Linux Mint 14 "Nadia" RC released!

[clem]

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2205

[frsu]

Running Mate on my "daily use" netbook. It is great (as always )!

Thanks Clem and team!

[KBD47]

Installed Cinnamon 32 bit RC and it looks good. Cinnamon has come a long way, very impressive.

[keghn]

Dose Nadia place video drivers or change the bios?
I tried using a live ubuntu 12.10 on my laptop around A
month ago, when it came out. It killed my laptop with
whatever it shoved into my bios, or video drivers.
My laptop was sent away for repairs. It was
away for ten day. Repair man had to swaped
out mother board to get it work. I guest it
was easer than taking a chip out and re-flashing it.
I hope he install sofware part of Nadia is not very
simular to ubuntu 12.10.
I put a live usb 12.10 in, booted fine and selected to
take a test run rather than a install and instantanously
the computer crashed.
I have managed to put ubuntu on my computers for
the past six year but it getting hard to do over
the past two year and that is why I am moving to
Mint 13 maya mate.
ubuntu 12.04 and Mint 13 had the same install chartristics.
I am realy scared that the install Mint 14 will be the
same as ubuntu 12.10!!

I am using Mint 13 64 bit mate maya on Samsung series 7
chronos np700z5c optimus laptop using Intel 8 gig of SSD
ivy bridge hd4000 Intel gpu, and geforce gt 630m gpu. Using i7-3615QM
cpu.

[igor83]

As a Linux novice, I'm not sure whether to go with Mate, Cinnamon, or KDE. I think XFCE is for lightweight computers so I steer clear of that. But I don't have a clue which desktop is best for my little htpc. Well, I say little, but I'm typing onto a 46" plasma. I went with Mate last month because it was listed at the top of the downloads section. Also, seemed like there was a feeling that Mate was more stable. I think Cinn and KDE are more advanced in terms of look and feel, but I don't really know what the pros and cons of each are. I know that Cinn has Gnome 3 under the hood, but is Gnome better objectively than KDE, or is the opposite true, or does it matter? I haven't yet read an article to persuade me one way or the other.

OpenSuse seems to be placing its bets on KDE, with a little bit of hedging on Gnome, whereas Linux Mint has two desktops based on Gnome, Mate and Cinnamon, while also hedging with KDE, Debian and XFCE and maybe one or two others I forgot to mention. I was impressed with the modern (even beautiful) look of OpenSuse KDE, but also a bit confused by it and did not know how to get around, whereas I found the Gnome2-based Mate relatively simple and straightforward.

[aloysius]

Love it!

[CtrlAltDel]

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2205

Thank you, Clem, for all the work you do so that all of us can enjoy our experience with computing.

[stevepayne1967]

Running 14 as we speak -- smoother than the proverbial baby's behind.

Thanks Clem & Team!

[BubbaBlues]

I tried Mint 14 cinnamon and now I'm trying mate. The nvidia driver download does not work in either of them.

[cra1g321]

I tried Mint 14 cinnamon and now I'm trying mate. The nvidia driver download does not work in either of them.

If your referring to the Jockey program not being available, you can always just open the Synaptic Package Manager and install the nvidia-current package along with it's dependencies.

[oboedad55]

As a Linux novice, I'm not sure whether to go with Mate, Cinnamon, or KDE. I think XFCE is for lightweight computers so I steer clear of that.

One of the great things about Linux is the plethora of desktops to choose from. Try them all, if you wish, and pick the one you prefer, or keep as many as you want.

[BubbaBlues]

I tried Mint 14 cinnamon and now I'm trying mate. The nvidia driver download does not work in either of them.

If your referring to the Jockey program not being available, you can always just open the Synaptic Package Manager and install the nvidia-current package along with it's dependencies.

That's exactly what I did. I'm referring to synaptic/settings/repositories/software sources/additional drivers tab. It seems to be set up to
install proprietary drivers but it does absolutely nothing. Just sayin'.

[igor83]

As a Linux novice, I'm not sure whether to go with Mate, Cinnamon, or KDE. I think XFCE is for lightweight computers so I steer clear of that.

One of the great things about Linux is the plethora of desktops to choose from. Try them all, if you wish, and pick the one you prefer, or keep as many as you want.

I read some more about the desktops last night after posting my message. There are some great threads here in the forums about the various desktops. Is it true, as I read last night, that Gnome is more advanced than KDE? Or do they just do things differently? Does Gnome have more developers working and doing more things? I also read last night someone saying Cinnamon isn't well-financed and doesn't have enough developers. I don't know about that. Isn't that true of all the desktops anyway? For now I am happy with MATE so I am sticking with it although it is 100% true I made my choice is near-complete ignorance, just because a.) I didn't know the first thing about KDE, and b.) I heard that MATE was more stable at this point and Cinnamon was more cutting-edge, and as a novice I did not want to experience the sharp edge of the cut. I figured, rightly I feel now, that there would be more online help with Mate because it was based on older code that has been around for a while.

For the purpose of simple htpc and occasional browsing I think Mate is indeed the way to go. I did try OpenElec, wouldn't install, and I tried using XBMC on Linux Mint but that would not function at all without crashing, either after I clicked or after it had loaded and when I selected one of the options on the menu. So I am using VLC on Mate. Pretty awesome set-up I think. I tap a spacebar to turn the PC on, and when I'm finished watching my show, I click on the Off icon I put on my desktop. So convenient. But yeah I do watch mostly standard def fare. I have not caught up with the modren age yet and this high definition, or rather my chip can't seem to handle it with just VLC.

[whirly]

@igor83 correct most desktops are made with underfunded volunterr help but cinnamon is made by underfunded linuxmint volunteers, it is tailor made to work well with linuxmint.

@bubbablue there is a new button at the end of synaptics, synaptic package manager ---> settings ---> software sources ---> additional drivers. Check there. if that doesn't work look in forums, if you ask for advice try to include relevant info on drivers and computer

@clem gorgeous, and easily installed -- haven't found any borkage


whirly
4 os's
lm14
lmde--sid-ified with gnome shell
windows
actual real debian sid --with siduction kernel
old acer 6930

[colnago]

Very nice releases. I have tried both Mate and Cinnamon.

I have noticed that SMB transfers freeze in caja moving my backups from a NAS device. I have fooled around a bit with hardware and releases and it seems to happen in 14rc in both Mate (caja) and Cinnamon (nemo?) but not with v13 of either. The transfer just seems to stop, I do not see any errors.

[ClementL]

I don't know if this is the right place, but I'm having this bug where nemo closes after running something in wine (1.5.17).

[BubbaBlues]

@igor83 correct most desktops are made with underfunded volunterr help but cinnamon is made by underfunded linuxmint volunteers, it is tailor made to work well with linuxmint.

@bubbablue there is a new button at the end of synaptics, synaptic package manager ---> settings ---> software sources ---> additional drivers. Check there. if that doesn't work look in forums, if you ask for advice try to include relevant info on drivers and computer

@clem gorgeous, and easily installed -- haven't found any borkage


whirly
4 os's
lm14
lmde--sid-ified with gnome shell
windows
actual real debian sid --with siduction kernel
old acer 6930

You must not have read my last post at all. I was not asking for advice. I already had my graphics drivers installed and running before I ever made that post.

[den68]

for me, Mint 14 Mate is the best release so far.
Everything working out of the box, good performance, polished interface...
even openjdk is working for the specific tools I use, and for the first time I didn't have to remove it to install the old Sun Java6 package !

Thanks for a great release !

[chrnoble]

The only issue is, so far, Ubuntu One. I've installed the client, and it doesn't show up on the menu. I've gone into Gnome Classic to alt+f2, no dice. If it's the problem with 32-bit, I've run the fix, but still nothing. It won't run in terminal- says that it doesn't exist, but when I try to re-install it, the output reads that I already have it. This is a major issue for me, as I have important stuff in my Ubuntu One file. Any solutions to this?

[cwwgateway]

As a Linux novice, I'm not sure whether to go with Mate, Cinnamon, or KDE. I think XFCE is for lightweight computers so I steer clear of that.

One of the great things about Linux is the plethora of desktops to choose from. Try them all, if you wish, and pick the one you prefer, or keep as many as you want.

I read some more about the desktops last night after posting my message. There are some great threads here in the forums about the various desktops. Is it true, as I read last night, that Gnome is more advanced than KDE? Or do they just do things differently? Does Gnome have more developers working and doing more things? I also read last night someone saying Cinnamon isn't well-financed and doesn't have enough developers. I don't know about that. Isn't that true of all the desktops anyway? For now I am happy with MATE so I am sticking with it although it is 100% true I made my choice is near-complete ignorance, just because a.) I didn't know the first thing about KDE, and b.) I heard that MATE was more stable at this point and Cinnamon was more cutting-edge, and as a novice I did not want to experience the sharp edge of the cut. I figured, rightly I feel now, that there would be more online help with Mate because it was based on older code that has been around for a while.

For the purpose of simple htpc and occasional browsing I think Mate is indeed the way to go. I did try OpenElec, wouldn't install, and I tried using XBMC on Linux Mint but that would not function at all without crashing, either after I clicked or after it had loaded and when I selected one of the options on the menu. So I am using VLC on Mate. Pretty awesome set-up I think. I tap a spacebar to turn the PC on, and when I'm finished watching my show, I click on the Off icon I put on my desktop. So convenient. But yeah I do watch mostly standard def fare. I have not caught up with the modren age yet and this high definition, or rather my chip can't seem to handle it with just VLC.

Here are the basics (or at least the ones I can think of):

Gnome Shell:
Gnome Shell and the Gnome project have many developers, although I don't know the exact number. Gnome Shell takes more resources than many of the other desktops, and it takes about the same amount of resources as Cinnamon (which I find a little bit better than Gnome Shell resource wise) and Unity. Gnome Shell requires 3D acceleration, meaning you need a newer graphics card. Gnome Shell is for people who are happy with a desktop that's different than a traditional one. You have to try it to see how you like it. It isn't nearly as easily customizable as Gnome 2, but it does have many themes and extensions. Gnome Shell is usually fairly stable, but it can break, especially with extensions.

Unity:
Unity uses Gnome 3 (not Shell) and puts a different Shell, which is basically what you see, on top of it. It also, like Gnome Shell, requires 3D acceleration. In Ubuntu 12.04, there was also a 2D version that was fairly fast. In 12.10, they use software rendering, which basically means that the processor makes up for the lack of 3D acceleration in the graphics card. This is slower unless you have a good processor. Unity can be customized, but it can't be changed too much. It is developed by the company Canonical (which makes Ubuntu), which has a good amount of funding and has many developers. In 12.04, it was stable, although it did sometimes have problems, but I find it slower and less polished in 12.10.

Cinnamon:
Cinnamon is a fork of Gnome Shell, and uses the Gnome 3 technologies. Cinnamon is, in my experience, slightly faster than Gnome Shell and Unity, but YMMV. Cinnamon requires 3D acceleration. It also supports software rendering (like Unity), which I find much faster than Unity's, but, again, YMMV. Cinnamon is very customizable - it has many themes, applets, extensions, settings, etc. Cinnamon is stable, but it can break. It is developed by the Linux Mint devs and other contributors. While it might have fewer devs than other desktops, it has improved dramatically - it isn't even a year old. If that's a sign of things to come, then I'd say Cinnamon is fine from a longevity standpoint.

MATE:
MATE is a fork and a continuation of Gnome 2. It is much less resource intensive than Cinnamon, Unity, and Gnome Shell, especially on the graphics card. It is fast on most machines, and it has most of the features and a lot of the customization stuff Gnome 2 had. MATE inherited a stable base with Gnome 2, and it is very conservative - it hasn't added many new features, but it has increased stability. MATE has a small dev team, but it has a stable base. It's more for people who want stability and consistency rather than people who want new features. The one thing that I want to clear up is that while Gnome 2 (its base) has a lot of support online, MATE was born only recently, around Mint 12's release. MATE has less users than other desktops simply because there aren't many distros shipping it, so it doesn't have as many articles/"how-to"s online. A lot of the Gnome 2 stuff applies to MATE, but some of it doesn't.

KDE:
KDE is its own desktop independent of Gnome. It uses more resources than MATE, but it is less graphics-intensive than Unity/Cinnamon/Gnome Shell. KDE is known for its customization - you can change almost everything. KDE 4.0 (it's now at 4.9-ish) had many bugs, and it was considered not ready for prime time. However, subsequent releases have added a lot of features and greatly improved stability. I'd say it's somewhere between the Gnome 3 desktops and MATE in terms of stability. KDE has a lot of devs, and isn't struggling. It's been around for a while so you can probably find support stuff online. KDE is a more eye-candy desktop, but it is very functional.

Xfce:
I know you said you thought Xfce is for lightweight computers (which it is), but it and Cinnamon are the desktops I use. It is definitely true that Xfce is much more light weight than the alternatives mentioned here (but heavier than LXDE, E17, *box, etc). However, Xfce should be considered if you like MATE, and Mint Xfce is more geared at being a fully fledged desktop rather than a light desktop. Xfce has a fairly decent developer base, although it has a lot less than Gnome/KDE, it has more than Cinnamon/MATE. Xfce has been on version 4 (now 4.10) for a long time, and they are planning to continue it for a while. Xfce has been steadily adding features, and it has a lot of the same features Gnome 2/MATE had/has. The Mint Xfce release has basically all of the same apps as the MATE/Cinnamon release, so the apps aren't any less functional. Mint 13 (and presumably Mint 14) also has something called "xfapplet," which allows you to run MATE panel applets in Xfce - the mintmenu is installed, but not activated, by default. The biggest advantage in my mind of Xfce is it will continue - it will migrate to GTK 3, and it will keep going from there. It is very stable, and it adds a good number of new features every release, while maintaining stability.

You might want to try some/all of these out on a Live DVD/USB just to see how you like them.