Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

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DeathByDestiny

Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by DeathByDestiny »

I'm a Window's user who has become disenfranchised with Microsoft over the last 10 years, Windows 8 being the last straw for me. Due to this I have become a lot more open minded towards alternatives, I decided that the next computer I build will be designed with Linux in mind and that my distro of choice would be Mint (Originally Ubuntu but they have surprising gone the same flawed route of Microsoft and Windows 8 with their UI).

Anyways, I mentioned my plans to a coworker of mine who is a much more experienced Linux user than myself and he laughed and said that Linux users tend to make fun of those who use Ubuntu and more so those who use Mint. For my level of experience he suggested Xubuntu and Fedora for their lack of bloat and other stuff I don't remember. I'm an experienced computer user and Linux does not scare me, but I want something that works with no nonsense and that's why I chose Mint.

I couldn't figure out exactly why that would be a bad thing, is this some sort of Linux "fanboy" thing where ease of use = bad or something?
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trapperjohn

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by trapperjohn »

Mint is a great distribution.

I'm a Linux user... have been for a decade. In fact, I'm a real geek about it.

If you are coming over from Windows, give Mint a try.
Nilla Wafer

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by Nilla Wafer »

Ubuntu and Mint are among Linux distros that some elitists poke fun at as "kiddie distros," because they're great for beginners. Same is probably true for PCLinuxOS and Simply Mepis.

The fact that he suggested Xubuntu and Fedora suggest he's not so elitist, though.

Fedora has no long-term-support and is cutting edge stuff. While the interface is nice, I would not suggest it for beginners.

He's also right about Xubuntu being "less bloated" than Linux Mint and has a simple, beginner-friendly desktop interface called Xfce (you'll find it in Mint's Xfce edition as well). In my opinion Mint's Xfce edition is about that wonderful desktop, where Xubuntu is aimed more at users of modest hardware.

I also would encourage you, if you're considering either Mint or Xubuntu, to make sure you check for hardware compatibility [url=http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/]here[/url] before you start building your new box. And I also strongly recommend sticking with the LTS versions for stability and reliability. You won't find any long term support in Fedora, wonderful as it is. Fedora is basically a Beta version of the next Red Hat Enterprise Linux release. It's users are testers! The difference is that users of Ubuntu's non-LTS releases are also testers, but they're not really told that, although I think that is going to be clarified in upcoming editions of the Ubuntu family.

Every distro has it's "fanboys" (and fangirls). You'll find a certain elitism or disdain for other distros in every Linux community if you go looking for it. Ignore it.

~nilla
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daveinuk
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Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by daveinuk »

Whatever age it is you can be labelled a fanboy (or girl) I think, and I'm glad, I've passed it :) So I could possibly care less, but it would be difficult !

Best I can tell you as a newcomer is read up on the distros that take your interest, download and run them live from a USB (ideally) and see what YOU think and what YOU like.
If it runs well on your machine and is stable and you like the look and feel of it, you're on a winner.

I've been using mint since Lisa/8 and have tried more distros than I can remember, the only ones (for me) that have made any impression and grabbed me recently have been Zorin OS and Knoppix, Knoppix being the only debian/lxde combo i've liked the look of, Zorin being the only other ubuntu based edition that's impressed me as much as mint did, and does, I always stick with mint though either way, and it remains my No1 Linux distro. Ubuntu may well get a some flack, but the bottom line is it's a great edition but unity's not to everyones taste, that doesn't make it laughable.

You sound experienced and savvy enough to make your own mind up, have fun, don't worry what the 'elitists' might think of you, it doesn't mean they're having more fun ;)
Orbmiser

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by Orbmiser »

He's also right about Xubuntu being "less bloated" than Linux Mint
I'm not getting this generalized statement. As Xubuntu may chime in a 100-200mb less then KDE or Cinnamon.

I see this all the time even tho lighter DE's are more significant on older systems with limited CPU & Ram.
It has little bearing on modern systems of today boasting dual and quad cores with 4-8gb of ram.
There are a group of minimalist out there that think that a OS taking more than 300mb is some sort of blasphemy.

My Mint 14 KDE to desktop is 440mb of ram on my 4gb machine. It's smooth snappy and gives me maximum configuration and features.
I run Firefox 22 with 4-5 tabs open. The wonderful Dolphin file manager a terminal window. Clementine Music playing my library. Libreoffice with a document i'm working on and all in 1 to 1.5 gb of ram.

Cinnamon or Gnome is a tad heavier which means in the 400-500mb range but runs great on compatible hardware.
Comes down to not listening to biases of others to investigate and find the flavor that fits Your Needs!

Xfce is just way too much manual tweaking and adjusting and lacking features for my needs.
Also being on dual displays with 3 virtual desktops with 6-8 apps open I need apps to remember their size & position.
And for me I tried them all and only KDE supported apps remembering size & positions.
.
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MALsPa
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Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by MALsPa »

DeathByDestiny wrote:is this some sort of Linux "fanboy" thing where ease of use = bad or something?
Yeah, there's a lot of that around the Linux community. The thing is, even more experienced users often prefer something that's easier to install and set up. Debian's the primary distro on my computers, but I like to use Ubuntu as well. I'm running Sabayon instead of trying to mess with Gentoo; and, Bridge Linux and ArchBang instead of Arch Linux. Another one I like, openSUSE -- not a difficult distro, not much trouble keeping it running.

Mint's great; you'll notice a lot of very experienced users here who just don't want a lot of hassle, so they use Mint. You can learn a great deal about Linux while using one of the so-called "easy distros." At the same time, there are very good reasons why a lot of people prefer Debian, Arch, Gentoo, or Slackware. I think it comes down to what the individual user wants, what the goals are, etc.
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Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by MALsPa »

@DeathByDestiny: One thing to keep in mind while getting going with Linux is that the more expert computer (Windows) users often are the ones who have the most trouble with Linux. It's hard to accept being "dumb" for awhile as you're learning Linux. You tend to forget that you've acquired a great amount of Windows knowledge over the years; it's gonna take a lot of time to get to a similar point with Linux. It doesn't happen in a short amount of time.

Take your time, let things sink in, don't rush it. Be humble and look at things with respect to the long term. Takes a while to stop thinking in Windows ways, but then you look up one day and you realize you're thinking in Linux ways, and you're there. When I came over to Linux, I was thinking "years," not "months," and I think that approach really helped me out, in the end.
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Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by Reorx »

As I age, I get more philosophical...

Q: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?
A: The question is moot - It doesn't matter!

Windows is Windows - MS has their own agenda and they believe that they know better than you what you should be doing with your computer and how you should be doing it. Their agenda is to separate you from as many of your hard earned dollars (or euros, or etc.) as possible and to do it as often as possible. I think their corporate mission statement reads - "if it works well, redesign it... call it better even though it isn't, and sell it to people who don't need it telling them that they do... and do all this as often as possible." Most Windows users I know consider themselves "computer literate" if they can find and correctly operate the on-off switch. The only nice thing about Windows is that it has tools to help you to interact with the hardware. Apple/MAC is just as bad as Microsoft... maybe worse because they control the hardware as well. The only nice thing about MAC OS X is that it is Unix based so you get better security than with MS although MAC doesn't allow you to interact with the hardware much...

And then there is Linux... when I first started looking into using Linux (about 4 years ago), the biggest problem was that there were SOOOOOOO many choices - hundreds of Linux distros, over a dozen DEs, several "package systems", etc. As far as I can tell, every distro has it's strengths and weaknesses and which you pick is based on which considerations are important to you for any given application... The only people who "make fun of" distros are short sighted... fortunately, because of the nature of Linux (and its users), you won't find many of those in the Linux community... I think of Linux distros like tools in a toolbox, which you pick is based on what job your are trying to do... Making fun of a Linux distro is like making fun of a screwdriver if your primary tool is a hammer. Most tool users know that one of the secrets to success involves choosing the right tool for the job at hand...

When I first tried Linux 4 years ago, I chose Fedora... I lasted a few days and decided it was time to "hop" to a different distro. I picked Mint 7 (Gloria) and everything worked pretty well right out of the box and the interface was familiar enough to a migrating Windows user to be usable. Initially I dual booted Mint and WinXP. When Mint 9 Isadora (LTS) came out, for me it was a godsend! I installed it as the only OS on a laptop and really started using Mint more that WinXP. In the summer of 2011 I converted my personal and office laptop to Mint and have been using Mint full time ever since. I like it because it does what I want/need it to do right out of the box with a minimum of tweeking. I do what I think of as mundane desktop tasks - word processing, spreadsheet work, e-mail, web surfing, network printing, etc... And after 2 years of full time use of Mint I consider myself an experienced newbie!

My advice to you is pick the right tool for your application. If that happens to be Linux Mint, welcome to the Mint community. If Mint isn't the right tool for you, that's no crime just find the tool that IS right and enjoy it.

- R -
Last edited by Reorx on Sun Sep 01, 2013 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
Full time Linux Mint user since 2011 - Currently running LM21C on multiple Dell laptops - mostly Vostro models.

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passerby

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by passerby »

Don't give in to peer pressure. Download a few distros, fire up virtualbox (or burn some CD/DVDs) and test your top contenders.
After you've done that, you're then fit to make a decision based on what you enjoyed using.
If you try to mold your tastes after what your coworker recommends, you probably won't enjoy the transition :(

Mint and Ubuntu are made to be easy for beginners, but that doesn't mean you need to be a beginner to use them.
Personally I'd rather strip down a bloated distro where everything works out of the box than piece together a minimal install for the same result.
TNFrank

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by TNFrank »

passerby wrote: Personally I'd rather strip down a bloated distro where everything works out of the box than piece together a minimal install for the same result.
Ditto. I gave Point Linux Core a look and it was so "bare bones" it couldn't even find my WiFi card. The Full version found it without any problems. What some don't understand is that some of us have better things to do then build up a Linux Distro from scratch with our free time.
My wife is not a computer geek, she checks e-mail, surfs the web a bit and plays Freecell, that's all she'll ever use her laptop for so for her Ubuntu 12.04LTS is perfect. It's stupid simple with it's "point and click" icon interface and it runs very well on her laptop.
I like to get a bit more "into" it so Mint 15 MATE is great for me, it has enough function to it that I can tweak it and get it to do what I want/need it to do without being so basic that I have to learn a second language(python, C++, ect) to get it up and running. I'm sure Arch users have a ton of fun building up their Distros but I'd rather install and go then spend a lot of time tweaking every little thing. JMHO, YMMV.
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Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by exploder »

Use what fits your needs. Who cares what anyone else thinks. I use Mint, Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS mainly. I want a long length of support rather than reinstall my system every 6 months and I do not want to jump through hoops to get things working. Recently I have been tinkering with Ubuntu 12.04 on my laptop and one of my desktops and I have really enjoyed making it the way I wanted it.

Linux is Linux no matter what distro you choose. I like the way Ubuntu and Mint are developing their user interfaces and are really doing very well with them. PCLinuxOS is a rolling release and I really like how good the hardware support is. I enjoyed tweaking the user interface on Ubuntu 12.04 and I learned a lot doing it.

There are so many good distros to choose from these days and I really like how many of them are going their own way with things rather than being just the same old boring stuff. Take your time on choosing a distro and a desktop environment that you enjoy working with and be open minded about your choice. I was not originally a fan of Unity but my daughter and my dad liked it so much that I became interested in it. My daughter is a Mac user and my dad is a die hard Windows fan but they both enjoyed using Unity on my machines.

I tinkered with Unity on 12.04 and made it look very similar to the newer releases. I like the global menus in Unity and it does have a very polished look to it. Cinnamon also has a very polished look and makes the traditional desktop look new and fresh. People like to complain about Unity but it sure has caught the attention of hardware manufacturers and game developers.

I am a fan of rolling and long term support releases. I do not care if others like my choices or not. I get a lot of enjoyment out of my computers and they are pretty easy to maintain. I used to spend a lot of time reinstalling and fixing things, now I spend most of my time enjoying my music collection.
TNFrank

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by TNFrank »

I think people complain about Unity because it's Different. My first Linux Distro was Ubuntu 12.04LTS so I had nothing to compare Unity to except Mac OS X(that's TEN, not "EX",LOL) and to me Unity was like OS X in that it was icon based instead of drop down menu like Windows but since I've grown accustom to the MATE desktop I don't mind the drop downs as much now either. I can adapt to pretty much anything as long as it has the functionalism that I'm looking for.
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Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by exploder »

TNFrank, I agree completely with what you wrote. Operating systems are always changing but Unity is designed to work on a variety of devices and I think they have the right idea. I look at Windows 8 and think to myself that Microsoft is going completely in the wrong direction. I like fresh ideas and things will always change. Cinnamon retains the traditional desktop layout but makes it seem more modern and I like that too.

I felt like Unity was worth my time to explore because it has caught the attention of manufacturers and that is a good thing. I like seeing developers taking new direction and trying to come up with something fresh that still works decent. Things like global menus that save screen real estate seem useful to me. The dash is an interesting approach to the traditional menu as well.

For an operating system to have the same basic features across multiple devices is a pretty awesome task and Unity does the job pretty well for all the longer it has been developed.

Mint is ideal on a desktop but it is not being developed to run on a TV, tablet or phone and there are no plans right now to go in that direction. The desktop is going to be around for a long time to come and Cinnamon insures that the desktop will remain easy to use and look great using it. Technology is constantly changing and I am glad that some developers are looking to the future.

Linux is more competitive than ever these days and I think that the fresh ideas developers are coming up with is why things are going so well. Linux Mint, Ubuntu and Elementary Luna are all working hard to come up with something fresh and elegant. Don't get me wrong, I like many different desktop environments for various reasons but the full featured environments make things so much easier for new users.
craig10x

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by craig10x »

Also, keep in mind that Unity's "launcher" as it is called is really just a dock...it is very mouse friendly and easy to use...windows 8 on the other hand (in my opinion) is very confusing, non-intuitive and just a general mess...

So i really would not put unity in the same league with windows 8 as far as being a disaster...far from it...and like exploder mentioned, they keep improving it as it goes along...you might well find that after using it for a week or two (with an open mind of course...lol) that it is indeed very nice to use...if not that there is always alternatives including the cinnamon desktop on linux mint...
Crewp

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by Crewp »

I started with Ubuntu 12.04, and coming over from Windows 8 it felt like the same concept, only Ubuntu did it better. To me Unity feels like it's for a tablet with a touch screen. Just like what Windows 8 is trying to do. Being my first distro I cut my linux teeth on it, but when I ran into Linux Mint, it was love at first sight. Cinnamon is awesome, and LM is very stable. But I have since moved to LMDE with Cinnamon DE because I also don't like to reinstall my OS all the time. Bottom line, jump in the linux pool and start swimming, soon you will find your own likes and dislikes. There are so many distro's it's hard not to find something that fits each person and there needs. I keep LMDE on my main box, and laptop. And I have a separate box I use just to play around with other distro's. Manjaro, PClinuxOS, Chakra, Debian 7, and lately, SolydK. It's like an all you can eat buffet. Have fun ! :D
Snapcase

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by Snapcase »

To me Unity feels like it's for a tablet with a touch screen.
That's the Canonical intention. They want a single "unified" DE for all the Ubuntu loaded devices: Desktops, laptops, phones or tablets. Hence the name.
nomko

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by nomko »

DeathByDestiny wrote:.....said that Linux users tend to make fun of those who use Ubuntu and more so those who use Mint.
Ask that colleague of yours if he/she uses Debian? The only Ubuntu/Mint bashing and trashing forum I ran into is the Debian forum.

Just take notice of this: Ubuntu (or the creators of Ubuntu: Canonical) did something for Linux which was never be done by other distro's, namely making a distro which is easy accessible and easy to use for any kind of users. I'm not going to say that Ubuntu is the reason for the grown reputation of Linux, but it did had a major influence due to the different approach of Canonical.

I started using Linux since Ubuntu 7.04 and never left Linux afterwards! before that I tried many other distro's like Suse and Debian, but I couldn't get used to it. Ubuntu gave me the best feeling about Linux ever! And since Unity became the standard desktop environment I switched to Mint, even tried other distro's. It's not that Mint is that easy or "made for the stupid", Mint gives me what I want, an easy-to-use distro. And there's nothing to be ashamed about!

I'm, no longer a visitor of the Debian forum. The way the users of that forum is talking about distro's with no respect at all is just...... well, stupid, ridiculous, annoying. On this forum I never came across distro bashing or what so ever. Ofcourse you find people here blowing of steam about other distro's but that is far away from bashing and trashing.

If you think Mint is the distro you want to use and you feel happy about, just use it! It's your opinion what counts, not that of your colleague or neighbour!
TNFrank

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by TNFrank »

In Psychology you learn that a person can have two things of equal value to choose from. Once that person picks one or the other then the one not picked becomes "junk" and the one picked is "the best" even thought in the real world they're both equal. We always play that little "trick" on ourselves so that we can validate our choice and not feel bad about the one we didn't pick.
I like Ubuntu 12.04LTS, I think it's a nice, simple Op System that the majority of folks can get use to using quickly. My wife loves her 12.04LTS and despite me showing her a few other Op Systems she doesn't want to change.
I could live with Ubuntu 12.04LTS but like the feel of the MATE desktop a bit better so that's why I'm running Mint 15 MATE. I'm sure if I ever get a Tablet that I'll hack it and load Ubuntu 12.04LTS onto it since it seems like it'd be better for Touch then something with all those drop down menus like MATE. Same deal for a Smart Phone, Ubuntu Phone OS would probably be my choice there as well but if Mint came out with something that's work well for Touch like Phones and Tablets I'd be all over it since I like to try and stay "brand loyal".
I think the real beauty of Linux is that there's so much choice and it's all Free so you're Free to try all the Distros that you'd like until you find one that works well for you. I'm a Linux Convert and I'm never going to use any other Op System because Linux does what I want and I don't have to kiss anyone's butt(i.e. MicroSoft) to use it. :wink:
lexon

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by lexon »

It only bothers those with insecurities. Some Linux users do not use wisdom with those who they tell Linux about.
Never been an issue with me and have been using Linux since 2003.

Ever run onto a Vegan? They will let you know quite rapidly what they eat and what you should be eating.

L
DMGrier

Re: Does Linux Mint get made fun of?

Post by DMGrier »

I have heard quiet a few people make fun of Linux Mint in terms of it being a newb distro, but for me I want something highly compatible that is attractive and super easy to use and set up in a way so when I have to work it is not on the system but the job at hand. Have not found another distro like Mint and with that criteria I don't believe I will.

I do find it odd he recommended Fedora or Xubuntu, I mean I could understand Xubuntu or Linux Mint XFCE, or even Fedora or openSUSE but the initial combination just doesn't make sense. Must be a newb himself.
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