

LinuxMint 15 delivers smooth alternative to Ubuntu - tanglesome
http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/2013/080513-linux-mint-test-272497.html

======
guelo
Mint packages browsers to make money off of them, including the very
questionable use of OpenDNS advertising pages as fallbacks for hostnames that
are not found.

~~~
eksith
Considering my ISP does the same, I'd say that's a minor inconvenience. I mean
it's not like searching the desktop will send results to Amazon et al.

I'm wiling to tolerate that just to not have to put up with Unity malarkey.
Besides that (though I haven't tried 15 yet), I was able to dual boot 14 on my
old Dell Inspiron 8200 and use it as an OK browsing rig. This was intolerable
with Ubuntu.

~~~
pserwylo
> it's not like searching the desktop will send results to Amazon et al.

But it is similar - if you use web applications in your every day life, then a
misspelling may well send your misspelled info to Amazon, if they advertise
through OpenDNS (though I'm unfamiliar with how OpenDNS works).

~~~
eksith
Here's some info on their advertising :

[http://www.opendns.com/support/article/76](http://www.opendns.com/support/article/76)

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yulaow
There is one thing i hate of Mint and is the fact that it doesn't support
dist-upgrade. Looking in the user guide of mint they suggest to "reinstall
from scratch the os when there is a new version of Mint". Seriously, wtf. The
direct os upgrade is one of my favorite features of linux and they just
windowsized it.

~~~
SkyMarshal
If you put /home on its own partition [1], reinstalling linux from scratch
becomes really easy, better than dist-upgrade imho.

Backup your packages [2], overwrite / with the CD/DVD/USB installer, tell the
installer to use the existing /home as the new installation's /home, then
reinstall your backed up packages [2]. Any software you don't get from the
repositories, keep on /home (git repos, JVM, etc).

This essentially makes the system files disposable, rewriteable,
overwriteable, reinstallable at will, while all the custom config and personal
data resides on /home. Keep /home backed up to multiple media. Makes upgrading
to a new version relatively painless, and you get the benefit of a fresh
install.

1\.
[http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-partplan/i...](http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-partplan/index.html)

2\. [http://askubuntu.com/a/81112/20362](http://askubuntu.com/a/81112/20362)

~~~
yulaow
I know perfectly that and infact i ever put /home in a different partition, as
/boot and /var, but the big part of the config files are not in the /home but
in /etc and i will lose all of them each time i have to reinstall from
scratch.

Dist-upgrade is one of the main advantage of a lot of distribution not
rolling, and it has ever worked perfectly for me ( i remember having a ubuntu
wm with 9.10 upgraded without problem since 12.04. After that i didn't need it
more). Also thanks to that i have not to teach to my parents how to format and
reinstall an os, they just need to press a button when the os itself warns
them that there is a new version ready to download.

It just that mint developers are more focused on make money spamming their ads
everywhere rather that implement that basic feature.

------
madsravn
LinuxMint has been delivering a good alternative to Ubuntu for a while now.

But I feel a lot of LinuxMint users are using it for the simple fact that it
isn't Ubuntu, because running Ubuntu isn't hip anymore.

~~~
Peaker
Unity is pretty terrible, and a huge step backwards.

Mint reverts the huge step backwards.

~~~
dchichkov
It is only huge step backward _for you_. Because you are a developer who wants
a snappy desktop (and not that half-poisoned koala that tends to go to sleep
and do some power saving all the time).

But you _are_ a developer. So you _can_ tweak a few things and get a nice,
snappy system out of Ubuntu. Here's a start:

    
    
      * install linux-image-xxxxxx-lowlatency;
      * boot it with idle=mwait intel_idle.max_cstate=3
      * #disable ipv6:
        net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6 = 1
        net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6 = 1
        net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6 = 1
      * # less swappy than default 60
        vm.swappiness = 1
        vm.vfs_cache_pressure = 50
      * install latest graphics drivers to support that 3d desktop monstrosity;
      * disable all desktop effects;
    

Do that, plus a few more tweaks, and you will have it out of Ubuntu. On a fast
modern box your terminal window will finally stop lagging ;)

~~~
duaneb
It's unclear why the desktop effects are on by default in the first place
without hardware accelerated drivers. The first boot up of an ubuntu image
results in my swearing at an unresponsive terminal.

But at least I can see through the window! We all know that's a usability
_must_.

------
subsection1h
Linux Mint still doesn't support expert install,[1] which is a basic
requirement of mine. (I think it should be renamed to intermediate install.)

One reason why I prefer expert install is because the last time I tried the
standard install, it didn't seem to allow /home to be encrypted with dm-crypt,
only eCryptfs. I encrypt /home with dm-crypt because when I last searched for
comparisons of eCryptfs and dm-crypt performance (2012), I read that dm-crypt
is faster.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

[1]
[http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=133968](http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=133968)

[2] [http://www.mayrhofer.eu.org/ssd-linux-
benchmark](http://www.mayrhofer.eu.org/ssd-linux-benchmark)

[3]
[http://openbenchmarking.org/result/1110088-AR-1110066AR56](http://openbenchmarking.org/result/1110088-AR-1110066AR56)

[4] [http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/reviews/the-best-file-
encryption-...](http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/reviews/the-best-file-encryption-
software-in-open-source)

[5] [http://askubuntu.com/questions/100752/how-does-ecryptfs-
impa...](http://askubuntu.com/questions/100752/how-does-ecryptfs-impact-
harddisk-performance)

[6] [http://askubuntu.com/questions/138820/why-is-ecryptfs-so-
slo...](http://askubuntu.com/questions/138820/why-is-ecryptfs-so-slow-when-
running-du-s)

[7]
[http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/53191](http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/53191)

------
brownbat
I liked this parting jab:

> subject to the mysteries of UEFI boots and the lunacy of diffuse BIOS
> variations that make installation of non-Windows operating systems on modern
> notebooks a travesty

~~~
TheLegace
Hell yes, I've posted about this before.

Due to issues with bootloader, I've lost my other Linux installations. And the
inability for the installer to format the right hard drive even when you tell
it which one to format is really a shame for the audience Mint is suppose to
be for.

I mean don't get me wrong Mint is great, but the installer sucks horribly.

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gnuvince
I've gone back to Debian after I grew sick and tired of Ubuntu. Wheezy is one,
very smooth distribution, super stable, highly recommend it!

~~~
japhyr
I learned Linux through Ubuntu, and I'm thinking of trying Debian. I want my
daily desktop work to be on a distro that has a good parallel server distro. I
don't administer servers every day, so it really helps if I can use a server
that is closely tied with my laptop's distro.

~~~
relaxitup
Ubuntu hath not a good parallel server distro? It's quite suitable imo.

~~~
japhyr
Late reply, but just saw your response. I use ubuntu servers whenever I need
to set up a server. I meant that if I move to a different distro on my
desktop, I want to use a distro that also has a server version.

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abimaelmartell
"LinuxMint Developer Edition (LMDE)" \--
[http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/2013/080513-linux-
mint-t...](http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/2013/080513-linux-mint-
test-272497.html?page=2)

// WTF!

~~~
1O0101ll100O
A small oversight to be sure. [lol]

------
dubcanada
I use it cause cinnamon is amazeballs.. Even though you can get it on Ubuntu.

I used to use #! just for blackbox or what ever their GUI was.

But I must say, upgrading Linux Mint is a lot harder then upgrading Ubuntu.

~~~
eksith
This is the one complaint I have about Mint. Since most of my things are on
external drives, I've resorted to the wipe/install method of "upgrading" just
so I can avoid the hassle. It's not a deal breaker by any stretch, but I do
hope they can change this to be more streamlined in the future.

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adrianlmm
I left Ubuntu for Fedora, because It offers a better GNOME Shell experience, I
still try Ubuntu GNOME every new release, but till now Fedora feels faster and
more stable.

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datalus
I left Ubuntu/Debian/Mint for Arch and haven't looked back. True it's a ton of
config more to deal with than Mint, but the documentation via the wiki and the
community are solid. I've learned a lot thanks to diving head first into Arch.

~~~
the1
yah I like breaking updates. that thrill whenever I do pacman -Syu

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stephenr
Obligatory:
[http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/108/8/0/i_can__t_conf...](http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/108/8/0/i_can__t_configure_debian_by_carnine9-d4wkixt.png)

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smegel
I switched to LMDE after I discovered Debian 6 used Gnome3 by default...I
actually really like MATE, the "start menu" is really good, and it is easily
customizable to make it look like Gnome2 otherwise.

~~~
drill_sarge
stopped using LMDE a while ago and went back to Debian because there seemed no
real developement going on in LMDE anymore and stuff breaking more often. how
is it now?

my best friend is always a debian testing netinstall and I can do what I want.

