Linux Mint review

utabintarbo · Post by **utabintarbo** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:42 pm

I wrote a review of Linux Mint. Please stop by and have a look and a comment.

Post by **clem** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 3:38 pm

Thanks for the review.

Mint has a release schedule based on included software advances, rather than the fixed 6 month schedule of Ubuntu. Given the relatively young age of this distribution, it is not unusual to have such a rapid release schedule. It is yet to be seen if they can keep this pace up....

It will slow down eventually as we had a lot to do initially and we're now in a position where we can push more things in a single release.

One tends to think that the target audience of this distribution was the project leader's girlfriend. While this is not necessarily a bad thing (getting ladies interested in Linux will help with the demographic mix, a lot), one must remember that most Linux users are male, and not French.

I'm married

I don't think the theme is that feminine but I understand your point. However I certainly don't see why Mint would appeal more to French users than others...

The one surprise I found with Mint's software choices was the exclusion of any games. No Solitaire, Samegame, or Mines with which one might wile away a few minutes waiting for a download. These can be easily added, of course. I just found it odd that they weren't there in the first place.

The purpose was to produce a desktop for people to browse the Internet, read their email, maybe listen to some podcast and do a bit of office work (mostly spreadsheet and word-processing). Impress was added also for people to be able to read pps (people do receive a lot of pps files by email). Base, games would be a nice addition on a DVD edition but they were not though as necessary applications for a basic desktop use.

Now if they would only rethink their naming and color schemes....

What's wrong with these??

It's a nice review altogether and it's quite objective, spot on on some aspects. It's a pity you didn't talk about mint's specifics (mintdisk and mintdesktop for instance).

Thanks,
Clem.

Rafe · Post by **Rafe** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 7:36 pm

Now if they would only rethink their naming and color schemes....

Sorry. It has to be green. Anything else would be just... wrong!

Sorensei · Post by **Sorensei** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:25 am

Rafe wrote: Sorry. It has to be green. Anything else would be just... wrong!

I agree with you. Green is the way to go!

And for the naming scheme... I like it. Better "Cassandra" than "Gutsy Gibbon".

Though they probably had a good laugh choosing it.

Husse · Post by **Husse** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 7:46 am

Clem wrote:

t's a pity you didn't talk about mint's specifics (mintdisk and mintdesktop for instance).

That was the point in one of the comments to the review by a debian user. Although a good review excluding those makes Bianca a less attractive lady

But I found a link to some site with 30 blogs that mentioned Mint
http://www.technorati.com/tag/linux+mint

utabintarbo · Post by **utabintarbo** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 8:15 am

clem wrote:Thanks for the review.

It was my pleasure.

clem wrote:
One tends to think that the target audience of this distribution was the project leader's girlfriend. While this is not necessarily a bad thing (getting ladies interested in Linux will help with the demographic mix, a lot), one must remember that most Linux users are male, and not French.
I'm married I don't think the theme is that feminine but I understand your point. However I certainly don't see why Mint would appeal more to French users than others...

The "French" reference was a bit of an inside joke. I can see how you might wonder about its placement.

clem wrote:
The one surprise I found with Mint's software choices was the exclusion of any games. No Solitaire, Samegame, or Mines with which one might wile away a few minutes waiting for a download. These can be easily added, of course. I just found it odd that they weren't there in the first place.
The purpose was to produce a desktop for people to browse the Internet, read their email, maybe listen to some podcast and do a bit of office work (mostly spreadsheet and word-processing). Impress was added also for people to be able to read pps (people do receive a lot of pps files by email). Base, games would be a nice addition on a DVD edition but they were not though as necessary applications for a basic desktop use.

Did the inclusion of the proprietary software and codecs kind of "push them out"? Or was it a conscious decision?

clem wrote:
Now if they would only rethink their naming and color schemes....
What's wrong with these??

Well, there's nothing "wrong" with them. I guess I'm just not a "green" person.

clem wrote: It's a nice review altogether and it's quite objective, spot on on some aspects. It's a pity you didn't talk about mint's specifics (mintdisk and mintdesktop for instance).

Thanks,
Clem.

You are not the first to mention that oversight. I just never had an opportunity/need to use them. I guess my background with other flavors of Linux have me used to other ways of approaching the problems they solve. I actually used Mint (Bianca Beta & Release versions) for about a month, and never had to access either of those. My bad.

BTW, I am glad to hear of Mint's growing popularity (as reported on DistroWatch). I believe it is well-deserved.

Bob

bigbearomaha · Post by **bigbearomaha** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:22 pm

If I may be so direct.

If you didn't use the mint tools, then you never really were introduced to Mint.

The unique tools and presence of Mint are what makes it stand out from the Buntu's.

I might suggest you take a second look, fully utiling the things that make Mint, well...Mint.

Big Bear

Sorensei · Post by **Sorensei** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 4:26 am

You can have green peppers too...

utabintarbo · Post by **utabintarbo** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 11:45 am

bigbearomaha wrote:If I may be so direct.

If you didn't use the mint tools, then you never really were introduced to Mint.

The unique tools and presence of Mint are what makes it stand out from the Buntu's.

I might suggest you take a second look, fully utiling the things that make Mint, well...Mint.

Big Bear

A revisit may be in order, likely after I do a few more reviews of other distros (Zenwalk is next). When and/or if that happens, I will endeavor to hit upon some of the topics I missed the first time. I am new at this, and I appreciate the suggestions.

And thanks to Clem for the link in the newsletter. I'm becoming semi-famous!

diranda · Post by **diranda** » Mon May 21, 2007 4:47 pm

MintPad wrote:I have a very green background of a Mint leaf with water on it. Looks great with the distro! You guys should consider packaging more wallpapers like these, and fewer blaring "Linux Mint: Bianca/Cassandra!!!" Far more elegant, in my opinion. Also, with the Mint default theme being green and dark blue, I've found that a greenish background looks best, especially with the icons. Very organic :^)

Please keep it light and fresh looking. Don't make it some hideous "manly" distro like Sabayon, playing tacky music during the install and coming with a default background so black that it's practically flat.

I agree, I love the green and lightness of the distro. It's one of the things that was appealing to me about it. So many distros use shades of blue and I was getting really tired of blue, blue, blue (Kubuntu, Fedora core, Debian etch, PCLinuxOS, etc). Mandriva is using orange, so that's different, but I definitely like the green. The wallpapers are nice as well.

Cheers,
Julie

exploder · Post by **exploder** » Mon May 21, 2007 6:05 pm

I personally like the blue and green, it gives Mint it's own look.