LMDE disapointment.

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raymerjacque
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LMDE disapointment.

Post by raymerjacque »

There is just simply too many bugs currently with LMDE, Ive been using it for only one day and already want to put my fist through a wall ... Silly little things like setting default apps dont work, under brightness and lock there is no option to switch off ... And dont even get me started on wine, I spent most of the day just getting wine installed only to find out that almost nothing runs ... And i had so many questions, for example i have read NOT to use ubunuty or mint software, yet the mint software manager is included ? its all very confusing and i cant find any straight answers to simple questions.

Most of all i am dissapointed in the lack of documention surrounding LMDE. The FAQ's are all over the place and hard to follow, the release notes and known bugs are vague, and when posting asking questions i get told to search, its all been discussed before, searching just results in more questions as some users hail LMDE while others dont, no one seems to have any clear facts that they post.

Can someone not just make a simple Sticky post and says "This is working, this is not, what to expect with LMDE, if you want to use wine stay away, known bugs etc etc etc". < - if that existed i would not have wasted a day downloading and another installing.

End result, Dissapointed, going back to normal Mint and dont think i will return to LMDE anytime in the near future. Maybe in a year or two if any progress has been made i may check it out again. but for now i am too pissed off to bother.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
MrBreeze

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by MrBreeze »

I agree with "raymerjacque" about disappointment over LMDE, especially after the latest update.

I've been running LMDE (swedish edition) for quite some time but after the update many things stopped working as before.

1. I can't find a way to extend the numbers of workspaces (I had 4 before update and now only 2).
2. I can't get the panel to autohide anymore.
3. after a reboot the numlock is always off (used to be on) and I don't find a way to change it.
4. after a reboot the sound is always muted even if it was activated before booting.
5. mounted devices may suddenly disappear and can't be found again in the filesystem unless I reboot and remount them.
6. The updater always fails to update the package index list.

I'm not a fan of the terminal and have never got the time to study linux programming, unfortunatly, and now I fell to old to try. 8)

I'm running LMDE Linux 3.2.0-4-amd64 (x86_64) on a homebuilt computer with AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+, 4Gb RAM, Nvidia Geforce GT520 with 2Gb,
24" LED-display, 1Tb + 500Gb internal HDD's and 1Tb + 250Gb external USB-HDD's. My opinion is that this would be enough for LMDE to play on!
I have also an Acer AspireOne that works perfect with Mint 13 (maya) MATE (32-bit), after kicking the preinstalled Win7 out. :wink:


It seems like it's time to move on and test another distribution of Linux like Foresight, a late Mint or maybe back to OpenSUSE that I used several years ago.
teatime

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by teatime »

Hi

I'm new but here my answers to your questions:

1.) you can move your mouse pointer to the top left corner and can add additional desktops

2.) right click on panel and click on panel settings and mark Auto-hide panel

3.) apt-get install numlockx and put following in your xinitrc

if [ -x /usr/bin/numlockx ];
then
/usr/bin/numlockx on
fi

and for the other questions I need more time.
rayandrews

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by rayandrews »

Well I dunno, I've had update trouble in the past too, and so, by about 11 months ago when I had finally got everything in LMDE working fine, I decided to just leave things alone and not risk any more updates. But I have clones of my system as backups, so I thought I should be a man and risk an upgrade and see what might happen. 1400+ packages latter, after doing this:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get autoclean
apt-get autoremove ... errors!
apt-get -f install
apt-get autoremove ... ok.

reboot.

And I have only one small issue, which is that both GParted and Synaptic will fire up for my user account whereas before I was asked for my root PW. Other than that, it seems perfect. For me, LMDE gets praise for being so safe to upgrade now, even if not in the past. Still, I think there are too many versions of Mint. IMHO Clem should not have to go 'through' Ubuntu to get what he wants, he should concentrate on a direct Debian version and make that as close to perfect as possible.
Crewp

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by Crewp »

I agree, LMDE should be the main edition, and ubuntu, the step child.
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darknetmatrix
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Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by darknetmatrix »

Crewp wrote:I agree, LMDE should be the main edition, and ubuntu, the step child.
+1 for this ;)
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⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀
hoppimike

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by hoppimike »

I guess the Debian Edition is more of a work in progress than normal Mint.

I too would like to see Mint drop the Ubuntu middleman, as it would be amazing to see rolling updates, etc.

However, I am unsure of the advantages of using Ubuntu for this, so I may be wrong here if they're particularly good.
gryphon

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by gryphon »

drumBE wrote:
Crewp wrote:I agree, LMDE should be the main edition, and ubuntu, the step child.
+1 for this ;)
And another +1.

Since LMDE uses "update packs" (e.g. not a rolling release model) I don't really see why keep using Ubuntu as a base. Also, with Debian no reinstall is needed (unlike Ubuntu).
nobodynoze

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by nobodynoze »

Edit: some recent developments but.... the initial outcome included...
I tried to upgrade (UP7) and it was a disaster. I did read pertinent threads for the upgrade (warnings and instructions etc.).

The screen was flickering blue especially when I tried to access the menu and it was not something I could just 'fix.'

So, the update is that I thought I might as well try some things. I installed the video driver for my desktop card - nvidia 304.xx or whatever it is. Anyway, after running nvidia-xconfig, I now have a usable desktop. I had an initial message regarding Cinnamon but that was when my resolution/settings was incorrect.
M_aD
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Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by M_aD »

From my point of view LMDE isn't a rolling nor a cyclic-rolling release anymore with the one or maybe when lucky two Update Packs that are released in a year...... and that's where the problem is i think. The gap between the UP's is too big which results in people running into all kinds of trouble while or after updating because of some package changes, the impact could be to high. That's why i stopped using LMDE months ago and moved on.

To keep LMDE a once to install, rolling/semi-rolling and a bit more stable distro, UP's should be released every month. Including releasing new iso's when really needed for people who want to try LMDE.

If one man, Schoelje, with help from just a few other people can pull it off with his own project SolydXK that even exists of various editions and for which he develops tools too, then i ask myself why it can't be done with LMDE. From what i have read, the Mint team is quite big so it should be possible to maintain and develop LMDE a bit better and in that way take the frustration off of people who want to use it.

I know that the Ubuntu based editions have big priority but since the team is big enough, wouldn't it be possible to put at least one or two people working on LMDE fulltime and get users fond again of this edition?

just my two cents
kurotsugi

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by kurotsugi »

Can someone not just make a simple Sticky post and says "This is working, this is not, what to expect with LMDE, if you want to use wine stay away, known bugs etc etc etc". < - if that existed i would not have wasted a day downloading and another installing.
we already have it. http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 8&t=132747 if you can't find it there then it should be on debian bug tracker. indeed, there are lot of problems from the latest UP but most of them are already solved. on most case we depend on user report to find out the bug. despite of the number of your problems,
Silly little things like setting default apps dont work, under brightness and lock there is no option to switch off ... And dont even get me started on wine
I saw none of them asked on LMDE forum. please expect that you might need to wait longer until the problem is solved. there are only few LMDE user and only few of them still active in this forum and have all required capabilities.
1. I can't find a way to extend the numbers of workspaces (I had 4 before update and now only 2).
2. I can't get the panel to autohide anymore.
3. after a reboot the numlock is always off (used to be on) and I don't find a way to change it.
4. after a reboot the sound is always muted even if it was activated before booting.
5. mounted devices may suddenly disappear and can't be found again in the filesystem unless I reboot and remount them.
6. The updater always fails to update the package index list.

I'm not a fan of the terminal and have never got the time to study linux programming, unfortunatly, and now I fell to old to try. 8)

3-4-5. this problem seems a local issue. I don't have this problem on my system. clean reinstall might be a quick solution for it.
6. run 'sudo apt-get update' via terminal
unfortunately, none of rolling release distro is completely friendly to their user. deeper knowledge about linux system is always required. using terminal is a minimum skill you need to have.
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get autoclean
apt-get autoremove ... errors!
apt-get -f install
apt-get autoremove ... ok.
this command is good if you're following debian testing but it might create a disaster if you follow lmde's UP. there are several packages which shouldn't upgraded and unfortunately apt-get didn't know which one. we need to hold them manually before upgrade. we'll also need to aware debian's bug tracker and package transition.
rayandrews

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by rayandrews »

I saw none of them asked on LMDE forum. please expect that you might need to wait longer until the problem is solved. there are only few LMDE user and only few of them still active in this forum and have all required capabilities.
You know, Mint (all flavors) seems to be the #1 distro now (if you can believe DistroWatch, tho they say not to trust the download stats). But LMDE is certainly not the most reliable or stable distro. There are always these stupid little breakages. A person looking for stability should look elsewhere, like perhaps Slackware. If I had one suggestion for Clem, I'd ask him to spend less time on 'the latest and greatest' and more time with reliability. And, as said above, if LMDE has only a few users, and only a few active, then perhaps Clem should consolidate his resources and even drop LMDE--although I'd drop the Ubuntus and *concentrate* on LMDE if I was him. However, I must say my latest upgrades have all been fine. However, I always do them from CLI now.

unfortunately, none of rolling release distro is completely friendly to their user. deeper knowledge about linux system is always required. using terminal is a minimum skill you need to have.

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get autoclean
apt-get autoremove ... errors!
apt-get -f install
apt-get autoremove ... ok.


TRUE. Some CLI skills are needed.
this command is good if you're following debian testing but it might create a disaster if you follow lmde's UP. there are several packages which shouldn't upgraded and unfortunately apt-get didn't know which one. we need to hold them manually before upgrade. we'll also need to aware debian's bug tracker and package transition.

What is "Imde's UP" ?
M_aD
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Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by M_aD »

rayandrews wrote: What is "Imde's UP" ?
UP = Update Pack which is released once a year or maybe when lucky, as i said in my previous post, twice a year to update LMDE.....
rayandrews

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by rayandrews »

Mr. B wrote:
rayandrews wrote: What is "Imde's UP" ?
UP = Update Pack which is released once a year or maybe when lucky, as i said in my previous post, twice a year to update LMDE.....
Sorry, that's obvious now that I look again. I read that as a name with a capital eye not a lower case el. Here, the two look identical. And I'm used to seeing 'LMDE'. Pardon, that was dumb of me.
kurotsugi

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by kurotsugi »

that's true. even though both version have 'mint' in their name, LMDE and mint main version is two different beast. sadly, most LMDE active user on!ly look into LMDE section. thus, if there any question about LMDE placed outside the section we'll mostly missed it.

anyway, it depends on how you could maintain your system. LMDE could be a bliss or a disaster. with a proper maintenance it could turned into rock solid system. the concept of semi rolling release system is actually great. it's just that clem n friends didnt have enough resource and time to maintain it
rayandrews

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by rayandrews »

kurotsugi wrote:that's true. even though both version have 'mint' in their name, LMDE and mint main version is two different beast. sadly, most LMDE active user on!ly look into LMDE section. thus, if there any question about LMDE placed outside the section we'll mostly missed it.

anyway, it depends on how you could maintain your system. LMDE could be a bliss or a disaster. with a proper maintenance it could turned into rock solid system. the concept of semi rolling release system is actually great. it's just that clem n friends didnt have enough resource and time to maintain it
I know what you mean--when one has a question, is it 'just' LMDE, or is it for Mint as a whole? Anyway that just reinforces my belief that Clem should concentrate his efforts. Better to have LMDE solid or just drop it or drop the Ubuntu branch and concentrate on LMDE. Myself, I'm thinking I'm ready to give plain Debian a try and see how much LMDE modifications are missed. I respect Clem's work, but it must be solid!
kurotsugi

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by kurotsugi »

I prefer to customize lmde installation and build my own system on top of it. based on our preferences there will be several options. for a stability pursuer using pure debian testing will be a good option. we can also put mint's repo on top of it to get packages such as firefox.
gryphon

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by gryphon »

rayandrews wrote:I know what you mean--when one has a question, is it 'just' LMDE, or is it for Mint as a whole? Anyway that just reinforces my belief that Clem should concentrate his efforts. Better to have LMDE solid or just drop it or drop the Ubuntu branch and concentrate on LMDE. Myself, I'm thinking I'm ready to give plain Debian a try and see how much LMDE modifications are missed. I respect Clem's work, but it must be solid!
I've tried to add Cinnamon 2 to a pure Debian system, but parts of the DE were missing, control panel and gtk themes not fully working... and ATM you have either to compile it from git or use unofficial precompiled packages. I'm no expert, but it's definitely not as simple as doing "apt-get install gnome-desktop". However, given the sad state of LMDE, I'm going to try again with a pure Debian once Cinnamon 2 appears in the repos.
killer de bug

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by killer de bug »

Now that you have compiled Cinnamon 2.0, why don't you simply just follow testing with your current install?
You will be up-to-date and have the advantage of Mint/Cinnamon... :wink:
gryphon

Re: LMDE disapointment.

Post by gryphon »

As I said, Cinnamon 2 on a pure Debian system doesn't seem to work too well, probably I'm missing something but I don't know what. Others I've talked to had the same problem. I'll just wait until it becomes available in the official repo, so dependencies and other needed packages hopefully won't be an issue.
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