Survivalmonkey.com has recently begun to sponsor Linux Mint on a monthly recurring basis: http://www.linuxmint.com/sponsors.php
question from a computer dumbazz.Is there a significant difference between Ubuntu 12 and Mint to warrant change?The cost of Mint is so small as not to matter.Been away from MS for 5 or 6 years and don't even consider going back but Ubuntu is a little hard for me to navigate in some areas.
Mint and Ubuntu are both be free to download. Ubuntu has gone to the 'Unity' desktop interface which is painful for some to use. Mint has a Desktop called Cinnamon which is what I use or another Desktop called MATE which looks and behaves exactly like Gnome 2 of pre-Unity days on Ubuntu. Mint also comes with audio and video codecs installed out of the box so you have mp3, DVD, Flash, etc working right away. Mint 13 is a LTS version (Long Term Support) so it's fully supported by the Mint team for security and other upgrades for 3 years. Main Mint versions are baed on Ubuntu so everything else should work as you have it now. The best thing to do would be to download and burn onto a DVD and then run in Live mode which doesn't install but lets you play around with it. Note that Live OS's are very slow since every thing is coming from the DVD and not your hard drive. I'm not at my Linux system today so I can't take some screenshots. We can walk you through anything you need if you choose to migrate. Here are some I've found: Linux Mint 13 Released, 2 Editions Available: MATE And Cinnamon ~ Web Upd8: Ubuntu / Linux blog MATE (Gnome 2 fork) Cinnamon (Gnome 3 highly tweaked)
Thanks Melbo,I'm going to give it a try and I'm real sure with my computer skills you guys will be in for a walk. Hydration pack ready?
I don't use Mint (main) but I just loaded 13 on my daughters laptop a few nights ago. After installation, the first update is around 400 MB of download and while it installs, the system will ask you a few questions about 'keep' or 'replace' a few configuration files. Always keep.
Toying with Mint now, it's been a while (since the 4.0 Daryna release). Holy cow, it's come a long way! Gonna have to order a CD now to support them, the whole system works fantastic. You know, I love Wine and now I really love Bleachbit. I mean...impressive. I am FAR from installing all the packages I want and setting up the final order and such. Just tooling around a bit...been a looong time. I found it really simple to download and create the bootable image on DVD. (This was using "evil" Windows.) The old PC I have is now running at optimal...
Gonna have to try that. Been tooling around in root terminal trying to hack the latest Nvidia graphics driver for a bit now, lol...had to reboot many times, decompile, try another, etc. Very frustrating. Not entirely Linux's fault since I am using a 42" flatscreen and can easily use my 22" monitor if I wanted to. The latest update for the driver came out on the 6th and it hasn't propagated through the channels and been added to the software package center yet. I have to say, the way the system updates now is quite impressive. Anyway, one more try and if it doesn't work I will do without a driver for a few days or try Cinnamon a bit. We will see. =) been haxx0ring using 'sudo killall mdm' and 'sudo sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.64.run' commands, but find more problems with conflicting program drivers and the install shuts down. First it was "X-server" (hence the killall mdm), then conflicts with nouveau kernel (a lot of programs use this including Gimp and Wine), so I dunno. The reason, you ask? On my LCD, I lose the task bar at the bottom and the resolution is WAY outta wack.
I run nVidia and can't live without smxi smxi sgfxi svmi :: How to Install the Scripts Follow the 'install scripts' instructions and then run either sudo smxi or sudo sgfxi. smxi runs through a whole lot of interactive automated scripts while sgfxi will just grab your latest nvidia driver for you.
Yeah, you can dist-upgrade, install alternate kernels, vmware and a whole lot of other stuff. Remember, Clonezilla is your friend... I used to bork my system beyond repair a lot. Actually using btrfs snapshots now so when I screw something up, I just rename the latest snapshot to @ and reboot.
LOL! Yeah me too... I love the features of Mint so far, but I already grow weary of not having full root access without having to CTRL-ALT+F1 my way to the main terminal and then rebooting. I might just install an Ubuntu distro after I am done playing. I installed that full smxi script, ran it as root and I got an option to shut down X and I did, and the screen went blank and told me basically I suck. Sat there for a few minutes, too. Tried 3 times and realized Einstein was right. Trying out Cinnamon right now. Mint 13 is actually packed with a ton of great things.
Are you running dual monitors now? If so, I found it better to get video working on one and then work on the second one. SMXI should shut down your desktop and take you to a tty promt (user: pass and then you run sudo smxi again. Strange that you don't drop down to your system text when you shutdown mdm (desktop). I'm running LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) which is a minty desktop (Cinnamon) built on pure Debian testing.
I was looking at the Debian Mint for a bit. I might graduate that way eventually, especially if the new drivers take too long. I am sticking with the default drivers for now, not recognizing my vid card, but it's all working fine at the moment. Cinnamon is pretty snazzy. What I did was boot into Windows 7 and downloaded a free partition tool (quite amazing actually): EaseUS Partition --then I used it to combine all of my partitions (except Windows boot primary and its secondary), then formatted them NTFS and finally wiped it clean once (took about 45 minutes). I left the hard drive partitioned with a single unallocated chunk just for Linux. The fresh Linux install went perfectly right into it from the live DVD. It didn't even ask me where I wanted to put it, perfect. We will see how this goes over the next week. Liking it so far.
How about a question from a dumb newbie? I have worked with hardware for some time, but have little experience with software. Can I load Linux on a flashdrive and use it from there? Should I say away from the big boy toys and continue in the Windows sandbox?
It's true that some Linux projects have distributions which can be daunting, but with a little effort they can be a lot of fun. You can easily download several Linux versions to a thumb drive, or even buy one pre-loaded! It's only a few bucks, too. Any complaints you see from me are due to the fact that I like to have full access to administrator privileges and hack myself into a corrupt system (it can be fun, too). But, all this aside, the recent releases of Mint and Debian Mint have a lot of features not too uncommon for Windows users, like updates with a click of the mouse and a GUI that is very familiar. I have found the new Mint releases to be appealing in this sense at least. I especially like the programs. It's so easy to use open source software and open video files, .pdf's, images and documents as well as do all kinds of stuff with them. Burning an .iso image, for instance --breeze in Linux mint 13. Lot's of great things to say. Link to live media: Live Media (Flash/SD/CF), On-Disk.com Link to free Linux Mint: Main Page - Linux Mint Multi-boot Linux discs for someone who wants to sample the fun: Linux, On-Disk.com Some of the best Linux with excellent support and updates at On-Disc with live boot: Debian, On-Disk.com Me, personally? I LOVE Liberte Linux. Download here: Liberté Linux | Free Communications software downloads at SourceForge.net Liberte Linux is easy, simple, light, fits on as little as a 1gb thumb drive (I tested this) with no problems. Setting it up isn't tough at all, using a Windows system even. It's secure, stealthy, and leaves no traces. Can be used in any machine that can boot from a usb. This can be changed in the BIOS settings upon restart (esc key, F1, etc.) --and it's free. Which to choose? I am currently playing around with Linux Mint 13 "Maya" Mate and Cinnamon. You can download them or buy a disc or thumb drive and run them live or install them. Linux Mint 13 "Maya", On-Disk.com Good stuff!
Download an iso image (like Linux Mint) Download Unetbootin UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads Insert your flash drive Run Unetbootin and select 'from iso' Browse to your iso !!Verify that the target is truly your USB drive!! Create Reboot and make sure your bios settings support boot from USB and also make sure that the boot order will look for a USB drive first. (or just f12 to you boot menu and select your flash drive F key may vary from system to system) Enjoy, you know have a complete OS on a stick.