Linux Mint Debian -LMDE!

[viking60]

I came over this one a month ago or so and installed it in my Virtualbox. The thought of Mint leaving Ubuntu as a base and go directly for Debian (Like Ubuntu) was interesting. Mint LMDE is based on Debian and is a rolling release, this is new. I installed it and got no option for Norwegian Bokmål only Nynorsk and Samisk. So I left it again untested. Then I found a sollution how to corect this: Code: Select all sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales This made it possible to change the system locales. So I added the guest-addition to get a decent resolution and logged into Mint LMDE. Look and Feel I got in and was not sure if I had Gnome or Kde. The menu is adapted and integrated beautifully, and there is a definite Suse "feel". Fonts are sharp and crisp - it just looked good. And yes it was Gnome Navigation is easy and there is a control panel for the system tasks. Can you see what I mean by Suse feel? Well Suses control panel comes highly praised it is second only to Mandriva. Mint has simplified the navigation so I think this one is a bit better than Suses. This thing looks good though and it is easy to get started, and it is easy to use.

Repositories and Manager Mint LMDE uses the well known Synaptic package manager and that is OK. Just OK in my book, since I never quite got the euphoria many have for it. It did not work out of the box the first time I started it, up but the command I needed to run in the terminal was in the error message, so there was no problem. Mint uses the Debian repos and those are the biggest ones out there. You will probably never miss any software here. Flash and Java worked out of the box directly after the install. Nice Mint! That is how you win those Windows guys over! Movies and sound played fluently without any lagging. I did an upgrade with Code: Select all sudo apt-get upgrade and it was a big one -no problems. Mint Debian maintains KDE, Xfce, Fluxbox and LXDE so you can take your pick. I only tested Gnome which is the default. Who should use it? This is a distro to recommend for beginners (not limited to them). Rolling release can be a bit unstable but reinstalling every 6 months is not good for a beginner either. The forum is active and it looks like help is given. This support is not as good in Mandriva anymore even if the distro is great for beginners. Ubuntu is great for beginners too. So my pick would be one of these three. Mint LMDE is 100% Debian compatible so the risk of being abandoned is very small. This is an interesting distribution. I will follow it for a while and let you know if I change my mind. The language bug for nb is a showstopper, but only for (new) Norwegian users. Mint LMDE sure looks good so far

Edit: Did another upgrade with the GUI update manger and flash was gone. That is not all that good. Makes me wonder if I did install it myself early on in the testing I think I will have to revert my statement regarding beginners above.

[dedanna1029]

Remember however, that LMDE is a testing distro (which is how/why it is rolling release), so it won't be stable, nor is it really for beginners. It's for testers.

http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php - "based on Debian Testing"

"continuously changes as it receives updates and new software. Compared to a frozen version of Linux Mint which changes very little once it's publicly released, it's not as stable. Things are likely to break more often but fixes can also come quicker. For this reason, LMDE requires a deeper knowledge and experience with Linux, dpkg and APT."

[viking60]

Hey! Debian Testing is more conserative than most repos. Ubuntu is based on debian unstable!

[viking60]

Well this being a rolling release and me beeing lazy it has been a long time since I looked in on Mint LMDE. So it was time to test the roling again.
I did a:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update

and a

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get upgrade

It went through but at the very end it complained about signatures and decided to ignore my upgrade. Not very respectful that MInt!
And not very rolling either.
I have never had problems in rolling along with Arch but to be fair; I update Arch every day and not once a year. Right now I am stuck on how to update Mint LMDE and a lot of stuff is broken; that is bad....
I think the rolling part is not working so I will give regular MInt 12 a spin instead.

[dedanna1029]

Hey, how many times did you get bad updates from Mandriva's Cooker, and then the next day they'd be fixed? I used to get a few from Arch now and again too. LMDE is no different. They'll get it fixed.

[viking60]

Yes but Mint LMDE is not a cooker/ developing version. It is supposed to roll with stable upstream software. And being Debian one should think that it would be stable enough.
Arch is fully fit for production use. I suppose the simple non bloated approach makes it that stable. In Mint LMDE there are just to many components that can be broken. I dunno...

[dedanna1029]

Yeah, but when Arch bunks, it does it big time. Especially on the kernel.

[dedanna1029]

Sunday, March 25, 2011

LMDE Update Pack 4 is being prepared and tested at the moment.

Among other important updates this new update pack features:

Linux 3.2 kernel
MATE 1.2 (with mintMenu and mintDesktop now fully ported to MATE)
Cinnamon 1.4
KDE 4.7.4
Gnome Shell 3.2.2
Xfce 4.8

The one thing it’s missing is Gnome 2.

Gnome 2 is, by far, the most used and popular Linux desktop. It’s also the environment we’ve been improving and polishing since we started in 2006 and it’s been a core component of the Linux Mint desktop. Gnome 3 carries the same name but the similarities stop there. It’s a new and radically different desktop and it has very little in common with it.

As you probably know, Gnome 3 conflicts with Gnome 2 and so most distributions lost Gnome 2 about a year ago. Linux Mint 12 lost it in November and LMDE is about to lose it as well with this update pack.

As more and more Gnome 2 users couldn’t use it anymore, many people migrated to other existing desktops such as KDE, Xfce or LXDE. Some people used Gnome Fallback (a Gnome 3 environment which looks like Gnome 2 but which lacks support for Gnome 2 applets and is meant to disappear) and others migrated to a distribution which still had Gnome 2 (Linux Mint 11 or LMDE for instance).

Since that happened, we’ve been worried about the lack of satisfactory alternatives to Gnome 2. Looking towards the future of LMDE and the upcoming Linux Mint 13 release, our top priority was to get to the stage where we can provide our users with something most people would find as good or better than Gnome 2.

More at LMDE Update Pack 4 and alternatives to Gnome 2

I wanna install it, I wanna install it! Daddy may I pleeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaassse?

[viking60]

You will be happy with Cinnamon. It started out as a protest to Gnome3-shell where they only removed Gnome3 functionality. But now you can drag your programs from the menu to the panel and right-click to edit the menu etc. So it is almost like the good ol' Gnome2.
It has an annoying bug where you get a delay of several seconds the first time you try to pop the menu, but the look and feel is like you are used to.

Beeing Conservative we do not want anything to change

[dedanna1029]

I don't mind change. I just mind change for the worse.