# The Ubuntu Forum Community > Ubuntu Community Discussions > Ubuntu, Linux and OS Chat >  Linux Mint 17.1 or Ubuntu 14.10

## Bedant

Hey guys, I need help. Ubuntu 14.10 will be released on Oct 23 '14 while Linux Mint 17.1 will be releasing sometime this year. So what should I do? I also read on Other Forums that Linux Mint is faster than Ubuntu, and I like to stay with faster things but, also updated things. As you know, Linux Mint 17.1, 17.2 and 17.3 are going to have the old Ubuntu 14.04 as there base. They will update the base when Ubuntu 16.04 is released. So, I need your opinion on where should I go? 14.10 or go with Linux Mint and stick with the old things?
Remember, I am looking for updated and fast OS.

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## stalkingwolf

at the end of the day it is ultimately your choice.   I have tried both when i upgrade it will be mint 17.   Thats my choice.

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## Bucky Ball

_Thread moved to Ubuntu, Linux and OS Chat._

Not a support request.

Really depends on what you want. I only use LTS releases, so I'd say 14.04 LTS, but that might not suit your purposes. Up to you ... what do you want your computer to do and how often do you want to have to upgrade the OS? What suits the way you work best? Why not go a minimal install and create your own hybrid with all your favourite things?

Good luck.  :Wink: 

PS: The 'old' 14.04 LTS has only been out since April and is supported until 2019! LTS releases are for stability, production machines and servers that need to 'just work', sometimes 24/7 for a year or two. 14.10 is supported for 9 months.

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## robin7

> _Thread moved to Ubuntu, Linux and OS Chat._
> 
> LTS releases are for stability, production machines and servers that need to 'just work', sometimes 24/7 for a year or two. 14.10 is supported for 9 months.


Mint is switching to _only_ LTS releases now, except for Debian Edition which is "rolling."

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## Bucky Ball

> Mint is switching to _only_ LTS releases now, except for Debian Edition which is "rolling."


Interesting. Thanks.  :Wink:

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## ssam

https://ubuntu-mate.org/ 14.10 should give you the performance benefits of MINT in ubuntu.

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## oldfred

Unity is a big part of the overhead of Ubuntu.
But I have an old 4:3 monitor (panels on top or bottom make more sense), liked menus so I use fallback, flashback or gnome-panel or whatever its name currently is. That is lighter weight also and runs Ubuntu on my very old laptop where Unity was unusable.

       Flashback/fallback in 14.04 Kansasnoob
Installing the package 'gnome-session-flashback' does exactly the same thing as installing the package 'gnome-panel'.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2220264
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...7#post12994477
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...2#post12986002
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...7#post12971487

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## Rob Sayer

> ... I also read on Other Forums that Linux Mint is faster than Ubuntu ...


This:

- has not been my experience with Ubuntu and Mint, using several DEs on both.  Mint with the Mate desktop is supposed to be fast but it ain't.

- doesn't make much sense really.  Why should a distro that is based upon ubuntu be faster than it.  Be careful what you read.  There's a lot of crap out there.

Do not use an alpha or beta release unless you seriously know what you're doing.  I can  virtually guarantee that while it may work when  you install it, at some point it will break when you do an update.  At that point you will need good terminal recovery skills.

I wouldn't have any problem with mint for an experienced user.  But their tech support is so bad I just can't recommend it to the inexperienced.  For tech support nothing comes close to ubuntu except for some distros that frankly aren't noob friendly.

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## Bedant

I use my laptop for multiple purposes, playing on WINE, compiling a basic/simple kernel etc. Mostly browsing. What if I install Cinnamon on Ubuntu? Unity really sucks. Will installing Cinnamon on Ubuntu give me extra performance? I've heard installing Cinnamon also installs new window manager, file manager etc. Is compiz also buggy? Looking forward to Unity 8.




> There's a lot of crap out there.




These things disturb me, probably should listen to you. These a the crap(s) :

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Lin...ance_and_Speed

http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in/20...on-review.html

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## azariah001

Hi Bedant as a Mint user for around 2 years now I can strongly recommend it over Ubuntu main. Back when I did use Ubuntu I had major issues with Unity, Compiz, and the Nvidia drivers to the point that every 4 months or so the entire graphics stack would self destruct. There were some things I needed to use in CCSM (CompizConfig Settings Manager) and it's what caused most of the bugs (in the end it was so bad that I'd get everything configured just so and it would fall to pieces). I'm not sure if the customizations I was using are now built into Unity but... from what I've heard recently, I doubt it.

My experience with Ubuntu including the 'LTS' releases (note the apostrophes) is that they're notorious for squashing in new features when the ones they already have aren't 100% stable. You add superficially tested software to a mix of not totally stable software and it takes a single stone out of place for the whole thing to crumble. (same concept as a pyramid)  :Neutral: 

With Mint and more specifically Cinnamon they don't add features unless they can be sure that they're stable and that the underpinning libraries are rock solid. As such I've only had a single meltdown and that was caused recently by some dodgy third party nvidia drivers sooo that was my own fault.  Reset configs and manually install Nvidia drivers direct from the source and bang, back online.  :Very Happy:  Speaking of those libraries, the Mint devs make sure that the bug fixes get processed it's rare for a day to go by without an update to the system in some shape or form.




> But their tech support is so bad I just can't recommend it to the inexperienced.


Now who's talking crap? Seriously!  :Capital Razz:  Support specifically for Mint may not be great but... 98% of the day to day niggles you're going to experience have been encountered at some point by your Ubuntu neighbours (it is built on the Ubuntu base after all), and all, except for the Unity specific, software packages that work in Ubuntu work in Mint. So you lose nothing there. Now I'm not going to deny that the Mint (or more to the point Cinnamon) Community is facing some struggles with getting a support community behind it but... it doesn't have a corporation propping it up.  :Wink:  And if they can get a support community up and running then... it's inline to take Ubuntu's long held crown as most popular distribution, and when I last checked the figures, it's already making moves.  :Very Happy: 




> Why should a distro that is based upon ubuntu be faster than it.


Oh let me see because the distro developers can pick and choose which versions of various system libraries they use, and then pick the ones that are better tested and more stable. You're forgetting that the thing about Linux is that you can strip the DE off an OS base, splice a new one on, and cut the memory bloat by half. This is what Cinnamon does (if not by more), which is why it's faster than Unity. Now it's not always the case that doing this increases system speed overall! But in this particular instance it is.


On the subject of Mint's switch to an LTS, I wasn't to thrilled when I found out myself but... It's going to allow them to get Cinnamon to a point where it's totally solid. (not that it isn't mostly there already) Being built on an older base doesn't mean that it won't get updates. It get's plenty. And just recently heaps of the bash and ssl variety.  :Smile:  Ultimately it does come down to how you work and if you're stuck with using the Gnome fallback in Unity then... you're in a suboptimal situation continuing with Ubuntu anyway. Cinnamon will run it's full desktop environment, either in software render mode or using the Nouveau display driver, quite happily. And it's a stunner, it's the main reason I'm still with Mint, not to mention the killer theming ability. You want to change how something looks? you can do it in CSS no problem.  :Smile:  And themes...? there's plenty, and all your GTK themes you used in Ubuntu are available as well, although they don't affect the cinnamon DE (for obvious reasons).  :Smile: 

Anyway enough from me.

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## speedwell68

Have you considered Lubuntu 14.04 LTS?  Very fast and very stable.

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## PondPuppy

IMHO, part of the "Unity is slow" concern stems from amount of memory required to run the desktop. But in my limited experience, Ubuntu and Unity are quite snappy with 8 GB RAM and an I3 processor; with 2 GB of RAM and a celeron processor they're a bit laggy. Hence Ubuntu is the main boot choice on my big box, and Mint is my choice on the older laptops. 

Your mileage may (will!) vary.

But look, if you don't like Unity, why install Ubuntu? You can install with a different desktop, or customize it, but that work has already been done superlatively by the Mint team. (And, not to be disrespectful, by the Lubuntu and Xubuntu teams, and many others.)

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## craig10x

My laptop has an i3 intel processor also but i only have 4 gb of ram and my unity desktop i find is pretty snappy...I never seem to use much more then 1gb of ram total, no matter how many things i have running...
I use to run linux mint and i can't say that i ever found it to run smoother or faster then ubuntu...i think that is kind of a myth generated by mint fans  :Wink:

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## sports fan Matt

What about setting up a virtual machine like VMWare or Virtual box and trying both?  I currently have Windows 7 (main/host), Windows 10 tech (120 GB), centOS 7 (120 GB) and  Ubuntu 14.04 (120 GB) all on the same machine  :Smile:

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## mips

> My laptop has an i3 intel processor also but i only have 4 gb of ram and my unity desktop i find is pretty snappy...I never seem to use much more then 1gb of ram total, no matter how many things i have running...


A modern browser like firefox or chromium etc with a few tabs open will push even a lightweight openbox setup to way over 1gb. I battled for a while with just 2GB and that's with only having a browser open.

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## vasa1

> A modern browser like firefox or chromium etc with a few tabs open will push even a lightweight openbox setup to way over 1gb. ...


Won't that depend on the content of the tabs? And how aggressively we block "garbage"? IMO, even a few CSS rules can help bring down resource usage (CPU/RAM).

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## mips

> Won't that depend on the content of the tabs? And how aggressively we block "garbage"? IMO, even a few CSS rules can help bring down resource usage (CPU/RAM).


Yes. If it's just plain text it would use way less than say ten tabs open in youtube or looking at pages with lots of flash, images etc.

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## Kale_Freemon

> My laptop has an i3 intel processor also but i only have 4 gb of ram and my unity desktop i find is pretty snappy...I never seem to use much more then 1gb of ram total, no matter how many things i have running...
> I use to run linux mint and i can't say that i ever found it to run smoother or faster then ubuntu...i think that is kind of a myth generated by mint fans


Likewise for me. Even on an older Macbook with a Core 2 Duo and 3GB of RAM, Unity works smoothly and is quite snappy.

Back to the OP, it really depends on you. If you don't like Unity, then use Mint. That's the beauty of Linux: the choice falls on you. And don't assume that it has to be limited to a Ubuntu based distro. There are so many others out there that may work for you.

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## Bucky Ball

> And don't assume that it has to be limited to a Ubuntu based distro. There are so many others out there that may work for you.


True, but keep in mind that generally the more exotic you get, the less support there is. Some options are for the experienced only (or those ready and willing for a steep learning curve).

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## sffvba[e0rt

I would recommend Mint 17 as it is based on 14.04 and the Mint team is working on having a stable core OS and not re-doing everything every 6 months.

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## vasa1

> I would recommend Mint 17 as it is based on 14.04 and the Mint team is working on having a stable core OS and not re-doing everything every 6 months.


Huh?

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## craig10x

All mint is doing is using the LTS versions from now on, rather then each new 6 month ubuntu version...something anyone on ubuntu can choose to do (if they prefer)...
Mint will simply be following the same LTS incremental releases that ubuntu has (you know, 14.04.1 14.04.2, etc...)

Also, very likely, after convergence (which will be by 16.04) it's likely the 6 month ubuntu version will becoming a rolling style release (based on what Mark Shuttleworth and the developers have been saying lately)...
That will happen when unity 8 is made default...then it will be possible to have a steady, stable core get new apps, kernels and other improvements as they are ready, much the same way an android phone does...

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## sffvba[e0rt

> Huh?


What craig10x said below  :Razz: 




> All mint is doing is using the LTS versions from now on, rather then each new 6 month ubuntu version...something anyone on ubuntu can choose to do (if they prefer)...
> Mint will simply be following the same LTS incremental releases that ubuntu has (you know, 14.04.1 14.04.2, etc...)
> 
> Also, very likely, after convergence (which will be by 16.04) it's likely the 6 month ubuntu version will becoming a rolling style release (based on what Mark Shuttleworth and the developers have been saying lately)...
> That will happen when unity 8 is made default...then it will be possible to have a steady, stable core get new apps, kernels and other improvements as they are ready, much the same way an android phone does...

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## /ADM

> What craig10x said below


It's not like it is a totally new OS, that is just daft.  It's an upgrade.  Sure, anyone can release their own Ubuntu version providing you maintain and release the source to 'every-single-package' that makes up the OS plus the kernel and all modifications.

I think I'll wait for the twice a year updates thanks.

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## EmpireITtech

> All mint is doing is using the LTS versions from now on, rather then each new 6 month ubuntu version...something anyone on ubuntu can choose to do (if they prefer)...
> Mint will simply be following the same LTS incremental releases that ubuntu has (you know, 14.04.1 14.04.2, etc...)


While this is basically true, it's not exactly the same thing. I believe they are planning to have 17.1 be much more than what 14.04.1, 14.04.2, etc are. I believe they are planning to have Cinnamon 2.4 with their release of 17.1. Either way, I'm excited with the change, and think it's great for what Mint is.

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## craig10x

Yeah, but although it will take a bit longer, looks like at least as far as the unity version of ubuntu is concerned, that by 2016, thanks to unity 8 desktop and the newer package managing system,looks like the 6 month version will morph into a kind of rolling style distro...though LTS versions will remain the same, i believe...
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Canon...p-462117.shtml

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## sports fan Matt

Downloading Linux Mint 17 MATE as we speak.

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## Bucky Ball

Be aware that Linux Mint is not supported in the main support areas here. We have a section for 'other OS' support. Feel free to post there, but the Linux Mint community is vibrant, active and also has its own forum.

Good luck.  :Wink:

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## EmpireITtech

Yes, the Mint forums are great and you'll get the support/help you need on anything. Since it's so much like Ubuntu, I've often been able to find many answers here and apply them to Mint, which is very nice =]

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## bro2

Mint's awesome for the traditional desktop. They chose their audience and nailed it. Windows/Ubuntu are struggling with trying to appease everyone, and alienating desktop users in the process.

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## Ric_Helm

I have installed UbuntuStudio thinking it does NOT have the Unity 'bloat.'  Now I read about Mint....I have a friend using Mint and she loves it...
So, If I change to Mint from UbuntuStudio speed up my machine.
I also use it for an odd variety of purposes.
-the basics, WP, music, web, email,etc. Plus Publishing, Photo, and Audio (DAW, and live streaming WEB TV-and Radio.
Then there is another area. I installed WINE, to use the logging features for a number of Electronics Test Equipment.

Would Mint work with this odd collection of uses?
I had no Idea Ubuntu was the underlying interface for Mint. (interface my not be the correct word here)

About LTS for Mint.  I really just want to get an older laptop up and running quickly working with all or most of these uses. The only MUST work items or WINE and Test Equipment applications, and being able to use with the live streaming services 
Does the Ubuntu repository work with Mint?

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## Bucky Ball

@Ric_Helm: This is a non-support thread in a non-support area of the forums. If you have a support request please post a thread in the appropriate forum support area with a descriptive title and as much info as you think is relevant to improve your chances of support. Good luck.

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## /ADM

Not sure where all the rumours that Unity is bloat came from.  I am also running Mint 17 MATE for watching DVD's and guess what, MATE takes up 380MB RAM idle, only a mere 128 MB RAM less than Unity at idle.  If Unity is bloat, then so is MATE.

Ubuntu repositories can work well with Mint, but I would advise against it and just use PPA's to keep your most used apps updated.  But if you're dead-set and using Ubuntu repo's, then use 14.04 repos (LTS).  However Mint's own repo's are very fit for the job (they are good) and fast too with updating.  Not sure about your programs, chances are, if they work in Ubuntu they will work in Mint.

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## nardholio

Running Linux Mint Rebecca on Vivid-Proposed with no issues here =)

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