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Linux Mint Hack Is an Indicator of a Larger Problem (techrepublic.com)
An anonymous reader writes: On February 20th, a hacker working under the handle 'Peace' took control of the website of Linux Mint, a popular Linux distribution derived from Ubuntu (and Debian) targeted toward non-technical users and power users unhappy with modern desktop environments. While these attacks are regrettable, and part of an infrastructure problem rather than a problem with the distribution itself, it increasingly appears that the Linux Mint team is spread too thin when it comes to security. The distribution itself blacklists updates that work perfectly in Ubuntu and Debian, and the graphical utilities don't update the kernel. Because the value added by Linux Mint is in Cinnamon, why do the developers need to distribute a broken version of Ubuntu when the Cinnamon DE could be distributed as an Ubuntu spin?
Wake me up when they hack the Denver mint.
and the graphical utilities don't update the kernel. Because the value added by Linux Mint is in Cinnamon, why do the developers need to distribute a broken version of Ubuntu when the Cinnamon DE could be distributed as an Ubuntu spin?
My guess would be that most - or allot - of Mint users are looking for more than just Ubuntu with Cinnamon. If that is all Mint users where looking for, there would not be a KDE version, a XFCE version, or a Mate version. If that is all they wanted, they would download Ubuntu and add the ppas for their desktop of choice. People find value with those "graphical utilities".
The author is confusing what he wants from Mint for what others want.
Actually, Linux Mint's value add was originally (and still is) providing an Ubuntu distribution that includes non-free software and codecs pre-installed and configured right out of the box (e.g. DVD playback, MP3 playback, 3D graphics drivers like then visual binary blob, Flash, JAVA, etc.). Yes, these features can be separately stalled by users in Ubuntu. But for first time or novice users, this could be difficult and Linux Mint took the approach of making sure these features were installed, configured, and working out of the box.
Cinnamon is a separate project to provide an alternative to Gnome3. Linux Mint sponsored it and is the primary user of it. But it's not the only "value add".
That said, Linux Mint did make some weird design decisions. I always thought it would be easier to just create and publish a custom Ubuntu spin that included these features rather than create a whole distribution from scratch.
I'm moving to Arch
Good for you. Arch is not for newbie users as it lacks a tool to perform automated installs, but once it is up and running i'd venture to say is the most reliable, easiest to use distro out there.
Non-technical users should use a Mac, as it simply works.
I wish this was true so I wouldn't have to deal with so many support requests from Mac users.
I think it means three things: "Why do people use Mint when Ubuntu is better in every way? Some people think the only answer is 'Cinnamon' . Ubuntu should port that over so they are the awesome and Mint can die"
I agree with your interpretation. I even (unlike you, probably) kind of agree with the original author's point. I would be pretty happy if the Ubuntu team offered Cinnamon as an alternative of Unity. But of course they never will, because they specifically developed Unity to replace Gnome in the first place, thus creating all this demand for Cinnamon and Linux Mint.
I tried mint a few years ago when I found the default install of Ubuntu desktop unusable. Could I have customized it to the desktop I wanted? Sure. Or, I could try this new distribution that has a DE that is actually intuitive. If Ubuntu shipped with Cinnamon by default I'd go back to Ubuntu. Ubuntu really shot themselves in the foot a few years ago and I got tired of being a beta tester.
I think it means three things: "Why do people use Mint when Ubuntu is better in every way? Some people think the only answer is 'Cinnamon' . Ubuntu should port that over so they are the awesome and Mint can die"
I agree with your interpretation. I even (unlike you, probably) kind of agree with the original author's point. I would be pretty happy if the Ubuntu team offered Cinnamon as an alternative of Unity. But of course they never will, because they specifically developed Unity to replace Gnome in the first place, thus creating all this demand for Cinnamon and Linux Mint.
and now we're telling the folks at Mint to go fork themselves?
{ducks}
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
Linux Mint isn't just Ubuntu. They also provide Linux Mint Debian Edition, which is far superior, IMHO.
Top 5 reasons why Arch Linux sucks:
1) Lead arch developer got his computer hacked 3 times. see: https://web.archive.org/web/20120805043450/https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=12192&p=1
2) Unstable. Go check out arch's forum instead of listening to the fanboy to see the enormous amounts of issues.
3) Unprofessional. Arch isn't used in any professional environment for a good reason. Made by amateurs.
4) Community. Pretentious, trendy, ricer, hippie morons.
5) Forum. Full of noob questions (can't help it as majority is ex-ubuntu users)
The site in question used WordPress, which gets hacked early and often. Being hacked had nothing to do with how many Mint developers there are; it's more a commentary on flaws most php based platforms have.
Linux Mint chooses to blacklist certain applications in line with the project goals; these of course can be overridden at user's choice.
What a pile of FUD, I smell jealousy of Linux Mint's success as unlike Ubuntu the team does listen to end user needs and wants; while Ubuntu instead crams badly designed UI (Unity) down throats that neither meets needs nor was requested by anyone
You mean like the Anonymous Coward who says "graphical utilities don't update the kernel"
This person should simply click the Mint update manager on their bar which brings up the graphical Update Manager Window. Then you click "View", and from that drop-down menu select "Linux Kernels". From there you can choose from all of the available kernels for Linux Mint.
I don't know about you, but that is certainly looks fairly graphical to me!
CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
That's the value for me, it works out of the box for all the hardware I've used it on so far. Unlike Ubuntu which has issues of it's own lately for me. Before the hack hit I had Mint installed on an MSI laptop with and Nvidia card and the thing fired up out of the box with no issues. Only thing I had to do was turn off that secure boot garbage in the bios which was easy.
Maybe Mint isn't the ideal distribution for people and maybe it could be done better. Still it's doing things right enough for me to use it and run Steam on it with no issues for all the games that provide native Linux ports. Could Ubuntu do it? Maybe but I hate Unity and Gnome 3. I also don't want one of the side distributions because unlike Mint I feel like they're treated as second class from the main one.
And the author is an ass. Mint includes, among other things, full multimedia support. Ubuntu does not have that. That's why it is very popular. Ubuntu made a choice not to include full multimedia support.
Macs and PCs are pretty much interchangeable these days.
Not really. Macs require a much more current IT staff. Unfortunately many IT departments have been force fed the Microsoft dribble for so long that they don't know what real IT looks like. Adding Macs to corporate infrastructure should be done carefully.
It's not about the user or the OS. It's about the infrastructure behind it.
Oh for mod points. Amen.
"Non-technical users"? Fuck off. It's an OS that is designed to be used, not endlessly fiddled with. But for some self-appointed gatekeepers, that's somehow become an unbearable eternal-September thing for linux.
They wouldn't replace Unity with Cinnamon in the primary version of Ubuntu, but given they have no problems distributing versions of Ubuntu with KDE, GNOME 3, XFCE, LXDE, and even MATE (the other thing that came out of the Unity sucks movement), I don't see why they wouldn't do a Cinnamon version if there was a community willing to maintain it.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Probably codecs that Mint has but Ubuntu doesn't include by default for legal reasons
Encrypted DVDs don't play out of the box on Ubuntu, you have to manually install libdvd-pkg. Which admittedly isn't hard, but it is an extra step. And there may well be other codecs they don't support I'm not aware of.
Macs require a much more current IT staff.
A tech manager who been with the company for 15+ years recently threw a fit. He was trying to replace the hard drive in a new Dell laptop. There was no slot for the 2.5" hard drive he wanted to install. He took the whole laptop apart and couldn't find the hard drive. Some of the techs pointed out a card on the logic board that was the new hard drive standard. He screamed that the card was the wireless card, and got madder when they pointed to the wireless card with the antenna connections. The laptop remains on the back shelf because he can't fix it with a standard 2.5" hard drive.
If the IT department is not current, it's a management problem and not a technology problem.
Apple should know by now that opening up the OS to other hardware would mean making even more off the App Store.
Apple tried licensing to third-party hardware makers and saw their hardware sales decline as the cheaper Macs became popular. That was the first thing Steve Jobs killed off when he came back to Apple.
You want a nice little machine to fellate you?
Apparently I've been buying the wrong computers. Tell me more about these nice little machines.
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
Xfce has stagnated.
Great! I'd rather have something that goes nowhere at all than something that goes downhill. Software that improves itself while avoiding the eventual downhill part is extremely hard to come by, which is backed up by all the examples you posted. Putting a bunch of developers on a project yet managing to make it worse is just a waste of human resources.
Write your own and open source it
Exactly what is wrong with opensource right now. So much crap. Just because it's popular doesn't mean it's not crap. Please, please. Don't just start your own code unless you know what you're doing.