Mint 17 is the perfect place for Linux-ers to wait out Ubuntu uncertainty

Review: Long-term support and stability plus tweaks <em>for</em> desktop? Delicious!

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[earthlingkc]

dfavro[/url]":1n0q6s1u]Does Mint still hijack your search engine?
.

I recall that in past versions but not recent versions.

 

[ScifiterX]

Mint's been my go to Linux distro since Nadia (14). I love that they are continuing to improve it.

 

[Marl0]

dfavro[/url]":179zupmt]Does Mint still hijack your search engine?

I had that happen: it changed mine from the browser default to their own "wrapper'ed" version that they use for referral-based funding. This wouldn't be so bad, except that:

* There's no really easy way to remove it
* If you sync your browser settings (eg, with Firefox Sync or Chrome Sync), it changes the Search options across all your instances.
* It breaks search syntax items.

That, as far as I'm concerned, is malware-level behaviour. I don't begrudge Mint needing to fund their development and operations, but at least warning the user about what's about to happen would be nice.

I noticed this also, I think it is because Mint is built on top of Ubuntu and Ubuntu phones home to Canonical in UK which is then fed to Amazon. Every time my Mint connects to the internet a TCP connection is made to Canonical UK, didn't tinker my Mint setup long enough to disable that "feature".

 

[psarhjinian]

Marl0[/url]":222a6enl]
I noticed this also, I think it is because Mint is built on top of Ubuntu and Ubuntu phones home to Canonical in UK which is then fed to Amazon. Every time my Mint connects to the internet a TCP connection is made to Canonical UK, didn't tinker my Mint setup long enough to disable that "feature".

No, it's not the same as that. Canonical's feature pipes Lens searches through Amazon; they don't touch the browser's search provider. Canonical's also doesn't infect other systems: it's a local setting for the Lens.

Mint does* change your browser.

* (or used to, see above---I'll have to try this)

 

[jetjaguar]

This is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking I admire. Reminds me of the guy who took over for the ousted Meg Whitman at Ebay. He decided sellers can no longer leave negative feedback about buyers. That was gutsy.

 

[MKG]

dfavro[/url]":39i8k8xy]Does Mint still hijack your search engine?

I had that happen: it changed mine from the browser default to their own "wrapper'ed" version that they use for referral-based funding. This wouldn't be so bad, except that:

* There's no really easy way to remove it
* If you sync your browser settings (eg, with Firefox Sync or Chrome Sync), it changes the Search options across all your instances.
* It breaks search syntax items.

That, as far as I'm concerned, is malware-level behaviour. I don't begrudge Mint needing to fund their development and operations, but at least warning the user about what's about to happen would be nice.

Whoa. Really? (I'm asking seriously).

 

[Anticrawl]

earthlingkc[/url]":1nnr0bbc]

dfavro[/url]":1nnr0bbc]Does Mint still hijack your search engine?
.

I recall that in past versions but not recent versions.

Eh? You could always disable the Mintified DuckDuckGo default engine, it is absurdly simple to do too. I disabled the Mint Style & Mint Search Enhancer thing the second I imaged my machine for Firefox.

 

[ILikeTastyFood]

mkg[/url]":1ho5w3a5]This might sound like a silly idea, but what about Mint 17 with MATE running Firefox and the Office365 suite running inside Firefox? For companies who don't want to be tied to the Windows OS but do need Office and the tools it comes with, would this not make a good hybrid?

No. I had to use Word Online last week. It's absolutely horrible. For starters if you have to use formulas: Word Online simply displays a [formula] placeholder.

 

[gadelat]

somini[/url]":2eeke3dm]

gadelat[/url]":2eeke3dm]Give me a call when I can move cinnamon panel vertically to sides of screen

There are shortcuts for that, WindowsKey+LeftArrow.
Or Ctrl+WindowsKey+LeftArrow to pin the window in place, so that maximizing other windows doesn't put them on top of it.

I mean cinnamon panel, not windows. I want it on left side a-la unity. You can set it this way in xfce or kde, or even windows. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1103305

 

[ILikeTastyFood]

Viewer[/url]":26wdn59r]I prefer Unity over the Gnome based desktops. It's simpler and just gets out of the way.

Unity more simple than Gnome? Yeah, right…

Viewer[/url]":26wdn59r]Gnome has a heavier, Windows inspired style to it.

No, Gnome has next to nothing to do with Windows, unless you are referring to ancient Gnome versions.

Viewer[/url]":26wdn59r]Actually, I enjoy Mac OS X: very stable and has the things I want in a good *nix: great shells, good repository system, and a GUI that can get out of the way. For servers, I'd still use Linux, but for workstation use, I don't see what Linux offers that Mac does not.

Funny, the next OSX draws very heavy inspiration from Linux DEs just as Gnome: http://www.bastecklein.com/2014/06/new- ... -copy.html
http://www.themukt.com/2014/06/04/victi ... ure-theft/

 

[PlutoPrime]

THIS is the year of desktop Linux!


<end sarcasm>


After about 7 years of using Ubuntu it was a joy to leave it behind and use OSX, where something as trivial as font rendering on "HiDPI" just works out of the box. It's so nice to have time to do stuff with the tools you have (that work) instead of fiddling with the tools endlessly to just get them to work.

 

[MiguelMC]

When I was a young PhD student, I used to run devel versions of Ubuntu. As the thesis grew nearer, I stuck to stable versions. As a postdoc, perhaps poisoned by the RHEL echosystem, I ended up in LTS releases. I mean, they worked as advertised in my laptops after all, and could avoid Unity and Gnome3.

Today, I'm a Debian man through and through. Except that my uni got me a 13" rMBP, but whatever. Want stability and predictability? Just stick to stable. For the fun run testing, maybe with some apt-pinning, and if you're up to it, Sid is around the corner, and waiting for you.

PS: I don't know how or why, but Gnome3 fits my workflow pretty damn well while I hate unity with a passion.

 

[Lea_8]

bthylafh[/url]":1vwi61wf]

tomr[/url]":1vwi61wf]I'd really like to give Mint a try but have heard that to upgrade from one version to the next, they highly recommend you do a clean install. In which case, you would lose all your application settings, desktop preferences, etc. Is this true?

Not at all. The recommended path is to run the backup utility, which makes a copy of your home folder and notes which packages you have installed. Then you do the clean reinstall and re-run the backup utility to import your data and packages again. Easy-peasy.

Even easier is that during the first install, set /home on its own partition. Then (although you should always back up to be safe) when you upgrade with a fresh install, you don't even have to restore anything--your data, settings and preferences are still there in your home directory. The list of software sources and installed packages can be saved out to a file and then imported back for automatic reinstall as well if desired.

Since Mint decided to stick with the LTS I decided to switch to it from Ubuntu. I had been using Cinnamon as my desktop anyway, so with the LTS support I decided to go straight Mint. During the install I mapped /home to the existing Ubuntu /home partition (careful to not check the "re-format" checkbox!), and upon booting after the install, everything was as it had been even though I changed from Ubuntu to Mint. Then I just had to reinstall a few additional applications and their settings and preferences were just as I had them before as well.

I highly recommend this latest version of Mint! It is much more user-friendly and easier to customize than Ubuntu and I have had zero issues so far (been about 2 weeks).

 

[Lea_8]

Shendai[/url]":1xtc67hm]

Vapur9[/url]":1xtc67hm]One thing I would really like to see is the ability to rename the Menu icon in the lower left (or remove the name completely), as well as being able to change the icon to whatever I want (or among options). Overall, Cinnamon is what I've been using for people who don't have much money to upgrade away from Windows XP for security reasons, simply because it is the most similar interface easy enough for new people to pick up.

You can.

Right-click over the "Menu" and select Properties. You can rename to what you wish and assign a different icon to it as well. This is on the Mate desktop. Almost positive you can do that in Cinnamon as well, but haven't played with that in a while.

I just checked my Mint 17 Cinnamon install and can verify that right-click menu, select Customize, and you can change both the icon and the text on it as well.

 

[arcadmin]

Great article! I've used Maya (Mint 13, the previous LTS release) for the past two years and absolutely love it! I'm excited to start playing with Qiana and would recommend Linux Mint to anyone who wants to refurbish their existing desktop.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

PlutoPrime[/url]":35c6cpx4]After about 7 years of using Ubuntu it was a joy to leave it behind and use OSX, where something as trivial as font rendering on "HiDPI" just works out of the box.

It helps that a lot of the basic approaches to nice font rendering are patented.

 

[TheColinous]

I decided to try Linux Mint 17 out. I didn't really like Cinnamon this time either. I've never been able to reconcile myself to it. One reason is that Cinnamon makes this particular laptop run at about 75 C and more. I have a dual hybrid GPU in it, and intensive desktops just makes it run very hot.

But, I downloaded MATE, and it's lovely. I'm going to try it out for a while, I think. I've used XFCE on Debian, but Mate looks prettier.

 

[MiguelMC]

Wheels Of Confusion[/url]":2lb9adzu]

PlutoPrime[/url]":2lb9adzu]After about 7 years of using Ubuntu it was a joy to leave it behind and use OSX, where something as trivial as font rendering on "HiDPI" just works out of the box.

It helps that a lot of the basic approaches to nice font rendering are patented.

To be completely honest, the higher the screen DPI, the less subpixel rendering, autohinting and the likes matter. On my 13" rMBP, fonts look pretty amazing even with antialiasing completely deactivated. However, what helps with HiDPI is that OS X just goes for resolution doubling, while Gnome (I guess it's a GTk3 thing) allows an arbitrary scaling factor. I've no idea what KDE does.

Personally, my main complain with HiDPI in ubuntu right now is that I haven't been able to apply a non 96dpi setting to old wxwidgets/athena apps, such as xmgrace, which makes working on a 14" 1080p screen somewhat uncomfortable. Just 120dpi would be awesome.

 

[artifex]

Do the Mints have FDE available during the install process, yet, without having to manually mess with partitions? I tried a couple of different Mints at the time of 13, but I don't recall them having it back then.

When I have relatives/friends who want to try Unix, I generally have been telling them to try Ubuntu (well, mostly Kubuntu, actually) because I don't have to walk them through setting their drives up for encryption, just tell them to just select it from the menu. While it may seem unlikely any one of them will have a computer stolen, just last week I was in a coffee shop when someone there had their laptop stolen while they were using it, so it's still fresh on my mind that it happens.

 

[Krotor]

artifex[/url]":2jvr34bj]Do the Mints have FDE available during the install process, yet, without having to manually mess with partitions? I tried a couple of different Mints at the time of 13, but I don't recall them having it back then.

When I have relatives/friends who want to try Unix, I generally have been telling them to try Ubuntu (well, mostly Kubuntu, actually) because I don't have to walk them through setting their drives up for encryption, just tell them to just select it from the menu. While it may seem unlikely any one of them will have a computer stolen, just last week I was in a coffee shop when someone there had their laptop stolen while they were using it, so it's still fresh on my mind that it happens.

Disk encryption is a checkbox option during installation on the screen where you tell Mint whether to erase the disk and install just Mint, install alongside another OS, or let you partition and set disk options manually. So it should be pretty easy for anyone to activate.

 

[kkube]

Could someone please explain the implications of this for the following scenario to me?

While I am an OS X user, my girlfriend has been using Linux for quite some time. She is currently on Elementary OS Lunar, and has trouble connecting her iPhone to her notebook (stuck at ye olde trust this device cycle). For me it looks like EOS does not update libimobiledevice quickly enough (though being based on Ubuntu, which in Live USB boots does not suffer from the same severity of problems). I had a few pleasant encounters with Mint in the past. If this new version is based on a specific version of Ubuntu, does that mean that feature updates to drivers/libraries/applications roll out as slow as the more impactful changes described in this article? I'd love to recommend using Mint + Pantheon et. al. (which she has grown quite fond of) to her, but she also (understandably) wants to use her iOS devices. Thanks!

 

[artifex]

Krotor[/url]":3irs8dla]

artifex[/url]":3irs8dla]Do the Mints have FDE available during the install process, yet, without having to manually mess with partitions? I tried a couple of different Mints at the time of 13, but I don't recall them having it back then.

When I have relatives/friends who want to try Unix, I generally have been telling them to try Ubuntu (well, mostly Kubuntu, actually) because I don't have to walk them through setting their drives up for encryption, just tell them to just select it from the menu. While it may seem unlikely any one of them will have a computer stolen, just last week I was in a coffee shop when someone there had their laptop stolen while they were using it, so it's still fresh on my mind that it happens.

Disk encryption is a checkbox option during installation on the screen where you tell Mint whether to erase the disk and install just Mint, install alongside another OS, or let you partition and set disk options manually. So it should be pretty easy for anyone to activate.

Great! Sounds exactly like the Ubuntu one (and probably is).

These days, I'm just surprised so many distros still don't have this option.

edit: don't know why people are downvoting me for saying it's probably the same as Ubuntu's. Ubuntu has a really easy way to do it, and Mint is downstream of Ubuntu for a lot of stuff.

 

[ILikeTastyFood]

kkube[/url]"7v8pta5]Could someone please explain the implications of this for the following scenario to me?

While I am an OS X user, my girlfriend has been using Linux for quite some time. She is currently on Elementary OS Lunar, and has trouble connecting her iPhone to her notebook (stuck at ye olde trust this device cycle). For me it looks like EOS does not update libimobiledevice quickly enough (though being based on Ubuntu, which in Live USB boots does not suffer from the same severity of problems). I had a few pleasant encounters with Mint in the past. If this new version is based on a specific version of Ubuntu, does that mean that feature updates to drivers/libraries/applications roll out as slow as the more impactful changes described in this article? I'd love to recommend using Mint + Pantheon et. al. (which she has grown quite fond of) to her, but she also (understandably) wants to use her iOS devices. Thanks!

There is no Mint + Pantheon.
Maybe she should switch to a more modern distribution (Elementary is based on Ubuntu 12.04). I think a modern distro running Gnome with a Gnome extension that transforms the Dash into a Dock ( https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/ ... h-to-dock/ ) is probably the easiest transition for an Elementary user.

I personally had success connecting my iPad to Fedora Linux with the DigiKam software suite.

 

[Mr. Superbad]

kkube[/url]":3qjwiiyy]Could someone please explain the implications of this for the following scenario to me?

While I am an OS X user, my girlfriend has been using Linux for quite some time. She is currently on Elementary OS Lunar, and has trouble connecting her iPhone to her notebook (stuck at ye olde trust this device cycle). For me it looks like EOS does not update libimobiledevice quickly enough (though being based on Ubuntu, which in Live USB boots does not suffer from the same severity of problems). I had a few pleasant encounters with Mint in the past. If this new version is based on a specific version of Ubuntu, does that mean that feature updates to drivers/libraries/applications roll out as slow as the more impactful changes described in this article? I'd love to recommend using Mint + Pantheon et. al. (which she has grown quite fond of) to her, but she also (understandably) wants to use her iOS devices. Thanks!

The stock kernel on 12.04 didn't recognize my android phone either. I upgraded the kernel using the saucy LTS enablement stack and it started working. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack

 

[Viewer]

keltor[/url]":2kmeic7p]

Jousle[/url]":2kmeic7p]"Mint doesn't require a user to uninstall anything just to maintain privacy."
" Mint 17 feels like the perfect place to wait out the uncertainty of Ubuntu's future"

IDK, this feels like a FUD article .

Please talk to Ubuntu users, they totally are feeling like Ubuntu has lost it's way. Of course for a whole nother set of users it lost it's way the second Unity came out.

I use Ubuntu, heavily. I don't feel that way at all. I like Unity far better than Gnome/Cinnamon. I've used both quite a bit. IMO, Unity is just cleaner and less intrusive when I'm in a shell or in a text editor or IDE. I'm not alone in this, I personally know many other developers who prefer Unity or prefer something else like XMonad.

Linux is all about choice. If you like A and I like B, that shouldn't be a problem. If you like Cinnamon and Mint, I don't want to crap on your preference. Why do Mint/Cinnamon fans seem so eager to crap on mine?

 

[Viewer]

ILikeTastyFood[/url]":1wnysd6q]

Viewer[/url]":1wnysd6q]I prefer Unity over the Gnome based desktops. It's simpler and just gets out of the way.

Unity more simple than Gnome? Yeah, right…

The big complaint I've heard about Unity from a lot of Mint lovers is that it's a dumbed down interface for touch/tablet users. They definitely think it's simpler, but in a bad way. I see their point, respect their preference, but still prefer Unity. I guess Unity simplifies stuff that some people didn't want simplified, but people like me did?

ILikeTastyFood[/url]":1wnysd6q]

Viewer[/url]":1wnysd6q]Gnome has a heavier, Windows inspired style to it.

No, Gnome has next to nothing to do with Windows, unless you are referring to ancient Gnome versions.

I've seen very recent Mint installs, and it has something very similar to a Windows start menu, task bar, task tray, the system widget set, the window frame widgets, etc. It has lots of Windows influence beyond that, and I've even read about the Gnome team designing it to feel extremely familiar for Windows users to entice people into switching.

 

[Krotor]

Viewer[/url]":2k9tdyzs]

keltor[/url]":2k9tdyzs]

Jousle[/url]":2k9tdyzs]"Mint doesn't require a user to uninstall anything just to maintain privacy."
" Mint 17 feels like the perfect place to wait out the uncertainty of Ubuntu's future"

IDK, this feels like a FUD article .

Please talk to Ubuntu users, they totally are feeling like Ubuntu has lost it's way. Of course for a whole nother set of users it lost it's way the second Unity came out.

I use Ubuntu, heavily. I don't feel that way at all. I like Unity far better than Gnome/Cinnamon. I've used both quite a bit. IMO, Unity is just cleaner and less intrusive when I'm in a shell or in a text editor or IDE. I'm not alone in this, I personally know many other developers who prefer Unity or prefer something else like XMonad.

Linux is all about choice. If you like A and I like B, that shouldn't be a problem. If you like Cinnamon and Mint, I don't want to crap on your preference. Why do Mint/Cinnamon fans seem so eager to crap on mine?

I, for one, welcome our Linux overlords....er, I mean, I for one think it's great if you're happy with Unity. I've become something of an evangelist for Linux since I switched but I always encourage my friends to try out several distros via Live CD or USB before deciding which is right for them. Quite a few have chosen Mint but some love Ubuntu and Unity...and that's the beauty of Linux, it has something for everyone.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

Viewer[/url]":373mubw5]

ILikeTastyFood[/url]":373mubw5]

Viewer[/url]":373mubw5]Gnome has a heavier, Windows inspired style to it.

No, Gnome has next to nothing to do with Windows, unless you are referring to ancient Gnome versions.

I've seen very recent Mint installs, and it has something very similar to a Windows start menu, task bar, task tray, the system widget set, the window frame widgets, etc. It has lots of Windows influence beyond that, and I've even read about the Gnome team designing it to feel extremely familiar for Windows users to entice people into switching.

Mint doesn't use the default Gnome interface. That's what the article is talking about with Mate and Cinnamon. Gnome 3 without Mint's forked Cinnamon interface looks like this:

It doesn't work like traditional Windows desktops.

 

[staypuft86]

Linux Mint 17 is a real treat. I run it through VMware Fusion. As a loaded VM it still weighs in under 3gigs, perfect for USB boot. I keep one partitioned on my keychain.

 

[bobby2626]

I have found I like Ubuntu Gnome, feature a pure Gnome 3 experience.

 

[MiguelMC]

Mr. Superbad[/url]":3imxgxlo]

kkube[/url]":3imxgxlo]Could someone please explain the implications of this for the following scenario to me?

While I am an OS X user, my girlfriend has been using Linux for quite some time. She is currently on Elementary OS Lunar, and has trouble connecting her iPhone to her notebook (stuck at ye olde trust this device cycle). For me it looks like EOS does not update libimobiledevice quickly enough (though being based on Ubuntu, which in Live USB boots does not suffer from the same severity of problems). I had a few pleasant encounters with Mint in the past. If this new version is based on a specific version of Ubuntu, does that mean that feature updates to drivers/libraries/applications roll out as slow as the more impactful changes described in this article? I'd love to recommend using Mint + Pantheon et. al. (which she has grown quite fond of) to her, but she also (understandably) wants to use her iOS devices. Thanks!

The stock kernel on 12.04 didn't recognize my android phone either. I upgraded the kernel using the saucy LTS enablement stack and it started working. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack

I don't remember if I was using anything newer than the stock 3.2 kernel back in August 2013, but USB access as well as tethering have worked without a problem on my Galaxy Nexus in 12.04 and now 14.04. I remember having used USB access at least back in December 2012 (same laptop, same Ubuntu, same phone). Mind you, this was under Gnome Shell, but the low-level stack should be the same.

 

[kkube]

ILikeTastyFood[/url]":1ixk63mb]
There is no Mint + Pantheon.
Maybe she should switch to a more modern distribution (Elementary is based on Ubuntu 12.04). I think a modern distro running Gnome with a Gnome extension that transforms the Dash into a Dock ( https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/ ... h-to-dock/ ) is probably the easiest transition for an Elementary user.

I personally had success connecting my iPad to Fedora Linux with the DigiKam software suite.

Huh, OK. I thought that, with Pantheon being a package and EOS and Mint both being Ubuntu-based, one could get that to work. There is an EOS ppa with an elementary-desktop .deb, and a quick google shows me at least a few instructions how to get it onto other distros, but I have no idea how friction-free that is. I'll have a look at your suggestions, thanks.

 

[DrinkDuffResponsibly2]

Unity is boring in the best possible way.

 

[ChrisSD]

DrinkDuffResponsibly2[/url]":3fnc4z13]Unity is boring in the best possible way.

Unity is a lot of things but I'd hardly call it boring. In fact it's quite flashy, which is a problem on older hardware but can look good on newer builds. I personally think sometimes it's too flashy especially when I just want it to get out of the way but I realise opinions on this are going to vary a lot.

I mostly like what Unity aims to do and I especially like the sidebar on my wide-screen monitor. However sometimes the actual implementation has fallen short of my expectations. Still, it's improved a lot and they continue to fix and tweak it and add more options so I am cautiously optimistic.

At the moment my Linux desktop is using MATE on Mint Debian. Now that really is boring and old fashioned but at lest it's solid and reliable. I'd prefer something more modern but at the end of the day I go for what causes me the least hassle on the hardware I have.

 

[torp]

ChrisSD[/url]":19d6j2pa]

DrinkDuffResponsibly2[/url]":19d6j2pa]Unity is boring in the best possible way.

Unity is a lot of things but I'd hardly call it boring. In fact it's quite flashy, which is a problem on older hardware but can look good on newer builds. I personally think sometimes it's too flashy especially when I just want it to get out of the way but I realise opinions on this are going to vary a lot.

I mostly like what Unity aims to do and I especially like the sidebar on my wide-screen monitor. However sometimes the actual implementation has fallen short of my expectations. Still, it's improved a lot and they continue to fix and tweak it and add more options so I am cautiously optimistic.

At the moment my Linux desktop is using MATE on Mint Debian. Now that really is boring and old fashioned but at lest it's solid and reliable. I'd prefer something more modern but at the end of the day I go for what causes me the least hassle on the hardware I have.

Is anyone who has more than 2 storage volumes using that sidebar? On my machine it gets cluttered to the point of uselessness with all my drives - little room for application icons remains. I think Ubuntu is simply not testing on more complex machines.

 

[ILikeTastyFood]

Viewer[/url]":2itmc6jd]

ILikeTastyFood[/url]":2itmc6jd]

Viewer[/url]":2itmc6jd]Gnome has a heavier, Windows inspired style to it.

No, Gnome has next to nothing to do with Windows, unless you are referring to ancient Gnome versions.

I've seen very recent Mint installs, and it has something very similar to a Windows start menu, task bar, task tray, the system widget set, the window frame widgets, etc. It has lots of Windows influence beyond that, and I've even read about the Gnome team designing it to feel extremely familiar for Windows users to entice people into switching.

Mint is not using Gnome. Mint uses Cinnamon, a fork of Gnome. Recent Gnome versions have next to nothing to do with Windows. You should try Gnome yourself instead of making assumptions based on a forked project and what you've read somewhere.

Of couse, such confusion would not happen if Lipsick.com's sister site and former "PC enthusiast's resource" covered Linux topics like it did before being bought by Conde Nast…
Here's a review of the lastest Gnome 3.12: http://www.muktware.com/2014/03/gnome-3 ... ited/24589

 

[ILikeTastyFood]

DrinkDuffResponsibly2[/url]":7pyr83un]Unity is boring in the best possible way.

If Unity is so boring, why does Canonical feel the need to totally rewrite it every few years?

 

[DrinkDuffResponsibly2]

ILikeTastyFood[/url]":xxaiqb82]

DrinkDuffResponsibly2[/url]":xxaiqb82]Unity is boring in the best possible way.

If Unity is so boring, why does Canonical feel the need to totally rewrite it every few years?

Only because 'unastonishing' isn't a word. What's a better antonym of astonishing?
Windows XP, and later Gnome2 were astonishing enough to constantly remind me I was using them. I totally forget I'm using unity. That's a good thing when it comes to user interfaces.

I'm ok if Canonical re-write it such that I hardly notice.

 

[hangfirew8]

mkg[/url]":vib4540c]
Whoa. Really? (I'm asking seriously).

No, not really. I removed it easily on Mint 12, and now it is no longer as intrusive, and can still be removed. Anyone that can type a google search and a couple of commands can do it.

 

[Zapitron]

It doesn't get much press, but there is technically an Xfce flavor of Mint as well.

I'd love to hear more about that, especially a comparison to Xubuntu.

I realize it's subjective, but IMHO XFCE is pretty much the perfect desktop, and hard to top. By using Xubuntu it seems like you get a nice desktop (without all the "uncertainly" that allegedly dogs Ubuntu), combined with being on the most popular/mainstream distro, so reasonably-current packages of pretty much any application you want, are trivially available. Best of all worlds: you get mainstreaminess and lack-of-suck.

Or is it? Am I wrong? I might be, but it sure seems to be working out for me. Would an XFCE Mint have the same advantages? And if so, how's it different than Xubuntu?