Before Adobe decided to buy aldus and make improvements.
I hate Pagemaker for all the tweaks they put in.
By far the best version I ever used and still use is version 5.
It was NEW when Windows for WorkGroups was Brand New. I still say that you cannot do a better layout interface. They just had it right.
Then Adobe stepped in and improved it.
Sure, current Pagemaker is great, but I still prefer the spartan interface Aldus just made work and work well. You'd just have to see it.
Scribus is about as close to that as I have found, but it works a bit differently... very nice though, installs on Debian just fine from the archive.
Quark Express is another of those programs where "Earlier Versions were better". Although I do have to say I'd much rather use Quark Express the Page Maker right now.
In the end, they mostly all do a fine job. Heck, I like LyX myself for many things and it just works.