I have been using Linux for ten years now and like most of you I like to try different distributions. A few months ago I discovered Linux Mint while browsing on DistroWatch. I was surprised to see that Linux Mint was really popular (I think it was 4th at that time) and just now it’s the 3rd most popular Linux distribution…
Linux Mint, which is at version 7 now, is based on Ubuntu which itself is built on Debian. So we’re in excellent company here.
These are the things in Linux Mint that I really like:
- Linux Mint contain codecs for most of the media files (audio / video) found on the Internet out of the box.
- The user interface is gorgeous and really feels like something that has been designed by someone who really knows about user interaction. For example, Mint has a menu (pictured above) which contains selected applications (favourites) and which is 100% customisable. It’s much better (IMHO) than the default Gnome menu.
- There is an application which shows all software available in Linux Mint with screenshots. What is great is that this list can be sorted by popularity. It’s a great way to discover open source applications which are used by a lot of people and which you don’t personally know about.
- Compiz (as well as the proprietary Nvidia driver in my case) is preinstalled and is sensibly configured: not a lot of eye candy but, instead, a pragmatic choice of settings to make Gnome more usable.
- aptitude! I love anything .deb-based.
I’m really impressed by Linux Mint. This is the only distribution I use at home. At work I use CentOS Linux because, well, it is great for a business environment. But I might replace CentOS on my own computer there with Linux Mint. Just don’t tell anyone.
I moved from Ubuntu to Mint about six months ago and I don’t regret it. The differences between the two are enough to make Mint subtly better. You have all the advantages of the large Ubuntu user base and support with all the additional features and eye-candy Mint provides. The main thing I like is that Mint does not follow that sx-month release thing Ubuntu has got going on. So with Mint you are sure that you will be getting a thoroughly tested release, which will include the bug fixes which may be required for Ubuntu. However I may just switch to the next Ubuntu release as soon as it is out to see if it will really boot faster.
Désolé … mais s’il ne faut pas en baver un minimum pour installer linux … Il n’y a plus de plaisir :)… je ne lâcherai pas ma gentoo.
Le Geek vivra !
Je suis 100% d’accord avec toi. Tout “geek” doit passer par une phase Gentoo (je fus un Gentooien pendant deux ans.) Linux Mint s’adresse à un public plus large. Sincèrement, Mint est peut etre la distribution idéale pour les non-geeks.
I am using Linux Mint as my main os. It gives me what I need ATM. Nice distro.
i was impressed with mint also, at work, a dude asked me what i would advise him to run, i rememberred linux mint’s interface from some video i watched somewhere, and told him to try that [and also i would have liked to see how it was].
So he did, and i was positively surprised.
Now, am not gonna change my freebsd at all .. but am surely thinking of using that mint theme, already started searching today and have been installing compiz etc making the box ready for the mint candy look 😀
I like the look of Mint. What I like best though is how snappy the UI is: compiz has been very sensibly configured. It really makes me more productive.