Linux Mint

Does Linux Mint have a bad rap here on Sup Forums?

Understanding that it is not on the FSF approved distro list, and that Arch fans may criticize Mint for their own reasons..

Mint comes in a veriety of DE flavors, SystemD is optional and not installed by defalt, it has good hardware support and optional proprietary drivers for modern Nvidia GPUs and such, and can be had either with Ubuntu or Debian based.

I don't hear people talking about Mint much here, myself I prefer OpenBSD, or maybe Devuan, or an FSF approved distro in that order. I recently got some new hardware though, and I would need to downgrade my GPU to some old Radeon card to get back on OpenBSD. For the meantime I installed XFCE Mint (I like XFCE and run it on OpenBSD too.)

So far so good, I don't think I have installed anything proprietary either, even have a free driver for my Nvidia Quadro K620.

Thoughts on Mint? It is consistently #1 on dostrowatch, probably becuse it just werks tm. I know it isn't a barbones distrobution, but it als doesn't seem bloated. My install had the normal XFCE programs, Libreoffice stuff, the usual kind of shit in many distros.

Other urls found in this thread:

wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian#Don.27t_make_a_FrankenDebian)
lubuntu.me/
twitter.com/AnonBabble

>Linux Mint mixes Ubuntu and Debian packages (see wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian#Don.27t_make_a_FrankenDebian)
>Due to the mix of Debian and Ubuntu packages, when an update is released that breaks Mint, the maintainers blacklist it until it works again, even if it is a security upgrade. (Note: they don't try to fix it, they just blacklist it)
>Mint doesn't publish CVEs, and you can't check if you are vulnerable because you don't know where a certain package came from.
>When one of their packages has the same name as a upstream package, they block the package and replace it with theirs. For example, the package mdm contains Utilities for single-host parallel shell scripting, however, in Linux Mint (and only Linux Mint), the mdm package is the Mint Display Manager(aka a clone of gdm).
>Security updates are optional.
>By default, using the Update Manager, you won't get updates for critical parts of the system(xorg, systemd, kernel), even security updates.
>The use of old kernels means that newer hardware isn't supported

You will probably have a better time with Ubuntu(or any other distro) MATE or by installing Cinnamon on Ubuntu(we really need a Ubuntu Cinnamon Spin) than with Linux Mint.

>systemD is optional
Since when?
>it's 1st on distrowatch
Means nothing.
>open source nVidia drivers
The libre nvidia drivers are shit in general. There's nothing wrong with using proprietary drivers when the hardware itself is proprietary anyways.

It's basically the same as Ubuntu except more out of date. There's absolutely no reason to use it over any Ubuntu flavor.

>when one of their packages
>for example mdm.

mint has a upstart option. \
Since before it had systemd option.

Cinnamon mint is best cinnamon.
Any other de you may as well use any distro.
The distro that there's absolutely no reason to use other than what it's based on is ubuntu.

If you click on the cve notices in the update manager, you get directed to the ubuntu cve page, which makes sense, since you're getting 95% of your packages straight from ubuntu repos. Which begs the question, why not just look at the upstream cves if you don't trust your distro maintainers to maintain your distro?

Thanks for sharing

OP here, about the systemd question: I just installed Mint and the update manager hit me a few days later offering systemd as an upgrade to install. I declined

according to the 2nd post from the top, security updates ARE optional.

Linux mint is supposed to be one of the go-to distros for noobs, but if you believe any of the shit in this thread, you're probably not ready for mint.

>Linux mint is supposed to be one of the go-to distros for noobs

Nope that's ubuntu

since when is installing systemd considered a "security update"? i think many people might call systemd a liability

believe which shit??

I maybe should have said "bothered by".
I checked the "provides" of apt show mdm and it seems it shouldn't provide much of a problem for the distro maintainers, you know like, it ever BECAME a problem.
And I guess I better quit building packages from the debian testing src repo on my mint because apparently, they're not compatable.

mint comes with systemd, you have the option to use upstart. You can spot the security updates by the color coded icons in the update manager, and look at the CVE summaries. THEY'RE LISTED ON THE CHANGELOG TAB.

I've read that the first 2 numbers between the dots in kernel file names are the version, and the 3 digits are what drivers are included, and the final digits are the patch level, so you're perfectly safe using a 4.4 kernel.
I've heard that debian itself allows you to use multiple repos like stable and testing with a process known as apt pinning.
I've heard that if you use apt update, it overrides the settings of mint's update manager's update policy.
Is any of this true?

OP here, well it sounds like there are in fact a lot of criticism and hate to fret over using mint. maybe i should just install xubuntu, since i like xfce

No. Install the distro you like the most. Fuck what Sup Forums thinks. Just come here for fun and time killing.

xfeces sucks.

But it's still the 3rd best DE

Get Ubunu minimal install image and install either minimal version of Xfce or a basic system with nothing but a command line from the boot and build from there. It's one of the best options really.

The best DE is not using a DE at all

Don't use ubuntu. Their website was hacked.
Twice.
Millions of users info was stolen.
Consider mint.
Their site was only hacked once. A few people downloaded a compromised iso because the download link was changed for 1 day.
By my calculations, that makes mint twices as safe as ubuntu. Thousands times safer if you go by compromised users.

I'll bite. What are the 2 best?

Funny.

Install Gentoo

I know.
I come here mainly for the captchas.

...

I miss the days when this would be the first 10 comments.

one of the most time consuming options really.
I thought that the whole point of using an Ubuntu like distro is to have a lot of most used (by normies) packages pre-installed.

OK, that did actually make me lol. Well done.

This is Sup Forums.
Here, packages are considered bloat.

1. KDE
2. GNOME

Old habits die hard.

>GNOME

Literally the worst file-manager ever

>implying the majority of packages found pre-installed in an Ubuntu based distros aren't "apt-get purge" tier

lel

Linux Mint is easier version of Ubuntu. You clearly have no experience with Mint.

>easier
They're literally the same except mint lags weeks behind in updates.

I can get by with a browser,
Gimp for dank oc memes,
and libreoffice to make it look like I have a reason to own a computer.

mint uses ubuntu repos, including security, and 1 mint repo

That's why it just werks. Also its GUI is more userfriendly on every DE.

why do people prefer KDE over XFCE?

This

It doesn't screen tear

What's the point of a minimal install?
Do you still use a 40GB hard drive?

lubuntu.me/

Early on they made a lot of questionable choices that permanently poisoned the well for me
>rebranding package names
>botnet Firefox install with multiple hooks into the DE making it extermely difficult to remove even for a seasoned Linux user
>overly paranoid update system, leading newcomers to have unpatched security vulnerabilities
>all upstream patches with little to no contributions of their own

There was a ton of other issues I had with Mint but I stopped using it a long time ago so I don't remember them. Basically I see no reason for it to exist as a standalone distro. It should just be the Cinnamon desktop project.

Is there any other distro that offers a good Cinnamon implementation?

none because Cinnamon is shit
install gentoo

Manjaro is the superior n00b distor

mint is shit
just ubuntu or debian with cinnamon instead

>>botnet Firefox install with multiple hooks into the DE making it extermely difficult to remove
Yeah, it's actually amazingly invasive for a system with mostly free software. It's not an old Unity level (where every your search was tracked so it could give Amazon suggesitons). Come to think of it, why are we still using Canonical products after their put litteral botnet into their system?

Then why aren't my controllers working out of the box with RetroArch?

In Ubuntu it just works

I'm confused, what's systemd?

I'm confused too, what's Google?

system delight