Why not Ubuntu?

[AlbertP]

The number of Ubuntu users will surely affect the income from ads on their website. And I am sure that they would like more people using Ubuntu.

Mint at least listens to users on the forum. That can still be improved, but I think that Mint would need more developers.

[exploder]

I have said everything I needed to say about Ubuntu, they don't hear me and they never will. Jesse Smith and Helios said some things that made it into the media, maybe Ubuntu will hear them. Maybe other more prominent people will voice their opinions and be heard. Jesse Smith and Helios made my day by speaking up and I appreciate what they have done.

[phredbull]

These discussions over the last few days have actually been very enlightening. Like I mentioned, I first started learning about Linux and it's ideals and philosophy, and why I should use it and why I shouldn't, and chose Ubuntu based on their supposed philosophy. My eyes have been opened, and I have re-evaluated my expectations. Ubuntu brought me to Linux, so big ups to them for that. But now, I seek to grow and evolve as a Linux user...

[phredbull]

Thought some of you might find this interesting:

http://www.ainer.org/news/ubuntu-11-04- ... t-11-katya

3 things he said really put me off:
1)Ubuntu is more polished. How would that be possible, unless he's claiming that Mint is actually mucking up Ubuntu.
2)Too many choices are bad. He essentially says, "Ubuntu is the biggest, so we should all rally behind them to become a Linux powerhouse."
3)Considering the title, I was expecting him to have actually used both OSs, but this seems to not be the case.
In any case, he has stated his reason for his preference, good for him. I might have agreed if I could run Unity on my machine.

[AlbertP]

This one has been posted on the forum before.

http://www.junauza.com/2011/06/linux-mi ... -1104.html

It shows that there is no perfect distro for everyone.

[Robin]

For me it's a matter of hardware. It sounds like Exploder has found a distro that is perfectly compatible with his hardware, yay! I played around with the Xfce edition of PCLinuxOS (and they said Xubuntu was "bloated" - nothing compared to Phoenix! But it is an awesome little distro with a fantastic, friendly community that doesn't kick us kids to the curb like some others do) but I had hardware issues with it that Xubuntu (and Xubuntu-based Mint Xfce) completely solved. I too will stick with the LTS releases as long as Xubuntu works well on my hardware. Even Debian balked on my old Dell, but whatever Canonical does to Debian makes it "just work" on that old dinosaur. Canonical even had some kinda deal worked out with Dell that gave Ubuntu a market advantage there too.

Is it my imagination or is hardware compatibility becoming more and more of a crap shoot lately, even with the new kernel? Anyway... it's one of the first lessons in Linux 101 to check hardware compatibility when choosing a distro. Ubuntu has their "certified hardware" page, Linux Mint has a compatibility list, and most of the other popular distros do.

If more distros installed and ran as effortlessly and beautifully on my old machine as Xubuntu does, I'm sure I'd be trying out many more and would wish to settle on one that isn't the subject of so much protracted debate and hype.

[lmintnewb]

Well Robin, sounds like you've already settled on one that has potential for accomplishing that goal. AntiX 11, is a sweet lil distro, imo and limited experience with it. Mepis and simplymepis have a rep for being good about supporting a wide range of hardware out of the box. Not exactly limited when it comes to their repos either. AntiX hasn't broken on me yet. Fairly full featured for a flavor of nix that is so light on system resources too.

Another I've grown found of, cause of oldish, lower resource specs. It's stated purpose is older machines ... Vector Linux light 6.0 ... Though don't know about wireless and dell support with it. Just know is runs like gang busters on this old dinosaur desktop and uses a shockingly small amount of sys resources doing it.

As for ubuntu, haven't liked them from the 1st, nor come across any reason to change the low opinion I've formed about canonical. If anything ... just seem to be coming across more and more reasons to dislike what they're doing, shrugs.

[MALsPa]

Thought some of you might find this interesting:

http://www.ainer.org/news/ubuntu-11-04- ... t-11-katya

Considering the title, I was expecting him to have actually used both OSs, but this seems to not be the case.

Hm. The author said:

The “changing gears” reference is the focus of this article as I have decided to migrate back to Ubuntu from Linux Mint.

And:

Additionally, after testing Unity, Xfce 4.8, and Linux Mint 11′s interfaces, I’m confident that Unity is the strongest option for the future of Ubuntu and GNU/Linux on the personal computer.

So, it looks like he's been using Mint, tested out out Unity and Mint 11, and decided to go with Ubuntu.

His comments on "ease-of-use" mirror what I've been seeing.

Anyway, it's clear that there are people who like what Ubuntu is doing, and people who don't like it. I think that's been the case all along.

[MALsPa]

If you're still running Lucid, it isn't that apparent but Natty is in my opinion not an improvement.

Kinda seems that not everyone shares that opinion. But, regardless, I haven't installed a non-LTS version since before Dapper, and I don't have any reason not to stick with that program. So 11.04 and 11.10 won't be installed here; when the next LTS version comes out, if it works on my hardware, that's another couple of years of seeing other people complain about Ubuntu while I'm happily running it here.

[mychance]

Ubuntu is the distro by which I discovered Linux and I immediately liked it. However, when I first gave a spin to Linux Mint, I soon regarded it as a Ubuntu with an "added value" and for many aspects: look and feel, menu bar at the bottom of the screen, pdf printer pre installed (was not with ubuntu at the time), immediate and relevant answers to every questions on the forums. etc. I have been going with both distros for a certain time but when I found myself always tweaking Ubuntu to make it look like Mint, I realised I had one distro too many.

The real disapointment however came when I installed Ubuntu 11.04 with Unity. I am the kind of guys who likes to have his tools and settings at hands. In my shop, all my screwdrivers are within reach and when I open the hood of my car, I expect to have an immediate access to everything that needs to be tweaked or fixed. After having spent 2 hours with Unity trying to access the printer setup to add a network printer with no success, I finally gave up on Ubuntu. I am too old now to enjoy playing hide and seek. This is another aspect I dislike about the general tendency of the new desktops to hide as much as possible any menu bars or setting button as if it were the most shameful thing to do. This is of course only a question of personal taste as I understand that these destops are getting more and more popular.

[Treepata]

Hi there,

Well I originally started with Xubuntu Xfce, as nothing else would run properly on my third hand X41 thinkpad laptop. Then after using that for a few years, I installed Linux Mint Xcfe and liked it immediately. It was a bit more responsive than Xubuntu and came with codecs etc. that I would have to install manually under Xubuntu. I did like Xubuntu, for sure, but this was better.

Now I got a nice new X220 thinkpad and went for Linux Mint 11. I didn't install Ubuntu 11.04, as it didn't have Thunderbird (very essential for me) and I prefer Metacity over Compiz or Unity. Linux Mint 11 comes with Compiz, but I uninstalled that quite easily.

[lmintnewb]

lol ... you can probably install all that in buntu's stuff. Though I strongly dislike buntu anyway and not inclined to using it ... EVER.

LM made ubuntu more user friendly and they no doubt take pains at better quality control. Something canonical evidently hasn't heard of yet with all the half baked software they are spitting out at break neck speeds. Besides, why not buntu ? With no shortage of more closely based Debian derivatives and distros floating around. Why not go directly to the source ... DEBIAN. My understanding is the overwhelming majority of what makes up ubuntu is unchanged Debian software anyway.

Why deal with canonical's bug fetish and weirdness, when I can get my gnu/nix fix much closer to the source ? aka: Debian offshoots that aren't becoming renown for bugginess and strange bents. Unjustly hogging the spotlight and getting wayyyy too much credit for no well deserved reasons. aka: ubuntu ... buntu is nothing special in my limited experience and comes up lacking to many others that should be representing gnu/nix to the masses instead. So why not buntu ? Cause I've had better ... Many better.

[Matti L]

I prefer Mint 'cause it focuses on working out of the box instead of trying to be Apple and hip. It's like Mark Shuttleworth is like: "Hey look at me I'm as idealistic as Steve Jobs and Ubuntu has this new big buttons interface you can use with a touch screen that nobody has in their main computer and only two buttons that fill the whole 20" full hd monitor. Oh look, there's something there still that just works! I gotta remove it and replace it with something that doesn't work and quick!"

Yeah, I'm not trying to troll here. I don't really know what I'm talking about.

[Robin]

M'kay... this isn't supposed to be a "bash Ubuntu" thread, just a "why Linux Mint is better than it's parent distro" thread.

Linux Mint 9 Xfce ships without that abominable curse called PulseAudio! While it's "parent," Xubuntu 10.04, switched to it after holding out for awhile. Xubu didn't jump on the PulseAudio bandwagon instantly like it's two siblings did... but when they did, it killed the sound on my 'puter.

But when Mint 9 Xfce reaches end-of-life, I'll probably be back on Xubuntu LTS releases because future Xfce editions of Mint are to be Debian-based rather than Xubuntu-based.

1. - I don't trust "rolling release" distros at all!
2. - Debian has been problematic for me in the past (even with the very awesome Mint flavoring) while the Ubuntu base has been almost entirely trouble-free for me for two years now.
3. - I now know how to purge the PulseAeudio demon and go with ALSA
4. - LTS releases are built from Debian Testing rather than Debian Unstable like the regular 'Buntu releases. The Debian stuff that the current LTS (Lucid) was built from has since been released as "Squeeze," which is Debian Stable! And in Linux, it just doesn't get any more stable than Debian Stable.

Good for 3 years, stable, trouble-free, great community, always works right out-of-the-wrapper, it's "Debian done right" for me, just as Linux Mint Xfce, until now, has been "Xubuntu done right."

[dbalder]

Hello,

I have just tried Ubuntu 11.04.
I liked it but it was a bit unstable for my kids. Also it was difficult to advocate stability in front of my wife if I have to reboot every time after my kids stop playing a game etc...

Then I checked Mint and liked it immediately-it has polished feel...

In the meantime Windows 7 went MIA on this Presario CQ56 (but don't tell my wife, I think it was Ubuntu installer... )

At the end, it does not matter... it is our OS after all... right?

Take care,

Davor

[lmintnewb]

I dislike ubuntu ... not it's users or people who like it. So that isn't meant as a slight on buntu users. If they like it, hey ... use whatcha like and works for you, shrugs. Do have a serious problem with buntu for many reasons. If you had to use it. Guessing sticking to their LTS releases would make the most sense. As it's obviously prone to be more stable. While have no idea why someone who's come to represent gnu/nix to the point they have would insist on spitting out buggy on top of buggy software and in general giving linux a bad name.

Ubuntu 10.10 was my 1st nix experience. Thought it blew and had me about ready to give up on linux. Remember thinking if this is the best of linux ... NO THANKS, KEEP IT. That was after hearing how great ubuntu is supposed to be. Didn't give up and tried other things, including LM. Have found buntu in general at worst to be buggy, at best bloated and not even coming close to living up to the hype. Many nix distro's that imo put it to shame. Many less well funded nix distro's freely floating around that are put together by 1 person, Crunchbang for example. Slitaz is another one man show linux, that is just really unique and neat imo. Many others that are much better examples of linux. All doing it better, with a tiny fraction of the resources canonical is supposed to have available. Guessing the majority of nix distro's could rightfully claim to be at least as good as buntu. Many to be much better. Ubuntu is nothing at all special. Still have no idea why it's virtually come to represent linux to the world.

Also wonder why someone doing so would insist on spitting out 1/2 baked, buggy software every 6 months ... Ready or not here it comes. I mean you'd think the fact that it's based on Debian's "UNSTABLE" ... would tell the buntu devs, hey guys ... This stuff might not be stable and may have bugs in it n stuff. Nope they keep pumping out software anyway and in my view badly representing linux every time they do it. Which considering how lil of ubuntu is something canonical actually made vs how much of it is just taken directly from Debian etc. Think ubuntu has a greater responsibility to better represent linux. They are benefiting from massive amounts of hard work of others who were creating and innovating with software to create linux. Decades before there was such a thing as ubuntu linux. The least they could do is produce quality software to showcase all those people's talents and hard work.

Why not ubuntu ? Why not any of the 323 other nix distro's actively being developed ? One of them Linux Mint ... many of them better than ubuntu ... imo anyway.

[MALsPa]

I've been running Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty) here for a few weeks now, even though I normally stick with LTS versions (and I still have Lucid installed). I'm not seeing any significant bugs, but as always, your mileage may vary. Looks like a good release to me.

With Ubuntu's six-month release cycle, there's just no way they can get everything perfect every time. Seems to me that they do a pretty good job considering the time constraints and the deadlines. You either take it for what it is or use another distro, one that releases "when it's ready." Even with the "release when it's ready" approach, there are always some bugs, that's the nature of software, really.

If you dislike Ubuntu and the way they do things, that's fair enough. They put out some good releases (for the most part, the ones I've tried have worked out well here), they've carved out a nice niche in the Linux world, and it's an important distro. Also, anytime you're a leader, whether you're the mayor, the president, the quarterback, the head coach, or one of the top names in Linux, you're gonna have your critics. Comes with the territory.

Personally, after some years having both installed here side-by-side (normally only LTS versions, though), I've come to feel that Ubuntu is as good as, if not better than, Mint. But that's just me; the next guy might see things totally differently, and that's fine, that's how it should be.

[mtbmikex9]

>Why not Ubuntu?
Because its a garbage OS but its a nice base to build on so Mint. I guess you could say that Mint is Ubuntu with common sense. The Mint community is better as its not all egocentric teenagers who think they know something about their computers but in reality they only know how to install an OS and they act like Ubuntu is the best and the only Linux distro out there. The Mint community on the other hand seem to know what they are doing and they don't have an ego about it.

[Robin]

>Why not Ubuntu?
Because its a garbage OS

If that were true, Mint would have chosen it as a base from which to build.

The Mint community is better as its not all egocentric teenagers who think they know something ... and act like Ubuntu is the best and the only Linux distro out there.

I guess you don't like kids. But I don't see the egocentrism you're complaining about community-wide. But they are fans, who are just overjoyed to have an alternative to Windows and Mac. Maybe Ubuntu is all the new arrivals know, but most in the community are fully aware that there are hundreds of alternative distros. Ubuntu - like Mint - is built to be shared by enthusiastic users. The Ubuntu community is absolutely the most vibrant, active, and enthusiastic community in Linux right now. It is one of Ubuntu's best strengths. Plenty of Mint users choose Ubuntu Forums for tech support because they know they'll get it - and very quickly - from helpful, knowledgeable Ubuntu users who also enjoy Mint.

You just earned a spot on my steadily-growing list of ignored Mint forum members who spread "distro-hate."

[linuxviolin]

Well, The Ubuntu forums may be what you say Robin, yes, but there are also many nonsense, errors, false/wrong solutions etc in them. Things there are not in the Mint Forum, or quite relatively rarely.