Mint vs Ubuntu = Simple Questions

[junior-s]

Hello everyone. I got simple questions about which suits me better in general. I really like Mint and Ubuntu, and I'm thinking on using one of them or even making a dualboot with Mint 14 XFCE 64bit and Ubuntu 12.04.1 64bit. Anyway I need to know which:

- Has the most recent (and stable) software (anywhere between)
- Has better performance (I tested extracting 16GB.tar.gz and Mint was at least 100% faster then Ubuntu)
- Can be more customizable
- Is more secure in general
- Is more stable (I know, Mint 14 is basically Ubuntu 12.10 but I never tested them to see which is more stable)
- Has the biggest and better repositories

That's it for now, thanks to everyone who answer =)

[passerby]

Mint has more in its repositories, but overall they contain the same packages, more or less.
For each of the other questions, however, the answer is: they're basically the same.
It all comes down to what you do with your system. They're just as stable, just as up to date.
Customizability comes down to your DE more than anything, and each supported DE is available on both.

If in doubt, go with Mint. It has more in its repos, comes with those lovely codecs you'll probably wind up downloading anyway and gives you a (in my opinion) much better DE by default.

[junior-s]

Thanks for your reply, passerby.

I use my computer for gamming now with Steam on the BETA stage, also use it to do my modelings with Blender, edit textures and images with GIMP and Inkscape, and web-surfing. That's the basics.

[xenopeek]

Yes, Xfce will be much faster than Unity. That's not the distro that makes the difference though, that is the desktop environment. When you compare it like that, Xfce is probably more customizable than Unity also.

Linux Mint has a bigger repository than Ubuntu, but you could add the Linux Mint repository to Ubuntu also if you really wanted to (http://packages.linuxmint.com/list.php?release=Nadia). The Ubuntu Software Center sells software also, and if you want that on Linux Mint you will have to install Ubuntu Software Center and make some tweaks to be able to buy software from it on Linux Mint. But if you would be doing that for games, you can install and use the Steam client or the Desura client for gaming on Linux Mint also

Stability wise, both distros will be running the same kernel so that won't make a difference. Again this goes to the desktop environment mostly. Xfce is known to be developed for a stable base, with paced development of new features. Unity on the other hand has always been developed rapidly, gaining new features and redesigns each release. Not saying that makes Unity less stable, but it is certainly a major risk for it.

As for security, again with both running the same kernel there is but small difference. Linux Mint does enable Samba by default, to facilitate interoperability with other computers and devices in your househould. You can easily disable that if you want.

[junior-s]

Will the DE say so much about performance? :O BTW I don't like unity, I install Gnome on Ubuntu =)

Well, I love both. Both have their pros and cons, now I can't decide! XFCE is great, but Cinnamon is slow and Compiz is limited. Ubuntu is great, but it's XFCE is ugly and not as functional as Mint's.

I can't dual-boot (I guess) because I can't install Steam games on other people's home folder (can't have 2 "junior" accounts)..

Why did you have to be so great, Mint?

EDIT: Also the main problem with mint (at least with v14) is gamming, there are memory leaks that result in fps drops. Valve is focusing on Ubuntu 12.04 (Mint 13) and I'll experience some bugs until they fully support 12.10.

[passerby]

You can dual boot if you make and mount a separate home partition.
eg. sda1 is mint and it mounts sda3 at /home. sda2 is ubuntu and it also mounts sda3 at /home.
Can be a little messy if you have different setups of the same programs, but I haven't had any problems with it.

You could give MATE a try. Not as customizable as xfce, but it looks good (after some tweaking) and it's much lighter than cinnamon. Quite functional too.
Cinnamon is working much better now that I'm on LMDE. Its speed issues have been due to the graphics drivers used, in my experience.
And yeah, the DE does affect performance. Once you're comparing similar DE's resource-wise (like xfce and MATE) it no longer makes any real difference though.

[junior-s]

You can dual boot if you make and mount a separate home partition.
eg. sda1 is mint and it mounts sda3 at /home. sda2 is ubuntu and it also mounts sda3 at /home.
Can be a little messy if you have different setups of the same programs, but I haven't had any problems with it.

You could give MATE a try. Not as customizable as xfce, but it looks good (after some tweaking) and it's much lighter than cinnamon. Quite functional too.
Cinnamon is working much better now that I'm on LMDE. Its speed issues have been due to the graphics drivers used, in my experience.
And yeah, the DE does affect performance. Once you're comparing similar DE's resource-wise (like xfce and MATE) it no longer makes any real difference though.

Hi.

I won`t dual-boot, I`m looking for a system that suits me the best, doesn`t matter the DE =) (Hell, I install XFCE on Mint and openSUSE, and in Ubuntu I`d install it too if it wasn`t so ugly)

openSUSE for what I could see is the most complete OS. Problem is sometimes I have to type lots of commands to get one thing working (specially with audio stuff)

Ubuntu would be the candidate, but I`m experiencing some internal system problems and a lot of memory dumps with Steam

Mint on the other hand works fine, but it`s security bothers me.

[passerby]

Is there a particular aspect of mint's security you find questionable? It should be just as secure as Ubuntu.

[junior-s]

Is there a particular aspect of mint's security you find questionable? It should be just as secure as Ubuntu.

Yes, java and Samba, and the fact that I wish Mint asking me for everysingle thing that happens on my machine. Like for example, mounting another partition or connecting to a new network.

[dee.]

Is there a particular aspect of mint's security you find questionable? It should be just as secure as Ubuntu.

Yes, java and Samba, and the fact that I wish Mint asking me for everysingle thing that happens on my machine. Like for example, mounting another partition or connecting to a new network.

You can uninstall Java and Samba if they bother you.