Differences between Ubuntu and Debian

In Debian and Ubuntu, you can use the apt-get command to manage applications. DEB packages are used in both distributions. Often the instructions for installing packages are the same for both distributions. If there is a difference between the two, despite such major similarities?

Debian and Ubuntu belong to the same type of distributions. Debian was created by Ian Murdoch in 1993. Ubuntu was created in 2004 by Mark Shuttleworth and is based on Debian. There are hundreds of Linux distributions, not all are independent distributions created from scratch. Debian, Arch, Red Hat are the largest of the distributions that are not derivatives.

The Ubuntu distribution is based on Debian. Ubuntu uses the same APT package management system as Debian and uses packages and libraries from its repositories. It uses the Debian infrastructure as its foundation.

The major derivative distributions use the same package management system and share the same packages as the base distribution. You can add packages and make changes. This is one of the main differences that should be noted between Ubuntu and Debian.

Difference between DEBIAN AND UBUNTU

Ubuntu is based on the Debian architecture and uses .DEB packages in the same way as Debian. You could say that using Ubuntu is similar to Debian. Is this really the case? In reality, no. There are factors that distinguish them from each other. Let's discuss them in order to compare Ubuntu and Debian. Note that some comparisons apply to the desktop versions and some to the server versions.

Rezyls

Ubuntu is released as LTS and regular. The Ubuntu LTS release appears every two years, and is supported for five years thereafter. You can upgrade to the next available LTS version. LTS releases are considered more stable.

Regular releases are released every six months. They releases are only supported for nine months, but they have newer versions of software and features. One should upgrade to subsequent versions of Ubuntu until the current version expires. The user is left with a choice between stability and newer features.

Debian has three different releases: stable, test, and unstable. Unstable is for testing. Test distributions are more stable. It is used to prepare the next stable branch. Some Debian users prefer the test branch to get new features. The stable branch is the main release of Debian. It may not have the latest software and features, but when it comes to stability, Debian Stable is very reliable. A new stable release is released every two years, and it is supported for three years. After that, you have to upgrade to the next available stable version.

Novelty of the software

Debian's emphasis on stability means that it is not very committed to releasing the latest versions of software. The latest version of Debian 11 includes GNOME 3.38, not the latest version of GNOME 40. The situation is the same with other software such as GIMP, LibreOffice. This is why the joke "Stable Debian is outdated Debian" is popular in the Linux community.

Ubuntu LTS releases are also stability-oriented. But they usually have more recent versions of popular software. For some programs it is possible to install from the developer repository. If you need the latest version of Docker, you can add a Docker repository to both Debian and Ubuntu.

In general, programs in Debian Stable often have older versions compared to Ubuntu.

Software availability

Both Debian and Ubuntu have a huge software repository. Ubuntu has a PPA (Personal Package Archive). With a PPA, installing new software or getting the latest version of software becomes a little easier.

Platform Support

Ubuntu is available on 64-bit x86 and ARM platforms. It no longer releases 32-bit ISOs.Debian, on the other hand, supports both 32-bit and 64-bit architecture. In addition, Debian also supports 64-bit ARM (arm64), ARM EABI (armel), ARMv7 (EABI hard-float ABI, armhf), little-endian MIPS (mipsel), 64-bit little-endian MIPS (mips64el), 64-bit PowerPC with direct byte ordering (ppc64el), and IBM System z (s390x). It is called a "universal operating system" for a reason.

Initialization

Installing Ubuntu is much easier than Debian. Debian can confuse even the average Linux user. When you boot Debian, it provides a minimal ISO by default. This ISO contains only open source firmware. During installation, you realize that your network adapters and other hardware will not be recognized.There is a separate proprietary ISO image containing proprietary firmware, but it is hidden, and if you don't know it, you are in for a nasty surprise.

Ubuntu is much more lenient when it comes to including proprietary drivers and firmware in the default ISO. Also, the Debian installer looks old, whereas the Ubuntu installer looks modern. The Ubuntu installer recognizes other installed operating systems on the disk and gives you the option to install Ubuntu along with the existing ones (dual boot).

Hardware support

Debian is oriented towards free and open source software. This means that the kernel provided by Debian does not include proprietary drivers or firmware. This doesn't mean you can't get it to work, but you'll have to add additional repositories and install everything manually. If you compare Ubuntu vs Debian on this point, the Ubuntu distribution isn't perfect, but it's much better than Debian in terms of providing drivers and firmware out of the box. This means less hassle and a better availability.

Choosing a working among

Ubuntu uses the customized GNOME desktop environment by default. You can install other desktop environments on top of it or choose different desktop-based Ubuntu options such as Kubuntu (for KDE), Xubuntu (for Xfce), etc. Debian also installs GNOME by default. But its installer gives you the option to install the desktop environment of your choice during the installation process.

Both Debian and Ubuntu are good choices for desktop or server operating systems. The apt package manager and DEB packages are common to.