LinuxMint...taking over Ubuntu?

[iamwhatiseem]

As one could expect, after Canonical released the disaster Unity desktop - Ubuntu users are literally flocking to LinuxMint in droves.

Hopefully Canonical realizes that its "Coke moment" needs to die immediately.

Unity has caused an uproar in the Linux community. What’s worse, by all appearances it has caused a defection of users in droves to distros like Linux Mint, now the second most popular Debian-based distribution out there and gaining fast on Ubuntu. If you follow my Linux travels, back in September I talked a bit about Unity and its effect on Ubuntu’s user base. The article had well over 100 comments, most lambasting Unity and Canonical’s choice to force it upon its users.

Linux Mint: The new Ubuntu? | ExtremeTech

 

[Ringel05]

Yeah, they definitely are trying to cut their own throats with Unity, they should have made it completely optional. It's the primary reason I switched to Mint.

 

[Douger]

I left Ubuntu and went to Mint years ago.Now, with a pending Gnome fiasco coming, I switched to an XFCE based Debian stable system, SalineOS.

 

[Ringel05]

The new Unity desktop will probably be more appealing to those who like real simplicity. It seems they have fixed the bugs and made it much faster but I doubt it will work all that well with older machines.

 

[Ringel05]

I left Ubuntu and went to Mint years ago.Now, with a pending Gnome fiasco coming, I switched to an XFCE based Debian stable system, SalineOS.

 

[Ropey]

I left Ubuntu and went to Mint years ago.Now, with a pending Gnome fiasco coming, I switched to an XFCE based Debian stable system, SalineOS.

"pending"

 

[iamwhatiseem]

What pending Gnome fiasco?
Anyhow...like I said when Unity first came out - this is a big blunder.
How could Canonical look past the fact that Linux users are advanced computer users that very much want to control their own systems.

Like I also said...as soon as 10.04 is no longer supported - I am switching to Mint also on my main system. I have two monitors, one of them is a 40" HDTV...using HDMI I watch all kinds of videos/TV shows etc. through the PC...and Unity sucked at it.

 

[Douger]

Gnome three. Haven't fired it up in a few months but I didn't care for it at all.
Mint Debian is a catastrophe.
Mint proper uses Ubuntu repos so that leaves me one choice. Debian.Where I started all those years ago.

 

[Ringel05]

Gnome three. Haven't fired it up in a few months but I didn't care for it at all.
Mint Debian is a catastrophe.
Mint proper uses Ubuntu repos so that leaves me one choice. Debian.Where I started all those years ago.

Ah, a purist snob. Got it.......

 

[PeteEU]

Never heard of Linux Mint before I read the name here... not too hard since I dont follow the Linux scene that much . Always been an Ubuntu user (years ago) and on the crappy pcs a Puppy Linux user.

I have now installed Linux Mint and am somewhat impressed. Only issue I had on install was the lack of "brains" the installer had in finding the free space I had made on my harddisk for the linux install.. had to go to the partition manager and do quite a lot of voodoo, something an average user would not be able to do. But then again Ubuntu aint much better on this issue if I remember right.

But the system it self is semi smooth, although either because my machine is too slow (doubtful... E7300 Intel and 4 GB ram) or there is something wrong with the install, I do have areas where the system gets slow as hell and basically freezes for a bit. Loading my picture folder into the background took ages...And chrome browser feels much slower in Linux than in Windows, plus in general the system feels sluggish (barely but noticeable) compared to my windows install.

But the software packages included are good, and after a lot of tinkering the desktop seems more windows familiar than I have ever had on a Linux machine. But it did take a lot of tinkering.

One thing I love with Linux is the Skype client.. that is so much better than the bloated piece of shit Windows is being fed.

But as usual, I always get back to the issue... no games, hence I find myself having to reboot all the time to my windows install to play my games. Wine and Playonlinux are hellish to get to work so that I have given up for now.

 

[waltky]

Pete wrote: But the system it self is semi smooth, although either because my machine is too slow (doubtful... E7300 Intel and 4 GB ram) or there is something wrong with the install,...

Did you choose the Intel installation?

As I recall, some Linux distros have a separate Intel installation...

... I use an AMD processor which seems to work well with Linux.

Does Mint have a dial-up program?

The last Ubuntu version with dial-up was 10...

... when it went to 11 they took it out, as have other Linux distros.

 

[PeteEU]

Pete wrote: But the system it self is semi smooth, although either because my machine is too slow (doubtful... E7300 Intel and 4 GB ram) or there is something wrong with the install,...

Did you choose the Intel installation?

As I recall, some Linux distros have a separate Intel installation...

... I use an AMD processor which seems to work well with Linux.

Hmmm good question.

Linuxmint-11-gnome-dvd-64.iso... so guess they made one distro for both... only thing on their webpage is a 32 or 64 bit version with or without codec.

Does Mint have a dial-up program?

The last Ubuntu version with dial-up was 10...

... when it went to 11 they took it out, as have other Linux distros.

No clue. It probably has, but I am guessing the problem would be finding drivers for the dial-up modem

 

[Ringel05]

Never heard of Linux Mint before I read the name here... not too hard since I dont follow the Linux scene that much . Always been an Ubuntu user (years ago) and on the crappy pcs a Puppy Linux user.

I have now installed Linux Mint and am somewhat impressed. Only issue I had on install was the lack of "brains" the installer had in finding the free space I had made on my harddisk for the linux install.. had to go to the partition manager and do quite a lot of voodoo, something an average user would not be able to do. But then again Ubuntu aint much better on this issue if I remember right.

But the system it self is semi smooth, although either because my machine is too slow (doubtful... E7300 Intel and 4 GB ram) or there is something wrong with the install, I do have areas where the system gets slow as hell and basically freezes for a bit. Loading my picture folder into the background took ages...And chrome browser feels much slower in Linux than in Windows, plus in general the system feels sluggish (barely but noticeable) compared to my windows install.

But the software packages included are good, and after a lot of tinkering the desktop seems more windows familiar than I have ever had on a Linux machine. But it did take a lot of tinkering.

One thing I love with Linux is the Skype client.. that is so much better than the bloated piece of shit Windows is being fed.

But as usual, I always get back to the issue... no games, hence I find myself having to reboot all the time to my windows install to play my games. Wine and Playonlinux are hellish to get to work so that I have given up for now.

Mr Windows guy himself reviewing a product he already had a negative view of to start with..... I'll buy that for a dollar.
I hope you don't expect to be taken seriously?

 

[PeteEU]

Never heard of Linux Mint before I read the name here... not too hard since I dont follow the Linux scene that much . Always been an Ubuntu user (years ago) and on the crappy pcs a Puppy Linux user.

I have now installed Linux Mint and am somewhat impressed. Only issue I had on install was the lack of "brains" the installer had in finding the free space I had made on my harddisk for the linux install.. had to go to the partition manager and do quite a lot of voodoo, something an average user would not be able to do. But then again Ubuntu aint much better on this issue if I remember right.

But the system it self is semi smooth, although either because my machine is too slow (doubtful... E7300 Intel and 4 GB ram) or there is something wrong with the install, I do have areas where the system gets slow as hell and basically freezes for a bit. Loading my picture folder into the background took ages...And chrome browser feels much slower in Linux than in Windows, plus in general the system feels sluggish (barely but noticeable) compared to my windows install.

But the software packages included are good, and after a lot of tinkering the desktop seems more windows familiar than I have ever had on a Linux machine. But it did take a lot of tinkering.

One thing I love with Linux is the Skype client.. that is so much better than the bloated piece of shit Windows is being fed.

But as usual, I always get back to the issue... no games, hence I find myself having to reboot all the time to my windows install to play my games. Wine and Playonlinux are hellish to get to work so that I have given up for now.

Mr Windows guy himself reviewing a product he already had a negative view of to start with..... I'll buy that for a dollar.
I hope you don't expect to be taken seriously?

Who is reviewing anything? Just commenting on Linux Mint that is all.

As for my preconceived negative view of Linux.. it is based on how the average user would react to the OS and how user-friendly it is. This "negative" view is far more realistic than Windows haters who hate windows because it is Microsoft and Bill Gates behind it. Their negative view is not only childish but arrogant.

 

[Ringel05]

Never heard of Linux Mint before I read the name here... not too hard since I dont follow the Linux scene that much . Always been an Ubuntu user (years ago) and on the crappy pcs a Puppy Linux user.

I have now installed Linux Mint and am somewhat impressed. Only issue I had on install was the lack of "brains" the installer had in finding the free space I had made on my harddisk for the linux install.. had to go to the partition manager and do quite a lot of voodoo, something an average user would not be able to do. But then again Ubuntu aint much better on this issue if I remember right.

But the system it self is semi smooth, although either because my machine is too slow (doubtful... E7300 Intel and 4 GB ram) or there is something wrong with the install, I do have areas where the system gets slow as hell and basically freezes for a bit. Loading my picture folder into the background took ages...And chrome browser feels much slower in Linux than in Windows, plus in general the system feels sluggish (barely but noticeable) compared to my windows install.

But the software packages included are good, and after a lot of tinkering the desktop seems more windows familiar than I have ever had on a Linux machine. But it did take a lot of tinkering.

One thing I love with Linux is the Skype client.. that is so much better than the bloated piece of shit Windows is being fed.

But as usual, I always get back to the issue... no games, hence I find myself having to reboot all the time to my windows install to play my games. Wine and Playonlinux are hellish to get to work so that I have given up for now.

Mr Windows guy himself reviewing a product he already had a negative view of to start with..... I'll buy that for a dollar.
I hope you don't expect to be taken seriously?

Who is reviewing anything? Just commenting on Linux Mint that is all.

As for my preconceived negative view of Linux.. it is based on how the average user would react to the OS and how user-friendly it is. This "negative" view is far more realistic than Windows haters who hate windows because it is Microsoft and Bill Gates behind it. Their negative view is not only childish but arrogant.

All of you previous posts concerning this subject belies your claim.
Considering the fact you had to do "partition voodoo" means you can't follow simple instructions.
The fact that you only included your chipset and ram as a benchmark for how it should run on your computer means you really don't now that much at all and your having to tinker a lot with the desktop to get it the way you want it again means you can't follow simple instructions. With my very first install it took me less than 10 minutes to configure my desktop.
BTW I'm not one of those anti-Windows types, and while I'm somewhat knowledgeable I'm also not a computer guru and I have no issues whatsoever with using/configuring Mint or Ubuntu (except Ubuntus' new Unity desktop). Both OSs have their niche, both have good points and bad points depending on each end user.
Given my druthers if all the mainstream games were written for Linux I'd ditch Windows in a heartbeat for my own reasons which I don't expect anyone else to make their OS decisions based on.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Never heard of Linux Mint before I read the name here... not too hard since I dont follow the Linux scene that much . Always been an Ubuntu user (years ago) and on the crappy pcs a Puppy Linux user.

I have now installed Linux Mint and am somewhat impressed. Only issue I had on install was the lack of "brains" the installer had in finding the free space I had made on my harddisk for the linux install.. had to go to the partition manager and do quite a lot of voodoo, something an average user would not be able to do. But then again Ubuntu aint much better on this issue if I remember right.

But the system it self is semi smooth, although either because my machine is too slow (doubtful... E7300 Intel and 4 GB ram) or there is something wrong with the install, I do have areas where the system gets slow as hell and basically freezes for a bit. Loading my picture folder into the background took ages...And chrome browser feels much slower in Linux than in Windows, plus in general the system feels sluggish (barely but noticeable) compared to my windows install.

But the software packages included are good, and after a lot of tinkering the desktop seems more windows familiar than I have ever had on a Linux machine. But it did take a lot of tinkering.

One thing I love with Linux is the Skype client.. that is so much better than the bloated piece of shit Windows is being fed.

But as usual, I always get back to the issue... no games, hence I find myself having to reboot all the time to my windows install to play my games. Wine and Playonlinux are hellish to get to work so that I have given up for now.

Mr Windows guy himself reviewing a product he already had a negative view of to start with..... I'll buy that for a dollar.
I hope you don't expect to be taken seriously?

Who is reviewing anything? Just commenting on Linux Mint that is all.

As for my preconceived negative view of Linux.. it is based on how the average user would react to the OS and how user-friendly it is. This "negative" view is far more realistic than Windows haters who hate windows because it is Microsoft and Bill Gates behind it. Their negative view is not only childish but arrogant.

Hardly.
Most Microsoft "haters" (like myself) are more advanced users. And as more advanced users we are not so inclined to get rolled over every couple years when M$ decides it is time to release the next great OS...which of course means a whole new office suite that they purposely include code so that all previous versions will not open the documents even though they are 100% capable of doing so without that code entry.
And we are not so inclined to just "take it" when M$ over and over and over releases products that are bug-laden, don't work and then finally after 5-6 years (and 2 OS releases later) they get it right...they bring out the next OS and restart the whole process.

Windows 95...and actual improvement, but absolutely copied OS/2. Take a look at OS/2 and Win 95...wow.
Windows 98....Windows 95 vs2 that was a complete nightmare. M$ quickly released Windows98se because they were inundated with complaints. But Win98se is totally Windows95 upgraded...not even the most ardent Microsoft defender can deny it.
Windows NT Workstation...Windows 98se built on the NT filesystem. An absolute failure and nightmare for businesses that bought them as Microsoft touted the system as "Windows for Business".
Windows 2000...Windows 95 round 3. Since this is still 100% Win95 technology - Win2000 to this date is still one of Microsoft's best operating systems...but as stated above - they sold very few of these because they were well on their way to the "next great OS".
Windows ME...Windows XP that didn't work. Windows ME is the operating system M$ wants to pretend never existed.
Windows XP...Windows ME round two. Interesting note is that M$ says this is the first system based on the NT Kernel. Not at all true. WinNT Workstation was - but it was so bad that, like Win ME, M$ tries to pretend it didn't exist.
The first two releases of XP were truly terrible and unacceptable. Finally after WinXP SP2 - XP became a solid OS that is stable and "just works"...but again M$ was beginning to abandon XP in favor of...

Windows Vista. Like all 1st releases - it was terrible. So bad that for the first time in history PC manufacturers went against M$ and went back to installing XP after having to deal with so many consumer complaints.

Windows 7 - Windows Vista round 2.



This is why we don't like Microsoft.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Gnome three. Haven't fired it up in a few months but I didn't care for it at all.
Mint Debian is a catastrophe.
Mint proper uses Ubuntu repos so that leaves me one choice. Debian.Where I started all those years ago.

Ah, a purist snob. Got it.......

Oh for...ugh...Linux purist.
I remember when the purist were all up in arms when RedHat released "RPM" (redhat package manager)...how DARE RH develop installers that included all dependencies and all you have to do is click to install...why..why..that is too Microsofty!!
I also remember the purist who had a stroke when RH made the first Linux desktop that boots into the X Window system rather than the terminal...the Gods were angry that day.
I worked with a guy that flat out refused to use a mouse. We just laughed at this guy who would use two hands trying to use a keystroke combination when all he had to do was click the mouse once.
(Having said this...I still use CTRL P and CTRL S, CTRL A, CTRL V...old habits and they are faster than using a mouse to do those functions)

 

[PeteEU]

Mr Windows guy himself reviewing a product he already had a negative view of to start with..... I'll buy that for a dollar.
I hope you don't expect to be taken seriously?

Who is reviewing anything? Just commenting on Linux Mint that is all.

As for my preconceived negative view of Linux.. it is based on how the average user would react to the OS and how user-friendly it is. This "negative" view is far more realistic than Windows haters who hate windows because it is Microsoft and Bill Gates behind it. Their negative view is not only childish but arrogant.

All of you previous posts concerning this subject belies your claim.
Considering the fact you had to do "partition voodoo" means you can't follow simple instructions.

Seriously? My PC has several partitions and I wanted to install it on the partition of my choosing. The only way I could do this was via advanced partitioning, which already there is far too much for the average user. But instead of just taking the the free space I had created, Linux wanted a "linux type" system already made, including a Swap disc.. what the hell?

The fact that you only included your chipset and ram as a benchmark for how it should run on your computer means you really don't now that much at all

Actually it seems it is you that dont know shit. E7300 is not the chipset.... The chipset if you must know is a P45 chipset from Intel on a MSI motherboard.

And maybe with all your supposed wisdom can explain to me why my Linux Mint install feels slower than my Windows install when doing normal things like opening folders with many files in? Or setting up a background picture from a folder of my choosing (with 100+ pictures in)?

and your having to tinker a lot with the desktop to get it the way you want it again means you can't follow simple instructions. With my very first install it took me less than 10 minutes to configure my desktop.

LOL then I did it faster than you... Took me 5 to 10 min to tinker with the desktop to get it as I liked it... at least 5 minutes more than on a windows machine.

BTW I'm not one of those anti-Windows types, and while I'm somewhat knowledgeable I'm also not a computer guru and I have no issues whatsoever with using/configuring Mint or Ubuntu (except Ubuntus' new Unity desktop). Both OSs have their niche, both have good points and bad points depending on each end user.

Could have fooled me the way you sing Linux praises.. but hey!

Given my druthers if all the mainstream games were written for Linux I'd ditch Windows in a heartbeat for my own reasons which I don't expect anyone else to make their OS decisions based on.

I can actually follow you on this point. If games were made for linux then I too would switch in a heartbeat.. since it is free. Hell I would even try Mac OSX if it was installable on any machine..

 

[PeteEU]

Hardly.
Most Microsoft "haters" (like myself) are more advanced users. And as more advanced users we are not so inclined to get rolled over every couple years when M$ decides it is time to release the next great OS...which of course means a whole new office suite that they purposely include code so that all previous versions will not open the documents even though they are 100% capable of doing so without that code entry.

LOL seriously, when was the last time you used a Microsoft program? The last time you could not open a previous version of a word document in a new version of office was over a decade ago if not more. I think it was when they went from windows 95 to 98 or there about.. I remember it happening once and Microsoft released a patch that made it possible. Seriously..

And we are not so inclined to just "take it" when M$ over and over and over releases products that are bug-laden, don't work and then finally after 5-6 years (and 2 OS releases later) they get it right...they bring out the next OS and restart the whole process.

You do realize that there was 6 years between Windows XP and Windows Vista right? Linux distros and kernels almost get upgrade every year if not several times a year.

Windows 95...and actual improvement, but absolutely copied OS/2. Take a look at OS/2 and Win 95...wow.

I used OS/2 and it was great... but sadly too closed and no one made stuff for it and its ability to use DOS programs was bad. So by the time Windows 95 came out OS/2 was dead.

Windows 98....Windows 95 vs2 that was a complete nightmare. M$ quickly released Windows98se because they were inundated with complaints. But Win98se is totally Windows95 upgraded...not even the most ardent Microsoft defender can deny it.
Windows NT Workstation...Windows 98se built on the NT filesystem. An absolute failure and nightmare for businesses that bought them as Microsoft touted the system as "Windows for Business".

Hmm Windows 98 was brilliant. SE only meant it had a network component and a few bug fixes. Windows 98 came out just as home networks were getting going, and the internet was at its start. What was a nightmare was Windows Millenum which was suppose to be the replacement of Windows 98... on this front I think we can agree... Windows ME sucked donkey balls.

Windows 2000...Windows 95 round 3. Since this is still 100% Win95 technology - Win2000 to this date is still one of Microsoft's best operating systems...but as stated above - they sold very few of these because they were well on their way to the "next great OS".
Windows ME...Windows XP that didn't work. Windows ME is the operating system M$ wants to pretend never existed.

Windows 2000 was good. It was Windows NT and Windows 98 in one. But it was more targeted the professional market than the consumer market. It was the defacto replacement for Windows NT.

Windows XP...Windows ME round two. Interesting note is that M$ says this is the first system based on the NT Kernel. Not at all true. WinNT Workstation was - but it was so bad that, like Win ME, M$ tries to pretend it didn't exist. The first two releases of XP were truly terrible and unacceptable. Finally after WinXP SP2 - XP became a solid OS that is stable and "just works"...but again M$ was beginning to abandon XP in favor of...

Seriously? Windows XP was 7 years old or so when Vista came out.. get your facts straight. SP2 was released in 2004, 3 years before Vista was released... seriously..

Windows Vista. Like all 1st releases - it was terrible. So bad that for the first time in history PC manufacturers went against M$ and went back to installing XP after having to deal with so many consumer complaints.

LOL are you freaking serious? While Vista had its problems, namely it was TOO SECURE, the OS and the idea behind it was solid. The problem with Vista was it was too much of a nanny system, you know like Linux.. so it required permission to install and do anything pretty much, which pissed people off.

Windows 7 - Windows Vista round 2.

Windows 7 is brilliant lol. I doubt you have even used the OS since you call it Vista round 2.. Windows 7 is ultra stable, and unless you want to run 16 bit programs then most things run on it. Only issue is the lack of drivers for older printers and such, but that is not the fault of Mircosoft or Windows.. but of the 3rd party manufactures not making the drivers.

This is why we don't like Microsoft.

No you dont like Microsoft because you got it into your head over a decade ago that Microsoft is bad. By the comments you have made here, I can clearly say that you have not even tried to use Windows 7.

 

[Ringel05]

Who is reviewing anything? Just commenting on Linux Mint that is all.

As for my preconceived negative view of Linux.. it is based on how the average user would react to the OS and how user-friendly it is. This "negative" view is far more realistic than Windows haters who hate windows because it is Microsoft and Bill Gates behind it. Their negative view is not only childish but arrogant.

All of you previous posts concerning this subject belies your claim.
Considering the fact you had to do "partition voodoo" means you can't follow simple instructions.

Seriously? My PC has several partitions and I wanted to install it on the partition of my choosing. The only way I could do this was via advanced partitioning, which already there is far too much for the average user. But instead of just taking the the free space I had created, Linux wanted a "linux type" system already made, including a Swap disc.. what the hell?



Actually it seems it is you that dont know shit. E7300 is not the chipset.... The chipset if you must know is a P45 chipset from Intel on a MSI motherboard.

Oops I used the wrong word (which I have heard/read to be interchangeable with processor by many writers).

And maybe with all your supposed wisdom can explain to me why my Linux Mint install feels slower than my Windows install when doing normal things like opening folders with many files in? Or setting up a background picture from a folder of my choosing (with 100+ pictures in)?

Simple, is your graphics NVidia or Radeon?

LOL then I did it faster than you... Took me 5 to 10 min to tinker with the desktop to get it as I liked it... at least 5 minutes more than on a windows machine.

It took me a half and hour to configure my first Windows desktop to the way I wanted it but I knew nothing about computers at all at the time.... Go figure, it's different for everyone..........

BTW I'm not one of those anti-Windows types, and while I'm somewhat knowledgeable I'm also not a computer guru and I have no issues whatsoever with using/configuring Mint or Ubuntu (except Ubuntus' new Unity desktop). Both OSs have their niche, both have good points and bad points depending on each end user.

Could have fooled me the way you sing Linux praises.. but hey!

Only because you choose to read what you want to read. But hey! As I have always stated I have no real problems with ether OS.

Given my druthers if all the mainstream games were written for Linux I'd ditch Windows in a heartbeat for my own reasons which I don't expect anyone else to make their OS decisions based on.

I can actually follow you on this point. If games were made for linux then I too would switch in a heartbeat.. since it is free. Hell I would even try Mac OSX if it was installable on any machine..

Mac is now using INTEL processors and motherboards.