The first thing we must know; What is GNU? What is Linux? What is a GNU / Linux distribution? And what is Devuan? Next, a series of appointments will be made to have a better conceptual understanding regarding the topic to be explained.
As per Wikipedia, GNU is an extensive collection of free software, which can be used as an operating system or can be used in parts with other operating systems. It is also the project within which the concept of free software originated. Richard Stallman, the founder of the project, sees GNU as a “technical means for a social purpose.
As you all know, Linux is an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a GNU / Linux distribution.
GNU/Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distribution) is an operating system created from a collection of software that is based on the Linux kernel and often on a package management system containing many applications of the GNU project.
If the reader wants to delve more into the subject, they can enter of the following links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
Now, handling a basic conceptualization of some of these concepts, we can now talk about the subject.
Without using references and being a direct witness to the birth of Devuan GNU/Linux, I can explain in detail why this Linux distribution was created and why it should be used even more than Debian GNU / Linux.
While, Debian is the universal Operating System, used by a large community around the world, both in Servers and Desktop Computers, Devuan is usually used as a lightweight Distro with excellent performance and stability, ideal for older Desktop Computers, or scarce computing resources.
The main difference characterized between Debian and Devuan is the use of the startup system, while some years ago Debian chose to use the systemd startup system, creating some discrepancies since in the project there were already other startup systems worth continuing to use and maintain. the packages of these, some veteran developers in the Debian project separated from it by creating Devuan a distribution that uses the traditional SysVinit that Debian used in the past and supporting other startup systems within this project that inherits a lot from the original project.
Everyone in the Debian and Devuan community is aware of the great rivalry created between the systemd and SysVinit boot systems and the requirement that multiple boot systems still be supported by some user groups of these two excellent Debian distributions. and Devuan there is no rivalry, there are 2 different approaches that are complementary.
Apart from this, one of the reasons for considering Devuan is that it is a very light distribution and can be used quite well in old computers, thus allowing them to give more time to live, and not give in to the programmed obsolescence that all companies give. to the computers and hardware that they manufacture with a kind of expiration date, this goes against even the correct use of our natural resources since the manufacture of a computer requires the exploitation of mineral resources of our planet that are finite and that they deplete the more they are exploited.
A disadvantage is that Devuan is not very oriented to users with little knowledge and it can be annoying to try to install it for inexperienced users, in the case of advanced users or medium knowledge who do not have the resources to buy current computers due to its price, this It will allow you to give new life to your old computer, allowing you to work for a few more years.
In the area of server operating systems, Devuan is taking a respectable market share, demonstrating its stability and security, inheriting it from its Debian counterpart, and in some cases achieving a much higher performance than servers or virtual server versus other gnu/linux distributions with a systemd boot system.
At my personal discretion, as the writer of this article and having experience with GNU Linux for more than 16 years, I can say that although it is not a distribution with a long history, it promises and is a good alternative to choose if you are an average or advanced user in the world. Free Software and GNU/Linux.
Be careful with Devuan, in the case of servers, it is better to use it by Debian in very specific cases due to certain characteristics, but for this you must have the knowledge to know in which server to install this operating system and the functions that it will fulfill.
In general, for GNU Linux users, we are using Linux regardless of the distribution, whatever the graphical environment that we use or the programs that we install in it with the package manager.
If you want to observe the most used GNU / Linux distributions, you can enter the following link to observe the ranking:
If seeing the ranking gives you the curiosity to try a GNU / Linux distribution, you can go to the following link and try some of them directly with the browser using vnc:
