What do you guys think about Linux Mint?

[rabid9797]

I just installed Mint 3.0 "Cassandra".

For those of you who don't know, Mint is an ubuntu-based distro that is geared towards being more aesthetically pleasing than regular ubuntu(kubuntu, xubunutu)
It comes in all three flavors(gnome,kde, and xfce), but personally i think it looks nicer, and for normal desktop use, it provides a much better expierence.

has anyone else had any experience with Mint? what are your opinions on it?

here's the link to their site btw: http://www.linuxmint.com/

[rsambuca]

Its just ubuntu with a few proprietory stuff added in. No real difference.

[jrusso2]

Mint looks better and works better then Ubuntu. I would use it over Ubuntu especially for someone new.

To me this is what Ubuntu should be.

[rsambuca]

"looks better" is obviously just a personal preference. As far as "works better", how so? Could you be more specific please?

[rabid9797]

"looks better" is obviously just a personal preference. As far as "works better", how so? Could you be more specific please?

personally, i feel that i am sacraficing some of the customizational ability that i get from using ubuntu myself...i didnt have to install any drivers, setup beryl or compiz fusion myself, none of the fun stuff..but besides the obvious stuff, it has a lot more functionality and ease of use for beginningers(one of which im not), but from the perspective of someone who had never used ubuntu before this would be an easy way for them to start.

[ynnhoj]

Its just ubuntu with a few proprietory stuff added in. No real difference.
so? i'm not necessarily defending mint, as i've never used it, but if you want to start playing that game you could also say that ubuntu is just debian with a few changes. "no real difference" :P

[jrusso2]

"looks better" is obviously just a personal preference. As far as "works better", how so? Could you be more specific please?

Looks better cause no butt ugly brown theme. Works better because it plays codecs and java and flash right out of the box. No need to try to figure it out.
Also it has the oh so scary broadcom, atheros, and intel firmware that Ubuntu refuses to use. So people's wireless got more chance to work out of the box

No need to figure out adding multiverse, all they need to add is Nvidia and ATI drivers and its complete.

[rabid9797]

Looks better cause no butt ugly brown theme. Works better because it plays codecs and java and flash right out of the box. No need to try to figure it out.
Also it has the oh so scary broadcom, atheros, and intel firmware that Ubuntu refuses to use. So people's wireless got more chance to work out of the box

No need to figure out adding multiverse, all they need to add is Nvidia and ATI drivers and its complete.

might as well be a windows power user the way you are talking...the whole point of ubuntu is being able to configure and customize everything you want to, and learning and utilizing your OS instead of letting it sit back and do everything for you..

Linux Mint is great for ease of use and desktop use, but it'll never "work better" than the regular ubuntu distro

[rsambuca]

Looks better cause no butt ugly brown theme. Works better because it plays codecs and java and flash right out of the box. No need to try to figure it out.
Also it has the oh so scary broadcom, atheros, and intel firmware that Ubuntu refuses to use. So people's wireless got more chance to work out of the box

No need to figure out adding multiverse, all they need to add is Nvidia and ATI drivers and its complete.

Thanks for the info on the broadcom ... stuff. I actually had no idea that the mint developers had changed the kernel at all.

As far as looks go, well, lets be real here. Blondes vs brunettes, apples vs oranges.

While it definitely is handy to have the codecs in place, I haven't seen it as an issue since Feisty, since all you do is click on your file and it installs the codecs for you after a prompt.

The reason ubuntu can do all of this stuff is because it would exclude anyone in the US from using the OS legally.

ynnhoj - actually, there is a way bigger difference between debian and ubuntu than mint and ubuntu. For example, ubuntu is not compatible with the debian repositories. Mint is compatible with the ubuntu repositories. There are much more, but I don't think we really need to go into that in this thread! I wasn't trying to start a flame war. Sorry to all!:)

[Lucifiel]

It's cool: I just like the way it works 'cos hell, I've reinstalled Ubuntu close to 10 times within a few months(mostly mistakes on my part) and I eventually tired of setting things up all the time. I'd rather use my time to learn other things like Linux commands, how Linux works and so forth.

[RAV TUX]

I have only tried the e17 beta version of mint, which was a bit buggy.

I believe they have removed the e17 version from the download list last time I looked.

I prefer elive over any other distro if I am wanting to use e17.

As far as the rest of Linux mint's version I can not say, since I have not tried them.

[ynnhoj]

ynnhoj - actually, there is a way bigger difference between debian and ubuntu than mint and ubuntu. For example, ubuntu is not compatible with the debian repositories. Mint is compatible with the ubuntu repositories. There are much more, but I don't think we really need to go into that in this thread! I wasn't trying to start a flame war. Sorry to all!:)
it's cool -- my reply to what you said was meant to be a bit playful / half-serious, anyways (maybe it didn't come off that way, though). :)

[Dimitriid]

Only thing that Interests me is the replacement for network-manager-gnome. Honestly it just has not worked for me on regular Ubuntu: Wireless connection works whenever its in the mood or likes the router brand ( likes linksys and hates 2wire for example, former always working on wireless and the later never works ). In fact minutes ago it even had problems with my dhcp ethernet connection, I had to reboot for it to work. So "just works" is a bit of a stretch, even on supported hardware like regular ethernet.

I might try wicd on Ubuntu first, although honestly I dont use my laptop out very much ( at home my next door neighbor has a linksys so it almost always works...just not very responsive sometimes ) and If i really really need an internet connection for something on the go and there is only wireless, I can just boot vista and do whatever I need ( I left vista in to be able to deal with people using things like printers that only have windows drivers, other such hardware, etc ).

But I still consider Linux Mint a possibility.

[rsambuca]

In fact minutes ago it even had problems with my dhcp ethernet connection, I had to reboot for it to work. So "just works" is a bit of a stretch, even on supported hardware like regular ethernet.

That is a rarity. Wireless can suck though, but not just on ubuntu.

[Dimitriid]

That is a rarity. Wireless can suck though, but not just on ubuntu.

Yea thats why I hesitate. Other than that im too lazy, I get comfortable on an OS and I don't move or reformat for years. In fact I dont even think I'll upgrade to Gutsy just because backing up and reinstalling is such a pain to me.

[Stone123]

What do you guys think about Linux Mint?

I think that as long as i can install ubuntu-base and ubuntu-standard and then add on it what i want i realy don't care.

Ubuntu is ubuntu, what part of the market is Mint aimd for?

[moma]

I like this... (http://www.calvin.edu/~adams/research/microwulf/) $2500 supercomputer better (than Mint), but generally, software is lacking behind the hardware. Software is NOT parallel enough.

Yes. Microwulf runs Ubuntu Linux both on the head and all nodes.

This story was already told by this posting... (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=539496) and
http://www.futuredesktop.org/hpc_linux.html has more about grid and cluster computing.

[rsambuca]

Yea thats why I hesitate. Other than that im too lazy, I get comfortable on an OS and I don't move or reformat for years. In fact I dont even think I'll upgrade to Gutsy just because backing up and reinstalling is such a pain to me.

You are still think like a windows user. You don't have to reinstall with ubuntu!

[popch]

You are still think like a windows user. You don't have to reinstall with ubuntu!

You should not have to reinstall with ubuntu. In fact, you can manage to break synaptic in a number of interesting ways so that - as a newbie - you have no other choice.

[liquidfunk]

Wireless can suck though, but not just on ubuntu.

Not on Ubuntu eh? Is that why my wireless card only works on 6.10.

Hmm.

[rsambuca]

Not on Ubuntu eh? Is that why my wireless card only works on 6.10.

Hmm.

Sorry, but I don't understand your comment.

[karellen]

the whole point of ubuntu is being able to configure and customize everything you want to, and learning and utilizing your OS instead of letting it sit back and do everything for you..
you know, most of the people use an os, not make a purpose per se from it. they want to do other things with their time instead of fiddling with a pc. if it works out of the box, why choose something that needs a little more configuration? that's how a regular user thinks

[karellen]

and speaking about mint, I really like it. especially the last kde edition

[liquidfunk]

Sorry, but I don't understand your comment.

Well you said wireless doesn't suck on Ubuntu. I replied by saying that my wireless doesn't work on the latest release. Assuming you were talking about 7.04.

Just leave it..

[popch]

Not on Ubuntu eh? Is that why my wireless card only works on 6.10.

Hmm.

er - the post you're quoting says not just on ubuntu. It does not say not on ubuntu. That means on ubuntu as well as on other OSs.

[Dimitriid]

You are still think like a windows user. You don't have to reinstall with ubuntu!

Well I don't know how clean are the upgrade process from release to release but my guess is that more than a few problems will arise. And even if it has been clean in the past there is no guarantee's Gutsy wont have some upgrade issues. Ill wait and see a few weeks after its out.

[Paul820]

Well i'm going to download it and try it out, see what all the fuss is about. I won't get rid of my ubuntu though, i just thought it's about time i tried some other distros. I've only ever tried suse10.1 + 10.2 and ubuntu.

[Epilonsama]

Ubuntu users talk about all the fud debian users spread about it but you guys are doing the same thing but with mint.

[rsambuca]

Well you said wireless doesn't suck on Ubuntu. I replied by saying that my wireless doesn't work on the latest release. Assuming you were talking about 7.04.

Just leave it..

Actually I was agreeing with you! I said wireless IS a problem, but that it is not a problem specific to ubuntu. Please re-read the post.

[distroman]

You are still think like a windows user. You don't have to reinstall with ubuntu!


Well I don't know how clean are the upgrade process from release to release but my guess is that more than a few problems will arise. And even if it has been clean in the past there is no guarantee's Gutsy wont have some upgrade issues. Ill wait and see a few weeks after its out.
My experience is as follows, if you do too much out of the ordinary, as in poking around with unsupported applications etc etc, upgrading can be trouble. If that's true the rule to follow would be “don't do anything out of the ordinary if you want to upgrade”. Just an experience.
Have a /home partition and you don't have too worry about too much.

Back on topic.

Installed ubuntu for a friend a week or so ago and I tend to forget how much stuff (still it's painless and fast) needs to be setup.
Was going to install ubuntu on a friends laptop tomorrow, think we will be going with mint instead. She will like the theme better as well, boot splash etc.

[Paul820]

Well i was downloading linux mint 3.0 and it's got as far as 48% 333mb, it just stopped, hasn't moved for ten minutes. Anyone know a reliable download location that doesn't stop halfway through? If not i don't think i will bother, it's no good downloads stopping halfway through and not starting again. :(

[rsambuca]

I usually just use torrents to download iso files. LinuxTracker (http://linuxtracker.org/index.php) is pretty good for having the latest versions of distros available.

[liquidfunk]

Actually I was agreeing with you! I said wireless IS a problem, but that it is not a problem specific to ubuntu. Please re-read the post.

I apologize. Read it wrong.

[MusicMastaMike]

I tried out the KDE version of Mint 3.0 a couple weeks ago... I installed it and started looking around. At first, I thought it was really polished, themes looked very nice, some of my favorite apps were installed by default, etc. But after a few days I started realizing that there was way too much installed by default that I would never use. Yeah, it was nice having codecs and proprietary drivers preinstalled, but half the fun for me is configuring my own system. Plus, I got sick of using KDE. Needless to say, I switched back to Ubuntu Feisty after 2 days. I now have myself a nice theme installed (without Beryl or Compiz, I don't need all the flash) and just the programs I need. Hooray for simplicity!

[bigbearomaha]

Linux Mint, just like any Distro, is appealing to a market.

Ubuntu appeals to tinkerers mostly. people who are not afraid to get into the nuts and bolts of the OS to tweak it exactly the way they want. Which is incredible. To have that kind of control over your OS.

Mint is taking Ubuntu to another market. This is a group of people who don't want ot tinker with the OS. They are looking for the "out of the box" experience with little to no tweaking needed. They may not be comfortable with doing that kind of thing, they may just not be interested. they would rather get to doing what they set out to do, be productive, play games, read email, whatever. anything but tweaking. They just want it to work.

And that is pretty awesome too. To be able to just install an OS and be able to just "get er done" with little "tweaking" if at all, right away.

Linux can offer so many things to so many different people. it's all good and it's all Linux.

BTW, I think Linux Mint is great. for what it offers and the things they are trying to do. I have Mint Xfce installed and it is the best Xfce Linux install I have ever used. bar none.

Big Bear

[rsambuca]

Linux Mint, just like any Distro, is appealing to a market.

Ubuntu appeals to tinkerers mostly. people who are not afraid to get into the nuts and bolts of the OS to tweak it exactly the way they want. Which is incredible. To have that kind of control over your OS.
I agree that Mint attempts to appeal to a different market than ubuntu, however, to say that "Ubuntu appeals to tinkerers mostly" is incorrect. In fact, on the Ubuntu desktop page, their goal is that it "just works". Tinkers in the linux world as a rule migrate to other distros entirely, usually something like Gentoo, Slackware, Arch, etc.

[LT1Caprice57L]

Mint refused to work properly on my laptop. No wireless, for one thing, and lots of errors noticed on startup. Blacklisted modules and stuff, and "wrong chipset" something. Worked OK on my desktop, though.