Manjaro overtakes Mint in Distrowatch page-hit rankings

[Night Wing]

It is a shame Mint had to let go of KDE right when Plasma has become awesome. I was so impressed with Kubuntu 18.04 that I immediately installed it on 2 of my computers. Mint has lots of fans though, and with 4 releases upcoming: Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce, and Cinnamon LMDE, I will be surprised if Mint's numbers do not go up significantly.

I just hope sometime in the future Mint does not do away with the Xfce desktop environment. Xfce is my favorite DE and should Mint no longer offer it officially like it did with KDE, since Manjaro offers Xfce, I would take Manjaro Xfce out for a test drive. As long as Mint offers an official Xfce DE, I will stay with Mint because with my Mint Xfce, everything just works right out of the box for me on my four computers (2 desktop towers, 2 laptops).

[sdibaja]

It is a shame Mint had to let go of KDE right when Plasma has become awesome. I was so impressed with Kubuntu 18.04 that I immediately installed it on 2 of my computers. Mint has lots of fans though, and with 4 releases upcoming: Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce, and Cinnamon LMDE, I will be surprised if Mint's numbers do not go up significantly.

I just hope sometime in the future Mint does not do away with the Xfce desktop environment. Xfce is my favorite DE and should Mint no longer offer it officially like it did with KDE, since Manjaro offers Xfce, I would take Manjaro Xfce out for a test drive. As long as Mint offers an official Xfce DE, I will stay with Mint because with my Mint Xfce, everything just works right out of the box for me on my four computers (2 desktop towers, 2 laptops).

Try SolydXK. They focus on KDE and Xfce. It installs easily, and is reliable. Based on Debian Stretch, and there are Buster/Sid type versions also. (they are just now migrating servers so webpage access may be spotty for a few days)

[Night Wing]

Try SolydXK. They focus on KDE and Xfce. It installs easily, and is reliable. Based on Debian Stretch, and there are Buster/Sid type versions also. (they are just now migrating servers so webpage access may be spotty for a few days)

I tried SolydX (Xfce) before I tried Mint. At that time, SolydX did not have a graphical installer. For me, manually partitioning a hard drive is not my forte. I had a difficult time trying to install SolydX. I finally did, but I didn't enjoy it because it took 40 minutes of my time. Talk about frustration. Then later on down the road, one of the SolydX updates broke my version of SolydX. I couldn't fix it even with using the terminal. I didn't want to go through the frustration of manually partitioning a hard drive again to re-install SolydX. When it comes to manually partitioning a hard drive, what is easy for you, is hell for me.

Went looking for another distro with a graphical installer and found Mint Xfce back when Mint was on (14.0). Mint with it's graphical installer is perfect for me because I don't partition my hard drives so Mint does all of the work for me automatically and Mint installed in about 12 minutes of time. All of my computers have two hard drives with the only exception one of my desktop tower computers has a three hard drive bay and it does have three hard drives in it.

Each hard drive does not share another operating system. In other words one hard drive is loaded with 64 bit Linux Mint 18.3 (Sylvia) Xfce (default) and the second hard drive is loaded with 64 bit Windows 7, SP1 (backup operating system).

Manjaro has a graphical installer and this is why I would try Manjaro Xfce "if" the Mint developers sometime in the future no longer offer an official Xfce desktop environment and drop it like they did with KDE.

On a sidenote, at this day and time, I think SolyDX still does not offer a graphical installer. If this is still true, I won't give SolyDX another try.

[Pepi]

I have to admit that I love Peppermint on two of my computers. Just run great on them

[lsemmens]

Of course the issue could be, Mint users download mint once and never have any more problems so mint fades into the background of "popularity" because it is so good. Others try an alternative OS and then download another because it does not fulfill their needs and they keep downloading different variants ad infinitum until they find Mint........Just saying.

[sdibaja]

Try SolydXK. They focus on KDE and Xfce. It installs easily, and is reliable. Based on Debian Stretch, and there are Buster/Sid type versions also. (they are just now migrating servers so webpage access may be spotty for a few days)

I tried SolydX (Xfce) before I tried Mint. At that time, SolydX did not have a graphical installer.
>snip<

Yes, they now have a graphical installer.

[KBD47]

I just hope sometime in the future Mint does not do away with the Xfce desktop environment. Xfce is my favorite DE and should Mint no longer offer it officially like it did with KDE, since Manjaro offers Xfce, I would take Manjaro Xfce out for a test drive. As long as Mint offers an official Xfce DE, I will stay with Mint because with my Mint Xfce, everything just works right out of the box for me on my four computers (2 desktop towers, 2 laptops).

Same here. Xfce is my favorite with MATE a close second.

[KBD47]

Try SolydXK. They focus on KDE and Xfce. It installs easily, and is reliable. Based on Debian Stretch, and there are Buster/Sid type versions also. (they are just now migrating servers so webpage access may be spotty for a few days)

Debian is not so difficult to install anymore and it even comes with some codecs now. The biggest thing for the average user is just enabling 'contrib non-free' in the sources and tweaking the desktop a bit. MX is excellent for those who like Xfce and want a Debian based OS ready to use out of the box.

[Sir Charles]

Xfce is my favorite with MATE a close second.

+1

[Sir Charles]

MX is excellent for those who like Xfce and want a Debian based OS ready to use out of the box.

Another +
Really nice distro!
Cheers

[all41]

Xfce is my favorite with MATE a close second.

+1

I use MATE probably because I started with it, but my next choice is Xfce.
imho the page hit rankings could easily be tilted by a group of fanboys promoting their distro.

[Sir Charles]

I use MATE probably because I started with it ...

Mint with MATE was the first distro I installed after having tried out some distros live. Then I crossed over to Cinnamon to end up with Xfce.
Since its release, I got Ubuntu 18.04 MATE installed in one partition and I enjoy it sooo much. I have almost exclusively been using it since it came out. Really nice!
Cheers

[KBD47]

You youngsters I used Mint when it still had the original Gnome 2 DE. It was beautiful from the start

[sdibaja]

Try SolydXK. They focus on KDE and Xfce. It installs easily, and is reliable. Based on Debian Stretch, and there are Buster/Sid type versions also. (they are just now migrating servers so webpage access may be spotty for a few days)

Debian is not so difficult to install anymore and it even comes with some codecs now. The biggest thing for the average user is just enabling 'contrib non-free' in the sources and tweaking the desktop a bit. MX is excellent for those who like Xfce and want a Debian based OS ready to use out of the box.

you don't have to sell Me on Debian!
I use the non-free ISOs... especially if wifi is needed for the install.
To be honest, the installer is intimidating at first, but it is super powerful and robust. You CAN install it your way!
I use Mate. The Mate ISO provides a very bare bones setup... I prefer it, then I build it My Way rather than hiding/deleting the massive cruft and hoping for few conflicts.

[KBD47]

you don't have to sell Me on Debian!
I use the non-free ISOs... especially if wifi is needed for the install.
To be honest, the installer is intimidating at first, but it is super powerful and robust. You CAN install it your way!
I use Mate. The Mate ISO provides a very bare bones setup... I prefer it, then I build it My Way rather than hiding/deleting the massive cruft and hoping for few conflicts.

I did a fresh Debian install on a laptop the other day. I should probably use the non-free iso. I like the netinstaller as it has always worked well for me and the install is completely up to date after installation. I agree the installer can seem intimidating, there are more steps than with Ubuntu/Mint installer, but if one is not dual or triple booting the gui guided install is not hard. My first distro was Debian/SimplyMEPIS and if as a noobie I could install that anyone can install Debian. One can even find youtube videos showing how easy it is.
I also like MATE when doing a vanilla Debian install.

[Portreve]

I'm not really sure what the purpose of this post is, by the way, but as a mod I must insist that people keep things friendly.

Oh, alright Moem. If we must.

It probably means that a lot of people are apparently interested in knowing about Manjaro. I say good for them; it's not a zero sum game. If more people start using Manjaro, that doesn't mean that all these people would other otherwise be using Mint.
Even if it did, who cares? More userfriendly Linux options is a good thing and can only work to the advantage of Gnu/Linux as a whole.

Agreed. Variety, legitimate competition in the arena of ideas, and openly available source is definitely a best-practice approach to computing.

[filozofio]

After seeing that Manjaro was in the first place in Distro Watch, I have tested it.

I installed the XFCE version of Manjaro. And it is really good. Very quick. In some ways, it reminds me of the old times, when LMDE was a "rolling" distribution. I fell in love with Mint thanks to that first experience with the rolling LMDE.

I still appreciate the elegance of Mint. Manjaro is really not so beautiful.

But I like the fact that Manjaro is a rolling distribution, and it is also stable. They do not simply use the Arch repositories, but they have their own, more stable. With the new LMDE I have had problems of stability... not because of Debian, but because of Mate's compatibility with a Mint update. Mate will disappear of LMDE3... But I prefer Mate, because it is lighter than Cinnamon. Pity that Mint does not care very much about LMDE.

The last months I had left my loved LMDE, and I was using the "normal" Mint, based in Ubuntu. Just more up to date, and with the possibility of keeping Mate in the future... But I missed the speed and the stability of Debian. Also some "strange" things happening... abiword, which I use very much, was flickering... and nobody updated it...

Really Manjaro is tempting. The repositories of Manjaro are great, the pacman installation manager is very good.

I think that for Mint to compete with Manjaro, a new kind of LMDE should appear again. Rolling, cared, stable, up to date... May be forgetting Ubuntu, and doing with Debian testing what Manjaro has done with Arch.

[sdibaja]

Debian testing (Buster) is not bad. The first few months it was more quirky.
I much prefer Stretch (stable) and use Buster Repos and Sid (unstable) Repos to get a couple newer things like Firefox 60.

The available non-free images (codecs and drivers included) with preloaded desktops are:
Cinnamon
Gnome
KDE
Lxde
Mate
Xfce
They are all good and each is preloaded with their own set of compatible packages....my desktop favorite is Mate, is rather minimal but simple to add whatever you want.
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unof ... -firmware/

definitely a bit more complex to install, but superior. The learning curve is worth the effort

[KBD47]

Debian has gotten better over time. I think years ago it's main focus was servers and the desktop got little love. More recently Debian takes only a little work to tweak and make it nice on the desktop.
I would be careful using Buster and Sid repositories on Stable. When I first used Debian I did that too, and got away with it for a little while, but soon got into dependency hell and had to wipe out my Frankendebian install. Today stability means more to me so I live with a few older apps which still work perfectly well.

[Spearmint2]

Probably Spatry and his subscribers all clicking up the links at Distrowatch, LOL. I don't pay those ratings at distrowatch much attention, since osdisc ratings are probably more correct. Theirs are based on what people are buying from them, and not on clicks.

osdisc.com , look to the left. Mint is still number one, Manjaro doesn't even appear in the list.

Here's part of the write up about Manjaro there.

Product Description

Manjaro is a user-friendly Linux distribution based on the independently developed Arch operating system. Within the Linux community, Arch itself is renowned for being an exceptionally fast, powerful, and lightweight distribution that provides access to the very latest cutting edge -- and bleeding edge -- software. However, Arch is also aimed at more experienced or technically-minded users. As such, it is generally considered to be beyond the reach of those who lack the technical expertise (or persistence) required to use it.

Developed in Austria, France, and Germany, Manjaro provides all the benefits of the Arch operating system combined with a focus on user-friendliness and accessibility. Available in both 32 and 64 bit versions, Manjaro is suitable for newcomers as well as experienced Linux users. For newcomers, a user-friendly installer is provided, and the system itself is designed to work fully "straight out of the box" with features including:

Pre-installed desktop environments
Pre-installed graphical applications to easily install software and update your system, and
Pre-installed codecs to play multimedia files

For more experienced -- and adventurous -- users Manjaro also offers the configurability and versatility to be shaped and moulded in every respect to suit personal taste and preference. Furthermore, a minimalist NET-Edition is also available in both 32 and 64 bit versions. Stripped of any pre-installed software, this provides a base installation on which to build your own system; starting from a command line, be completely free to chose your own greeters, desktops, hardware drivers, software applications, and so on!

==========================
I do like the Arch wiki pages!