LMDE or Linux Mint main edition: Which way ?!

[Brahim Salem]

I have been using Mint main edition for quite a while now and I really love it, but many people on many forums say LMDE is the best Linux distro that I'm thinking now of converting all my machines to LMDE. There are still few unsettled doubts though. I want to know if it is as stable as the main edition and whether there are some workarounds to get some of my preferred apps. like onboard keyboard to work on it. One more thing, I want to know which direction Mint is going to take; main or LMDE, esp. after the new direction Ubuntu is taking which might mean less GNOME stuff and more of their own. Ubuntu is trying to be the new Microsoft and is dipping its feet more and more into commercial waters. What do you think guys; which edition is best for the future!!

[kurotsugi]

compared to mint 15 LMDE is more stable. however, LMDE need deeper knowledge on package maintenance and might not as friendly as mint 15 since in LMDE we usually do stuffs via terminal, not GUI. there are also update problem. LMDE haven't got officially updated for a long time. the update stop at UP6 and no one know when UP7 will come.

[TBABill]

I've used both and I found LMDE to be snappier, streamlined and just more responsive. But it was also a bit more of a challenge to keep up to date. Kernel updates, at least back then, required reinstall of the Broadcom driver on my machine. Update packs sometimes broke the system. I finally moved away from LMDE and back to Mint main. I personally like Mint 13 for its LTS, speed and solid reliability. 14 and 15 still seem to have kinks being worked out, but most of those are in the underlying Ubuntu they're built from.

For my two cents, I'd recommend main, and LTS if you don't have to be latest and greatest.