ok thanks for all these remarks,
then if i understood you well, you point out pbs with gnome/kde and upgrades in Ubuntu (by the way installing kde from (G)Ubuntu is a one step process: apt-get install kubuntu-desktop).

may i just add that my experience of Ubuntu showed me that :
- it is easy to set-up fluxbox (which might be preferable for performances reasons and provides a clear interface :-).
- if you stick to universe and multiverse sources (in /apt/get/sources.list), it is quite sure that you won't end up with an unstable system.

finally, i would just like to say that Ubuntu is a good choice for debian/linux beginners (like me).
I would agree with you Frank, that one would probably get more freedom with a genuine debian install or a gentoo for example, but still, it seems to me that it requires a substantial  extra-amount of knowledge and time.

best,
vincent

Frank Barknecht wrote:
Hallo,
vincent rioux hat gesagt: // vincent rioux wrote:

  
And well, i was using ubuntu - that i would recommend for its
simplicity (i found it quite easy and reliable to setup a
debian-like install this way).

Frank, could you may be explain a bit more what were your thoughts
concerning this distro?
    

Maybe I'm just spoiled by the recent upgrade of my Ubuntu laptop,
where a lot of stuff broke, like all fonts were displayed way too
large, I got german menus instead of english ones, and when I changed
the locale, I couldn't type umlauts anymore etc. Everything was really
annoying, because I already had configured all that to my liking
months ago and now I had to do it again. 

Worse yet: Configuring something on (G)Ubuntu means using Gnome, which
often doesn't let you configure everything you want, at least not, if
it's considered to be esoteric like using a german keyboard with an
otherwise english-language desktop.

So I'm pretty disappointed with the upgrade behaviour, which seems to
work flawlessly only, if you're a typical Ubuntu/Gnome user. And I
think, many Pd/audio users are not typical Gnome or KDE users. A
machine, which will be used in performances or installations with Pd
probably won't have (to have) Gnome or KDE installed at all. That's
why personally I wouldn't recommend to use Ubuntu on such a
"performance" machine, but of course, YMMV.

Additionally it seems, that cross-upgrades from Ubuntu to Debian are
very tricky. I'm currently trying to do that to convert my laptop's
system to a real Debian again.

Ciao