Mint for Public Access - Which Edition Suggested?

[sky aisling]

Hello,

I've been asked to set up a desktop machine for a non-profit group where the public will be using the machine.

The desktop make and specs are yet to be determined.
The machine will be an older machine but not necessarily a *vintage* machine.
The machine will have at least 1 gig of RAM.

I thought I'd like to try Mint as I like the GNOME desktop. (I'm a Lucid Puppy and Ubuntu 10.04 user.)
Also, Mint has an admin password option as opposed to Puppy's wide open access.
I am looking for a solid OS that multiple, unskilled users will access.

It appears that Mint 13 *Maya* is the LTS OS, so, I've chosen that version for starters.


Which of the editions of *Maya* would you suggest for being the most proven and would suit this type of project?

Thank you in advance for your considerations.

[thegreatgazoo]

I recommend "mate" just because it will work better on an older pc, and cinnamon is still too buggy for my taste.
Also, If you are adventurous enough to replace the "MDM" login manager with "LightDM", you can use the "guest session" for the public.

[thegreatgazoo]

Oh yeah, If you do replace MDM with LightDM on "Mate", you have to do the following right after you install it, or it won't boot properly.

To get LightDM to start properly, edit the following as root:
/remaster/root/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
(change to the following)
[SeatDefaults]
greeter-session=unity-greeter
user-session=mate

[bb333]

Hello,

I've been asked to set up a desktop machine for a non-profit group where the public will be using the machine.

The desktop make and specs are yet to be determined.
The machine will be an older machine but not necessarily a *vintage* machine.
The machine will have at least 1 gig of RAM.

I thought I'd like to try Mint as I like the GNOME desktop. (I'm a Lucid Puppy and Ubuntu 10.04 user.)
Also, Mint has an admin password option as opposed to Puppy's wide open access.
I am looking for a solid OS that multiple, unskilled users will access.

It appears that Mint 13 *Maya* is the LTS OS, so, I've chosen that version for starters.


Which of the editions of *Maya* would you suggest for being the most proven and would suit this type of project?

Thank you in advance for your considerations.

Doing what? I'm assuming office + internet + maybe media.

• Plain old debian is going to be the most stable. Debian is also legal to restribute. Linux mint offers versions without the illegal codecs in their download section.
  You are supposed to pay for those codecs e.g.:
  https://www.fluendo.com/business/site_licensing/
  
• Accounts of each worker(?) + guest. (set a cron job for auto backups)
• Suggest not giving them root if you are going to maintain the machine. Lock as much down as possible.
• WinXP/Win7 themes so they feel more comfortable using unless they just love Mint's puke green.
• Leave a liveUSB/livecd with them incase the system crashes. They can at least boot into something useful.

[sky aisling]

Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions.
I will experiment with Mate.

The application is intended for use in a homeless shelter.
One staff member will oversee the machine.
Clients using the shelter will access the net for job search and email communication.

I intend to set up a browser in Kiosk Mode.
The kiosk mode will be close to the public library model.
I intend to place an 'OpenDNS' (if I can) on the system.
We'll check the organization's modem *firewall* for settings.

bb333 - thank you for the reference to fluendo.com.
You write:

Plain old debian is going to be the most stable. Debian is also legal to restribute. Linux mint offers versions without the illegal codecs in their download section.

Question: Is Mate considered 'plain old debian'?

[bb333]

...
Question: Is Mate considered 'plain old debian'?

No. Mint is based on Ubuntu. Ubuntu is based on Debian. "Plain old debian" is debian and is here: http://www.debian.org