LMDE 3 Comments

[Brian777]

The upgrade from LMDE 2 proceeded without any major problems. My main reason for upgrading was to get updated compilers (GCC, GNAT, etc.) and more recent libraries so I could install newer versions of software such as GNU APL without dependency problems. This part has worked out fine. GNU APL 1.7 installed without problems and I have a much newer version of GNAT.

However, I am not happy with some of the software changes.

* Rhythmbox is primitive crap. After one look at its mess of a display I reinstalled Banshee.

* The new gedit is absolute garbage. The menu has disappeared, so I can no longer change case or rewrap lines, and important features such as find and replace are hidden away; you have to click an inconspicuous button to find them. I strongly dislike xemacs as it has the bad habit of reformatting my code in ways I don't like without bothering to ask first, and having to constantly add comment lines to my files to disable this is a nuisance. Unfortunately, the older version of gedit is not listed in Synaptic. It looks as if the only way to get a decent editor any more is to write my own. I am really sick of the brain malfunction afflicting so many software developers these days that causes them to remove menus and other useful features and dumb everything down to the point of uselessness.

* Some of my applications vanished from the top panel, possibly because the links to Java vanished. I recreated the symbolic links to java, javac, and jar in /usr/bin and tried recreating the panel launchers; then the missing launchers reappeared.

[xenopeek]

Not everybody will like Rhythmbox or find it a good fit. If Banshee works for you, great Pick what works best for you; there is a large selection of music players with something for everybody.

As for Gedit, I like the new Gedit but Linux Mint by default comes with Xed text editor that is more akin to the old Gedit and is developed by Linux Mint. Perhaps for some reason you don't want to use Xed or it wasn't installed on your system. I'd suggest you install it and try that as alternative to Gedit as I think you'll prefer Xed. Other programs developed by Linux Mint in the same suite:
- Xplayer (Media Player)
- Xreader (Document Reader)
- Xviewer (Image Viewer)
- Pix (Image Organizer)

[AZgl1800]

I'm weird, I prefer Xed.