Beginners Guide to Installing and Using Linux Mint 11

[farna]

I'm assuming one would have to manually enter the items to reinstall in the "#install useful stuff" area, the items come from /usr/bin/, and directory "sh" will be created? I don't know what the exclamation mark in the first line does, but I do understand the pound/number sign as marking a comment. I'll have to look up the Linux scripting language. I've never really written scripts, but it's not that far removed from the old MS-DOS batch files and Tandy Color Computer tokenized BASIC, though it's been ages since I've done either of those too!

Hmm.... for us newbies there needs to be a detailed instruction on making such a script for upgrades, assuming no prior knowledge of Linux. I think I can do it after a few question/answer sessions, but it could be a lot more trouble for others. If some kind of script could be written to check directories and create an update list that would be better. If the only upgrade route is a fresh install this would be a big help and boost for Mint use.

It's not a nice thing to find out that in order to upgrade to the next release I have to recreate the entire system. Backing up data is trivial and should be done anyway, installing 20+ software packages is another! Most are games and small things that I've found that might be useful, but if this were my main system with all my DTP software and work on it, it would be another matter! You're talking about 4-5 hours to upgrade the rather minimal system I'm on now, it would be an all day chore (8-10 hours+) just to upgrade my main computer (which I haven't switched over to Linux yet... will wait for the Mint 8 stable release on it after discovering this!). That's a big hit for Linux to us newcomers. To upgrade in an hour or two would be a lot more palatable, though I don't mind 3-4 hours -- half a day is about the most I think tolerable.

[emorrp1]

You're right about the comments, actually the "#!/usr/bin/sh" line is basically identifying the file as a script. Installing one or a hundred packages is simply a matter of listing them on the apt install line, and once you've discovered the names of the software packages you need to install, the script will install them almost as fast as you can download them. I used this method for a long time and including the system install, I could be back to normal within an hour! Try that by the GUI method! Incidentally, a similar process on Windows would take 8+ hours.

[jeyanand]

unable to install from software portal section .how do open the file which ends with .mint

[Sonic-Boom]

unable to install from software portal section .how do open the file which ends with .mint

i had this problem, just use software manager in the mintmenu, its simpler and its the same thing

[rycius]

Very first day setting up MINT.Loads of questions I need answers to:How to get SKYPE for it,how to set a wireless network? Enough for now....Thanks.

[phistry1108]

Can I use Mint on a PowerMac G4 with PowerPC™ G4 processor

[rich_roast]

Very first day setting up MINT.Loads of questions I need answers to:How to get SKYPE for it,how to set a wireless network? Enough for now....Thanks.

At the risk of resurrecting a thread, you install skype using mintMenu -> Software Manager -> (quick search for) Skype, and you set up the wireless network using Gnome Network Manager on standard edition Mint, on the notifications applet of your panel (if Wireless is set up correctly this should be intuitive, if it isn't then it needs a thread of its own in Hardware section).

Can I use Mint on a PowerMac G4 with PowerPC™ G4 processor

I'm no expert on architectures so hopefully someone'll prove me wrong but in short, no. Mint is based on current Ubuntu and the last Ubuntu to support ppc was 6.10. See this.

[henrygrik]

HI,
I have been new to linuxmint, I have been looking for the support of linuxmint by the time I got this forum. I am having a huge collection of songs in the MP3 format, but I am not able to play any of those songs. Which plugins do I need to enable the music play to play the MP3 files in linuxmint.

[rich_roast]

HI,
I have been new to linuxmint, I have been looking for the support of linuxmint by the time I got this forum. I am having a huge collection of songs in the MP3 format, but I am not able to play any of those songs. Which plugins do I need to enable the music play to play the MP3 files in linuxmint.

That's odd, I think the default install should already have mp3 support built in. Could you please describe which edition of Mint you are using and the player that you are trying to use? Thanks.

[natsumerio]

I have kubuntu 9.04. I have tried downloading & installing mint helena 8, but kubuntu 9.04 appears to have NO way to open it. Please explain - step by step - how I am supposed to open it with whatever I am supposed to open it with.

I will add that I have tried using mandriva, PC-linux, & kubuntu (among others), & 2 of them are very poorly designed. (PC-linux would probably also have this problem if I could have gotten it to install at all). It's as if those specific linux systems are designed to be as un-usable as possible. For example, I have desperately tried to do something as simple as install &/or upgrade to fire-fox 3.5, & those linux systems did not cooperate.

[publius7]

I start to use Mint in a virtual machine vmbox but the display is not correct with 800x600. How is possible to have the normal one for me? Why is not implemented a possibility to chose another one?

[andrewchipka]

I find that the guide is amazing, but that cheeky remark about how mac mice are weird is unnecessary, and really ticked my friend off so much that instead of installing mint on his mac, he bought windows 7 and parallels desktop. please either remove this comment or rephrase it, thank you.-
"... everything's been thought of, apart from those weird Mac mice with only one button..." -from the official linux mint owner's manual

[uberspeed]

Sorry to be such a n00b but on page 16 of the userguide for Mint 8 it states swap should be twice the size of RAM. I have 4GB and when I installed Ubuntu (just trying to cut my teeth) I made a swap of 6GB. What would actually be the recommendation? I was thinking of shrinking it to 4GB as the first post suggested, but upon reading other posts it almost seems 2GB is the recommendation. Which is it!?
I keep reading and searching and come up with different answers all the time.
BTW looking to install Mint 8 over Ubuntu 9.10 to see if I actually use it more.
TIA

[vrkalak]

I think the amount of SWAP is really contingent on how much RAM your system has.

This 'rule of thumb' was made for people with 2 GB or less of RAM; those of us with higher memory systems, don't need that much SWAP.

I have a PC with 6 Gb of RAM and I monitor my system via Conky. I have 'never' used any SWAP -- my RAM, even on busy times, only uses from 15-20%.
If you have a lower RAM system (less than 2Gb) you probably do use some SWAP on occasion?

Even so, I only have a partition with 5 Gb of RAM, just in case.

Use the System Monitor or an App. like Conky to monitor how much if any SWAP your system uses and adjust accordingly.

[vtired]

I have read the the Beginners guide, I know how to go about most of the things because I came from Ubuntu. But I was looking for how to use APonCD. I had understood that it could be used to copy the installed packages and updates on a CD and then use the CD to install the same packages in another computer. I needed this because I was installing linux mint in a place without reliable internet connection.- But after burning the packages on a CD I wasn't able to install them in another computer. Can this be done? Or how is APTonCD used?

[hell0minion]

Hi,

I am new to Mint also. I am wondering where I can find the BBSID and the MAC address that I need to enter in order to have wireless connection.

Thank you

[Jonny87]

Does any one know of any other guides/totorials that are easy to understand that explain all that someone needs to know about Linux Mint 8 or just Linux in general for new users. Perhaps something that goes into things that aren't mentioned in this guide if there is anything. I'm looking for a complete comprehensive guide.

I plan on getting some of my family and a few friends onto a linux system and I want know all there is to know basically so that if they come back to me and ask "how do I...." or "can you tell me..." I'd be able to answer them. Also I'm still very new to linux and want know all I can about it so that I can get the most out of it.

[vrkalak]

Jonny87

A couple of the best 'newbie-friendly' Linux resources help guides available:

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/
http://linuxnewbieguide.org/content/cha ... what-linux

These were most helpful when I first came over to Linux.

You might, also, try checking through the UbuntuForums >> http://ubuntuforums.org/

Since, LinuxMint is based on Ubuntu -- usually what works for one works for the other

[Jonny87]

Thanks will check them out.

[Chainy]

I did a little search in this thread, but I didn't find anything about a recommended partition table for those that want to do it manually. The guide as published by the person starting this thread is excellent, but it only describes creating a two partition set-up. One for the swap and one for everything else. It seems to me that the guide would be better if it recommended a three partition table for beginners:

1. A swap partition (twice the size of your RAM - if swap is too small, then 'hibernate' and 'suspend' won't work)
2. A second partition formatted as Ext3 and with the mount point of '/',
3. A third partition (also formatted as Ext3) for the home directory (mount point of '/home').

I'm sure people could offer alternative partition layouts, but this 3 partition system is nice and simple for beginners and it will help them greatly when they want to get the latest version of Linux Mint. All they will have to do is then do a fresh install, whilst leaving all the files in the home directory intact. A clear description of how to do this in the guide would be extremely useful!

I believe this is the best way of getting the latest version of Mint - the other two methods are no way near as good. Firstly, the upgrade system as described here (http://www.linuxmint.com/blog/?p=1144) is not reliable at all and can lead to all sorts of problems for beginners. And secondly, doing a fresh install where you don't have a separate home partition means that you will then need to recopy all your files from a backup onto your computer once the fresh installation is completed. If you use the manual three partition method for installing Mint, then when you do a fresh install, you can leave all your saved files in the Home directory intact, along with all your personal settings (which is a very big bonus). Surely, we MUST recommend this to beginners and then they will all appreciate that it is actually an easy and enjoyable experience to do a fresh install of the latest Mint operating system. Even if the 'upgrade' tools are improved, I think I would still prefer a fresh install using the separate home partition method.

PLEASE NOTE THOUGH: Even with the separate Home partition method of installing Mint, it is VERY important to make a backup of your Home directory beforehand!! (Just in case you make a mistake - for example, some people might accidently tick the format partition box for the '/home' partition. This is necessary if it is a first time install, but NOT if you want your existing files of a Mint 7 installation to remain intact after you have freshly installed Mint 8 ). If you don't make any mistakes, though, your Home directory files and all the settings will be there after the fresh installation of the latest Mint. Everything will work just fine. No need to then start copying all your files and settings over from your backup!

As a general rule, I would always recommend even beginners to use the manual partition method during installation. The 'Guided - use entire disk' partition method often gets the size of swap wrong. This then leads to disappointment when the hibernation and suspend features don't work! (Ok, if the automated partition method makes a mistake with the swap size, it is of course possible to create a swap file to compensate for the existing (and too small) swap partition. But, why not just do it right immediately?...)