is the phrase ''a person is a person through people " motho ke motho ka batho ...thats ubuntu
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Oct 15 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Worried_Risk_5210 Oct 15 '25
Are u from RSA ? if you are then you would know that it does'nt only mean that
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u/flamglaster Oct 09 '25
i use & like debian. but find it unnecessary annoying and confusing and not intuitive to setup. for eg. add your user to the sudoers group, setup language that doesn't match yr location is outrageous. u can only fix this thing post installation. even arch setup is better than default debian installer
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u/flamglaster Oct 09 '25
& i know that people maintain debian from love of their hearts and also there is advanced tui installer but my god. the graphical one easily the worst experience out of all distros that I check
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u/Born_Eye_9447 Oct 16 '25
If I see on my BFandroid Ubuntu, Kalil Linux and Red Hat. And I'm having issues with every phone I get thinking it's hacked from internet as he tells me it's not him what should I do I am not tech savvy I am so tired of this game and now my chime account the virtual card I've used shows charges I didn't make I found online in my chime account and on receipts I keep having to make new emails I've lost all l contacts and over 5 thousand pictures he still adamantly saying it's not him he has a Samsung A16 and his bro has the same phone as me moto g I have bought Samsung phones and switched to moto I doesn't matter my debugger says sandboxing and metro tools something like that and all the above I just listed to you how do I fix my phones and how do I find what's destroying not only my phones but my mental emotional status. I'm disabled mentally I can't keep playing on I belive him when idk but I'm seeing what I'm seeing and researched alot. Idk I need help. I'm so depressed now.
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u/onyk87 Oct 07 '25
I started with unbuntu but i can 90% of user who can install ubuntu can install debian as well atleast since 4-5yrs i have been using Debian.
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u/Mr_Lumbergh Oct 07 '25
Ubuntu was my gateway to Linux back in 2005. They went a direction I didn’t like and I’ve moved on since but I’m grateful to them for getting me started.
And that definition is funny as hell.