MINT SUCCESS AND THE SPIRIT OF GNU

[npap]

To understand the essence of freedom in sharing knowledge , read the following dialogue between Socrates and Antiphon

(free translation of Xenophon. A Memoir, 6).



ANTIPHON: I believe that you are a righteous man. But I do not consider you wise. I think that even you yourself know that, since you do not receive money for your teachings. On the other hand, your clothing or your house or anything else of your possessions, if you think it has any monetary value, you will not give it to anyone for free, or even at a price below its value. It is therefore obvious that if you think your teaching has some value, you should receive the appropriate money.
You may be just because you do not cheat out of greed, but wise you cannot be, because you know things of no value.

SOCRATES: O Antiphon, I think that selling someone's beauty and wisdom is obscene work. Because if someone is selling his beauty to whomever desires it, we call him a prostitute, but if anyone knows someone who is handsome in body and soul, and befriends him, we consider him a wise man. Exactly the same happens with wisdom.
Those who sell it to those who want it we call them Sophists (Note: Sophists received money for their work).
But anyone who understands that someone is intelligent and teaches him something good and makes him his friend, that man, we believe, is a good and kind citizen.

So, like someone else who is pleased when he has a good horse or dog (material goods), so I, in the same way and even more so, am pleased when I have good friends, and if I know something good, I teach it and recommend it to others who I think will benefit from this virtue.
And the treasures of the old wise men, which they leave written in their books, I study together with my friends, and if we see something good, we talk about it and consider it a great gain if, in that way, we become friends.

[Fred]

Being a long time Linux user, I probably came to Mint for entirely different reasons than many/most. The codecs are trivial to me and honestly, I almost never use any of the Mint tools. For me it is the people, the Mint team and its forum users.

Mint has the feel of a small, close knit community. The team seems to genuinely care about what its users want and need, and does a good job balancing need and want. They aren't necessarily the same thing you know.

The users are making a worthy effort to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, so-to-speak, to learn a new system. Most have been long time Windows users and it is not easy for them, but they keep working at it. More experienced users work tirelessly helping each other and new comers.

The Mint community tends to reinforce my faith in human nature. People cheerfully giving their time to help others in need. With no expectation of any kind of reward other than the good feeling they get from helping another.

You can see this same phenomenon in many other forums too but I have never seen one where this attitude was so prevalent and pervasive.

I think everybody understands and appreciates the tremendous amount of work Clem and the CE maintainers do to make the releases as functional and trouble free as they can.

Mint has a secrete weapon that other small distributions don't have. His Name is Husse. I believe he has been key to Mint's success to date. Without him the atmosphere of the forum would not be what it is. He works many hours a week, every week, in the forum helping users and maintaining the helpful atmosphere that prevails here. He also spends many hours behind the scenes researching issues for users, working on the wiki, putting out a news letter, blogging, taking pressing issues to the developers, etc. I honestly don't see how he does all he does and still finds time to earn a living for his family. The single biggest reason you can can come to this forum and expect helpful, courteous treatment is Husse and the work he does here.

Remember that and thank him once in a while. That is the only reward he gets for his efforts.

Fred

[deadguy]

What, may I ask, is your opinion about Mint?

My opinion of Mint?

well in my opinion Linux Mint is the best operating system in the known universe
because:

1. the community is great.
2. Mint is great for newbies as well as seasoned Linux users.
3. Mint uses Ubuntu repo's therefore endless software.
4. Mint is Ubuntu/Debian based.
5. I like the color green.
6. did I mention the community is great? I've met some good friends here!!
7. Husse is great! Fred is great! both of these guys have helped countless newbies.
I have the utmost respect for them.

I've used Linux in different forms since 2000 but, I never stuck with one distro for very long until I found
Mint in august of 2007.
I think I'm here to stay

[kenetics]

I found Mint near the end of 2006 when I couldn't get Ubuntu to install on my newly pieced together computer. I had looked around a bit at other distro's and found that PClinuxOS and Mint looked the best to me. I had dual-booted PCLOS and XP successfully on my other machine, so decided to give Mint a go on my new one. It's been my main distribution ever since, although I have other distros installed for testing and playing around, etc.

Like Fred, It wasn't the codecs that attracted me, but the whole Minty experience. The forum, the community input and the quality of the distribution has kept me with Mint. I've met a lot of friends here also. I like Ubuntu, but Mint is a step or two beyond with all its improvements and added features. I haven't found anything better!

[E. Z.]

In response to Fred's posting:
Just yesterdays I thought about the same thing! Husse really is the "spirit" behind the Linux Mint project.
I am really touched by his great effort, he always does his best to help, even in the German sub forum with his limited (but understandable) knowledge of the German language Thank you Husse!

[FedoraRefugee]

wow, I could have wrote Fred's post myself! Well, I am new to this community and to be frank I am about forumed out. I was very active in another forum under another name and I have become disheartened at some of the things I saw going on. Many times I was admittedly part of the problem and not the solution. I just have to say I really appreciate how these forums are moderated! There are no "axe men" and no "wild Bills" out gunning down everyone they think is a spammer. People are allowed to express themselves and talk freely and for the most part they seem to do a pretty durn good job at moderating themselves! Maybe that is because it is a small forum, less active? Or maybe it is because when the powers that be go on a troll hunt then people will troll just to make a game of it? For whatever reason, I am impressed by how this place is run.

As far as Mint? Yeah, what everyone has said. I consider myself an experienced user, definitely not a guru but I can fix what I mess up, and Mint just seems to be the most trouble free, "it just works" distro going. I also use Gentoo and by rights I should probably be using Lenny in place of Mint, but I just like the Mint grub screen. Reinstalls are a simple matter with no hunting around for repos or drivers or codecs, Synaptic is the best package manager around, .deb packages are awesome, and most important, I just like the feel of this distro. The clinching factor for me was the Xfce community edition. Really, just couldnt ask for more. Good job guys.

[Katzedecimal]

I came to Mint as a n00b, for a variety of reasons that I won't get into here. One of them, however, was a desire to regain control and understanding of my computer system and regain my long-lost status of compu-geek (I was one, a long time ago.) Mint was the only distro that I got fired up and working straight out of the 'box.' Once into the pool, I found it very comfortable and stable and I quickly settled into it as my regular system.

The others are right in that the community here on the forum is a large part of the "Mint Experience." Mint as a distro has a huge potential for smoothing the Linux learning curve, but the people here, like Fred, FedoraRefugee, Exploder, and of course the incredible Husse, are unusually patient and willing to hold the hands of us n00bs and babystep us through the curves. Combined with the shallower learning curve of Mint, the willing n00b can learn to swim with a minimum of drowning That's why Sarah and I are on the Mint ra-ra squad, as the 'we did it; you can too!' support for n00bs

[npap]

Hello everyone,
It might be useful to ask Oceanwatcher how many items on his wish list in the link below have been implemented in Mint.
viewtopic.php?t=18319

Cheers,
npap

[GrayWizardLinux]

.....

Mint has a secrete weapon that other small distributions don't have. His Name is Husse. I believe he has been key to Mint's success to date. Without him the atmosphere of the forum would not be what it is. He works many hours a week, every week, in the forum helping users and maintaining the helpful atmosphere that prevails here. He also spends many hours behind the scenes researching issues for users, working on the wiki, putting out a news letter, blogging, taking pressing issues to the developers, etc. I honestly don't see how he does all he does and still finds time to earn a living for his family. The single biggest reason you can can come to this forum and expect helpful, courteous treatment is Husse and the work he does here.

Remember that and thank him once in a while. That is the only reward he gets for his efforts.

Fred

I totally agree with you Fred!!!! He is Da man!

[Fred]

npap,

I really don't think you want me to go through those suggestions and tell you what I think of each of them.

Fred

[FedoraRefugee]

Hello everyone,
It might be useful to ask Oceanwatcher how many items on his wish list in the link below have been implemented in Mint.
http://www.linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18319

Cheers,
npap

If that was directed at me then you'd be better off to ask qbcdesign:

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=18365

I dont think he liked me very much. But that is my whole point. The thread was allowed to continue and we were both able to express our points of view. He might have been a bit disgusted at me but that is his problem, life went on and no one got hurt. Maybe in the end we can both learn something from each other. Isnt that what it is supposed to be about?

[Katzedecimal]

Hello everyone,
It might be useful to ask Oceanwatcher how many items on his wish list in the link below have been implemented in Mint.

I don't think that's fair. A lot of Oceanwatcher's wishlist are things that take a lot of time to develop. Many of them are still in development by their originators (GNOME's Network manager has frequently been described as "still in its infancy") or don't exist yet anywhere. It's a bit much to expect Mint's developers to perform those development tasks third-party, don't you think? Even when they do, a lot of those tasks are going to take time. Even though he lives in Ireland, I don't think Clem has any magic faery wands that he can wave to make all these wishes come true right away (though I'm sure he wishes he did! )

[deadguy]

Hello everyone,
It might be useful to ask Oceanwatcher how many items on his wish list in the link below have been implemented in Mint.
viewtopic.php?t=18319

Cheers,
npap

@Npap,

I'm not even gonna go there

If that was directed at me then you'd be better off to ask qbcdesign:

http://linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=18365

I dont think he liked me very much. But that is my whole point. The thread was allowed to continue and we were both able to express our points of view. He might have been a bit disgusted at me but that is his problem, life went on and no one got hurt. Maybe in the end we can both learn something from each other. Isnt that what it is supposed to be about?

@FedoraRefugee,

ya, that thread was interesting
I took the polite approach in there but have to say that I totally agreed with you.
as you said opinions were expressed and nobody got hurt.


Cheers,

Deadguy

[npap]

npap,

I really don't think you want me to go through those suggestions and tell you what I think of each of them.

Fred

OK Fred,
I really didn't think that my suggestion would have so many reactions Anyway, I hope that nobody's feelings were hurt
But I'm glad that I got to meet some new friends here.

My best regards to everybody,
npap

[sarahmarienc]

Well, I was wrong!
Having followed the evolution of Mint since Barbara, I once predicted that it would be a great success, reaching 5th place on Distrowatch. Now, I can't believe my eyes to see it clime to the third place.

What is it that made me a Mint addict?
1) Participation of the community: Requests for special features, suggestions to make Mint better.
2) The feeling that we, the community, participated.
3) The fact that it was not a project developed by payed professionals but by an ambitious dreamer.
4) Finally, the ambition of Mint to be friendly to all users; gurus or newbies.

What, may I ask, is your opinion about Mint?

Congratulations and thanks to all of the Mint group.

Greetings,
npap

The Mint Girl

My opinion? Wow! You mean you (and others) actually care about what I think? Tell me 'taint so!

Seriously, my opinion of mint is that it's awesome. It fits me well. My husband can use it (though I need to create him a user name so he can't mess with my updates! Chuckle!) which says a mouthful. My daughter (3) loves Tux Paint and can "draw" in it. It's a distro for my whole family.

Most of you know I came in contact with Linux by happenstance thanks to some bad people installing Vista on a desktop pc with compatibility issues. It came this way from the manufacturer, so they are to blame Anyway, started out in Ubuntu but couldn't find support there for what I wanted to know. No real direction from anyone and lots of "attitudes".. but anyway. So an Ubuntu user told me about Mint. I tried it. I found this place AMAZINGLY helpful. Everything in Mint worked out of the box with minimal changes on my part. Very happy computer user was I, and still That was MInt 5, now I'm running Mint 6.

Since coming here I have learned how to use the command line for basic tasks, selectively upgrade, install packages, repartition my hard drive to a more friendly scheme (thanks Fedora and Fred!) and all sorts of fun artwork stuff (Thanks Zwopper, Jernau, AkaNed, Sputty and all the rest who put up with me over there)

And thanks to AKDave's inspiring posts about install fests, I found a Linux group in my area and look forward to participating in that as well.

I'd like to find a place I fit in here in this community where I can offer something (other than my silliness, wordy posts, etc) and hope to be around for a long time. Now, if only I could figure out where I fit.

This place, well, it's beautiful. The people are friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, kind, and really have a camaraderie that I don't see many other places. Clem, Husse, Fred, Fedora, Zwopper, Jernau, Katz, and all the rest of you (sorry can't name everyone) have been awesome and have made me feel very welcome here. That says so much to me when you combine it with the awesomeness that is the Mint distro. IT's an all-in-one beautiful package.

[sarahmarienc]

I came to Mint as a n00b, for a variety of reasons that I won't get into here. One of them, however, was a desire to regain control and understanding of my computer system and regain my long-lost status of compu-geek (I was one, a long time ago.) Mint was the only distro that I got fired up and working straight out of the 'box.' Once into the pool, I found it very comfortable and stable and I quickly settled into it as my regular system.

The others are right in that the community here on the forum is a large part of the "Mint Experience." Mint as a distro has a huge potential for smoothing the Linux learning curve, but the people here, like Fred, FedoraRefugee, Exploder, and of course the incredible Husse, are unusually patient and willing to hold the hands of us n00bs and babystep us through the curves. Combined with the shallower learning curve of Mint, the willing n00b can learn to swim with a minimum of drowning That's why Sarah and I are on the Mint ra-ra squad, as the 'we did it; you can too!' support for n00bs

Woooo! We need to convince clem to give us a "CHEERING" emoticon! Hip hip hooray. Mint saves the day! "LAUGHING MY BUTT OFF!"

[Guest]

In the last 7 days mint is number 2. I started using mint with cassandra.i found it to be the most usable for me of the other distros i tried.Yes Husse is great but so is Fred both are so helpful and that is why I stay with Mint well that and its dam GOOD.

[almigi]

I wanted to try Linux Mint to see if all the positive reviews I read about it were true. I am still a newbie to the Linux world, but if you knew my past, you'd probably agree that coming to Linux was inevitable. One thing I've always missed about computing when from the 80s/90s was that in those days, you were encouraged to explore your computers. Magazines and books full of BASIC programs, tips, and tricks were common.

Anyone remember the old Apple IIs? Not only could you use AppleSoft BASIC, but if you knew how, you could enter "CALL -151" to enter the system monitor and even write hexadecimal code. Which while not useful for programming from scratch, it meant that those magazines and books full of BASIC programs could include more complex programs that could be entered directly into the computer without the need for an assembler. Of course, once in the system monitor, you could even invoke the built in Apple II miniassembler, which allowed very basic assembly language programming (but no high end features found in commercial assemblers). Do you remember how if you had a modem connected to your computer, even without a terminal program, just entering a few commands at the "]" prompt put you in terminal mode? Granted, it was a dumb terminal with no file xfer features, and you actually had to know how to talk to your modem via AT commands, but it worked! Just "ATDT <bbs phone number>" and whola (assuming there was no busy signal).

I MISS THOSE DAYS!

That all died in the mid 90s. Computers became boring. Yes, some cool games existed and the user interface dramatically improved, but there was still something lacking that was there in the old days.

Well, this brings me to today, and why I use Linux Mint. With Linux Mint, I get the best of both worlds. I get an elegant and easy to use GUI. It "just works" in all the ways I want it to. However, it's not crippled or limited at all. Even with it's ease of use, it is a fully functioning GNU/Linux system. Just go to "system - terminal" and a fully functioning Bash shell is waiting for me. Or, if I really want to go "old school," I could just Control-Alt-F<whatever> and go into a different console all together and just have a command line, then do a Control-alt-F7 to get back to Gnome.

Linux Mint is truly what I've been looking for. Some people in the Linux community don't like distros like Linix Mint or PCLinuxOS because of their focus on the end user and ease of use. Personally, Linux Mint is how computing should have evolved from the old days. It's easy on the eyes, but it still has all the tools available for those who want to do more then just balance their checkbooks, synch their Ipods, and play games.

Just my $0.02.

[npap]

" prompt put you in terminal mode? Granted, it was a dumb terminal with no file xfer features, and you actually had to know how to talk to your modem via AT commands, but it worked! Just "ATDT <bbs phone number>" and whola (assuming there was no busy signal).

Just my $0.02.

Wow! what a nightmare Almigi ! I can only say "that's all Greek to me" I guess I am too dumb to understand the stuff.
Cheers and my best wishes for the new year,Almigi

[GoustiFruit]

The real nightmare was that there was no network by the time, how could we use computers without Internet ? I can't remember !