I'm digging Mint 3.1 - Celena

[SuperDuck]

I think I found my new "home" distro. I had used Cassandra (3.0) for a few weeks and then bounced around to a few other distros, and finally came back to Mint when I saw that Celena had been released. The multimedia support is great, more bugs are fixed, and the overall presentation is very slick.

Mint's inclusion of pre-installed multimedia can be a source of contention among purists, and I have to admit that I'm on the fence. On the one hand I can respect the Free Software culture and their quest to completely ignore proprietary software. On the other hand, having access to certain codecs and software from the get-go is
A) Damn convenient - I've been going through several distributions and it's a pain to reinstall all of that crap over and over again.
B)Encouraging to new users, as they don't have to immediately start "fixing" things.

Small perks came in 3.1 as well, not the least of which is the art upgrade. There is a slick new GRUB screen that replaces the text prompt. The loading screen works well with the new background (which, though I like, I didn't keep). Overall it has a very "sleek" feel, for lack of a better descriptor.

Mint seems like it is slowly starting to become a little bit more than an Unbuntu clone with some codecs installed. They've been adding new features and polishing their look to make a very user-friendly distribution. I will keep trying new flavors of Linux, but they will be exisiting alongside Mint for now. I currently dual boot Mint and XP, and I'm so happy with Mint that I'll be triple-booting in the future.

[ericartman]

Agreed, I used Mint and liked the preinstalled stuff. Had the same feelings for PCLinuxOS, another good distro for beginners IMO. Funny though I have both my production machine and test bed using Gutsy now, not really sure why, just love Ubuntu, feels like my old slippers the wife keeps trying to replace. Ubuntu just feels right , decided recently no more switching for me. Ubuntu is home and will be for the future as far as I can tell.

Cart

[Midwest-Linux]

I think I found my new "home" distro. I had used Cassandra (3.0) for a few weeks and then bounced around to a few other distros, and finally came back to Mint when I saw that Celena had been released. The multimedia support is great, more bugs are fixed, and the overall presentation is very slick.

Mint's inclusion of pre-installed multimedia can be a source of contention among purists, and I have to admit that I'm on the fence. On the one hand I can respect the Free Software culture and their quest to completely ignore proprietary software. On the other hand, having access to certain codecs and software from the get-go is
A) Damn convenient - I've been going through several distributions and it's a pain to reinstall all of that crap over and over again.
B)Encouraging to new users, as they don't have to immediately start "fixing" things.

Small perks came in 3.1 as well, not the least of which is the art upgrade. There is a slick new GRUB screen that replaces the text prompt. The loading screen works well with the new background (which, though I like, I didn't keep). Overall it has a very "sleek" feel, for lack of a better descriptor.

Mint seems like it is slowly starting to become a little bit more than an Unbuntu clone with some codecs installed. They've been adding new features and polishing their look to make a very user-friendly distribution. I will keep trying new flavors of Linux, but they will be exisiting alongside Mint for now. I currently dual boot Mint and XP, and I'm so happy with Mint that I'll be triple-booting in the future.


Mint 3.1 Celena? Cool, ...Been using Cassandra and Freespire 2.0 for sometime. I think Linux Mint Cassandra should have been called Ubuntu 7.08. I'll have to try Celena next. I have Fiesty Fawn Ubuntu 7.04 on my G3 Macs. Try the LiNsta3 theme, looks like vista.

[Antman]

I actually like 3.02 Cassandra a little better then Celena. Celena has some little bugs (at least on my install) that weren't in Cassandra.

[wolfen69]

i have also switched to mint. i like the look and feel of it more than ubuntu. the menu setup is nice, and it handles my PSP better than ubuntu did. (very important) :-) i find it to be rock solid stable also. not one glitch yet.

[jrusso2]

As I have said Mint is showing Ubuntu how to do it right.

[floke]

I think the Mint Menu is the best menu design around - but Mint has far too many things I don't need or want. I used to love it - but its now sitting on what I have designated my testing partition so I can't see it lasting too much longer over here!

[rsambuca]

As I have said Mint is showing Ubuntu how to do it right.

You really can't compare the two like this. They have completely different goals and philosophies regarding the use of free and open source software. Both do what they were designed to do, and both do it well - so your statement is not applicable.

[Ludford]

Is there any point to mint? I have heard that it's designed to look good, but can't any distro look good if you mess around with it enough?

[SuperDuck]

Is there any point to mint? I have heard that it's designed to look good, but can't any distro look good if you mess around with it enough?

Aside from just looking different Mint is designed to have a more complete out-of-the-box experience. People say that Ubuntu "just works" - unless you want to use Java, Flash, watch DVDs, listen to certain compressed audio types, etc. Mint has all of those codecs and and plugins pre-installed. This is very convenient for people who switch distributions a lot - there's a lot less setup time to get your computer up to its full multimedia capabilities.

The price of this was alluded to earlier in the thread. In order to have all that stuff working, Mint has several programs that include proprietary software - something that the Ubuntu team doesn't want to do. Some people draw the line in the sand pretty clearly and stand by their refusal to use proprietary software. I can respect that, but since there are a lot of help threads containing "I can't get my DVD/mp3/Java/Flash etc to work!!!", it seems like it's something that people want.

That, and it looks good. ;) Starting at v3.0 Mint came with Beryl pre-installed as well.

[wolfen69]

i have a couple of people that want me to install linux for them and will be installing mint. i dont want the hassle of installing anything extra. i just want to install it and be on my way. it's a great newbie distro.

[SuperDuck]

That's the paradox that we run into - we want to repsect the GPL and maitain the Free Software philosophy, but at the same time people won't convert to Linux from Windows if they have to take extra steps. If something isn't working, the casual user probably just goes back to MS.

Is including proprietary software worth it if it gets more users to switch to Linux?

[wolfen69]

Is including proprietary software worth it if it gets more users to switch to Linux?

YES!

[ticopelp]

I set up Mint for a friend on a new laptop, and I was pretty impressed with it. It seems like a pretty ideal distro for new installs, and I thought it would be a good way to introduce someone to Linux without a steep learning curve. Last I heard, they were trying to install pirated XP on the laptop... but, oh well. I tried my best.

I don't see switching to Mint myself -- I like Ubuntu too much -- but it seems like a fine distro.