To select LMDE or not?

[mouton]

I have been a happy user of LinuxMint 7, 8 and 10.

It is time for a new one. I am aiming at a 5-year term for my next installation.

0- Will LMDE give me that long term without reinstallation?

1- The FAQ says that using Clonezilla (to clone a partition) is a must (to recover ... I suppose). Really? Then LMDE is not for me!

2- Will I have the needed fonts to display web pages without distortion? I am using the Live DVD now and have noticed a problem(?) with fonts in Firefox.

3- I don't want bleeding edge soft. I want a system that works and gets updated for 5 years. Shoud I wait for Mint 13LTS or else?

[xenopeek]

LMDE can be a great choice, especially as it can be faster than the Linux Mint main edition, but you should be aware of what it means that it is a rolling release: that with each update pack you can get new versions of the software you have installed. Not just security updates or bugfixes as with the Linux Mint main edition, but also new features (even complete changes to your OS, as with UP#4 introducing Gnome 3). And yes, possibly breakage of your installation (hence, I imagine, Clonezilla as a suggestion). It can be somewhat more work to get working as you want, but there are a lot of satisfied users.

In your case however, I'd suggest wait a month or two for LM13 to arrive, and try that. You like it? Go with that and not worry about much else for 5 years

[mouton]

Does LMDE offer security patches as they appear (daily ...)?

Is the risk of breakage specific to major upgrades like UP4? if so, that is very different than a daily risk.

[xenopeek]

Yes, security updates are more frequently. So yeah, the risk of breakage is around the update packs, and while you do have those frequently (less than monthly though) they will be tested by the Linux Mint users subscribing to the incoming repository before they roll to general users on the latest repository. So already there will be known issues + solutions or workarounds listed on the forums. The LMDE FAQ answers a bit more on that viewtopic.php?f=197&t=91405 Again, LMDE can be a bit more work. You may consider just duel-booting™ both LMDE and LM13 for a while and then switch to only the one you prefer best.

[mouton]

Thanks for your quick answers.

I will try LMDE.

[Inkit]

Plus you have the choice of going with how you want your system. Just read through http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=187&t=76556 zerozero's post. It gives different options on how to set up the sources.list. I've been pointing to the latest repos and haven't had one single breakage. Of course, my desktop is not high end, it's just an ordinary dual core with 2 gb of ram. No extra graphic cards, sound cards ............ etc. I would definitely recommend you go with latest.

As zerozero puts it

The incoming and latest repos are the greatest innovation since LMDE came out

[Oscar799]

Moved here by moderator

[CapitalG]

im also trying to decide if i should make the jump to lmde from the main. i tried before and got stuck with some errors on a update then gave up and went back to the main. i might try it again before lm13 is out.

it did seem faster, but i like things to just work! not have to work so much to keep the system running smooth.

ill try again though