Linux Mint 12

Actually had 12 working fairly good, not great, except for those two issues, which were major to me. the wireless would not work and cinnamon wouldn't show up in the menu option as advertised even though I tried installing it twice,

Now I'm wondering if I have a hardware issue with the motherboard in the laptop as I could not get Mint 11 to connect wireless either, so am going to give 10 another try, bang head repeatedly, Mint 10 was working fine, up until I thought I could improve on the system.

May be time to buy a new laptop, all I really need is yet another computer.

 

That is exactly the problem, those drivers that are available in Mint 11 & 12 are not right for a computer that is as old as the HP laptop I have. I just reinstalled Mint 10, loaded the driver for the wireless and could connect immediately. No messing around searching for other driver options, 10 just works and 11, 12 do not. My laptop is now 6 years old, really sux that even backporting didn't find a driver compatible with my hardware. Like I said, Mepis worked right off the dvd disc and no messing with loading the nonfree drivers. Only thing is, it is KDE desktop and leaves a bit to be desired after using gnome for so long. The hardware is fine, just not compatible with the new releases of Mint. Don't know why they dropped support for the older hardware.

 

Got the laptop all back to a usable OS with Mint 10, as per above newer distros of Mint will not work properly on my old machine. The desktop is not a super computer, but is a last years build of one my wife was using that got the motherboard fried by lightening. I installed a new upgrade MB, processor, and ram sticks, along with a 1TB hard drive. Her old HDD had windows on it and was only 60 gig, so, it had to go while I was at it.

At some point I know I will have to upgrade the system, but probably not until I find something better than Mint 12. I think even the KDE version is more usable than the gnome version, from all my testing results. Not real enthused about going through this process for a few days. Should go with the theory, "If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it!"

 

My desktop could probably handle the newer Mint and LMDE distros as I wouldn't be using wireless and even though it's not that old with it's upgraded quad processor and DDR3 ram sticks. It is by no means top of the line, more like patched up junk, but it does what I need it to do and I didn't have to break the bank to build it. Using Linux for an OS saved me even a bunch more than having to buy win7 for it. The only monitor I had for it, when I built it, was the one I use on the old eMachine out in the barn, so I bought a new wide screen for it and took the old one back out to the barn. The eMachine with 2 gig of ram and an external USB wireless device runs ok (not fast) with Mint 11 LMDE on it, so I'm sure it would run on the desktop in my office. Part of installing LMDE on the eMachine, was to test it out as an option to upgrading my desktop. I do think cinnamon should work, it just wasn't doing it on my laptop, don't think I was doing it wrong. However, I've always had some kind of issues with that HP laptop ever since it was new. Even had to send it in for repair when it was still under warranty. It was right after that when I first installed Linux on it - PCLinuxOS was the distro I finally got to work on it. For some reason it likes KDE better, but since about Mint 6 I've been using Mint and gnome.

 

Have you made sure that you have 'backport' in your /etc/apt/sources.list ?

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

add backport to the end of each line
If you get errors on a:

Code:

 sudo apt-get update

delete backport from any lines in sources.list the terminal tells you it can't find.
for example in my LMDE:

Code:

deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import backport

That should bring support for aging hardware although it has to be pretty wildcat to not be supported unless your talking video and wireless.

 

Thanks Seeker, The issue was with the wireless driver support not being able to find the right one no matter what I tried, even backporting didn't work. Support was available in Mint 10 and before, but not in mint 11 or 12. I did not try LMDE on the laptop, so do not plan to either. Someday, if I ever decide to get another laptop, the support will probably be available for it, at least for a few years.

 

I got fed up with Ubuntu so I tried Mint 12. Found it had too many problems so I tried Mint 11. Now I'm in love!

 

More testing to begin soon

I have downloaded a few other distros to burn and test. A couple still to come except that Mepis - that's is downloading now is the 32 bit and the other one I have already tested on the laptop was 64 bit. Want to test the 32 bit on the eMachine as the 64 bit will not work on it. Also going to test Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Fedora, and Absolute-Linux which is based on Slackware.

Spent the day working on my motorcycle instead of testing software. I added a fairing and hard bags as well as a helmet lock. Actually got to ride for a bit after completing the work as it was in the fifties here today.

 

Might have something to do with ram, but then it might be something to do with me not reading instructions. I do better with mechanical things, than computers. Trouble is even cars and motorcycles need computers any more.

 

Amazing isn't it? Perfect example of what programming can do would be the Duramax diesel. One program for the track, one for trailering, one for ultimate MPG all without making a single mechanical change.

 

Just upgraded my LT to Mint 12 from Ubuntu. I did the latest upgrade on Ubuntu and really didn't like the changes. So I figured going to Mint.

2 minor issues. 1) had to activate the drivers for my wireless (Dell inspiron) and 2) had to track down and install Adobe Air to get some existing software to run.

Other than those, I'm liking this distro so far. Time to do some exploring and see what I can break, then fix and break again

 

Glad you got it working on your LT as mine is older and the correct driver was not in the package nor was I able to find one that worked. Mepis worked wireless right from the live disc.

With all the testing I did, I still have not found a replacement for Mint 10 for my laptop. Mepis would work for me, but it uses the KDE desktop and so, until I have to do something else, like a crashed HDD or something on the LT, I'll let it be.

One of these days, I will probably back up all my settings and files on this desktop and either go with LMDE or Mint 12 with Cinnamon-session. Guessing that LMDE will inherit cinnamon when it goes to the new gnome version, could already be at that state, have not kept up with it. I have LMDE on the old computer in the barn, but have not tweaked it in a while.

 

Mint 12 KDE has just been released as of about a week ago. I downloaded the early RC testing release but only looked at it. I now have the regular distro and have tested the live dvd on both my old laptop and my desktop. While it does work on the old LT, I still have the issue with the wireless support on that, but on the desktop - I was impressed, to say the least. For a KDE release, it is a great improvement over the gnome 3 release, in my opinion. I would upgrade to this distro. Well, maybe one of these days. Gotta wait for a day when I can be sure all my files are backed up and I have the house to myself for a while, so I can concentrate on the process.

I will say, it may not work out as good as I think, but it sure beats the gnome edition of 12. Now if they just bring out a LMDE version of it later in the year. Pretty sure I don't want gnome 3. From the comments on the mint website, I think there is a lot of folks disappointed in gnome 3.