LinuxMint or Linux Mint LMDE?

[trazomtg]

Which differences between these 2 versions?
is there KDE under LMDE?
Is LMDE better and why?
Thanks
Thierry

[axel668]

The main difference is, that LinuxMint is based on Ubuntu, while LMDE is based on Debian Testing. As I see it there are only 2 reasons why you'd want to use LMDE over Mint "Standard" edition
a) you prefer Debian over Ubuntu (for ideological or other reasons)
b) you want a "rolling release" (LMDE , due to the nature of Debian Testing, is always upgradeable to the next release, which can be an issue in Mint Main, e.g. you couldn't upgrade from Mint 12 to 13)
In all other aspects (stability, multimedia / hardware support, 3rd party software compatibility, installer, ...) LinuxMint is superior to LMDE (of course your mileage may vary).

[zerozero]

welcome to the forum

all the answers will be biased, same as mine
- ubuntu-based mint is directly based on ubuntu and fully compatible with it; lmde is based on debian testing and fully compatible with it; ubuntu-based mint and lmde are not cross compatible.

- there is an unofficial lmde kde project (see my sig) it's fantastic

- why is lmde better? less buggy, away from the ubuntu patches and closer to the source.

[Fajah]

I'm relatively new to Linux and over the last few months, I've tried Mint 12 with all the desktops, Mint 13 with all the desktops, and LMDE most recently. Why you would choose one over the other depends on your personality and your computing needs. To be more precise:

1) If you're satisfied with having a stable system and don't necessarily need the latest and greatest all the time, an LTS version of Mint would best suit your needs.

2) If you insist on having the latest and greatest, then the question is whether want to install a new version of Mint each time, or go with LMDE where you don't have to to re-install the entire operating system.

LMDE comes with Mate and Cinnamon DE's and I find that as far as look and functionality are concerned, both Mint and LMDE work the same to me. I haven't had any issues with installations on any of the versions I've tried but would highly recommend clean installs.

As far as desktops are concerned, I liked KDE the best but had issues (keyboard lag as an example) over time on my system. Cinnamon always worked fine when initially installed, but any attempt at customization through it into a tizzy. XFCE was worked fine but it was a bit too simplistic for my tastes. Mate seems to consistently work the best on my system, being both stable and fast.

Hope this helps.

[Reorx]

Is LMDE better and why?
Thanks
Thierry

1) What do you mean by "better"?
2) From my POV, the answer (today) to "is LMDE better?" is - no. I am a big stability freak and I've had excellent experiences with Mint LTS editions. I am currently using LM13C64 and while Cinnamon is definitely a work in progress, I am very pleased with the experience so far. Having said that, I think that LMDE is the future of Linux Mint. I see Ubuntu diverging further and further from the Mint vision of what a desktop experience is supposed to be... so much so that (I think) within the next 3 to 5 versions, as a direct result of becoming progressively more difficult to adapt, it will no longer be suitable as a base on which to build Mint. I for one will be happy to bid Ubuntu a fond farewell... I think that LM13 is the last LTS edition to be based on Ubuntu and by the time it reaches its end of support date, the Mint Team will have LMDE fine tuned enough to be the heir apparent for LTS and, as a rolling release, it'll have no end of support date!!! I can't wait!

...just my $0.02... YMMV!

[melbo]

I prefer LMDE so I don't have to 'upgrade' to the next version of Linux Mint (11, 12, 13, etc).
Rolling (to me) means that there is an upgrade path that doesn't require you to have to reconfigure your system each time.

[drcasper]

LMDE is better in my opinion if you do not mind to dive a little bit deeper.

I used Mint-Ubuntu at home and Mint-Debian at work and rolling distro won me over, so now i use it at home.
In my opinion it is better cause all my settings, themes, apps, services will be there, just upgraded.
Since LMDE can become a little outdated I use Debian testing repos to install some stuff that I need (non system crucial stuff, let say PHP or apache).