How to use dial up in ubuntu 10.4?

Why is Debian considered to be a more difficult to use desktop system than Ubuntu?

• I have been using Debian GNU/Linux for the last six years as my desktop system, and I find it a pretty comfortable system to use. Before coming to Debian, I used Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) briefly for a month. Then I switched to Debian 4.0 (Etch) and I've been using Debian ever since. Back then, I didn't find much of a difference in the usability of both systems. Tools like dpkg, aptitude, etc. made package management very easy in both systems. I did realize that I have to use the "testing" distribution of Debian in order to use more recent versions of various packages without running into too many bugs. From my experience, I've found the "testing" distribution to be of pretty decent quality with only very rare occurrences of major bugs that affect my work. I often find people recommending Ubuntu to newbies since it's considered easier to use. Apart from the fact that one needs to use "testing" distribution of Debian to get more recent software or live with old versions of software if one chooses the "stable" distribution, what else makes Ubuntu an easier system to use than Debian?

• Answer:

  To me it's all about the details. What is merely an inconvenience for a seasoned Linux user can be a hair puller for a new user. Ubuntu takes care of a few things which used to make newbies cringe, including: Ubuntu packages proprietary drivers. If you want/need to use the Nvidia/AMD driver for your graphics card Ubuntu makes it easy. On Debian you'd have to do this yourself (and be prepared to fix recompilation issues when installing a new kernel.) Ubuntu also packages some commonly used proprietary software which Debian doesn't, such as media codecs which Ubuntu asks the user about during the install. I see that Debian packages Flash Player now, but I don't think they always have. Back in the day, it was a big deal that the default Ubuntu install came with compiz. Building on my previous point, an Ubuntu install selects a lot more software by default. This is bad for server systems, but good for desktop systems where users don't want to have to install common applications like OpenOffice manually. I run Debian (stable) for my servers, and Ubuntu for Desktops, Laptops, Media PCs, etc. The straw that broke my back with Debian as a desktop OS was actually a Keyspan USB-RS232 adapter which I use to console into Cisco devices. It had always worked on my Debian laptop, then one day it didn't. After a little digging I found that Debian had actually removed the firmware for my Keyspan device from their kernel sources, even though it was still in the upstream kernel sources, because the firmware was technically not Debian Guidelines compatible. This had happened in a previous kernel update and I hadn't noticed. When I went to use the adapter I was at a client's data center during a maintenance window and it was inconvenient to say the least. I had to download and compile the upstream kernel sources to get it working again. Shortly thereafter I stopped using Debian on non-servers. I can't have things stop working like that after package updates, and while I was able to get the adapter working again on Debian, a less experienced user would not have recovered so quickly. I realize the irony as I type this that Ubuntu is now changing its default install around quite a bit with the whole unity transition. I've switched to running Xfce4 on Ubuntu to insulate myself from that.