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Linux Mint 18.1 'Serena' BETA Ubuntu-based Operating System Now Available For Download (betanews.com)
BrianFagioli shares his story on Beta News: Feeling fatigued by Windows 10 and its constant updates and privacy concerns? Can't afford one of those beautiful new MacBook Pro laptops? Don't forget, Linux-based desktop operating systems are just a free download away, folks!
If you do decide to jump on the open source bandwagon, a good place to start is Linux Mint. Both the Mate and Cinnamon desktop environments should prove familiar to Windows converts, and since it is based on Ubuntu, there is a ton of compatible packages. Today, the first beta of Linux Mint 18.1 'Serena' becomes available for download.
Here's the release notes for both Cinammon and MATE.
If you do decide to jump on the open source bandwagon, a good place to start is Linux Mint. Both the Mate and Cinnamon desktop environments should prove familiar to Windows converts, and since it is based on Ubuntu, there is a ton of compatible packages. Today, the first beta of Linux Mint 18.1 'Serena' becomes available for download.
Here's the release notes for both Cinammon and MATE.
I develop C++ applications mainly for Linux. I use Visual C++ and Xcode (I got accustomed to it after some time) to develop, then I log on Linux to "port" the code with vi, GCC, etc, and add Linux specific features.
Is there a decent GUI for developing on Linux now?
You can use VS on a Windows machine to build/debug on Linux now. You can also run a light version, "VS Code," natively on Linux - it's free and open source, but I don't know how full-featured it is.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
If you are on Slashdot and haven't switched to Linux by now, then it seems extremely unlikely that you ever will.
I hope you all enjoy whatever OS you happen to be using today.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
After many years of Ubuntu use as primary desktop, the thing that drove me away was ending the support for the closed source AMD video drivers.
Someone decided that the open source drivers were 'good enough'. Well, they are not, at least for what i was doing. And the choice to use the drivers as released by AMD was removed, and doing so manually anything but trivial, as in, you'd have more luck on an arch based distro.
Imho, Ubuntu, and all derivatives like Mint, suddenly alienate half their user base with that decision. And if this wasn't an online forum i'd use stronger wordings for that.
Also, i just need to get work done. And most of the stuff i do is reasonable platform-agnostic but expects reasonable 3D performance. So, i'm back to windows 10 which serves my need, ironically has Ubuntu user land built in these days, and Linux will have to wait until i upgrade my graphics to nVidia, or when i can be bothered to try another distro, or when open source graphics drivers are really of comparable quality, whichever come first.
* Just 2 cents from a frustrated ex-Ubuntu&Mint user on the desktop. *
A glitch a day keeps the bugs away.
speak for yourself but no one else. My laptop runs Linux Mint 17.3, all devices work because it takes 5 minutes of research to find laptops that will work. I don't do games. OpenShot and gimp are good enough media apps for me, vlc for viewing. SageMath works well, it was made for Linux. Spreadsheets with LIbreOffice are fine.
I've noticed a trend, not only on Slashdot but elsewhere, that in trying to get people to use desktop Linux distros a lot of the advocacy is based on what Windows (specifically Windows 10) is doing in terms of telemetry, reduction of control over the operating system and what not, and basically elements of Windows, and NOT about how Linux is better in specific ways.
That's an interesting point, and much of the anti-Linux pro-Windows marketing targets that very point, by emphasizing what Windows can do which Linux cannot. (It will inevitably be vertical apps, high-end gaming, high-end features in things like PhotoShop, etc.)
Of course, the real draw (for many of us) with Linux is the concept free as in beer and especially free as in freedom. And with Windows 10 becoming the spyware of the millenium, there are people looking for alternatives. So a certain amount of what is, as you state, negative marketing, seems justified.
But you're right, it's not sufficient in and of itself. Users have to be able to do whatever it is they need to do. Linux has come a very long way in that regard, to the point at which in my own work I need Windows for ---- absolutely nothing at all. Those of us who are Linux fans need to promote that angle.
For instance, I always cite the use case of my wife, who uses the Linux installation I set up for her, and neither knows nor cares what OS she's using --- she can do email, Facebook, photos, documents, on-line games, etc. and that's all that matters to her. I suppose I should be more forward in promoting my own use case, namely writing and publishing and doing related analysis.
Linux has a strong case: a lot of functionality, end-user ease of use easily on a par with Windows, and the aforemention Very Big Deal: free as in freedom and beer.
I mean seriously EditorDavid, do you think beta is an acronym?
Um, the Mint team called it BETA (in CAPS) on their site, as they usually do, so you could maybe lay off of EditorDavid this time. I've run Mint betas before without problems, but I'm glad they make it clear when a release on their main page is indeed a beta.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
Every other day, there seems to be a new "operating system" released, always in "beta" (and never leaving that stage)... but it's just a Linux distribution! It's just a bunch of standard junkware slapped together! I don't understand this obsession with making new Linux distros when there already are a billion of them.
If you want to sound crotchety and whiny, that's up to you. But you are completely wrong here, since Mint has been around for about ten years and is an excellent operating system with a great team and professional lead developer, not "junkware slapped together." I don't agree with one of the bigoted political stances Mint head Clem has taken in the past but I've been running it for 9 years and fully understand why it is one of the most popular and respected distros (and he's kept quiet about his hate for Israel in recent years). You can be lazy and let MS run your computer and data if you like, but that doesn't mean there aren't 10-20 really good Linux distros out there completely ready for prime time, beta or otherwise.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
I use Mint on a 5 year old laptop and it's fine. It's fast, everything works, and I see no reason whatsoever to spend $800 on a Macbook or a new Windows laptop.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
I've used Linux Mint as a desktop for about four years. I still have one Windows 7 system because of Pro Tools, waiting for the day when I can swap to Linux for 'music'. Recently I've introduced my ex (in another country, support more difficult) and a local friend to Mint. There was a little spike in support in the first couple of weeks and now nothing. I used to get several calls per week when they used Windows, so my 'upgrade' was somewhat self-interested.
At the start of this, I needed convincing, quite happy now, not missing Windows at all. I think my desktop 'tank' is about 7/8 years old too. My feeling is, just try, create an extra guest login on one of your machines to show people, show don't tell.
On y va, qui mal y pense!