Prefered Mint Base

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What base would you prefer for Linux Mint?

Ubuntu LTS
10
59%
Debian Stable
6
35%
Undecided
1
6%
 
Total votes: 17

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Fred Barclay
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Prefered Mint Base

Post by Fred Barclay »

If you could have the main edition of Mint based on either Ubuntu LTS or Debian Stable, which would you choose?

I like Mint as it is set up now.With Ubuntu being the most widely-used Linux distro, it is convenient to have Mint virtually compatible with it, as installing packages is (usually) a breeze. Looking up documentation for toubleshooting and personalization is also easy. With that said, I believe that Mint could also do well moving to a Debian Stable base--the same path that LMDE will soon take. However, under this new chain of events (Mint moving to Debian Stable) I would like LMDE to move back to Debian Testing and become a rolling or semi-rolling distro once again.

What do you think?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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jahid

Re: Prefered Mint Base

Post by jahid »

Fred Barclay wrote:If you could have the main edition of Mint based on either Ubuntu LTS or Debian Stable, which would you choose?

I like Mint as it is set up now.With Ubuntu being the most widely-used Linux distro, it is convenient to have Mint virtually compatible with it, as installing packages is (usually) a breeze. Looking up documentation for toubleshooting and personalization is also easy. With that said, I believe that Mint could also do well moving to a Debian Stable base--the same path that LMDE will soon take. However, under this new chain of events (Mint moving to Debian Stable) I would like LMDE to move back to Debian Testing and become a rolling or semi-rolling distro once again.

What do you think?
I totally agree with you, in every aspects you have pointed out here.... :D
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xenopeek
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Re: Prefered Mint Base

Post by xenopeek »

That's not likely to happen. Re-read the blog posts about Linux Mint 17.x and LMDE plans; staying on a LTS base for both allows the development team to focus on improving Linux Mint instead of continually wasting time playing "catch up" with a shifting base.

Aside from that, both Ubuntu non-LTS and Debian testing are development releases. Nice for enthusiasts, and yes those are more likely to have a voice on the forums, but it doesn't make sense for most people to use a development release. Most people need a computer to do other things than tinkering with it :wink:

Comparing Ubuntu and Debian base, for many people compatibility with Ubuntu may be preferable (for things like PPAs, that aren't compatible with Debian and have no Debian alternative; for Steam, which certifies games for Ubuntu; for other software and hardware that is mostly certified for Ubuntu; and so on).
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karlchen
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Re: Prefered Mint Base

Post by karlchen »

Hi, folks.

Have just confirmed the current strategy of using Ubuntu (14.04) LTS as the base for the current Linux Mint main edition which is Mint 17 and Mint 17.1 and voted accordingly. :)

Cheers,
Karl
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RacerBG

Re: Prefered Mint Base

Post by RacerBG »

The current plans are good enough but if you ask me - Mint on Debian Stable base (only) is the best option for the future. The Canonical decisions are not the smartest and everyone know this.
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Fred Barclay
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Re: Prefered Mint Base

Post by Fred Barclay »

Hello, everyone:
Yes, I was aware that both the main edition and LMDE will be using stable bases. Perhaps my question was confusing? I am just curious what you would choose for the main edition base if you were given the choice.

I do agree with xenopeek about Mint needing to be stable. IMHO Mint is not the distro for "bleeding-edge" enthusiasts. Most of the Mint converts seem to be old Windows users; and, while you will never hear me claim Windows was stable, it still is the most-supported OS in the world. If someone who just wants to get away from Microsoft and needs a reliable OS constantly has to look up how to fix Mint bugs, he probably won't stay with Mint very long.
With that said, however, it is my thought that if Mint main edition moved to Debian Stable as a base, then LMDE could move to Debian Testing--or even Unstable--and become more of a bleeding-edge, rolling release for those of us who want newer programs and don't mind debugging--similar to how Red Hat often uses Fedora as a testing ground for RHEL. The Mint team could then use LMDE as an upsteam source for the main edition by using the fixes found for LMDE to create a stable main edition Mint. (On the other hand, this sounds an awful lot like an imitation Debian.)

I have heard rumors that LMDE may be discontinued due to most Mint users being on the main edition, but I believe xenopeek recently mentioned seeing the developers working every day over the IRC channel. I hope it is continued because (a) I use it! and (b) if Cannonical ever makes it difficult to use Ubuntu as a base it will be good for the Mint team to have a fallback. With Ubuntu being the most popular Linux, and Cannonical being a commercial company, I suspect that one day they may convert it to a commercial OS and/or require licensing, etc.

Thanks to all who have responded so far!
Last edited by Fred Barclay on Wed Dec 24, 2014 1:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jahid

Re: Prefered Mint Base

Post by jahid »

RacerBG wrote:The Canonical decisions are not the smartest and everyone know this.
Yeah, you are right...
ubuntu's terms and conditions are so... messed up.....it almost overthrows the concept of open source...
It's a pity that ubuntu becoming so conservative these days...
sometimes i just wanna throw everything out and turn to debian and make my own distro based on it, but it seems a bit difficult and time consuming....

For now the only reason I am sticking with ubuntu is because of their huge repository and continuous updates and it's popularity...
SallyK
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Re: Prefered Mint Base

Post by SallyK »

For me using the LTS base is the best of both worlds. I can add PPAs for the software I want to keep up to date, but have a solid system base underneath it. My experience of LMDE, even before it moved to basing on Stable, was that the user software was old and out-dated - I don't need Arch-style bleeding edge, but I don't want to be left that far behind.
Crewp

Re: Prefered Mint Base

Post by Crewp »

I vote for Debian stable, because I really like Debian and love Cinnamon as my DE, plus all the Mint tools. But I have used the Main Edition as well and it is very good. And even though LMDE is moving to Stable as a base, any tech savy person can still use Debian testing if they desire. :mrgreen:
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xfrank
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Re: Prefered Mint Base

Post by xfrank »

Crewp wrote:I vote for Debian stable, because I really like Debian and love Cinnamon as my DE, plus all the Mint tools. But I have used the Main Edition as well and it is very good. And even though LMDE is moving to Stable as a base, any tech savy person can still use Debian testing if they desire. :mrgreen:
or you can pick specific packages that you really need from Debian Testing, and leave the rest as it is (Stable). For example, in my case, LibreOffice. :P

Debian Stable is a fine base for LMDE, but the main branch can stay with Ubuntu LTS that is also very good. :)
Active Distros in my computers: LM21.1 (Mate,Xfce); MXLinux (Xfce)
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