Ubuntu vs Mint

**RadicaX** · August 10th, 2013

The answer to that question comes down to what you prefer, I like stability in my distro, and the security to be up to date, and I only have 5 Gigs of data to use a month, meaning I need to be careful about downloads and things I do on here, not to mention it is a shared computer. So LTS works out perfect for me, because I do not need to go on the internet, or hook up and do a major download every 9 months. If you can deal maybe with a couple issues of so and so program not working right away, and do not mind the interface changing often and resetting everything up, you might opt to go with the newest versions. Really important features seem to be back ported most of the time though to the LTS.

http://blog.jdpfu.com/2013/07/19/why...an-lts-release

This guy gave his two cents on it, and I liked it pretty much, He is a user on the forums too. So for my family and I to use it, we need something that just sorta stays working for a long period of time, without having to do any major upgrades. ( I am going to need to for Xubuntu upgrade soon though, its support ends sooner than Ubuntu, The Security for the Kernel should stay supported till the end of the normal LTS though.)

The beauty of Ubuntu, is it tends not to slow down over time, not like Windows for sure. You do not even need to Defragment it. Just get rid of useless programs and update regularly and it should stay pretty fast. So far having used this distro exclusively for about a half an year or more now, I have not had any slow down in the boot up or responsiveness of programs, even with two DEs on here. (which can add a lot of packages and make it bloated.)

Basically, if you want to be more bleeding edge, and have the latest versions of all the software, go with the newer distro changing them. If you want Stability, and not having to change much on the distros, LTS is the way to go.

And no worries, we all have questions about things and ask, best way to learn.

**incurablegeek** · August 10th, 2013

You're right. I'll be conservative and stick with 12.04.

I guess I need to abandon my MS mindset with Linux. I mean, No Firewalls or AV required with Linux?
Geez, I'm Mr. Anti-Malware Paranoid here with MS. Got all kinds of prophylactics on my rigs for "safe computing".

Just cranked up the rig to flash the BIOS and the Corsair 650 Gold PSU (brand new) is dead on the 24 pin. I've switched to Seasonic on all my computers, so this Seasonic that I just ordered to replace the Corsair will be my 4th Seasonic 850 Gold. I did a fairly extensive study of power supplies and was quite surprised to find out that Corsair does not manufacture its high-end units. When you buy Seasonic, though, you are actually getting Seasonic. Don't say they will never fail, but they do have a better rep. Yes I know, expensive as heck but my feeling is that dirty or unpredictable power is the best way to destroy your system. Plus, I'm insane.

**RadicaX** · August 10th, 2013

No worries, I was the same when I came over to Ubuntu, was going to download all kind of stuff to get set up and safe.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=510812

Has everything you need to know about security on Ubuntu. I use UFW for a firewall on here, many people do not bother, but firewalls are a good way to add protection.

Noscript if you use Firefox is a must have too. Can help stop any issues with javascript, and flash jackings. Especially the horrible drive by jackings and all that. But if you have UFW up, you are pretty safe, though if you have linux your safe in general.

I just have Java turned off for me, but I do nothing online that requires java. Most of the time if a Linux has a flaw that can be exploited, it is due to some weird product like flash or java, so keep them up to date, and use them only when you need them. (Games on facebook, youtube, couple other small things.)

To turn ufw on, because it comes with Ubuntu.

sudo ufw enable.

Then to set it up for general use.

sudo ufw default deny

If you are running a server, you will need to change it up a bit. But that link will take you to all you need to know about it. And again, a lot of people do not even bother. That link has a lot to digest too though, probably the most out of the things given to you here. But once you have gone through it, you will have a really secure machine.

And to note, Malware and Spyware are basically the same as viruses here on Linux, nothing to worry about. Noscript stops most of whatever might still be left that can get you.

And investing in a good power source is always a good idea, that is the thing that gets most people hardware wise from what I have seen.

XD So no worries, people will look at you funny when you say you have no AV, and think you must have some kind of virus infested piece of crud, but you are safer than they!

**kurt18947** · August 10th, 2013

There is one benefit to using the latest distro vs. LTS. "Out-of-the-box" hardware support for the latest devices such as wifi-adapters may be better in the latest & greatest than it is in the LTS. For instance, I have a cheapo Wifi adapter that has worked 'out-of-the-box' since Ubuntu 12.10/Kernel 3.5.x but not nearly as well as other similar devices. With the advent of 13.10/kernel 3.10.x it seems on a par with other wifi devices. LTS does periodically get updated default programs, hardware & kernel updates. They're still behind the 'bleeding edge' version because Canonical doesn't want to put less-than-well-tested things in LTS. I feel that users of non-LTS are effectively late stage beta testers. I don't mind that and use development releases to help debug the next release. I have an LTS partition though for times when things have to work reliably. One of the beauties of FOSS is no attention from the Business Software Alliance and their ilk. Run as many different distros and versions as you have room for. No one cares!

**incurablegeek** · August 11th, 2013

Right now I'm making Lemonade, with my Lemon being a brand-new Corsair PSU that gives no power through the 24 pin.

Ordered a new Seasonic (Now have 4 and won't use anything else from now on), so it'll be about a week before I can do an install of Linux.

Ain't life just great!

**RadicaX** · August 11th, 2013

Yes it is. Only a week is plenty of time to do reading on things and such before you start, so that works out great.

**Gilad_Pellaeon** · August 11th, 2013

I want to add that even the lightweight Linux mint distro's such as Mint 15 XFCE ran in one important unexpected way. For whatever design reason this Dell Optiplex 745 tower also has built in speakers but I usually listen to my music on headphones. So fine, boot up Mint 15 XFCE on a live USB stick to try it, run Audacious and I find it's playing audio on both the built in tower speakers and my headphones at the same time... *facepalm*

Now considering that I run Lubuntu 13.04 on here as my main machine and it has no audio problems and actually plays my music and anything else audio related on headphones ONLY for privacy reasons so that my significant other doesn't have to hear me listening to music she doesn't like it was definetly what turned me off mint.