Posted on 04/03/2012 7:28:24 AM PDT by ShadowAce
bfl
I’m running Mint 9 Isadora and haven’t even attempted to ‘upgrade’.. and this is why...
“Linux Mint, by contrast, doesn’t offer the fancy option of a distribution upgrade. Instead, they suggest you use mintBackup, then do a clean installation of the new release. As one might expect, most people tend to lean toward the Ubuntu method since it takes less work. Some might even argue that it’s easier, too.”
There is no way I’m going to spend hours backing up my system and then do a ‘clean install’ and try to re-install everything again.
I’ve run Ubuntu and Mint and to me, Mint is an easier to use system.
JMO
I’m quite happy with Fedora, myself.
Got my start on Ubuntu. Jumped from there over to FreeBSD when I decided to get my hands a little more “dirty” and then went back to Linux due to some wireless problems. I settled down with Arch after fooling around with Slackware for a while. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even care about window managers anymore. I use XMonad and run everything from the command line.
That being the case, I personally don’t have much use for Ubuntu or Mint. All the same, I don’t knock them as they’re great for bringing in people to whom GNU/Linux would otherwise be inaccessible and there’s nothing wrong even among seasoned techs with wanting to run something polished. Personally, I’m just glad whenever I see people talking about any flavor.
I should have added...
But I don’t like Mints ‘upgrade’ path.
It’s ridiculous to have to jump through all the hoops just to upgrade to Mint 12.
So far, Isadora is working fine. If it becomes a problem later, I’ll just boot into Windows XP..
I looked at both a few weeks ago. Two laptops, one 13 months old, the other 6 months old. Running off Live DVD, Ubuntu wouldn’t recognize my wireless card on the 6 mos old PC, Mint recognized both.
Installing my printer drivers was a real chore for someone like me who isn’t a Linux geek. And the continued reliance on Terminal to do such installations is a flashback to MSDOS I just don’t understand. To me, it’s one major roadblock for Linux distros being accepted by the great unwashed.
I understand hardware manufacturers (such as printers) not making Linux installation packages for their products so Linux distro developers are left with the install options we get, but it’s a big turn-off, at least to me.
I finally said “The heck with it” and gave up. This was my 2nd go-around in the past several years with Linux. There’s still a long way to go for them to become America’s operating system of choice.
Yup. I'm waiting for the Miracle to show up in May. I'll upgrade then.
“Installing my printer drivers was a real chore”
Yep.
I have a Canon all-in-one printer and I had to choose the ‘closest’ compatible driver to make it work.
But the problem was, I didn’t know which one was the most compatible and spent hours on the internet trying to find someone with the same printer and find out which driver would work.
Unless you have a lot of patience, most people just aren’t going to go through all that trouble.
Every time I have to get on it to trouble shoot something, I have to re-learn it. I hate the way it works.
Fedora, to me, is much more straightforward and easier to learn and manage.
That’s why I went to Mint.
Ubuntu just uses too many ‘command line’ options through the terminal. Even if you are just trying to do updates.
Mint checks for updates automatically and you just click ‘install’ and it’s done.
That's fine with me. I'm not a big believer that the OS I use must be used by everyone else (or even the majority).
Use what works for you. If you are having a difficult time adjusting and adapting to Linux, don't use it.
But I'll never give a dime to lefty pro-abortion liberals like Gates and Microsoft.
Unity is about as effective in that as that sentence was.
I like Ubuntu until the lastest UI transformation. Sucks now cause I can’t find anything.
But the problem was, I didn’t know which one was the most compatible and spent hours on the internet trying to find someone with the same printer and find out which driver would work.
I have two printers; An Epson Stylux NX415 wired to the 13 mos old laptop through USB, and a Canon Pixma MP495 wireless. I had problems with both.
I found the appropriate drivers for both from a search at their websites. But the terminal installation routine, unpacking layered zipped files, figuring out at what point in the unpackage routine one runs the terminal command, having two packages to download for the Canon printer; one for the printer drivers, another for the scanner drivers. Sheesh!
Then, I got the printers to work. But I still couldn't access the scanners on both. Was able to get through that after several hours of frustration, but needed two different programs installed because one would work with the Epson but not the Canon, and vice versa (the default scan module for the Canon through GIMP, XSane for the Epson...although that might be backwards, it's been too long ago). Unbelievable.
I think having a Live DVD of Mint is a good idea if problems develop with a Windows installation. It allows you to boot from the DVD and see all the drives on your PC, allowing you to save files to an external drive before troubleshooting your problems. But beyond that, it's just too frustrating to deal with.
Sorry, but that's true.
I was using Xubuntu on this thinkpad 390E PII 333, 6.4 gig HD , 256mb ram worked great but slow. I just installed Bodhi linux on this laptop and it runs like a new machine ,Bodhi linux WOW. If you want a linux that looks like windows try Zorin OS 5, makes it easier to switch
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