Advantages and disadvantages to LMDE over standard LM releases?

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jameskga
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Advantages and disadvantages to LMDE over standard LM releases?

Post by jameskga »

Hey guys. Like many of you, I am looking forward to the release of LMDE3, as well as 19 featuring Cinnamon 3.8. I am especially eager to learn what major changes are expected in LMDE3 and if you guys have any insights or speculation as to what significant changes you expect to see.

I set up the PC I'm currently using trying Cinnamon, Xfce, and Debian Edition, before finally settling on Xfce.

It's a capable machine, with an i5 processor, 8 GB RAM and GTX 770 (built in late 2011).

My PC ran 18.3 Cinnamon fine, but I couldn't justify the amount of RAM Cinnamon took away from processes, even if I don't need it all. I did notice Cinnamon was significantly slower than Xfce, though. On Debian Edition, Cinnamon ran to my satisfaction. Debian Edition had issues, however, and right now I can't remember what they were, but I remember it was lacking some basic functionality I needed from my PC at the time, so I settled on Xfce, which is fast as hell, and beautiful after customizations, including switching to the Darker theme and icons.

When LMDE3 comes out, I'll definitely try it out to see what it's like. I remember liking the DE's speed, but it was missing something...I can't remember what. I need Skype, was it missing Skype? Something from the Software Manager, maybe? Does it even have a Software Manager? See I can't remember, but I know I like it, though I remember it had some problems that Mint 17 had for me on a laptop one time before I moved that little machine over to 18.1 and found they were solved.

I'm wondering what you guys think about LMDE - just on its own, or in comparison to Ubuntu-based Mint - and what changes you're looking forward to in LMDE3. I imagine the second part of my question is better answered by someone who understands Debian's evolution and the point at which LMDE3 falls on that timeline.

Anyway, peace out.
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kc1di
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Re: Advantages and disadvantages to LMDE over standard LM releases?

Post by kc1di »

LMDE tends to be very stable but not as upto date package wise. Mint (ubuntu based) is also very stable but will be updated more often with newer packages and newer versions of software. It also has more system tools and bling. There are many more ops using mint than LMDE so help is more easily obtained for the regular release than LMDE. However if your an advanced linux user LMDE should not be too hard to keep going. The choice is then up to the op which seems to fit his needs better.
Sound like you like LMDE and XFCE works for you so don't know that I would change if it were me. I tend to like the more up to dateness of Mint 18/19 myself.

But am glad that LMDE is there just in case Ubuntu (Base for Mint) someday disappears there will still be a base for Mint. Just my opinion others may vary :)


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Re: Advantages and disadvantages to LMDE over standard LM releases?

Post by lmuserx4849 »

I run Linux Mint 17.3/kde and friends run LMDE 2/mate. They originally chose LMDE because it was a rolling release. That is no longer true. When we compare versions of software they tend to be more current. They have access to Skype, Software Manager. As far as the Software Manager, that is a core component of the Linux Mint Distribution. It should be on all versions. Since LMDE is no longer a (semi- ??) rolling release they plan on installing Linux Mint / Mate. /etc/apt/sources.list.d are Debian vs Ubuntu, but ultimately all roads to Linux Mint are based on Debian.
LMDE is however slightly faster than Linux Mint and it runs newer packages. Life on the LMDE side can be exciting. There are no point releases in LMDE 2, except for bug fixes and security fixes base packages stay the same, but Mint and desktop components are updated continuously. When ready, newly developed features get directly into LMDE 2, whereas they are staged for inclusion on the next upcoming Linux Mint 17.x point release. Consequently, Linux Mint users only run new features when a new point release comes out and they opt-in to upgrade to it. LMDE 2 users don’t have that choice, but they also don’t have to wait for new packages to mature and they usually get to run them first. It’s more risky, but more exciting.
The blog is very helpful.
LMDE 3

It is important for Linux Mint to continue to support LMDE as a fallback option in case Ubuntu ever disappeared and as a development target for the many projects and technologies we work on to guarantee compatibility outside of Linux Mint. It’s a lot of work to support two separate distributions of course (I can’t think of any other project doing that in fact) and LMDE which started as an experiment has obviously a much smaller audience than Linux Mint itself. For these reasons, LMDE is usually very important but not very urgent.
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Fred Barclay
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Re: Advantages and disadvantages to LMDE over standard LM releases?

Post by Fred Barclay »

Back when I ran LMDE I really liked getting the newest MATE but still having a super-stable base.Old software wasn't so much an issue for me since, usually, everything I wanted newer versions of was in backports. Now with flatpaks and snaps, it should be even easier to get newer software when LMDE 3 rolls around.

If I move back to Mint in the future, I'll probably be using LMDE 3 instead of the Ubuntu-based releases.
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