Why Linux Mint?

Chat about anything related to Linux Mint
Forum rules
Do not post support questions here. Before you post read the forum rules. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
sphyrth

Re: Why Linux Mint?

Post by sphyrth »

Why Mint over other Distros?
It's a good starting point for beginners like me. Mint's out-of-the-box experience makes it comfy to play around and break your system - that's right, if it breaks it generally means you FORCED it to.

Why Cinnamon?
Flagship Desktop Environment - You can play around with the other DEs anyway.
User avatar
afineman
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 50
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2014 12:08 pm

Re: Why Linux Mint?

Post by afineman »

Why Mint???

Well, let me ask you a question, why are there so many different car makers out there. Cars, they all do the same thing they get you from point A to point B and isn't that the most important thing?

Why are there so many different styles of homes? they all do the same thing, they provide shelter.

I understand your question (I too wonder why there are so many) but If I ask myself the above questions I come to realize, different people like different things for different reasons. I like convertibles, my wife likes 4 doors, my wife came from a big home on a small lot of land, we now live in a small home on a very large lot of land. We both see the advantages and dis advantages of our preference

Ubuntu and Linux Mint are the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord of Linux distributions. They look fine, run great and get the job done.
I consider these distributions as daily drivers (I've used both). Arch is like a 1966 Jaguar E-Type (Xke) a sweet and fine performance ride but after you use awhile you need to work on it and some people love this. AnitX is the Smart car of distributions, small, not very powerful, low cost, and in time will get you there and that is OK for some people. I could go on with the analogies but you get my point.

I came to Linux with the end of XP support, I started with Ubuntu and was amazed how well it worked straight out of the box but never warmed up to the desktop, then I found Mint and for "Me" it just felt right. Since then I've test drive MANY, MANY distros (you know test drives) but always came back to the daily driver.

Different strokes for different folks

AFM
srq2625

Re: Why Linux Mint?

Post by srq2625 »

First - some background:

I started with LM way back, about the middle of 2013, wanting to get away from Microsoft.

I worked with LM doing photo processing (I was a photography hobbyist, later professional) and was finding the render times from RAW to JPG was taking a bit of time. I looked for alternatives and found SolydXK to be a pleasing distro and, more to the point, rendered JPGs about 20% faster than LM. I still have SolydXK installed on both my laptop and on that of my spouse. About 2 months ago, I installed Debian (Xfce) on my desktop and am fairly happy with it.

But....

Things in my house have changed and I wanted to install a wireless NIC in my desktop. Couldn't find one that Debian would completely support. And, I built another desktop from parts salvaged from other builds for the grand-kids to use and want to use a wireless NIC in that as well. I found one that PROMISED Linux support. Debian does support it, but not 100% - very slow.

So, I started looking around and I have always like LM. So, my first trial install was LM 19 (Cinnamon) and it supported the wireless NIC right out of the box! And, it's almost as fast as the wired connection!

And, since I no longer process/render 2,000 to 3,000 images at a sitting (now the number is usually less then 200), I no longer have need of the fastest JPG rendering possible. So, in short order, all MY computers will be re-installed with LM 19 (can't touch the spouse's as she's comfortable with what she has and it meets her needs).

To answer the why -
  • LM is and, to the best of my knowledge, has always been very stable and useable
  • And there's Timeshift and the safety-net it provides
  • And the tools the distro provides: not bleeding edge, but quite up-to-date
  • The availability of PPAs for those carefully selected one to two tools where the repo version are not quite good enough
  • Most importantly, LM just GETS OUT OF THE WAY and lets me do my work
User avatar
Portreve
Level 13
Level 13
Posts: 4882
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:03 am
Location: Within 20,004 km of YOU!
Contact:

Re: Why Linux Mint?

Post by Portreve »

KuraX wrote: Sat Jun 16, 2018 3:40 pmBut what is the purpose of this Distro. It does everything Ubuntu does. Sometimes better, sometimes worse. I run Ubuntu, Mint, Windows in my PC (Actually Laptop. Dont killme pcmasterrace). I always get this feeling that even if Mint is abandoned. I can always switch back to Ubuntu and use the same.
Actually, the distribution which lives underneath all of this is Debian. Without Debian, there would be no Ubuntu (as we know it today) and hence there would be no LinuxMint (as we know it today).

Much of why it is as good as it is comes from Debian's primary focus on stability.
Also, Why Cinnamon Desktop? I am new linux user. I use it a lot for work. But never used it for PC's. I tried multiple DE's. My favorite ones are GNOME and KDE. Why create a new DE when there already a bunch of good ones out there.
This cannot be answered the way you have asked it. I do not wish to be rude, but you really have no idea about the history of such matters, and instead of doing research, it seems as though you've decided to construct a reality of what you think "must be the case".

Nobody just created Cinnamon (or MATE) out of whole cloth. These are Gnome 2.x derivatives which came about because of a massive rift within the Gnome Project community when the Gnome Project folks decided, unilaterally, to abandon the classic Xerox PARC / Mac OS/OS X / NeXTstep / AmigaOS / etc. etc. desktop UI design metaphor for a much more Apple iOS/Android type UI.

Your implication that Cinnamon's design and release and continued existence is somehow superfluous is fundamentally wrong.
Flying this flag in support of freedom 🇺🇦

Recommended keyboard layout: English (intl., with AltGR dead keys)

Podcasts: Linux Unplugged, Destination Linux

Also check out Thor Hartmannsson's Linux Tips YouTube Channel
ud6

Re: Why Linux Mint?

Post by ud6 »

Linux isn't what it used to be, and I'm so glad for that. Ubuntu was considered the 'user friendly linux distro' in the days before mint existed and it took me at least a day to get my vodaphone modem working because there were no proper drivers, and at each install you'd have to install codecs, always forgetting something essential. Then Eunachy, sorry Unity, came about and was a radical move towards ugly (in the same way MS unsuccessfully tried to combine phone app appearance/functionality with pc windows).

Mint was a saviour, with all the best bits of Ubuntu, but the nice DEs, preinstalled codecs, and considered more stable. Driver support for linux was also improving, to the point where Linux could be used by non-geeks for day to day desktop requirements.

I still believe that it is only the last few years that mint has really been in the position that it can compete with windows for out of the box useability by newbies.

So why mint? Because (i) windows getting more into insidious advertising (ii) because mint finally can provide easy out of the box functionality (iii) cos I like the (MATE) DE (iv) cos has to be linux distro so fewer viruses (v) cos software also covers most things I need now.

I'd be interested to see if dual boot rates (mint/windows) for non-gamers is dropping because of mint finally being a strong user friendly and almost complete substitute for windows functionality.
EmphaticItalic
Level 1
Level 1
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2016 8:05 am

Re: Why Linux Mint?

Post by EmphaticItalic »

I moved to Linux in April 2015 with Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon. Since that time, I feel a special appreciation and gratitude when using my desktop computer that I never felt during all those years I was using Windows.

Very happily stayed with Mint 17.3 Rosa a couple of years on Clem's advice of "If it ain't broke don't fix it", despite the newer versions that were around. Having an older version that I knew I could stick with was a great feeling - you don't have to have the bleeding edge stuff just because it's available. My desktop was running great and I was very happy. With a major upgrade to my hardware last Christmas I moved on to the then latest version at the time, 18.3 Sylvia, and still happily sticking with that.

Whenever I'm using Mint, there's a warm welcoming vibe about it. It's made by a group of people that really care about you. I particularly appreciate how Clem and his team have really put a lot of time and effort into correcting the weaknesses of not only Windows, but especially including parpercuts around other Linux distros of the past. They've really gone to a lot of effort to streamline many aspects with were silly annoyances in the past.

I feel that with Mint it is rather obvious that the developers really have a strong focus on stability, elegance, and ease of use. Mint is an OS that doesn't get in your way with papercuts that need to be fixed (at least not in the last few years of course). Everything "just works" and works very very well. This to me seems to be Mint's primary focus. Mint does not necessarily have cutting edge or bleeding edge software - they prioritise what will work well and what keeps on working and will not break down.

I've tried about a dozen other distros, and with each time I do that it only re-enforces how wonderful Linux Mint really is. I sometimes think after 3.5 years it is time to move on, but I always I'm really glad to stick with Mint. From experience you realise that with Mint they get everything just right in an elegant way.

Cinnamon is more or less an alternative version of GNOME 3. Many people don't like GNOME 3 with the paradigm shift it took. Cinnamon is for those people - an alternative GNOME 3, or it's what GNOME 3 should have or could have been. The spiritual successor to GNOME 3 if you will. Similarly MATE is a continuation of GNOME 2 for people who wanted to stick with that (as far as I know).

Cinnamon is a wonderful DE that has many elegant touches to it that make desktop computing so much nicer and more streamlined. I've tried several other DEs, including using MATE and Xfce as my main DE for extended periods of time. From that experience, Cinnamon is still my favourite.

Apart from the wonderful approach of the Mint team to make sure everything is sensible, it's really remarkable how everything works so gosh darn well.

Not everyone agrees with the team's paradigms or priorities, but for me I deeply appreciate that a lot of thought has gone into each and every aspect of the OS. There may be the odd frustration with Mint, but I believe you can trust that every aspect of the OS is kept a certain way for a very good reason.

You may have the odd gripe about Mint, but it is still light years ahead of that Orwellian trainwreck Windows 10. I believe Mint has been very carefully developed with this in mind.

Using Mint everyday is always a rewarding experience, and this is why I've donated in the past, and intend to donate again soon.
User avatar
rumplestiltskin
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 58
Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2018 7:34 pm
Location: West of the Pecos

Re: Why Linux Mint?

Post by rumplestiltskin »

Why Mint?

I have a 15" Dell Inspiron 7000 series with a Synaptics trackpad (and we know Synaptics makes the absolute best trackpads - Apple uses them!) yet, in Windows 10, two-finger scrolling results in unexpected jumps and scroll-backs; in short, it's a PITA. Microsoft's driver sucks, Dell won't even answer my requests for help, and Synaptics has nothing in the way of a fix. Someone suggested a "scroll but before finishing, remove one of the two fingers from the trackpad" process and this sort-of works but is this really necessary??

I installed Mint last night and two-finger scrolling works like it does on my Mac - smooth and predictable. I'll be wiping out the Windows partitions shortly.

Mint installed on my older Macs works great - Macs that would otherwise be unusable on the Internet as they're limited to El Capitan or older macOS versions.

Why Mint? That's why.
Locked

Return to “Chat about Linux Mint”