I was wondering if the community had developed, working on, or plans on developing Mint to work with ARM Architecture? I think that Mint would be a great and operate at even a higher-level than it currently is.
If there is no current work on it, and the community agrees in part, to create an ARM version. I think we could start a discussion on it here.
ARM Architecture
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ARM Architecture
Last edited by LockBot on Sun Jul 30, 2023 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
- Hippiemon
Re: ARM Architecture
Hello and welcome! As far as I know, the devs have not revealed any such plans. As for the community, who knows? It's a good topic for discussion.
Mod note:
I've moved your topic out of the support area because it's not a request for support.
Mod note:
I've moved your topic out of the support area because it's not a request for support.
If your issue is solved, kindly indicate that by editing the first post in the topic, and adding [SOLVED] to the title. Thanks!
Re: ARM Architecture
Mainstream Mint is based on Ubuntu and there is one based on Debian. There are Ubuntu and Debian based OS distributions for the Raspberry Pi and other ARM based devices. You can get close.
The Ubuntu based ones are mostly clunky on ARM.
ARM has to be compiled for v6, v7, v8, etc. The Raspberry Pi OS developers have to maintain two versions just for their small range of ARM chips. It is complicated. The easiest approach would be to use the Debian base, the same as Pi OS, and support only the 64 bit V8 ARM chips.
Having used a variety of versions side by side, I would be happy with the Pi OS expanded with just a few programs from Mint like Disks, which is the Gnome Disks Utility and probably available for ARM.
The Pi OS uses LXDE optimised for the Pi. It is very good and fast even on their lower power models. Their current version of LXDE is better than the Mint Xfce I used a few years ago on a far more powerful maxhine.
The Pi computers run from microSD cards and some of the packages in Linux Mint would kill a microSD card without changes to the default settings, something the Pi OS developers do. The Pi 4 can optionally boot from USB 3 SSD which would make the default Mint more practical if compiled for ARM.
Given the lower power of most ARM processors, including the old Apple M1, the best OS is the one tuned for that version of ARM hardware.
The Ubuntu based ones are mostly clunky on ARM.
ARM has to be compiled for v6, v7, v8, etc. The Raspberry Pi OS developers have to maintain two versions just for their small range of ARM chips. It is complicated. The easiest approach would be to use the Debian base, the same as Pi OS, and support only the 64 bit V8 ARM chips.
Having used a variety of versions side by side, I would be happy with the Pi OS expanded with just a few programs from Mint like Disks, which is the Gnome Disks Utility and probably available for ARM.
The Pi OS uses LXDE optimised for the Pi. It is very good and fast even on their lower power models. Their current version of LXDE is better than the Mint Xfce I used a few years ago on a far more powerful maxhine.
The Pi computers run from microSD cards and some of the packages in Linux Mint would kill a microSD card without changes to the default settings, something the Pi OS developers do. The Pi 4 can optionally boot from USB 3 SSD which would make the default Mint more practical if compiled for ARM.
Given the lower power of most ARM processors, including the old Apple M1, the best OS is the one tuned for that version of ARM hardware.
Re: ARM Architecture
Bought my Pi400 with the intention of it being a desktop replacement with Ubuntu 20.04, not nice to use when installed on a 64gb SD card (it had Gnome desktop). So ended up with Raspberry PiOS, originally based on Debian 10 on a 64 gb SD card. Did all I needed but it just felt old compared to Win 10. Replaced that with Raspberry PiOS based on Debian 11 on a 64 gb SD card which was definitely better but early last year I spotted Ubuntu Mate 22.04 was available for the Pi so tried it on a 100gb SSD. It was way better than the first Ubuntu but I suppose some of that could have been down to the SSD instead of SD card but most was down to the simple fact I like to look of Mate. Issue was I got warnings on startup regarding a couple of programmes but Mate seemed to work fine, Forum was no help. In truth I got the same warnings using Ubuntu Mate 22.04 on the laptop. After a while got fed up of cancelling them and installed RasbianOS based on Debian 11 on the SSD which was fine but still felt very old. Shortly after Mate 22.04.1 was released I installed it on a 500gb SSD and so far its been fine. Its made the Pi the daily driver desktop replacement I wanted when I bought it.
But if Mint (either XFCE or Mate) were available for the Pi I would definitely be trying it.
But if Mint (either XFCE or Mate) were available for the Pi I would definitely be trying it.