New Mint user, switched from Ubuntu

[snakeman21]

I've been an Ubuntu user since Hardy Heron, and have loved every minute of it. Ubuntu has never ceased to impress me on every release, getting better and better each time. Since dumping Windows and beginning my experience with Ubuntu, I have tried several Linux OS's, and have always found myself back with Ubuntu. Kubuntu, Mandriva, openSUSE, Archlinux, Debian, Fedora, Puppy, DSL... The list goes on. As impressive as most of these have been, they have never quite satisfied me like Ubuntu has.

However, I was talking to my grandfather the other day about Linux. Believe it or not, my grandfather is a computer nerd, but his knowledge lies in the world of Windows. He was intrigued, so I offered to bring over my laptop to show him a Linux OS. So later that day, I got out my spare hard drive and swapped it into my laptop. I installed Mandriva on it, then installed Ubuntu, then Linux Mint. So now I was triple-booting, and had three good examples of Linux systems to show my grandfather.

I started updating all the systems, and while waiting for things to download and install on Mint, I began to tinker with the system. I was pleasantly surprised, so I explored further. Soon, I was considering switching. I loved it. It was just enough like Ubuntu that I felt completely at home, but it had a lot of different things that I really liked. I love the menu, I love the control center, I love the look, I love the feel. I love that the system is still mostly Ubuntu, so most of my favorite software and themes install on it without a problem. The only thing I didn't really like was the software manager, but I can replace that with a different one.

And so, it is with a little sadness that I say goodbye to Ubuntu, in favor of Linux Mint. I'd like to give a huge thanks to the developers of Linux Mint; you have impressed even a die-hard Ubuntu fan into switching systems. Perhaps I'll find myself with Ubuntu again in the future, but for now, Mint will be my primary system. For now, I am going to install it alongside Ubuntu, in case I come across something big that I don't like about it, but if nothing comes up in a few weeks, I'll be booting from a flash drive again to resize the Mint partition and delete Ubuntu *sniffle*

And a super huge thanks to the Ubuntu team, as well. If not for Ubuntu, I'd probably still be using Windows and spending all my time fixing my computer, rather than enjoying it. Keep up the good work! I look forward to playing around with 10.10 when the final build is released. And who knows? Perhaps it'll “wow” me enough to switch back.

[jesica]

welcome

and i hope you here to stay

[dawgdoc]

Welcome to the Mint community, snakeman.

So, which distro did your grandfather settle on?

[tdockery97]

Welcome snakeman21. Yes, don't keep us in suspense...we other grandfathers want to know!

[Oscar799]

Hello snakeman21,
Welcome to Mint Forum
There is a lot of useful information for new and not-so-new users here -> http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 58#p302358
We have a Community site http://community.linuxmint.com/
For real-time help there are IRC channels,open MintMenu>Internet>XChat and you will be automatically connected to #linuxmint-help and #linuxmint-chat
Have fun with Mint

[xnostradamusx]

nice you finally settled with mint, im a distro hopper myself and this month i was planning to stick with ubuntu but alas all the things i enjoy in mint i always look for ubuntu then finally here i am again using linux mint 9 and happy that i did

[snakeman21]

Well, actually, I haven't gone over yet. We had to cancel because he had to go to Middlebury because one of his friends is in the hospital. I might go over later today, and if I do, I'll update.

Edit: Hehe, went over yesterday, but my grandfather had a really bad cold, so I let him be. Honestly, I don't think he'll switch, but I am interested to see what he thinks. He thought I was pirating when I told him I download the new Ubuntu every six months, so he really has a lot to learn!