Installing LMDE 12 - a bit of a reflection

[sysalice]

After my adventures with the live cd and getting cinnamon to run - viewtopic.php?f=189&t=100838 - I went on earlier to actually install LMDE 12.

For about 4-5 years now, I have been using Ubuntu's various incarnations, and been experiencing my machine getting slower and clunkier by each release. The attitude of canonical with gnome3 and unity, kind of decided things for me to move on.. Hence I have been checking a few distros recently, and decided to take a chance with LMDE 12.

The installation was a breeeeeze. Something like 15 mins at most. By the time I came back from making a brew while it did it's own thing - the OS was ready. WOW!
I logged in using cinnamon and was able to do stuff np. Firefox is quicker, the machine is not screaming when I load skype while listening to music, and its cool to check the cinnamon extensions - makes me think that perhaps I'll do some one day.

Difficulties began when I realised that ubuntuone is a bit of a problem to run on debian.. This site - http://www.noobslab.com/2011/08/install ... -mint.html - says its easy to install, but I kept getting some python(!!??) related error. Since I use ubuntuone a fair bit, I thought maybe I should begin to panic or something.
However, there are solutions/alternatives out lined http://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/ExampleProjects - and I picked the 1st one that worked for me - "OwnCloud". Should give Sparkles a try as well when time comes.. Ubuntuone solves - cool!

2nd Ooops! came with the Skype call recording. There is only a 32bit debian version, and my machine is an early 64.. So, I gave the 64bit for ubuntu a try - and it worked like a charm!

So far, so pretty good... Have not tried everything I need to use yet, but am happy.

Hopefully these reflections will be of some value for LMDE12 nubs like me.

Cheers for now!

[zerozero]

it's always rewarding see users happy with lmde

just a couple notes:

- it's LMDE (just, without number, the numbering are for the ubuntu-based versions of mint), being a rolling release (well, kinda of) lmde doesn't have numbers (it's always 1), the dates you see attached to certain isos (like now 201204) are only helpful to distinguish the snapshots they refer to.

- skype: it's in the repos (why d/l an ubuntu .deb?)

Code: Select all

amadeu@amadeu ~ $ apt-cache policy skype
skype:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 2.2.0.35-1
  Version table:
     2.2.0.35-1 0
        500 http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian/import amd64 Packages

- UbuntuOne: yeahh, not possible (it was some time ago, but something broke in the way ) but you have lots of other online storage options (you know that ) dropbox, spideoak, box, minus (well, just to name a few)

[sysalice]

Thanks for the contextualising illuminations, zerozero.
Seems I need to re-gear my head out of ubu..

One small thing, I think you are referring to skype being in the repos. I was talking re skype call recorder - http://atdot.ch/scr/ - which works pretty well actually..

Cheers!

[zerozero]

Seems I need to re-gear my head out of ubu..

yeahh, takes a while, debian (or lmde for that matter) is not ubuntu, things are (for most of it) done differently.

re skype call recorder, you are most probably right as you can see in my cache policy i don't use it.

have fun

[sysalice]

A few qck nub tips that might save a few mins in a your life:

* If you change the theme but see no effect on-screen, it is because you want to click alt+f2 to reboot cinnamon. (or grab the cinnamon settings applet to reboot in a click..)
* I have a strong suspicion that file permissions go through the same reboot requirement because only after attempting to change permissions, getting nowhere, turning off as was going out for a bit of a drink, coming back and re-checking - I found out that permissions have actually changed..

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oh! ..and slightly unrelated however recalled to mention, re ubuntuone alts, the reason opted for owncloud is that it is a working free - rather than a propriety - alternative. Mind 6gb isn't too bad and 19 benjies a year isn't too steep for an extra 20gb. (..though it should really be free because usage is work..)

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[sysalice]

** after a few more days of usage **

I like the interface, and the debian underneath, however there are a few quirks that seem, perhaps, strange, perhaps part of an experiment?

* The mouse cursor doesn't move as fast as it should - nothing an xset m 5 2 doesn't solve - however this is a bit of a grind everytime the machine is turned on..

* Audio behaves strangely.. As if it requires a kick.. Put some music on - no sound. Go to the audio settings, wriggle the slider up and down, then the sound is fine..

Am sure there are some quirks.. Will post as they appear..