The query actually shows a lack of confidence. He should have googled “How to recover a file from /dev/null?” instead.

A similar issue appeared in Linux, when the kernel version jumped from 2.6 to 3 “just because”. At least it was not recommended for normal users to upgrade their system out of curiosity.

When your use case relies on using some most up to date software, then Debian (stable) obviously is not the distro of choice. But that case is not what I meant with ‘simply work’, i.e. using the same (major) version of software for several years.

It’s the same for me.

Out of date is not good for a desktop.

Some call it out of date, others call it stable. If you want your computer to simply work as you are used to and to not bother you with new features and bugs, Debian is a nice distro for Desktop as well.

Practically, this results in a lower footprint when installing it on KDE or other Qt6 based systems, as it will no longer pull the GTK libraries.

OK, TY. I’ve thought, there were just downloader packages, containing scripts to download the firmware binary from the device manufacturer and install it on the system, like e.g. the one for the Broadcom wireless driver.

Sorry, I mixed that up. It was named Canonical partner or something like that and contained only binary packages. Debian contrib are free packages with dependencies in non-free. While non-free are packages with not DFSG compliant source code (but with source code).

In principle yes, as Ubuntu is derived from Debian Sid, but with modifications to make it stable. Thus, the sources they are built from are different and hence, not completely binary compatible, like e.g. *Ubuntu and Mint or Debian and LMDE are. The configuration settings different also here and there and thus, guides for Ubuntu are not 1:1 transferable to Debian and vice versa.

For the conflicting package names, there is at least the solution to pin the sources.list from the PPA with a higher priority than the official Ubuntu repository. This would work even package-wise.

Ubuntu had (I don’t know if it still has) an additional contrib section in the sources.list for binary packages from “partners” without source code available, like e.g. Spotify.

Penguins are always following the black or white tie dresscode.

KIO GDrive is the KDE equivalent https://feddit.org/comment/1494000

The KIO GDrive module allows access to Google Drive from KDE apps like Dolphin.

Anything GTK GUI related is not necessary anymore once you have installed KDE, as you then typically use e.g. Discover for software managing instead of the mint software center.
I assume they stopped having a KDE version, as they then would have to completely rewrite their apps (those for the Mint look and feel) in Qt and supporting two such elementary different versions is to much for one team. Now, as they are delivering a Mate, Cinnamon and XFCE flavour, they can take advantage of them being all GTK2 or GTK3 based.

Right, installing a DE is usually not something a direct bloody beginner would/should do. But a beginner who installed Mint, e.g. because of recommendations, has already installed some programs and worked with their system for a while, but now is not confident with Cinnamon DE. For someone like them it’s feasible to ‘simply’ install a different DE e.g. KDE onto their system. (I’d also suggest uninstalling anything GTK related and reinstalling only those packages that one deems useful). As there are no essential differences between Kubuntu and Mint, I don’t see the problems here. KDE is in the same sources.list that Mint uses (in the official Ubuntu repos), so there shouldn’t be any strange dependency conflicts. Thus it’s not going to end up as a Frankenstein system.
Personally, I use Debian btw. 😉, I’d also suggest installing the original, i.e. Debian or LMDE, if one likes the Mint stuff, and get rid of the Ubuntu dependencies. But I consider that basically as a matter of personal taste.

AfaIk, Linux Mint delivers it’s own version of apt, specifically some scripts interacting with apt, which does not default to Snap packages for e.g. Firefox, Kubuntu doesn’t (can’t). Basically, you could also install Kubuntu 24.04 and transform it to Mint 22 with KDE e.g. to have Mint-like behaviour of apt.
Mint has the reputation of being a beginner friendly distribution, Debian doesn’t (not isn’t).
If one uses Mint and does want to use another DE without reinstalling the OS, after all why not?

Do you mean: You currently have a separate partition mounted as /home and want to reuse this when installing a new distro?
Yes, there is a way to avoid creating a new one:

1. In the gui or tui installer, choose manual partitioning
2. If they don’t exist yet, create the partitions you want to use.
3. Specify their file system (ext4 or whatever you prefer), mount point or use, e.g. /, /home, swap.

!!! Be careful !!!

!!! For the /home partition make sure to uncheck recreate file system, format or alike. !!!
This is the partition currently filled with your data!

4. apply changes and procede installation.

TY, when scrolling through the site, I didn’t find a single time mentioning it Ubuntu, but Debian compatibility. However the beta release notification is enlightening:

The system consists of a hybrid base of Debian packages and Vib modules. The major change in Orchid is the switch from Ubuntu to Debian, providing more flexibility and control over the system and update distribution.

A fork of Debian, but yes.

https://vanillaos.org/nerd-info