Slashdot Mirror
The Release Candidate For Linux Mint 14 "Nadia" Is Out
First time accepted submitter Type44Q writes "Well, the latest edition of Mint is finally here (the release candidate, anyway); according to The Linux Mint Blog, 'For the first time since Linux Mint 11, the development team was able to capitalize on upstream technology which works and fits its goals. After 6 months of incremental development, Linux Mint 14 features an impressive list of improvements, increased stability and a refined desktop experience. We're very proud of MATE, Cinnamon, MDM and all the components used in this release, and we're very excited to show you how they all fit together in Linux Mint 14.'"
Me, If i developed anything and name it nice names, like "Fuckoff" "sloppyshit", "kludge", and "ididyourmom"
Lemme guess, you're involved in the GIMP project?
There was a time when you could expect people on Slashdot to know about the most popular Linux desktop distro and not need to be spoon-fed that information.
Here's a hint for you: N is the 14th letter of the alphabet.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
MATE is basically Gnome2 but updated. Cinnamon is Gnome3 but has a much better UI than Gnome Shell.
This would sum it up well for you: -
MATE is basically a less ugly version of all GNOME releases; CINNAMON is even better.
Would it hurt to include a few words explaining what the hell Mint even is or why we should care there's a new version?
Ubuntu is the "go to" version of GNU\Linux, based on the incredibly good Debian, but supports features without sacrificing too much stability, and because it has some money thrown at it. Has rightfully become the most popular distribution out there.
Unfortunately Gnome; Microsoft; Apple; Canonical have all made the decision that the future is ditching mice and keyboard, and running our fingers all over the screen.
Mint has become popular simply by supplying a desktop that those of us who still love mice and keyboards love [whatever you think of that]
In short its a great new OS release, get it downloaded and installed now...or at least read the article before posting on Slashdot.
EFF posted an article about full-disk encryption (FDE) in Ubuntu 12.10 and how easy it is to set up through ubiquity, the application used to install Ubuntu. The article also mentions that the next version of Mint, which is based on Ubuntu and therefore uses ubiquity for installation, should have the same easy FDE option.
FDE is good for privacy and security; as EFF's article notes, having it be as simple as possible to set up can only be a good thing. If this new version of Linux Mint features this FDE option, I will strongly consider switching to it, and will certainly try it out at the very least.
Nadia,
Meaning: Hope (in Ukrainian, diminutive form in Bulgarian/Polish/Russian, etc.)
Moist and dewy[1] (in Arabic)
Dew in Persian
Courtesy of Wikipedia
Its from Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy, Nadezhda “Nadia” Chernyshevski is Maya’s best friend...Maya was the name of Mint 13 :)
Disclaimer: I have used Mate but I have not used Cinnamon.
AIUI Mate and cinnamon are two different approaches to the same problem.
The problem being that the gnome developers decided to throw out the boring but functional gnome2 and replace it with the radical gnome3 and further the distro vendors decided to allow gnome3 to take the package names previously used by gnome2 thereby screwing those users who wanted to stick with the desktop they knew while upgrading the rest of their OS (and things are sufficiantly tightly coupled in the linux world that sticking with an old OS version is not really a reasonable option).
The mate approach has been to fork gnome2 and rename the components to remove the config. This produced immediate results but long term leaves them with a load of forked stuff that perhaps doesn't really need to be forked and no easy way of getting any good stuff that comes out of gnome3. The cinnamon approach is to try and build a traditional GUI within the gnome3 framework, this avoids relying on outdated and barely maintained foundations but it also means a lot more work upfront and probablly more user visible change and runs the risk that gnome will decide to screw everyone again.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
I like the idea that Mint includes a lot of stuff out of the box (mp3 etc). However most people now have moved onto the Unity interface. I don't see that as an option, which makes it seem a bit ancient.
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
It should read "whoever started"
"whoever" is performing the action (started), it is the subject of that clause.
Don't try to use proper English if you don't know the rules.
Linux Mint is a distribution of Linux that is based off of Ubuntu. Like Ubuntu, it uses Debian packages.
When Ubuntu made the decision to make a new desktop environment ("Unity") and the GNOME project made the decision to make a new desktop environment ("GNOME Shell"), Linux Mint in turn made the decision to support those of us who loved GNOME 2. We have two options: MATE and Cinnamon. Both are well-supported by Linux Mint (and in fact primary development on both is by Linux Mint guys).
MATE is simply a fork of GNOME 2. For reasons that are not clear to me, GNOME 2 and GNOME 3 cannot co-exist on the same system... something about library conflicts. (Doesn't Linux have library versioning that should make it possible to avoid these conflicts? Eh, moving on.) The MATE project did a mass rename on everything in GNOME ("libgnome" -> "libmate", etc.) so MATE can co-exist on the same system with GNOME 3. So, those of us who loved the smooth polish that came from man-decades of development in GNOME can still use it.
But MATE isn't the future. From what I have heard, the library underpinnings of GNOME 3 really have improved over GNOME 2, and the new technology is a step up. Who wants to be locked into a frozen clone of GNOME 2 forever? Thus, Cinnamon. Cinnamon is a project to build on top of GNOME 3 and provide a user experience similar to GNOME 2. New plugins, new themes, etc. all go together to make a very usable desktop; but GNOME 3 apps will work seamlessly with it.
Many disgruntled Ubuntu users have abandoned Ubuntu for Linux Mint. Mint is now the top Linux distribution on distrowatch.com; I'm not sure it was even in the top ten before the whole Unity/GNOME Shell fiasco, but now it's number one.
A comment I have seen multiple times on Slashdot from different people: the Linux Mint guys are focused on making their users happy, rather than making something new. Where the GNOME Shell guys promise a "consistent and recognisable visual identity", and Mark Shuttleworth (the head Ubuntu guy) said "This is not a democracy. [...] we are not voting on design decisions.", the Linux Mint guys promise that you will "Love your Linux, Feel at Home, Get things Done!"
Linux Mint has always focused on making a beautiful system that is out-of-the-box usable. Now they are one of the top choices for people who have rejected Unity and GNOME Shell.
For me, the most important part of the announcement is that they have the password keeper working right now. I'm using Linux Mint on a laptop at work, and I can't connect to Windows shares; I'm hoping the new updates will sort that out for me.
Since this is based on Debian packages, I can probably just update in place without needing to do a full re-install.
P.S. One of my biggest complaints about GNOME 3 is that I can no longer take sit a Windows user down and just say "it works pretty much like what you are used to". You may like GNOME Shell and you may think it is better, but you cannot argue that it is very different, and it would take a bit of training before a guest could use it. Linux Mint, on the other hand, works a lot like pre-Windows 8 versions of Windows; with a little customization and theming I'll bet you could fool people into thinking it was actually Windows XP.
Likewise with Unity, it is pretty different from Windows. But it's very similar to the Mac, so maybe users familiar with the Mac can use it?
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Nadia,
Moist and dewy
I think I know her.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
It's much better than ubuntu - with names like "Wanking Warthog", "Horny Heron", and "Onanistic Ocelot", it's no wonder corporations don't take them seriously.
Mint is an end-user distribution targeted to the same public that uses Ubuntu. The main difference between them is the UI. Mint decided to keep the traditional UI, while Ubuntu chose to go to Unity,
Mint is on the lead since the beginning of 2012:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/246826/as_2012_dawns_mint_leads_the_list_of_top_linux_distros.html
And was in first place at least until August 2012:
http://www.zdnet.com/the-5-most-popular-linux-distributions-7000003183/
There is no such a word in Persian. I have never heard such a word in Persian during my 40 years of life.
I've never heard more than a handful of words in Persian during my 30 years of life, but I don't deny the rest of the language exists...
well, before jumping to conclusions you should have looked up previous names:
1.0 - Ada
2.0 - Barbara
2.1 - Bea
2.2 - Bianca
3.0 - Cassandra
3.1 - Celena
4.0 - Daryna
5 LTS - Elyssa
6 - Felicia
7 - Gloria
8 - Helena
9 LTS - Isadora
10 - Julia
11 - Katya
12 - Lisa
13 LTS - Maya
14 - Nadia
This way it makes much more sense, doesn't it?
Who the fuck modded this insightful!? Yes, Sherlock, it's the 14th letter of the alphabet. Thanks for your "clue".
Why the vile? Here, have some knowledge:
Names of full releases, see the pattern? Female names alphabetically.
Ada
Barbara
Cassandra
Daryna
Elyssa
Felicia
Gloria
Helena
Isadora
Katya
Lisa
Maya
Nadia
I have trouble taking Mint seriously. I only hear about it when people complains about Unity.
No, seriously, every single time I hear about Mint is because there's some controversial thing about Ubuntu and a lot of guys come in saying "I moved to Mint years ago because I am tired of $NEWS_TOPIC". At times there are also Mint comments even if the news about Ubuntu are good (I am sure I saw a "I moved to Mint..." routine on a few of the Steam for Linux news reports in Ubuntu-related news sites).
I am skeptic about how valid Distrowatch's score is. Until I find a real happy user as opposed to someone complaining about Canonical in every Ubuntu-related news, it just sounds like haters got busy inflating scores (wouldn't be the first time something of the sort happens). Everyone I know uses the same usual subjects, and while anecdote is not proof, I've met a sizable amount of Linux users from being a developer. Not even a single issue reported by Mint users.
So, is there someone using Mint for any reason that is not spiting Canonical? I'd like to know, just to make sure I receive information not coming from people giving the impression of being zealots. They seriously need some PR as opposed to just say bad things about the competition.
It's like that commenter above that asked about what made Mint good and didn't get a single answer other than "it's not Ubuntu".