Are there too many options?

[dholz]

I installed the LinuxMint 12 DVD with no conflicts. I was really liking it except for the painfull loading of apps and the mysterious slowdown during usage. I used the default gnome/adwaitha desktop, tweaked and tweaked and finally resigned to loading ubuntu 10.04 LTS. I think there is way too many choices for desktop interface and more priority should be placed in speed. I prefer snappiness in a OS i.e.,when I click on anything I want it quick,not winding up like I was using an old 486ibm pc. OK my laptop does only have a intel celery 520-1.6, 2G DDR2, and a seagate momentus 7200RPM-hd but not exactly a slug. Just a suggestion that if gnome3 is going to bloat the system and cause way to much hd swapping, many Linux users will be quickly disappointed. I will probably try Linux Mint again but as a daytrader I switch between a sandboxed jnlp file,browser and docs and although no fault placed in this OS, the ubuntu accomplishes that and quickly.

[xenopeek]

Moved here by moderator

[3fRI]

Options/choices are a blessing for some folks and a curse for others. If you want a lean, mean, speedy LM 12 desktop, try XFCE or LXDE. The LM 12 main edition with Cinnamon was fast enough on my laptop (see signature below), but it seems faster with LXDE.

[akavir]

Choises are great! Cinnamon/Gnome Shell perform exceptionally on all my computers. But all are less than two years old. It's not that it's bloats, it's just geared towards the new wave of hardware that has hit the market in the last few years. Personally I don't think too much time should be spent any longer on making older hardware work just as well. If you need something snappier for an older piece of hardware choose a different distro. The only computer in my house not running Mint 12 is a 9 year old laptop I refurbed with Peppermint OS Two and gave to my 2 year old daughter. It runs as well as any modern desktop on that hardware with most of the flexibility of modern desktops. Just my two cents though

[dholz]

^^^^ great replies and just an update now being a few months later, I did install Linux Mint 13-Maya/Cinnamon/Gnome Shell and it's running great. I have had no problems, runs smooth-quick, looks great and I'm back to the OS I preferred. This version is what I was looking for in a reliable/fun OS!

[phelest]

dholz - which version did you try with LinuxMint 12 DVD ? - I'm not too satisfied with "Mint 13 Mate" and thinking about Cinnamon now ...

[dholz]

Sorry been away for awhile, the Linux Mint 12 was Mate if I remember right, but the LM 13-Cinnamon ran great, I'm playing with Linux Mint Xfce right now and liking it, I dual boot with Crunchbang openbox which is quick also on an older machine. This Acer laptop is going on 5 years old so I'm thinking about grabbing something newer, gotta give acer credit as I've put this thing through some serious abuse.