the base of mint.

[trippboxer]

hey clem,

i really like mint, it's come long way very shortly. i do have a question/suggestion in regards to the base code of mint. i don't have any knowledge of programming so if i sound retarded please don't blame my mother. can you use any linux base or are you only familiar with ubuntu? could you use mepis as a base? the reason i ask is because for one both systems are debian based and two because mepis has very good hardware detection. it is the only version of linux i can get to run on my laptop that will autodetect and use my broadcom wireless system. i know you are probably sick of that whole broadcom thing. anyways, does it matter what base code you use or is ubuntu just a preference?

[clem]

Well, it does matter but it's also possible to change base. With Ubuntu we get a clean base that we can work on. I don't know Mepis enough to be comfortable with saying "Yes", but I do believe we could move our base to Mepis and work from there.

Another suggestion was to rebase on top of Debian Testing. In the short term this would mean that we wouldn't be as up to date as we are now and we would lack a number of Ubuntu's innovations... but in the long term it would mean a stronger base and one that we don't need to upgrade every 6 months... since it would constantly move and upgrade itself beneath us.

Anyway, as for now there isn't any plan to rebase anything. Eventually we'll rebase on top of Feisty when it comes out.

Clem

[mumbo719]

Mepis is based on (K)Ubuntu.

[mstlyevil]

Mepis is not completely free.

If you read the license during installation it clearly states that Mepis is not free software and it is a crime to redistribute it. A lot of their tools and enhancements are under proprietary licenses.

A lot of the things that make Mepis great would have to be removed and then you are back to using Ubuntu.

I think Ubunu is the better choice overall. It can be added to without having to strip the good parts out.

[marcus0263]

<snip.
Another suggestion was to rebase on top of Debian Testing. In the short term this would mean that we wouldn't be as up to date as we are now and we would lack a number of Ubuntu's innovations... but in the long term it would mean a stronger base and one that we don't need to upgrade every 6 months... since it would constantly move and upgrade itself beneath us.

IMHO as you develop more "Mint" apps and become more independent moving to Debian Testing would be the best choice. The 6 month release cycle of Ubuntu and having to do major upgrades sucks. One of the many things I love about Gentoo is not having to worry about major updates/upgrades. You install it and all I do is every week - 2 weeks I update, I never worry about a complete system rebuild. Doing small updates along the way is so much cleaner and nicer.

So in summary my two bits are work towards cutting the leash from Ubuntu. Exploit the beauty of the modular design of Linux and keep major upgrades to a bare minimum