Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

LinuxMint13 RC Is Available For Testing

Posted by samzenpus on from the check-it-out dept.

donadony writes "LinuxMint13 RC is available for testing. This release comes with two versions on separate DVDs: Mate and Cinnamon. LinuxMint13 Cinnamon is very light and offers some customization, integration of new applets, extensions and themes that can be found on the official website."

114 comments

  1. I hope the KDE version follows soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was looking for a good KDE distribution and recently tried the KDE version of Mint 12. Having come from Mandriva and openSUSE, I expected it to be more polished, but I was disappointed. There were several annoying bugs related to taskbar and window switching and no updates or fixes for them. I hope they include the latest KDE packages in 13 and fix those issues.

    1. Re:I hope the KDE version follows soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      As a long time Mandriva user, and current Mint 12 user, few distributions are anywhere near as polished as Mandriva. In many ways, Mint and all the Unbuntus are a step back from Mandriva. Honestly, most distributions are a step back from Mandriva and I honestly can't think of an exception.

      Just the same, Mandriva is beginning bit rot and many packages are getting rather stale. Third party repositories are becoming harder to find. And library incompatibilities makes it harder and harder to live well in the Linux community. The open source fork of Mandriva might be able to bring life back to Mandriva, but the fact is, its dying a slow, painful death.

      Honestly, I would be perfectly happy with Mint 12 except for the fact that Mate has many bugs, some things just don't work right, and Gnome 3 sucks horribly and is clearly for people who casually use their computer or simply don't multitask. Since my migration to Mint 12, I've tried and re-tried every available desktop except KDE. And honestly, KDE has no appeal to me, not to mention offers a big waste of memory since because most of the applications I run are gnome and/or gtk+ based. Having said that, gnome 3 in fallback mode (what I'm currently running) is proving to be palletable yet still a decline from Gnome 2.

      If MATE was more reliable and less buggy it would be my preference - at least until Cinnamon matures more. I was running Cinnamon for some time but finally got frustrated with the bugs and various gnome3 shortcomings, which seemingly includes massive memory leaks.

      After its all said and done, the combination of stupidity of gnome 3 developers and those who rushed to adopt a half baked and massive step backwards from gnome 2 has made using Linux in general a huge pain in the ass. And that's comming from someone who has used Linux pre-1.0 kernel days. Why idiots think a massive step backwards in usability is a good thing, I have no idea but regardless, a not of well meaning dummies are inflicting a lot of pain on the Linux community at large. I simply can't wait for intelilgence to return back to the Linux distribution and desktop communities.

      Who knows, I may yet wind up settling on Enlightenment. Regardless, after trying five different desktops and still being one or more step backs from what's consistently prove works and works well wonderfully proves just how broken and out of touch the gnome 3 developers really are.

      Its a sad thing THE best Linux distribution is dying and made worse by the fact that everyone is working hard to make desktop Linux royally suck. Regardless, Mint Linux is clearly the best Ubuntu offering available and a far second runner up to Mandriva.

    2. Re:I hope the KDE version follows soon by jedidiah · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > few distributions are anywhere near as polished as Mandriva

      You're funny.

      Mandrake's day passed when it was still called Mandrake.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    3. Re:I hope the KDE version follows soon by diego.viola · · Score: 1

      Are these the bugs you are referring to?

      https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=288985
      https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=224447

      Those are still in KDE 4.8.3 and I agree, they are quite annoying.

    4. Re:I hope the KDE version follows soon by tdelaney · · Score: 2

      IIRC LM12 shipped with MATE 1.0, and it was explicitly said at the time that it was an early release and there would be issues.

      I've been using LMDE update pack 4 (with the current version MATE 1.2) and apart from some things being named differently (e.g. pluma instead of gedit) I can't notice any significant difference from Gnome2. Well, except that it seems snappier (but some people have a different experience, so make of that what you will).

    5. Re:I hope the KDE version follows soon by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Unlike w/ Ubuntu, where Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu and Xubuntu were released on the same day, the KDE edition of Mint lags the rest. I do wish Mint released that at the same time as the others.

    6. Re:I hope the KDE version follows soon by unixisc · · Score: 1

      You can always go w/ Mageia

    7. Re:I hope the KDE version follows soon by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Gnome 3 sucks horribly and is clearly for people who casually use their computer or simply don't multitask

      The only multitasking most people (as opposed to computers) do is to listen to a death metal mp3 while masturbating furiously to anime porn.

      So I've been told.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    8. Re:I hope the KDE version follows soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your comment suggests you're horribly out of touch with the various distributions. You can be a fan boy, you like the brain dead administrators who falsely moderated up your comment, but it doesn't change that Mandriva is a superior user experience, providing far more polish. Hell, Pulse Audio problems had been completely solved for two years until I went to Ubuntu and Mint. And that's just one example. The fact is, Mandriva was years ahead of everyone else and in spite of everyone's effort to close the gap, they are still ahead.

      Its an exercise I'll leave to you to determine if its because Mandriva is just so fucking awesome or that the various Ubuntu distros have sucks just so horribly. And really, that's not fair because its true for all of the majorly popular distributions.

      The only thing funny here is how completely out of touch you are with reality. And frankly, that's more sad than funny.

    9. Re:I hope the KDE version follows soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lighten up, Francis.

    10. Re:I hope the KDE version follows soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At a certain point I was using openSUSE but it was booting a bit slow, so I switched to Kubuntu.Kubuntu started to become an horrible mess, so I used plain Ubuntu for a while. I never got really used to the terrible file dialog, nor to its lack of keyboard shortcuts, but in the end I could get my job done.

      Then Unity came. I put it on an USB key and decided it was too much suffering, so I up the update until I decide to try mint 12.

      Ok THAT was really an horrible mess, the most bug ridden half backed desktop environment I have ever used. I resisted a couple of month saying that I'll get used and that they'll fix the bugs. Of course they did not, it's much more fun to add cutting edge new features than to make the basic ones (such as switch window) work.

      After 8 taskbar crashes in half an hour, instead of renaming for the 5th time the config directory,I started to download the DVD image of openSUSE 12.1. Guess what, it takes a few more seconds to boot than ubuntu, but who cares, nowadays suspend to ram works seamlessly. If I find a bug (I met a few), well, I can report it and the tracker is not full of illiterate teenagers raging and pasting megabytes of irrelevant logs. It does not have all the possible packages in the world in its supported repositories, at least you have a clear distinction between what is going to work and what could break you system: you can always wipe all the packages from RandomRepo and get it back to work. I even had to compile one obscure algebra library myself, which proved to be 10x faster than the precompiled crap on ubuntu.

      Maybe in a while I'll grow tired of it again, what's nice of linux is freedom to change without loosing all the music and videos; maybe, as an old school developer, I'm overlooking the importance of system stability and reliability, middle-click paste and ctrl-alt-sysreq over user-friendly javascriptable social-connected desktop environment.

      Maybe I had forgotten what made linux attractive to me in the first place: it helps me get my work done, 10x faster than on OsX and 100x than on Windows. As long as your work is not developing desktop themes or surfing the web, I'll suggest you stick to what is stable instead of what is cool.

  2. Best Feature: No Unity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ubuntu has shot itself in the foot.

    1. Re:Best Feature: No Unity by dmbasso · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I had the same opinion until the latest release. I expressed here several times my frustration with both Unity and Gnome Shell, and ended up using LXDE with Compiz. With the release of Ubuntu 12.04 I decided to give Unity another chance, and to my suprise it is working pretty well. Everything I need is working, and I'm starting to get used to the 'lens' concept, which in the end will replace the gnome-do that I was used to.
      So, well done Canonical and Ubuntu community! :)

      --
      `echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
  3. Based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If it is based on the latest Ubuntu, it'll be awesome! Been using Precise Pangolin since it came out and it's the best Linux I've had on any machine yet!

  4. Is this one going to be LTS? by PrescriptionWarning · · Score: 1

    Anyone know if this version will be a Long Term Support version?

    1. Re:Is this one going to be LTS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it is. Linux mint is derived from ubuntu and ubuntu just released a LTS release. The next version of mint will be based off of it.

    2. Re:Is this one going to be LTS? by cpu6502 · · Score: 0

      What is LinuxMint? Why abandon Ubuntu for this? Is it FREE (as in liberty) software? Or merely open source like Ubuntu.

      --
      My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
    3. Re:Is this one going to be LTS? by Squeeonline · · Score: 1

      Does the average ubuntu end user care as long as it is free (as in beer)? The first thing most of us do is download the restricted media packages.

    4. Re:Is this one going to be LTS? by cpu6502 · · Score: 1

      And what are the system requirements? I can't find them on the website.

      --
      My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
    5. Re:Is this one going to be LTS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's an ubuntu derived distro that is even easier to use (no unity interface, installs media codecs by default)

    6. Re:Is this one going to be LTS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      in mint, that's done already at install

    7. Re:Is this one going to be LTS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1889

    8. Re:Is this one going to be LTS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, according to the release announcement, Mint 13 will be supported until 2017, just like its Ubuntu base.

    9. Re:Is this one going to be LTS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many of us switched to Mint because of Unity.

    10. Re:Is this one going to be LTS? by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

      If you care this much about freedom, use one of the FSF-endorsed distros.

      --
      Circumcision is child abuse.
    11. Re:Is this one going to be LTS? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      The main reason anyone does that is if one doesn't like Ubuntu's options of Unity or GNOME3 as the DE, but prefers to go w/ either MATE or Cinnamon, that's where they'd prefer Mint to Ubuntu. Aside from that, there are no differnces b/w the 2.

      If you want an FSF-approved liberated Linux, go w/ any of those oddball distros on the GNU page - Blag, Trisquel, GNewSense or any of those Spanish-only distros out there like Musix, Ututo or Venenux, very convenient for those of us who don't speak Spanish. Or wait for HURD

    12. Re:Is this one going to be LTS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I left Ubuntu for Mint due to performance issues on my box. Some time last year I noticed that each upgrade of Ubuntu led to worse performance on an AMD64 machine with decent hardware (SSD, 6GB, decent video card). I don't know exactly what was causing the performance issue, but whatever it is, it wasn't in Mint and the issues have gone away even though I continued to use Gnome, Compiz, and the same software I had been using with Ubuntu.

  5. WoW by doomdoomdoom · · Score: 0

    If they could make a version that you can play WoW on with a decent frame rate I'd convert from Windows (would have a while ago). Serious question, why can't DX11 be ported/supported on Linux? Is it a patent or technical issue?

    1. Re:WoW by armanox · · Score: 1

      It's a matter of Microsoft doesn't support (read want) DirectX on non-current Windows platforms - notice no DX for MacOS, no DX10 or 11 for Windows XP.

      --
      I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
    2. Re:WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is that a serious question? DirectX is a Microsoft graphics API. Of course its proprietary and has patent issues!!

    3. Re:WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Kind of a dumb comment when WoW is widely known as one of the few games with native OpenGL support.

    4. Re:WoW by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

      So use wine.

      DX11 is MS thing, they release no specs you could write too and they might sue if it took off. WoW does work in Wine though.

    5. Re:WoW by Hatta · · Score: 1

      What do you think Wine is?

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    6. Re:WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not sure if it's still the case, but I used to play WoW on Ubuntu (which Mint is based on) using Wine /PlayonLinux and the Open GL renderer (launch time option -opengl) in a 2600x1024 window (spanned in the middle of three monitors) with full settings (as much as it let you enable w/ the Open GL renderer) and got great framerates. Tested in regular gameplay, PvP, and raids.

      Though this was using a GT8600 and later a GTX 260. YMMV, etc.

      I also know that Rift is pixel perfect now (as of a few Wine versions) though you do have a noticeable performance hit when you enable certain visual features.

    7. Re:WoW by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      DirectX was designed from the getgo for vendor lock in.

      It is really a whole engine that is already finished instead of creating your own from scratch. Developers just make calls to it, but can overide some of it too for customization. This is why its nearly impossible to port unlike OpenGL which is the framework to make your own engine.

      I really wish OpenGL stayed more popular as many games such as Star Wars the Old Republic are losing out on 20 - 25% of the market of young players who own Macs.

      When I was a contractor at a famous game company (dough stupid ninja lawyers forbid me to name) years ago there was a way you could run it with OpenGL in Windows but the performance was terrible and not tuned. I kind of wished different vendors could put down their flamethrowers and lawyers and work together to create standards like they did in the old days.

      An OpenGL version of directX that could run on MacOSX, Linux, Andriod, and Windows would be really nice. Of course all the vendors would rather be greedy and fight each other while handing the monopoly over to MS instead. Someone or an organization would have to port it to Windows as of course MS has a vested interest to see only crappy games on non Windows devices.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    8. Re:WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      WoW's OpenGL support is subpar. The game actually runs better rendering it with DirectX 9, and letting WINE translate everything into OpenGL.

      Performance is comparable to running the game in Windows, with the exception of animated geometry - that will get handled by your CPU, and very often becomes the limiting factor in areas with lots of action going on; most notably battlegrounds and 25-man dungeons.

    9. Re:WoW by Billly+Gates · · Score: 0

      Wine is not really an option. Unless it drastically improved in the years since I dared touch it WOW has many issues with it. It is a very complex program. If you do serious raiding you also need team-speak program such as Ventrillo, another program to load your add ons and so on.

      If you hate MS and direct X a Mac is the next best thing as it supports Wow, Vent, and a few add on programs are available for that platform.

      Linus himself said if you need Windows then run Windows as he uses PowerPoint when he worked at Trans-media a lot and didn't bother to try to get it to work on wine or use OpenOffice.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    10. Re:WoW by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      There's a confusing typo in there. Did you mean "they release no specs you could write, too" or "they release no specs you could write to"? Easy typo to makebut a bit confusing to read.

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
    11. Re:WoW by h4rr4r · · Score: 3, Informative

      Wine has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 6 months, so it would be very drastic if the last time you saw it was years ago.

      I am only suggesting as an option not that you should use it.

    12. Re:WoW by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

      The latter sir, sorry about that.

      A clear phrasing would be "MS has never and likely will never release a proper specification for DirectX."

    13. Re:WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I played wow under linux when TBC came out. If you are paying attention to hardware support you should have few problems getting wow to run on your linux system. As to why no DX on linux... you're aware that DX is a proprietary MS technology, right? You can't 'port' something you have no code for. You can attempt to reverse engineer it and emulate it, but you're pretty much always going to be chasing tail lights.

    14. Re:WoW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Care to elaborate what your problems is? I raided sunwell with WoW and Teamspeak running with wine and I can't see what would have changed besides the new shiny shaders which may or may not be supported by wine.

    15. Re:WoW by The+Wild+Norseman · · Score: 4, Funny

      What do you think Wine is?

      Well, it's not an emulator, that's for sure!

      --
      "A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
  6. Does it support IE 6 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My boss down the hall says it is the pinnacle of standards and the best browser of all and there is no need to leave it besides 2014.

    No IE 6 means no upgrades from the standard. He didn't earn his certificate of web design from 2003 for nothing.

    1. Re:Does it support IE 6 by Billly+Gates · · Score: 4, Funny

      I couldn't agree with you more. As someone learning web development I love IE 6.

      Did I fail to mention it says in my contract that I get paid double overtime? Keep it up and demand Windows 2000 and IE 5.5 support and I can get a new car!

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    2. Re:Does it support IE 6 by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      Sounds like your boss qualifies as a proof to the theorum, "It's not what you know, but who you know."

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  7. Yea, but... by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

    Will it fix the wifi issues I've had since upgrading to LM12?


    For those wondering, it's an older Dell 1545 with a Broadcom wireless card - worked fine until I upgraded to LM12, suddenly it won't connect to a network (sees them, but won't connect) unless I use the hardware (F2) button to disable it for 5-10 minutes... not a huge deal, I have a few USB dongles, but it has forced me to spend far more time in my Win7 box than I would prefer.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    1. Re:Yea, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've had issues with Broadcom drivers on a number of distros. Their very difficult to get working properly. Have you tried blacklisting your b43 driver? That was my issue in many cases.

  8. Mint is nice, but... by cronot · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mint is nice, and it's the Linux flavor I'm using currently (although I use LMDE, not the standard Mint) after having left Ubuntu when they transitioned to Unity. The best thing about it is that the maintainer(s) actually listen to users regarding development directions, which was what drove them to develop Cinnamon and adopt MATE as an option - as opposed to Ubuntu / Canonical, that just forced down the users' throats their ideas and UI decisions, alienating a large part of their user base in the process.

    Having said that, there's still one thing that keeps me from recommending it to new users or users migrating out of Ubuntu: lack of automated upgrade procedure to newer major versions - one thing that Ubuntu has and generally works nice there. On Mint, the official procedure is to backup you files/settings using the backup tool, install the newer version from scratch on top of the existing install, and then restore the backup after. That's just too cumbersome. Yes, it's possible to upgrade without reinstalling by manually editing the sources.list file and upgrading manually with apt-get, but it's considered unsafe and error prone by the maintainers and hence not recommended. I did it anyway on a past install, and sure enough I had hiccups - I still had a working install, but there were a lot of rough edges and inconsistencies on the upgraded install. Because of that I ended up installing LMDE so I didn't have to worry about major version upgrades anymore. It's not a fully smooth ride either, but it's far more manageable, and having previous experience with Debian, I'm totally at home with it. But it's obviously not something I'd recommend to casual / new users either.

    1. Re:Mint is nice, but... by doti · · Score: 1

      You don't need to backup.

      After booting from the installation CD, open a shell, mount your disk, rename /home to something else, then remove all other directories. (You may want to save /etc too if you changed something. Nowadays the average user don't need to edit /etc, as the defaults work fine, so it's fine to wipe it.)

      Then you choose to manually choose the partitions, specify the partition layout (just assign which is /, etc), and tell it to NOT format.

      After the installation, move back the contents of your old /home to the new one.

      --
      factor 966971: 966971
    2. Re:Mint is nice, but... by Pausanias · · Score: 1

      Thanks for letting us know... I bet you that most people on here like myself thought that updates were seamless just like on Ubuntu.

      We've all been spoiled by how smooth Ubuntu is, and tend to forget how difficult and fiddly it was to get everything to work prior its existence.

      As long as you leave the non-LTS releases alone, Ubuntu offers a very polished experience. I'm even willing to tolerate Unity to reap the benefits of 5 years of LTS.

      - Written from a Hardy to Lucid to soon-to-be Precise Mac Pro running Linux as main OS.

    3. Re:Mint is nice, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Switch to the debian rolling release. I love the fact that it's 100% compatible (or supposed to be) with Debian Testing. I run debian on everything in my house. I tried Ubuntu but I couldn't get used to the 'we're locking to this version unless you want backports and to add a ton of ppas to keep things working'. I also like the strictness that debian forces all package maintainers to follow. I update once a week and everything that has been pushed into Testing gets updated. I'm always running the 'latest' version of stuff. (Other than Sid) and it's a whole lot less painful than my girlfriend's experience with her Ubuntu install. Rather than massive update that may or not break everything every 6 months I update incrementally once a week.

    4. Re:Mint is nice, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice! Will try that (of course not without being able to restore to my original state).

    5. Re:Mint is nice, but... by spasm · · Score: 4, Informative

      .. and kiss goodbye to your mysql & postgresql databases as well as any web sites you were developing in /var/www and for that matter anything at all that stores its data in /var..

      Your method is a decent one, but it requires that you know for sure you don't have any important data anywhere other than /home and /etc. The parent poster is complaining that on generic ubuntu you can do a full upgrade and not have to worry about this.

    6. Re:Mint is nice, but... by Hatta · · Score: 3, Insightful

      On Mint, the official procedure is to backup you files/settings using the backup tool, install the newer version from scratch on top of the existing install, and then restore the backup after. That's just too cumbersome.

      How did they screw up 'apt-get dist-upgrade' so badly? Why are all these Debian derivatives so much crappier than Debian? What's the point then?

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    7. Re:Mint is nice, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am currently playing with Debian Squeeze as my Ubuntu replacement. I have some concerns about the older components but so far it does everything I want it to do without the Ubuntu upgrade cycle issues. Would you mind comparing and contrasting Debian Squeeze with the Mint LMDE? Before I get two invested in Squeeze I would like to understand the differences.

    8. Re:Mint is nice, but... by Tarlus · · Score: 1

      As long as you leave the non-LTS releases alone, Ubuntu offers a very polished experience. I'm even willing to tolerate Unity to reap the benefits of 5 years of LTS.

      100% agree. I used to upgrade my laptop to the newest release every six months because I loved having the latest greatest thing. I had upgraded every version from 6.04 all the way to 10.04 (and even hopped from kubuntu-desktop to ubuntu-desktop) without ever needing to do a fresh reinstallation.

      Of course, it was also a lot more work, I would have to give the computer half a day to upgrade itself, and the occasional bug would arise after an upgrade (though never anything that couldn't be fixed by hand). I eventually settled happily with the LTS since it's just a lot less hassle. Less crazy experimental shit to have to fight with.

      Now I just use Live CD's and Virtualbox to play with the latest releases in my spare time without messing with my machine. =)

      --
      /* No Comment */
    9. Re:Mint is nice, but... by jobdrb · · Score: 1

      Why someone will install ANY OS actually in only one partition? Just put put / in one partition and /home in another. Updates and Install will easy.

    10. Re:Mint is nice, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      About the throat-ramming, perhaps you'll be surprised to know that Canonical offers several UI options, not just Ubuntu with Unity.

      I'm using one. I'm running Lubuntu. Which is the classic W95 toolbar UI and I love it.

      And since it's just the UI layer, and everything else is Canonical, I've got all that I liked about Ubuntu Gnome 2.x, without any of the hassles that make up your entire second paragraph. There was no down-time: a completely familiar UI on a completely familiar repository system. I installed the apps I like instead of the default lightweights, and I'm back running.

    11. Re:Mint is nice, but... by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 1

      Really? That's interesting to read, considering I was able to try out Cinnamon by adding the LMDE repo to my Debian machine and install it just fine.

      So... it can't upgrade itself, but it is binary compatible with an upstream project. o_O

    12. Re:Mint is nice, but... by bcrowell · · Score: 2

      This doesn't really sound to me like a disadvantage of Mint relative to Ubuntu. I've been running ubuntu on my home desktop (a series of machines) since edgy. From edgy to precise makes 11 OS upgrades. (I'm not counting the multiple times when I replaced the machine and therefore naturally had a fresh install of ubuntu.) Of those 11 upgrades, 8 were at least minimally successful. Of the other three, one left me with a system that wouldn't boot reliably, and two left me with a system that wouldn't boot at all, forcing me to do a fresh install. When I say that 8 of them were at least minimally successful, that doesn't mean that everything worked immediately. In many of these upgrades, my system was left in a state where it was temporarily unusable or had severe problems, and it took quite a bit of effort to fix the problems.

      So in my experience there is something like a 20-30% chance that an ubuntu upgrade will force me to do a fresh install and restore my files from backup. In terms of its impact on me, that's not really that different from a 100% chance. Either way, I absolutely need to have all my files backed up before I do an upgrade. In fact, I might have had a net savings of time if I had intentionally done every one of those 11 upgrades as a fresh reinstall.

      --
      Find free books.
    13. Re:Mint is nice, but... by blakelarson · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but a lot of 3rd-party software only updates the latest and doesn't backport (at least not right away). I've noticed this for Flash, MythTV, even browsers won't update current LTS that are not the latest version.

    14. Re:Mint is nice, but... by yahwotqa · · Score: 1

      Why would someone install Linux on a partition? Just use LVM, and you can change your filesystem layout anytime later, if you decide you need a separate /srv/ftp/pr0n or something.

    15. Re:Mint is nice, but... by doti · · Score: 1

      Of course it is implied that if you do any work outside of /home, you should save that too.

      Anyway, the proper way is to symlink your work from /home to /var/www.

      --
      factor 966971: 966971
    16. Re:Mint is nice, but... by iroll · · Score: 0

      100x this.

      --
      Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth. - FDR
    17. Re:Mint is nice, but... by cronot · · Score: 1

      Well, for starters, LMDE is related to Debian Testing, not Squeeze (which is currently the Stable distribution). So you should get more updated packages on LMDE vs. Squeeze, yes, and contrary to Debian, LMDE's packages should be updated more frequently and often to the latest upstream software releases.

      Basically, LMDE is Debian Testing with some specific Mint packages (that usually are intended to improve and simplify user experience and add the "Mint" branding over Debian) overlayed on it. You should read my reply above to wrook detailing how on the latest snapshot releases LMDE is not really using the Debian Testing repositories directly, but you can easily make it do so and there shouldn't be any problems by doing that - I haven't tried myself though, so YMMV; I'm quite happy as it is.

    18. Re:Mint is nice, but... by stasike · · Score: 1

      I do that differently.
      I have one large partition for the /home directory and two primary partitions for my Mint Linux installs. On one of those I keep working Mint Linux installation that I use for everyday activity and the next is for trying the new stuff. When I am finally satisfied with a new install, I switch to using that as my main workhorse and use the old partition for experimental stuff.
      Just do not use the same login name when you install the new version, so you keep your entries in /home/WhateverLoginName separate. You can of course use all the stuff from your all home.

      Just take care to keep all your stuff in /home directory.

      One more thing. Always install Grub (or whatever bootloader the distro has) to the partition with the distro and use Smart Boot Manager in mbr to choose what you want to boot.

  9. Full Disc Encryption. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Please?

  10. I may just try Linux again by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

    IN early 2011 I left Linux and went back to Windows because of issues with Gnome 3/Unity, Firefox 4, and other issues as it appeared Linux was going off the deep end.

    Mate, much improved Firefox and Chrome on GNU/Linux, and Mint taking over looks like it may be redeeming the platform.

    Is there a Linux Mint package for setting up LAMP or a LAPP (postgresql) stack? How easy is it to add codecs, background pictures, and other desktop oriented features similiar to FedoraPlus or medibuntu?

    --
    http://saveie6.com/
    1. Re:I may just try Linux again by armanox · · Score: 1

      If you're already familiar with Fedora, might I recommend installing MATE on Fedora (I used the instructions from here)? I've found it to work quite nicely (Like you, I was stuck in the "modern desktops in Linux suck" boat until MATE and Trinity Desktop Environment (KDE 3.5)).

      --
      I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
    2. Re:I may just try Linux again by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      It does not look like its ready nor officially supported by Fedora. The comments showed it has some issues. However, it is cool you can do a yum install dropbox* now. :-)

      Linux Mint uses it from what I read as the main gui so I except it will work better in that platform.

      I think for now I will stick with Windows 7 as it just works and keep CentOS with old gnome 2.8 in my VM for now. I would like some official stacks that are present and require little extra work like what Ubuntu has besides a consistent GUI.

      If Gnome repents and goes back to sanity you can bet Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, and others will include its UI by default. Sure there is cinnamon, but it took years to get Gnome 2.8 the way it was all polished and pretty. It will take years to re invent the same wheel in Gnome shell so I am cautious. Then by 2016 it may be just as good as Gnome 2 was in 2010.

      I used to love Linux and the fact that I am even debating and talking about this makes me angry as it was killed by us and not MS. What a change from 12 years ago right before XP came out where Linux was stable, secure, and was better in almost every way. If I make enough money perhaps my next machine will be a mac and Windows 7 is good enough just like other PC shitware that people simply accept. Thanks

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    3. Re:I may just try Linux again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Check out Turnkey Linux, it's based on Ubuntu LTS, and has pre-configured appliances for many popular apps:

      http://www.turnkeylinux.org

    4. Re:I may just try Linux again by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      > IN early 2011 I left Linux and went back to Windows because of issues with Gnome 3/Unity

      That's really hilarious considering what's going on with Metro.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    5. Re:I may just try Linux again by Tarlus · · Score: 1

      Is there a Linux Mint package for setting up LAMP

      apt-get install apache2 mysql-server php5 libapache2-mod-php5.1 php5-mysql

      Or at least those are the package names employed by Debian...

      --
      /* No Comment */
    6. Re:I may just try Linux again by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      > IN early 2011 I left Linux and went back to Windows because of issues with Gnome 3/Unity

      That's really hilarious considering what's going on with Metro.

      I know and I am not pleased.

      It is a shame since it boots quicker and has some awesome kernel level changes and features. It just has a crappy GUI and a crippled desktop. When I decided to give up with advice from the EX, there was no Metro.

      I do not like MacOSX that much but may consider it when this one dies. Windows 7 sadly will be the new XP and will be supported for many years. I hate running obsolete software and being the PHBs who love XP and IE 6 until 2014 meanwhile helpdesk if fighting malware and SSDs are dying left and right due to the lack of TRIM in XP. Idiots being pennywise but dollar dumb. God help me if I am running Windows 7 in 2019 when it turns 10 years old!

      Anyway, I bought this machine with the goal of waiting until the fall of 2015 before it gets replaced as a 5 year life span with a minor upgrade in between is a good policy for a serious computer user. If I can get use to clicking the menu constantly and getting used to the Mac gui, I guess it will be MacOSX assuming it is still around. Or who knows, maybe Gnome wont suck anymore either by 2015? Whichever comes first.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    7. Re:I may just try Linux again by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      Linux is going off the deep end? The win7 enterprise I must run at work can't run some of the needed apps that normal win 7 pro can run, even trying various compatibility modes. And when I click "computer management", I get a nice note at the top of the MMC that says "the 32 bit version of MMC can view 12 of the 19 snap-ins...." and other count for 64 bit....wtf?

      This is your idea of not off the deep end?

      windows jumped and humped the shark.....

    8. Re:I may just try Linux again by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      Those will not configure it and set it up. Just puts the files on the hard drive and that is it. Ubuntu had something like (been a few years) like apt-get lamp which would install the packages andconfigure them. I thought it was sweet. Obviously not good for a server but fine for a developer who wants something configured but doesn't need it finely tuned and secured. I was wondering if Mint had that meta package too?

      I am aware there is XAMP for Linux as well. But if I am doing a reinstallation I do not want to spend a weekend configuring text files and services.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    9. Re:I may just try Linux again by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      Sounds like something is corrupt on your desktop. I would re-image it as there should be no logical reason that would happen unless the pro version is 64-bit and the MMC apps are 3rd party which are only 64 bit as well.

      I have seen FAR more bugs in Linux than any MS desktop. RHES, SuSE Enterprise, and Debian stable are the exceptions but desktop distros are not known for their bugfree reliability compared to their server counterparts.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    10. Re:I may just try Linux again by Tarlus · · Score: 1

      Windows Metro wasn't even a thing in early 2011. Even now, it's still nascent and will likely never become a part of Windows 7, which is good for another eight years anyway.

      --
      /* No Comment */
    11. Re:I may just try Linux again by Tarlus · · Score: 1

      It obtains the packages, installs them with default configuration and starts the services. Just edit or import config files, and you're good to go. What more do you need?

      --
      /* No Comment */
    12. Re:I may just try Linux again by munwin99 · · Score: 1

      sudo apt-get install tasksel
      sudo tasksel
      Choose your server and it's installed and setup for you.
      Just too easy.

      --
      What's On Your Network ??? http://www.open-audit.org/
    13. Re:I may just try Linux again by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 2

      Was using Gnome after the KDE 4.0 debacle. Repulsed by Unity. Tried Enlightment, found it lacked polish. Tried LXDE and gave up after the utility to configure my non-US keyboard was broken (patched upstream). XFCE works pretty well. Mate isn't too bad.

      Try KDE again. No, seriously. It's looking more polished and although it lost a lot of fans post 3.x, it has matured. The 'Activities' provide a nice separation between traditional desktop and touchscreen environments and plasmoids look cool. This seems like a better approach than the Unity-everywhere of Ubuntu.

    14. Re:I may just try Linux again by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      Those are Microsoft MMC plugins! and others have the same issues with the Enterprise Edition of Win 7, it's known to be whacked in ways the Pro or Home isn't. We're not having any problems at home with either with the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS the kids are using, nor the Mint 11 that I use on desktop and laptop....they're old and mature enough the bugs are squashed, for us.

  11. What is it? (for the rest of us) by Kozz · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, we can use the Goggle (an amusing misspelling of an acqaintance of mine), but it wouldn't hurt if the article would mention what these things actually are (or link to a page that directly explains what they are) instead of leaving me to guess. My research now shows that:

    1. Linux Mint is a linux distribution based on Ubuntu targeting users with little or no Linux experience.
    2. Cinnamon is a fork of the GNOME Shell.

    I don't live and breathe Linux, though I'm reading Slashdot pretty much every day. If someone wandered onto Slashdot by mistake, would they know what the heck this article is about?

    p.s. Shame on you for linking one particular mirror. Find your best download options here.

    --
    I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
  12. Fork? by Das+Auge · · Score: 1

    Thanks for explaining what Linux Mint and Cinnamon are, but what do you mean by "fork"? And what's "GNOME Shell"? Also, why is part of your text underlined and and not black? ;)

    1. Re:Fork? by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 1

      You have to type you password into a reply, and slashdot will auto-enable "Smart Links (TM)", where explanations of such things will be available via mouseover

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    2. Re:Fork? by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      and if he puts in his credit card number into that reply, a random selected charity will receive a $2 donation

    3. Re:Fork? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hunter2

      Hmmm... I don't see any smart links now.

  13. How does it compare to Gnome3? by edmicman · · Score: 1

    I'm on Ubuntu 12.04, using Gnome3 from the PPA. I tried Unity but was getting weirdness with Chrome's tabs not tearing and reattaching correctly and I didn't really like the Unity interface. I'd played with Gnome3 awhile back and have been using it since. I like the style but find it clumsy to manage multiple windows. I dunno, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I've got my editor, browser, and terminal open and it seems clumsy switching from one to another. But I'm on a laptop and working with everything fullscreen is a pain, but the interface doesn't seem to work well with working with smaller windows, either. I dunno, maybe I need to adjust to it, go downstairs and use a second monitor for that work.

    But how does Cinnamon compare? Would it be worth looking at the PPA for that and using it?

    1. Re:How does it compare to Gnome3? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Informative

      Cinnamon is basically Gnome 3 made to look more or less like Gnome 2 - i.e. the traditional taskbar, app menu etc.

    2. Re:How does it compare to Gnome3? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which is completely missing the point. There is nothing wrong with the way Gnome 3 looks. The problem is the way it works.

    3. Re:How does it compare to Gnome3? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      If it makes you happier, you can s/looks/looks and works/ in the original post.

    4. Re:How does it compare to Gnome3? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is a LOT wrong with Gnome 3. They lost me at it looking very similar to the nightmare that is unity in form and function. Also customization is a no-go. I can't even move the damn clock to where I like it to be. Why did they do this? To create a visual identity/brand. Sorry, but Gnome 3 is a disaster. I'll stick with the UI that I can make fit me rather than have a branded one shoved into my face.

  14. Mint Cinnamon by tverbeek · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure that putting "mint" and "cinnamon" together like that is good marketing.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
    1. Re:Mint Cinnamon by nine932038 · · Score: 1

      Hell, I don't even know what Cinnamon even is. I keep going back to the website, but it doesn't ever explicitly tell you. I think it's a desktop environment?

    2. Re:Mint Cinnamon by Tarlus · · Score: 1

      Why? I think it's a cohesive theme.

      --
      /* No Comment */
  15. Thanks for mentioning that by Nimey · · Score: 1

    I've got a worn-out *buntu install that's seen far too many apt-get [install|remove] commands (video and sound no longer work reliably) and I've been seriously considering switching to Mint. I'd assumed that Mint's dist-upgrade process was as smooth as Ubuntu's, but now I'm really leaning towards LMDE and its rolling releases.

    I'd noticed that doing a s/lisa/maya/g and s/oneiric/precise/g in /etc/apt.conf and then dist-upgrading on my Mint 12 VM resulted in a fairly broken upgrade, but assumed it was because the RC hadn't been announced yet and so things weren't really ready for that - for one thing, Ubuntu stuff was overwriting Mint packages.

    I'd switched away from Debian-testing to Ubuntu back in the 5.10 days anyhow, so it'd be a bit of a homecoming. MATE integrates a lot better into LMDE than Ubuntu with a PPA, so it seems, and that's my favored environment.

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
    1. Re:Thanks for mentioning that by wrook · · Score: 1

      I really don't recommend LMDE. Even though it is a rolling release based on Debian Testing, the packages are still vetted by the LMDE team. I tried using it at the end of last year and I didn't get *any* updates for the 3 or 4 months I was using it. Not even security updates.

      I've since moved to Sabayon, which is Gentoo based with binary packages. Overall a very nice experience. It is not as complete as Ubuntu or Mint, meaning that I've had to do a fair amount of hand configuration. For instance, I had to configure Japanese input by hand. Probably the average English speaking user wouldn't run into too many difficulties. On the plus side, the documentation from Gentoo is excellent and the system is considerably more forgiving to hand tweaking than my Ubuntu box (which I usually break if I try doing things the non-Ubuntu way).

      Anyway, I've been a fan of Debian based distributions for ever, and this was my first foray into a Gentoo base distro. I've been very happy with it. I will probably migrate my other machines over at some point.

    2. Re:Thanks for mentioning that by Nimey · · Score: 1

      Hmm. I'd also considered installing a minimal version of Ubuntu Server and then installing MATE from the PPA then any other packages I'd want.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    3. Re:Thanks for mentioning that by cronot · · Score: 2

      I tried using it at the end of last year and I didn't get *any* updates for the 3 or 4 months I was using it. Not even security updates.

      That's because since the penultimate snapshot release of LMDE (which was at some time on the last quarter of last year) they've switched the repositories to use their own copy of a snapshot of Debian Testing, and every 5 months or so they release what they call "update packs", which is basically a more recent snapshot of Debian Testing with the packages therein more throughly tested for bugs and such. Before they started doing that, LMDE used the standard Debian Testing repositories.

      The intention on having a "snapshot repository" is to try to get the best of both worlds of rolling releases distributions and version-based distributions (i.e. Ubuntu). It's certainly not perfect, but works well enough for me, I don't mind it. Anyway, the maintainers says it's fine to swap out those Mint "snapshot repositories" with the standard Debian Testing repositories on sources.conf - of course, you're more likely to stumble into problems from time to time, and hence should be prepared to work around them or muddle through with them, but it shouldn't be any more problematic than using plain Debian Testing.

  16. It should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since the interface is a clone of Windows XP, I don't see why it shouldn't.

  17. XFCE by Osgeld · · Score: 1

    really I wish they would drop LXDE in favor of XFCE as a light live CD, LXDE is ok, but it always disjointed and unfinished

  18. Disabling Antialiasing by old_kennyp · · Score: 1

    Can some one provide info on how to disable Anitaliasing fonts on Mint ( or any other Gnome UI )
    Forget the invitable comments that liased font look better and provide a better user experience. For mae and many others, they just look Fuzzy and give me a headace after about 30 minutes of use

    I support windows 7 for work and to turn off all antialiasing, it is one check box. If I do not do this at the first boot on Win7 / 2008 install, byt the time the install has completed I have a headache for the rest of the day.

    Same applies to recent Mint / Ubuntu

    1. Re:Disabling Antialiasing by grege1 · · Score: 1

      Install Gnome Tweak Tool. It shows as Advanced Settings Manager in the menus. One click antiailiasing off.

    2. Re:Disabling Antialiasing by old_kennyp · · Score: 1

      Sweet Thanks
      will have a look see

    3. Re:Disabling Antialiasing by old_kennyp · · Score: 1

      Will it diasable Antialiasing for application fonts too ie Firefox and Thunderbird are the 2 I have real trouble with?

    4. Re:Disabling Antialiasing by grege1 · · Score: 1

      No. I just tried to see what would happen and Firefox insists on ignoring system settings. I know it can be done permanently, because I have had to go the other way. To remove all antiailiasing from the system requires playing around with font config. You would start by removing .fontconfig.conf from your home folder and restarting. Also setting the monitor as not an LCD would help. This is not the place for this type of discussion. A post in the Linuxmint forums would get expert help in a hurry.

    5. Re:Disabling Antialiasing by stasike · · Score: 1

      Try just setting the hinting to the highest level. The fonts will look extremely sharp. I have done just that in Mint 11 and 12 and I am very pleased.

    6. Re:Disabling Antialiasing by old_kennyp · · Score: 1

      thanks, I have just tried that and found that if I set the Default font to DejaVu Sans, with Hinting to full and Antialiasing to none that it is quite OK.
      Only problem now is that Firefox and Thunderbird ignore these font settings :-(

      Wonder why that is the case on Linux, but they honor the font settings under windows?

    7. Re:Disabling Antialiasing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      /etc/fonts/conf.d/11-off-this-shitty-antialiasing.conf :
      http://wklej.org/id/761853/

  19. Go try out LUBUNTU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    for anyone unhappy with overbloated desktops and Unity in particular, but who like Ubuntu, please go and try Lubuntu (Ububtu with an LXDE desktop). It's lovely, light, painless, and as reliable to use, extend and update as its Ubuntu parent. Just no faffing with "fashionable" user interfaces.

    They're not paying me - I'm just a fan !

    http://lubuntu.net

    The Linux Mint flavour with the LXDE desktop is also nice: http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=98