Coming to Linux again

Bob Wya Jnr · 17 Jun 2009 at 10:13

celliott said:
Take a look at Mint Linux. Better than Ubuntu IMO, everything works out of the box

Yeh but not only does Mint have everything working out of the box (OK sound is broken - but sound on GNU/Linux is almost always broken)... But damn Mint 7 looks the part man!! It even has useable "emblems" for files and folders (the Ubuntu ones are a sick joke from 2006), the start menu is a dream (Vista like - but on steroids), the themes available are nicer. Even the logon pages, etc. are sweet. :cool:

Why am I waffling on about the looks - well if you want to convert someone from Windows to Linux looks are important. I am installing it on my sisters laptop. It took hours to sort out the sound (Intel HD audio - Realtek ALC888 chipsets -arrrg) - but that's a problem across all distro's currently... So I'm really hoping she'll prefer it over Vista!! Even the x64 iPlayer beta worked out of the box (once I found out about it - thanks Adobe/BBC - not).

Sorry for rambling on!!

Bob
Mint fanboiii

Sash · 17 Jun 2009 at 11:54

I have to admit I was a bit meh about going back to Linux since it took me days to get ndiswrapper etc to work with my wireless n network adaptor (yay for not being able to use network cables to use the "easy install all button". Luckily I am using homeplugs now so it should work as it will be network cabled up

Got any screenshots of Mint 7 Bob?

Ethics · 17 Jun 2009 at 13:12

http://www.linuxmint.com/screenshots.php from their website...

Screenshots aren't really much to go by though since the shear amount of GUI customisation. From backgrounds to window managers.

Someone mentioned Arch, it will be a different experience to ubuntu/Mint. And i found i learnt a lot more that way. I installed Ubuntu on my netbook and it did everything, then plopped me into a session. Can't learn bugger all and no idea where to start.

When i installed arch a few years ago the installer was very detailed and verbose, you end up knowing the how and whys. it al ldepends on what you are after i guess. It also allowed me to install a minimal system and build it up as i wanted. I always feel the heavier/more common distros give yo uthe kitchen sink approach, with 5 different apps to do each task.

Sash · 17 Jun 2009 at 13:16

Ethics said:
http://www.linuxmint.com/screenshots.php from their website...

Screenshots aren't really much to go by though since the shear amount of GUI customisation. From backgrounds to window managers.

Someone mentioned Arch, it will be a different experience to ubuntu/Mint. And i found i learnt a lot more that way. I installed Ubuntu on my netbook and it did everything, then plopped me into a session. Can't learn bugger all and no idea where to start.

When i installed arch a few years ago the installer was very detailed and verbose, you end up knowing the how and whys. it al ldepends on what you are after i guess. It also allowed me to install a minimal system and build it up as i wanted. I always feel the heavier/more common distros give yo uthe kitchen sink approach, with 5 different apps to do each task.

Just been on the website now, I had asked for screenshots personally because I was at work and couldnt check out the website, was hoping some screens would get put up before lunch lol

I will consider Arch Linux aswell, I am just messing about with them until I find a linux I like.

Bob Wya Jnr · 17 Jun 2009 at 15:06

Sash said:
...
Got any screenshots of Mint 7 Bob?

Yes, but I just put it in the official Linux screen-shot thread... here
Don't want this thread getting too cluttered / starting a war of the distro Desktop Managers!!

I might have gone a bit overboard with Jpeg compression on the bigger version... Sorry!!

Enjoy

Bob

Sash · 17 Jun 2009 at 19:16

Bob Wya Jnr said:
Yes, but I just put it in the official Linux screen-shot thread... here
Don't want this thread getting too cluttered / starting a war of the distro Desktop Managers!!

I might have gone a bit overboard with Jpeg compression on the bigger version... Sorry!!

Enjoy

Bob

Thanks for the screens. Will be installing mint when i get in. Whats your boot times like? I saw on the main site something about a 10s boot up.

vidda · 17 Jun 2009 at 19:25

Sash said:
Thanks for the screens. Will be installing mint when i get in. Whats your boot times like? I saw on the main site something about a 10s boot up.

If you meant the screenshot that said "Automatic Boot in 10 seconds" that's just the bootloader. It means it will boot the default kernel in 10 seconds... not that it will have fully booted in 10 seconds

Sash · 17 Jun 2009 at 19:27

vidda said:
If you meant the screenshot that said "Automatic Boot in 10 seconds" that's just the bootloader. It means it will boot the default kernel in 10 seconds... not that it will have fully booted in 10 seconds

kay. My ubuntu loaded in under 20seconds so dunno if this would load any quicker?
Edit: Downloading now.

theheyes · 17 Jun 2009 at 22:08

In my subjective experience Mint is no quicker than Ubuntu, if anything slightly slower - somewhere between 8.10 and 9.04 for boot time on the same hardware.

Sash · 17 Jun 2009 at 22:10

So what is the boot times performance Ubuntu 8.10 vs 9.04, I am downloading this aswell since this is what I am used to

theheyes · 17 Jun 2009 at 22:54

I hate to guess but from memory I'd say 9.04 is a good 10 seconds quicker to boot than 8.10 and a little bit snappier loading the desktop. Definitely noticeable. It's hard to say with any kind of accuracy without timing them properly. To be quite honest though it makes little difference as I suspend/resume which takes 2-3 seconds to wake up. Very rarely do I need to reboot (been 15 days thus far for example)

PanchoVilla · 17 Jun 2009 at 23:30

Sash said:
Planning on coming back to linux for something to do. .....

For something to do? .... I do the same thing every few seasons. Coming from a strong unix background, I like the beauty of it all. Tried Slackware last time, and was surprised to be gratified immensely with the experience.

I would summarise Slackware as the distro that uses the KISS principle the most, ie.keep-it-simple-stupid. Unlike other, disorderly OS's under the microsoft umbrella that use the KISS principle, i.e. keep-it-simply-stupid.

I still use XP for my home pc, largely because of all the software I need to run. There was an old UNIX fortune cookie that seems very apt at this moment, "never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups". Somewhere in that cookie, there follows a corollary, but I'm too tired to think further.

quackers · 17 Jun 2009 at 23:56

I'd also have a look at pclinux, it's not as flashy as mint but it's solid and very good

zinc · 19 Jun 2009 at 09:54

I would recommend ubuntu 9.04, in terms of speed it has a way faster boot up time than 8.10, and nice notifications integrated in which a lot of apps use. Also its a bit nippier with ext4, Ive been using it since the release date and have not had a problem.

One area I was disappointed with in 9.04 though was the looks from previous versions, I personally liked the older login screens, and they removed some icon themes

. Also be careful with 9.04 if you use intel integrated graphics, like many laptops, drivers are not available for some GMA chip sets and I read the road map for a fix is in 9.10

.

I have not used linux mint before but is it not just ubuntu with ubuntu-restricted-extras for the codecs and the arc-colors and gnome-colors theme packages?