Linux Mint 13 (Maya) Has Arrived 216
New submitter OceanMan7 writes "Linux Mint 13 (Maya) has just been released. DVDs come in four flavors — MATE (with and without codecs) and Cinnamon (with and without codecs) — in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The codec-free versions comply with U.S. and Japanese IP regulations. MATE 1.2 is Linux Mint's community-powered extension of Gnome 2. Cinnamon 1.4 is built upon Gnome 3, but has a more traditional look and feel. As with Ubuntu 12.04, upon which Linux Mint draws, all editions come with Long-term support (LTS) until April, 2017. The release notes provide a list of changes.
I'm probably nitpicking (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
2 desktops * 2 bit sizes * with/without codecs = 8. However there are also 2 OEM version so 10 total.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yep they do. Main page already has the 8 listed for version 13: http://www.linuxmint.com/release.php?id=18 [linuxmint.com]
AFAIK the last time they put out an XFCE was version 9, when they also had a Fluxbox. I assume that's been completely dropped. The version 13 user's guide is written in terms of MATE. Are you sure they aren't going Gnome variants only?
Re: (Score:2)
Let me correct my previous answer. It appears the XFCE ... (excluding KDE) are grouped with the LMDE edition which is based on Debian Testing not Ubuntu. Essentially Mint has two totally different distributions Ubuntu based for Gnome variants and KDE and Debian based LMDE which is a rolling distribution.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
As far as I can tell LMDE is targeted to desktop users as well, just as Mint was designed as a slight improvement over Ubunutu, LMDE is designed for those who run Debian Testing. The Mint desktop, the codecs and the software that Debian won't touch are the big advantages over just running Debian Testing all of which effect desktops. So installing Skype on LMDE is not a hassle.
The big advantage LMDE has over Mint (using Ubuntu) is they don't pick up all the heavy weight add ons of Ubuntu. At startup that
Re: (Score:2)
I wouldn't consider "with codecs" and "without codecs" flavors, exactly, since they don't really change the install at all. More like "legally covering our asses." They don't even have direct links to the downloads in TFA.
Re:I'm probably nitpicking (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Mint isn't targeting the masses. Mint seems to be targeting the disgruntled Ubuntu users, so people with a 1/2 dozen years of Unix experience who like the features. They all know whether they have a 32 or 64 bit system.
Still not impressed (Score:4, Interesting)
Mint, to me, is still a buggier and less supported version of Unbuntu.
Not to say I'm that pleased with Ubuntu but every time I've tried Mint I've come away with two hard realizations
1. If you have problems, they are harder to fix and it's harder to get support for them. /lot/ of reinstalling when it comes time to move to a new release.
2. I have more showstopping bugs than Ubuntu.
3. You end up doing a
I'm not a moron and I've deployed mint on Good hardware that run both windows and other distros just fine. Mint just has a very vocal fanbase that I don't happen to agree with.
That said, Ubuntu's not very useful to me either. It's UI has taken a trip to lala land and isnt very useful anymore. I'd accuse them of copying microft's new UI efforts.. Except that Ubuntu's breaking of the UI predates both win phone 7 and windows 8. Go fig.
I suggest that everyone go check out Fedora. No, it's not very romantic or cutting edge. But it does work. Very well. It's also very well supported.
Check out the "spins" where you can download an iso customized to the UI of your choice. I'm a fan of xfce, which makes even gnome3 look bloated and slow.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No, proper nerds enter their own creation when boot-strapping a PDP-8 [pdp8.de].
LXDE? (Score:2)
I'm currently on Linux Mint LXDE 11, or Linux Mint 11 LXDE, or whatever it's called. I love that it's so extremely fast to start stuff up, much more so than my previous some-other-distro with KDE4.
Is there, or will there, be an LXDE release for Mint 13? I can't figure it out from the site. (Yes, I'm bad at reading, apparently.)
Great! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Mint has a fairly good 'data and software package list backup, then do a fresh install from livecd' approach for upgrades.
More here [linuxmint.com].
Re: (Score:2)
Broken in VirtualBox (Score:3)
I just tested out 32-bit linux mint cinnamon in VirtualBox.
Most of the text is missing!
http://i.imgur.com/F0af2.jpg [imgur.com]
Re:Broken in VirtualBox (Score:5, Funny)
Well, duh! You're using the 32-bit version, missing out on half the bits. If you want all the bits to work, install the 64-bit version, like any sane person would.
Re: (Score:2)
I just tested out 32-bit linux mint cinnamon in VirtualBox. Most of the text is missing!
http://i.imgur.com/F0af2.jpg [imgur.com]
This is a good example case of some weird broken stuff you come across every now and then when using desktop Linux.
Can someone explain what happens there? Someone suggested it's about video memory. Then why does it not check if there's enough available?
Whatever the reason is, there's not enough robustness in the GUI.
360 degrees of obsolescence (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
The original purpose of Mint may have been to include codecs, but today Mint is more like a stable version of Ubuntu with sane software choices out of the box.
Re: (Score:2)
the codecs and flash are a god sent sometimes. have a laptop with a dead hard drive?, you can burn a DVD-R and let it in the tray, yet still play mp3, movies and youtube. or I carry a live USB everyday, for installation but sometimes useful for a quick use.
My experience with final RC (Score:2)
My laptop was dual-boot Win7 and Mint 12 (Ubuntu-based). What I noticed during installation / use:
1) Installed left me with an unbootable system. GRUB had the right menu items, but none worked. I needed to boot from the live Mint 13 installation CD, install a package for repairing the boot loader, and run the program that came with it. Worked pretty well, but not sure if it's fixed yet. And even now, I have two GRUB entries for Win7. Only the first one works.
2) Screen locking doesn't work, at least for me.
3
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks! That fixed it.
Linuxmint 13 Maya released. (Score:2)
Hmmn
Under important info: Boot hangs on systems with b43 wireless cards.
Guess it won't be going on my laptop anytime soon..
Not for me (Score:3)
Yea ok I used to like mint when ubuntu went "pants on head retarded", but I havent been lately
10 and anything before it works fine
11 constantly fucks up something on the desktop with a "your taskabar (or clock or whatever) has stopped working, would you like to delete it?" trap
12 ships with gnome 3 AND their clunky menu system, really how many start menus do I need ... MS apparently says zero so it could be worse
12 with gnome 2 suffers the random thing is going to break and you should delete it syndrome as 11
LXDE versions of them all plain suck, I view LXDE as a half finished pain in the ass version of XFCE that requires me to do dumb shit like open a file explorer to empty trash, or fart out a regular expression just to set the fucking clock format
so now that 13 is out, I say "not for me", too much trouble, xubuntu is doing great, thanks, and they just released a new LTS
Sensible defaults (Score:5, Insightful)
I think most people are aware that Linux Mint is just a customized version of Ubuntu. Nothing special in that regard. However, the reason Mint is so popular is because it has something very important that a lot of people desire - sensible defaults.
Sure, you can take a stock Ubuntu installation and replace Unity with MATE/Cinnamon, install additional codecs, move the window buttons to the left so that you don't have to readjust your muscle memory and so on, but Linux Mint has this performed for you out of the box. It also has other changes like an absence of purple in the GRUB, Plymouth and login/desktop screens, which might seem petty but the Mint color scheme whilst grey and somewhat boring, feels far more professional and less garish. Once again, chances you can make if you know how with Ubuntu, but Mint is already preset with them for you.
Mint feels like a distro where the developers aren't interested in futzing around with challenging traditional UI perceptions, and would instead rather provide a distro based on a (reasonably) solid foundation which anyone can use which still looks nice and doesn't force you to relearn how to perform efficiently in a foreign UI. The motivation for Canonical is to be on as many devices as possible - the motivation for the Mint team is to make a usable Linux distro for computers with as few hindrances as possible.
Hybryde (Score:4, Informative)
For those wondering about Cinnamon vs Mate vs Unity vs KDE vs LXDE vs XFCE vs whatever, there is a new distro out called Hybryde. From the distrowatch announcement
Olivier Larrieu has announced the release of Hybryde Linux 1, a desktop Linux distribution with one unique feature - the ability to switch rapidly and fluidly between a number of desktop environments and window managers without logging out and without having to close open applications first. The list includes Enlightenment 17, GNOME Shell, GNOME 3 "Fallback" mode, KDE, LXDE, Openbox, Unity, Xfce and FVWM. The switching between desktops is achieved via a customisable Hy-menu which also allows launching applications and configuring the system. The project's website is in French and by default the distribution only supports the French language, but extra language packs can be installed from standard Ubuntu 12.04 repositories.
Okay, MATE and Cinnamon weren't among the listed options, so it might have been good had they forked off Mint, as opposed to Ubuntu, so that they could have included that as well. I'm guessing that they probably only offer liberated software, which is why complete GNOME 3 is not offered, since it requires 3D accelaration to work, for which liberated drivers are not available. Unless they're trying to get the FSF seal of approval, they might as well offer a full GNOME3, w/ an advisory that it's not a fully liberated DE.
Oh, and then there are all the other Ubuntu derivative Linuxes, such as Comice, dyne:bolic, ExTiX, gNewSense, LuninuX, Trisquel and Zorin.
Click to Replace Ubuntu? (Score:2)
If I download and burn the installer DVD, can I just boot the DVD and click something to upgrade the machine's original Ubuntu (v11.10) to Mint, with little or no further intervention? Which will let me reboot and launch Evolution and Firefox with all my configs and data intact?
And if I don't like it, can I boot from an Ubuntu installer CD to revert? Or maybe something even easier?
Re: (Score:2)
It's not quite that easy, AFAIK.
If you've put your /home directory in it's own partition, then it's straight-forward to avoid losing your personal data / settings when changing which version of Linux is installed.
But unfortunately, that also means that you'll have to tell Ubuntu's / Mint's installer that you're using a custom partitioning scheme. So you'll need to get a little more involved during the installation process than if you hadn't used a separate partition for your /home directory.
Re: (Score:2)
But unfortunately, that also means that you'll have to tell Ubuntu's / Mint's installer that you're using a custom partitioning scheme. So you'll need to get a little more involved during the installation process than if you hadn't used a separate partition for your /home directory.
I usually just let it go with the defaults in the OS partition and then later I edit fstab to restore my /home partition. Far less hassle that way.
Oh by the way! (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Use the Mate version (Score:2)
I only briefly tested it, but the Mate edition looks excellent, it's not quirky. it's like the old gnome 2 is back, with no bugs and small applets such as xeyes. it's the editiion to use, works everywhere, no need for a 3D driver to run it. also in a funny way it feels lightweight nowadays, due to most other desktops being really bloated (or xfce not being that much lighter)
Especially awesome is, despite its Windows XP taskbar set up, with the big Mint menu, you can easily add a top panel if you wish, and c
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Is it a good alternative to Ubuntu for a novice (Score:4, Informative)
That's precisely why it's so popular.
Re:Is it a good alternative to Ubuntu for a novice (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
It's ubuntu, which is basically polished debian, without the seriously buggy 'I'm suited for touch screens, honest guv' new Unity interface. I tried out 12.04 the other day - I used to use SuSE/KDE then gentoo then debian as my primary desktop for a number of years; gave up after the KDE4 migration disaster and went to windows, and fairly recently to OSX; I tried it on a clean drive on my hackintosh (I have a real mac in the office, a somewhat elderly mac mini, and my own copy of Lion) which is a fairly bog
Re: (Score:2)
From what I understand, Ubuntu does offer GNOME 3 as an option, w/ or w/o fallback mode. What Mint does is somewhat different. Mint offers the GNOME 2 fork called MATE, and it offers Mint GNOME Shell Extensions (MGSE) under GTK3, which is what's called Cinnamon. Essentially, Cinnamon is GNOME 2 implemented under GTK3, while MATE is the old GNOME 2 implemented under GTK2.
Re: (Score:2)
>> Then I discovered that clicking on a side-launcher button doesn't raise an active window up to the top; it just spawns a new one
I use Unity on several computers and I can't say that I've ever seen that behavior. Weird. Clicking on the launcher always brings up the latest window for the application. If there are two or more windows open for that application, clicking again on the launcher presents you with a view of each window and the option to choose which one you want. I find opening a new window
Re: (Score:2)
I agree with most of what you wrote but the part about Unity and touchscreens. I installed 12.04 on my netbook and I can tell that Unity without a keyboard is unusable. Without a keyboard the lenses and the HUD are useless. Only the left side launcher can work on a pure touchscreen device but that gives access to only a small number of programs. On the other side, you can access all the installed apps with your finger on any touchscreen phone/tablet. I'm just curious to see how Canonical will tweak Unity to
Re: (Score:2)
At a certain point I was using openSUSE but it was booting a bit slow, so I switched to Kubuntu.Kubuntu started to become an horrible mess, so I used plain Ubuntu for a while. I never got really used to the terrible file dialog, nor to its lack of keyboard shortcuts, but in the end I could get my job done.
Then Unity came. I put it on an USB key and decided it was too much suffering, so I up the update until I decide to try mint 12.
Ok THAT was really an horrible mess, the most bug ridden half backed desktop
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Is it a good alternative to Ubuntu for a novice?
I would say yes.
I recently got a new computer and didn't want to spend the extra money for windows (the computer was a gift and the extra windows money would have made it hard to get a decent graphics card, a must for me.) I am a long time windows user and dabbled in Linux here and there throughout the years (as far back as early slackware) but no real experience and never for any reasonable length of time. I do have some experience from unix systems from way back though.
I installed Debian because I wanted
Re: (Score:2)
What about those using MythTV? Is there an equivalent of MythBuntu? Or is Mint just for basic desktop/server installs?
Re:Is it a good alternative to Ubuntu for a novice (Score:4, Informative)
apt-get install mythtv
MythTV through a package manager really is not that daunting. Even building it from scratch is not that hard since you can use the package manager to sort out dependencies.
Re: (Score:3)
I have used Linux for 13 years now. I don't want to build stuff myself like when I was running Gentoo. I don't want to "./configure && make". I have contributed to mythtv code myself and like to have nightly/binightly builds so I can contribute to the testing for the developers.
MythBuntu provides more than the mythtv/mythbackend/mythfrontend packages. It provides a decent configuration UI and other minor integrations/apps that I don't want to deal with. Some of it is useless to me, since I have
Re: (Score:2)
A good makefile is hardly a burden.
Perhaps Gentoo is just more painful than it really needs to be.
Re: (Score:2)
What about those using MythTV?
I'm doing that.
It was pretty easy to set up, just type "myth" in the software center and select MythTV plus all the add-ons you'll be using.
You do need to configure your capture cards and storage in the MythTV backend (shows up under the Administration menu), but most of the defaults work well enough to get you started.
Re:Is it a good alternative to Ubuntu for a novice (Score:5, Insightful)
There is no linux for a novice.
There is only linux for people who want to learn the nuts and bolts of linux at a slower rate than others.
I've spent the past few months giving several different distros a week or so each on my laptop (a standard Dell lattitude e6400, circa 2009. nothing exotic at all) to make an impression on me.
I'll admit I haven't played with Maya yet, but I spent a week with Lisa & cinnamon, which is easily as broken on install as any other linux distro I've ever used. Cinnamon was like a slightly prettyed up version of gnome 2, which makes me wonder why they even bothered to switch to gnome 3. Of course, it was just as broken as unity, if not moreso. the taskbar was "refreshingly" retro, circa windows 2000. in all the worst ways. i ditched the stock application manager applet and downloaded one that would stack open windows under a single taskbar icon, like a modern GUI... and it worked at least 2/3 of the time. Sorry, but a 2/3 success rate on -clicking on a taskbar icon- is a little much to swallow, so I ditched that and got the stock one back, except now if I opened more than 7 windows, they would scroll the "start" button (sorry, don't know the linux name for it) off the left side of the screen. what the hell? I couldn't make this up! Oh, did I mention that after I changed the default icon and name of the "start" button, it would never display the entire name again, putting "..." at the end instead? google told me that had been a bug since the -previous- version of Mint. That's crazy. Nobody thought to fix that? it's a simple pixel offset based on the size of the icon!
Tip of the iceberg here.
by the way, LM:Debian Edition was so broken as to not even be worth discussing.
by comparison, ubuntu 12.04 was, of course as I expected by this point, broken upon instalation, but after several hours of googling, some time in irc, and a lot of console commands later, I've got a mostly working install. some stuff is still screwed up (like the apps that -are- running but don't show up on the launcher bar), but I've learned to just deal with it for now. I've had it going for 3 weeks now and it's useable. putting it to sleep is a gamble, but this thing isn't mission critical so I just roll the dice every time.
I'm curious how long I can stick it out before I give up and go back to windows 7, which I'll freely admit does everything I need an OS to do, and has no major or even minor bugs that impact me on any sort of regular basis.
I'm no fanboy, of any OS, or any distro. I call it like I see it, and Linux (really I should blame it on the GUI, as the linux kernal itself is stable as a rock for the most part) is for people who like to work the nuts and bolts of their OS, because you pretty much have to. even the most "beginner-friendly" distros like Mint and ubuntu seem to require time spent at the terminal just to do stuff other operating systems consider basic functions, like say disabling a touchpad (no, touchpad-indicator applet does NOT work, as you should well know if you've actually used it).
Re:Is it a good alternative to Ubuntu for a novice (Score:4, Interesting)
Wow...
I am not even sure where to start here except:
Linux Mint just works for me.
Ubuntu just works for me.
I have never had any problems with either, even running things like java applets, my web cam, music or... Yahoo Games when I want to play Cribbage with my sweety.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Is it a good alternative to Ubuntu for a novice (Score:4, Insightful)
There is no linux for a novice.
You have to work for Microsoft.
Hmmm...more like there is no Linux for morons. I've installed Linux on my mother's and an ex-girlfriend's computer and both love it. The ex-girlfriend even installed on someone else's computer when it was so infested with viruses as to be unusable. Just had to explain to her how to burn an ISO and she did the rest on her own. Because, you know, it just works. Unlike windows where you have to spend hours finding drivers and anti-virus and digging up all your CDs and keys so you can re-installing applications...
Both are very much novices. But neither is a moron.
Re:Is it a good alternative to Ubuntu for a novice (Score:4, Insightful)
you're not allowed to have a negative opinion of something unless you work for the competition?
you must work for red hat? see how silly that sounds?
I'm not sure what kind of OS you are trying to classify as an operating system for a moron, because I've had to support users who can't use any operating system, no matter how simple. they break everything they use. you wouldn't think they'd be able to screw up something like iOS, etc, but they do. you can't design an idiot-proof OS because the world will make a better idiot.
If all you want out of Linux is an OS that will launch firefox and thunderbird, maybe print or open a flash drive, then there are dozens (maybe hundreds) of distros that can do that without a problem. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about actual computer enthusiasts. People whom I assume you count yourself among, those who are spending several hours in front of their computer per day by choice, and not spending it all on facebook. People who are installing emulators, installing programs that aren't in the default repositories, customizing the interface to any degree beyond changing the wallpaper. adding a piece of hardware that doesn't have an apple logo on it. These things are very often broken in linux distros, and while you can often get them working, at least well enough to get by, it requires knowing the operating system very well already, or meticuliously following instructions that found on google and hoping that it is the correct fix for your problem, and not knowing why it worked if it did or didn't work if it didn't.
That's why there is no linux for novices. Eventually if you do anything other than web browsing, you're going to find yourself at a terminal prompt typing in sudo and hoping the line you're cutting and pasting after it won't hose your system.
Also your description of windows sounds suspiciously like XP, not 7.
Re: (Score:2)
on vacation actually. at in-laws house. plenty of time for posting.
Re: (Score:2)
Really, I don't see the problem with the user interface, certainly not in Mint : everything is neatly ordered, I find everything instantly.
However, it's true that if you come from a Windows background, then anything 'not windows', will seem difficult. I recon it's the same the other way around though.
Point is , Mint has one of the friendliest GUI i have seen, and it's not that hard to learn how to use it.
Infact, that's one of the reasons I switched from Ubuntu to Mint, because the Ubuntu desktop is horrible
Re: (Score:3)
I recon it's the same the other way around though.
It is. I used Windows from 1995 to 2008, Win95 and WinXP. Then I switched to Ubuntu. When I have to use Win7 on somebody else's PC I realize I'm not as effective as I was with WinXP because many things have changed and I'm not familiar with them. When I have to use a Mac (rarely) sometimes I just don't know how to do some basic things and I have to ask or wander at random among windows and menus. The only easy interface is the one you know well. If you're a novice and don't know anything, every OS is diffic
Re: (Score:2)
Just taking issue with your touchpad problem maybe you are looking too hard. To disable touchpad in Mint 11 , Mint 12 or Ubuntu 12.04 (just examples of versions I have recent experience with)
Fn key F7 enables and disables the touchpad that is on an aspire one but I would be surprised if most laptops didn't have similar keys. You don't need an applet to do this.
Now there are issues that can be annoying but that shouldn't be one of them. There isn't a perfect operating system. Windows 7 is pretty good right?
Re: (Score:2)
I'm curious how long I can stick it out before I give up and go back to windows 7, which I'll freely admit does everything I need an OS to do, and has no major or even minor bugs that impact me on any sort of regular basis.
Herein lies the problem; You've come from an OS which does all of the things you want it to do in a way which agrees with you, and tried to turn a different OS into that one.
Linux is not Windows. You cannot turn Linux into Windows. Don't even try.
I use both; Windows for gaming, Linux (Mint 11, incidentally) for everything else. I like the update system for Linux ("Run updates... Oh ok, that was painless" vs "Oh ffs, this is the third restart, and I still haven't updated Java or Adobe Flash yet!"), and the
Re: (Score:2)
I've still got my windows install ghosted onto an external HD to restore whenever I like, so it's not a big deal to be on linux for the time being. I'm using it now purely for amusement value. I'm seeing what the current state of linux GUI development is like.
I keep trying linux because, despite all my bad experiences with it, I still want to like it. I like the philosophy behind linux, the idea of a 3rd major OS aside from Company M's "you do what you want to do our way and we'll change it when we feel lik
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed. I just went back to Linux after a quite awhile on Windows 7. I was getting into some web development projects and it's just easier for me to get up and running and set things up on Linux. I went with Ubuntu since I had worked with that before, but Unity was all screwed up - specifically some quirks with Chromium tabs on it and I just didn't like it. I set up the Gnome3 stock PPA and used that for awhile. I liked how it looked but it just got to be too much work to use. Maybe it's because I'm o
Re: (Score:2)
I feel ya. That said, get ready to get downmodded to hell and insulted, called a moron, told you don't know computers at all, and told to get off slashdot, for pointing out valid failings in the golden OS.
IT HAS NO PROBLEMS. IT IS THE SOLUTION FOR ALL. IT IS PERFECT. DRINK THE KOOL AID.
sheesh.
Re: (Score:2)
nonsense, I've put Ubuntu and Mint on people's laptops and desktops and they do fine, no command-line or exotic admin skills necessary. Even for kids to use LibreOffice for schoolwork.
Quite frankly, now that I have a MacBook at work, some of the actions there are quite non-intuitive compared to most Linux desktops or Windows.
One hour with Linux. (Score:2)
There is no linux for a novice.
There is only linux for people who want to learn the nuts and bolts of linux at a slower rate than others.
I launched the WUBI installer for Ubuntu: advertised to Windows users as a safe and painless way to test-drive Linux.
"The buttons" are on the wrong side, of couse, so it is off to Google to find a solution.
I like having a small app pinned to the tray to play Internet radio as a I work. Radio Sure, Screamer, Tapin...
The Ubuntu Store has a Radio Tray app for Linux that seems just the thing.I launch the program and it displays an error dialog in microscopic print.
Back to Google for a solution...
Radio Tra
Re:Is it a good alternative to Ubuntu for a novice (Score:5, Interesting)
Sorry to read of all the difficulties you've been having. I've had my own small share of annoyances or breakage here and there; some combos of hardware seem to be idiotsycratic viz. a particular OS.
Yet I think it might be more fair to say that you're describing the modern Linux experience that _you_ have; it may not be valid to extend your experience to that of all users.
I suppose much boils down to what you need and how you want it. I've been lucky, the several desktops and laptops have been vanilla hardware; Ubuntu's been working well enough to be my host OS for going on five years.
I like and admire what the Mint folks offer; they've put a lot of work into providing choice. I've found no compelling reason to switch but I could just be getting old and more lazy.
Re: (Score:2)
Not to make light of it, but reminds me of the line from a song on "Hee Haw": "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all..."
Sorry I don't know enough to be of help. Curious if same or similar problems on only the laptop or on any other systems you have.
Since I don't follow best practices on my personal machine, a given install can stray a bit as I change things more to my liking, and I also turn on backports. Since upgrading to 12.04 I get several "Ubuntu has encountered a problem..." or some s
Re:Is it a good alternative to Ubuntu for a novice (Score:5, Informative)
you'd think so, but it's pretty hard to dismiss the problem as somehow being cause by me when:
A. I list the exact workflow, and at no time am I doing anything out of the ordinary
B. The bugs are confirmed in offical tracker logs.
That's the thing that gets me. I'm listing known and documented problems with the operating systems, and I'm getting downmodded like I'm making shit up.
Also, I'm curious to know which headaches you're running into with Windows 7, because I can't think of any offhand. XP? sure. Vista? Of course. 7? nothing comes to mind.
Re:Is it a good alternative to Ubuntu for a novice (Score:4, Informative)
Also, I'm curious to know which headaches you're running into with Windows 7, because I can't think of any offhand. XP? sure. Vista? Of course. 7? nothing comes to mind.
OK, I have one, but for me, it's a doozy. Searching for contents of a file doesn't work the way I want by default. Mainly because if you're searching in a non-indexed directory, there's no option to search the contents of a file. Even if you're in an indexed directory, only files with known AND selected types are searched. And if you want to search PDFs, you have to install one of two 3rd party iFilters (1 of which costs $600 if you want to search PDFs on your Win Server). WTF? No PDF search in Win 7? Even Vista allowed you to search ANY file. Changing the settings doesn't make it work even as well as Vista. Some people have VMs running Vista just so they can do better searches. I use a 3rd party app to search for contents of a file in Win 7, which is beyond irritating.
And MS hasn't addressed or fixed the search UI since people started complaining about it in 2009:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproui/thread/ecbecc00-f3e7-429f-87cd-8900fc313add/ [microsoft.com]
Other than that, I actually like Win 7.
Re: (Score:3)
Also, I'm curious to know which headaches you're running into with Windows 7, because I can't think of any offhand. XP? sure. Vista? Of course. 7? nothing comes to mind.
The window Z-layering is frequently idiotic. I don't care one way or another how anyone feels about "click to focus" vs. "focus follows mouse" but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that if the DM is raising a window to the to top, it should, maybe, give it focus, and if it's going to raise it behind other windows, it shouldn't.
Of course, the apparent decision making between which it chooses seems to border on the non-deterministic. And, for added lulz, the windows "stick". Alt-tabbing or clicking on
Re: (Score:2)
If you're ready to calm down and stop raging for a moment, I can give you your answer:
Right click desktop -> Personalize -> Window Color (bottom of window) -> Advanced appearance settings...
So there you go - Windows 7 still has the feature to change individual font sizes. People like to bash Windows before actually bothering to investigate if there's a solution. Having said that I will give you the benefit of the doubt here - there's absolutely no reason why the method for changing system fonts sho
Re:Is it a good alternative to Ubuntu for a novice (Score:5, Insightful)
Yup, this is how linux will get fixed. Deny there is an issue, call your users stupid and post anecdotal "evidence" that "i have no problem" thus there is no problem.
Its been like this for the past 10 years or so, and hasn't worked so far.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
as opposed to the open-mindedness of Redmond in fixing windows issues, or adhering to industry standards, or designing a well thought out GUI like "the Ribbon"? Haha, you are so completely full of shit.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Where in his post did GP complain about drivers? All bugs that he specifically mentions sounds like they're general code defects in Gnome and/or Cinnamon.
Re: (Score:2)
I did make the mistake once of complaining about my experiences with ubuntu 9.04 (which I used for a year and a half) and my nvidia card. I then proceeded to have several back-and-forth posts with a brick wall of a linux fanboy who insisted that each and every single problem I encountered was nvidia's fault and not linux's, despite my repeated attempts to explain that I didn't -care- whose fault it was that the flagship (at least by # of users) distro couldn't work properly with the #1 (at the time) video c
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Since anybody with unresolved problems is incompetent by your book, please explain why haven't you fixed the bug with ubuntu where running programs don't always show up on the unity launcher or in alt-tab?
Because it happens.
It's documented.
get off your high horse and admit that your golden OS has flaws.
Re: (Score:2)
Not anyone with unresolved problems, there are always unresolved problems on any platform you can think of. I'm talking about anyone who can't make linux work satisfactorily for themselves.
It may well not be ready for grandma, but for someone that reads and posts here it points to a stunning lack of competence with computers.
Re: (Score:2)
then what do you call someone who posts here with a stunning lack of reading comprehension?
I've -got- ubuntu 12.04 working "satisfactorily" in as much as it is possible to work around some pretty glaring basic problems.
I gave up on Mint because the problems were so bad that they weren't worth trying to work around. embarassingly bad. stuff that should have been caught in alpha release levels of bad.
again, this was Mint 12, maybe mint 13 fixed these problems. I'm on vacation and I'm more than willing to give
Re:Mint == Ubuntu plus ____? (Score:4, Insightful)
Mint == Ubuntu minus Unity Garbage
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
not easily, the .g* files will leave cruft that fucks up several other desktops like XFCE4. There is a set of instructions to do it properly, and it's not trivial.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, with Cinnamon and Mate - 2 alternative desktops that Ubuntu doesn't bundle. Even mentioned in the summary.
Poor attempt at trolling.
Re: (Score:2)
Out-of-the-box hardware support.
Re: (Score:2)
Time savings.
Asshole.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm honest enough with myself to admit that you're telling the truth. I -should- be using windows 7. But I kind of like to tinker, and have enough computers to do so. It's boring running windows 7 on every single one.
Although, how do you guys ever plan to have "the year of linux on the desktop" if you are directly trying to chase away even other computer nerds, let alone the average user?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Mint's UI philosophies tend to be more traditional. Out of the box you have a different take on KDE4, Mint-centric improvements to GNOME3 (formerly Mint GNOME Shell Extensions; now Cinnamon) as well as easy access to MATE.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
>>>If you call it GNULinux, Ubuntu and its derivatives aren't for you anyway.
Why not? Ubuntu is running on the GNU core with the linux front end, plus desktop. It is entirely accurate to call it what it is: Ubuntu variant of GNUlinix.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Mint == Ubuntu + sanity
Mint == Ubuntu minus Unity plus MATE/Cinnamon (Score:3)
Lubuntu is Ubuntu w/ LXDE. Xubuntu is Ubuntu w/ XFCE, while Kubuntu is Ubuntu w/ KDE. Ubuntu itself now offers Unity, or one could opt for GNOME 3.
Mint is different from all of the above, in that it offers you the non-GNOME3 choices - MATE (GNOME 2 on GTK2) and Cinnamon (a fork of MGSE written in GTK3). Neither of these are offered by Ubuntu, so what Mint offers is unique.
Note that Mint also has KDE, LXDE and XFCE versions as well. From what I understand, they are just Mint w/ these DE's thrown in,