Stability Anyone?

[DrHu]

I don't know, I think because many people want to use the latest applications or updates, that stability as a reason d'etre is being overrated
--the one that want stability don't use the latest versions or testing or unstable(Debian) or slavishly follow Ubuntu's forced 6 month release schedule

Personally I am usually one or two versions behind the latest release, although I have recently added lmde version and found it to be pretty muck alright!

[Fergsauce]

After taking some of the feedback here, I have tried a few alternatives. Debian was very stable, much like I remember Linux should be. It supports almost all the things I need to get work done. I will stick with it until the people developing Gnome 3 pull it together.

Stability for me still equals LM 9 as a base with newer versions of particular applications I use installed manually ....

I tried this in a VM yesterday, not a full install but it ran everything I needed pretty well without issues. But manually updating some applications is a pain.

Then someone is doing you over, outside donations I haven't paid a dime for Mint. The "this is UNACCEPTABLE!" attitude is sort of inappropriate against something offered to you for free ....

Looking at it objectively, I am paying more in time and frustration than monetary figures. Which is what ultimately disappoints me; since I never had to worry about the former in previous releases. But just to acquaint you with more than your own checkbook, If Linuxmint keeps it's current trend, it stands to make over $150,000 this year if only sponsors an donors are considered. Advertising and private contributions are metrics I didn't explore. I think it's great that an open source project can rake in profit like this. It helps with the hosting, distribution, and staffing for this project. But that money doesn't come out of thin air. Even I donated a few years back when it Linux Mint 6 or 7 came out. I'm not here to argue revenue with you, but that's why I say take a thousand foot view of the operation. It's not like this project is being managed by homeless people.

[jesica]

Use LMDE, it is stable and safe, and you do not have to upgrade all the time, I have been using it for quite a while

[InkKnife]

Mint12 was problematic for me but 13 has been a rock for me so far. More Stable than any version of OSX or Windows I have ever used.

[Pierre]

A lot of these things are out of Mint's hands. with Gnome 3 came a new DE with a new shell, both Ubuntu and Mint weren't happy with it and have created their own shells (or Ubuntu promoted their netbook desktop to the big league), these are of course at this point in time not as stable and fine-tuned as Gnome 2's gnome-panel

that is the main thing, the Mint team, has to deal with upstream issues before they can do their 'own thing'.

Again, Linux Mint 12 was more damage control than Mint's choice and vision in a desktop - Mint's preferred Gnome 2 environment was rendered obsolete, not by Mint but by Gnome, and Mint 12 was a compromise to try and turn Gnome Shell into something that wouldn't scare Gnome 2 fans away, a compromise that garnered a lot of praise and won Mint a lot of users, by the by.

and again - it's all upstream issues . . .

How much did you pay for your Mint OS?

I AM putting my money, where my mouth is - I AM a supporter

But just to acquaint you with more than your own checkbook, If Linuxmint keeps it's current trend, it stands to make over $150,000 this year if only sponsors an donors are considered. Advertising and private contributions are metrics I didn't explore. I think it's great that an open source project can rake in profit like this.

News like that - is just what I want to hear

[dandv]

Use LMDE, it is stable and safe, and you do not have to upgrade all the time, I have been using it for quite a while

Are we talking about the same LMDE? From http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php:

4. How does LMDE compare to the Ubuntu-based editions?

Cons: Although it's using Romeo for unstable packages, LMDE continuously changes as it receives updates and new software. Compared to a frozen version of Linux Mint which changes very little once it's publicly released, it's not as stable. Things are likely to break more often

Anyway, I've tried Mint 14 KDE and Cinnamon over the past two days, and they both froze or crashed within a few hours. My hardware is standard, a Del Latitude E6410 laptop with 4GB RAM and integrated graphics. I've checked the integrity of the USB sticks via the boot menu option before running the live OS.

In Cinnamon, the window manager froze when changing the Icon Theme in Cinnamon settings. I could still get to the terminal (Ctrl+Alt+F1-F5), but the WM was frozen. Rebooted, tried the same thing - froze again. This is rather lame.

LM14 KDE froze when I ran ClamTK on the SSD of the laptop. All 4 CPU cores were used nearly 100%, and the mouse moved choppily. I find that unacceptable, since at least 1 core/CPU should be reserved for the OS, but whatever. The problem is that after ClamTK finished, I'd get the same mouse choppiness when opening ordinary web pages in Chrome (like this forum; no fancy scripting).

I never had these sorts of stability issues with Windows 7, on the same laptop. It would run rock-solid for weeks. What's the deal here? Mint is less stable when run live?

1. Sadly, I don't have time to tinker with settings, so in order to stay with Mint, I'm looking for the most stable release so far.

2. If I buy one of the new Ultrabooks, how poorer is support for its hardware likely to be?

[Orbmiser]

In Cinnamon, the window manager froze when changing the Icon Theme in Cinnamon settings. I could still get to the terminal (Ctrl+Alt+F1-F5), but the WM was frozen. Rebooted, tried the same thing - froze again. This is rather lame.

LM14 KDE froze when I ran ClamTK on the SSD of the laptop. All 4 CPU cores were used nearly 100%, and the mouse moved choppily. I find that unacceptable, since at least 1 core/CPU should be reserved for the OS, but whatever. The problem is that after ClamTK finished, I'd get the same mouse choppiness when opening ordinary web pages in Chrome (like this forum; no fancy scripting).

You assume you have a standard laptop. But in reality your symptoms indicate a non-supported video chipset.
Would be my first guess? Hence the High Core use of 3d being done by the cpu and not on the video chipset.

I never had these sorts of stability issues with Windows 7, on the same laptop. It would run rock-solid for weeks.

Well I guess when you have hardware companies investing in developing hardware drivers specifically for Windows and not for Linux.Then yep you get that kind of stability.

Where Linux drivers is a second thought even if they are provided by the OEM and many times don't invest any major time in fixing or upgrading drivers. Some won't even share at all and linux community has to write them from scratch with no inside info on how the video works.

So comes down really not fare comparing Windows fully supported by paid dedicated to making work & stable on Windows vs. Community volunteers coming in trying to make work for Linux!
.

[Trapper]

We all use Mint 13 here with the backport repo enabled and MATE's our DE of choice. There just are no complaints of any magnitude to bring up. Little glitches now and then but it's all petty. 13 has been rock solid for us on a variety of boxes. We'll be using it into 2017. No reason to change up on what works and does the job for us.

We pay for Mint through donations because we appreciate the availability of great alternatives to the Unity and Gnome 3 desktop disasters without having to step out of the familiarity of Gnome and without losing functionality we have built our work environment around.

[Armann]

Read the whole thread, I'm just thankful that people are taking the time to make Mint.
If I could write C/C++ I would try to fix what I don't like but I can't yet.
I would take Linux stability issue any day over Windows, I'm a Windows administrator
and have been for the last thirteen years so I'm not just a Linux "fanboy"

Oh yeah, thanks for the hard work