Linux Mint 16 "Petra"

[Lazarus]

I've tested this new Distribution of Mint on my Wife's Laptop earlier today and am minded to Install it.

But I have read in an aside to another Forum Thread that it is buggy.

That rather surprises me, but can anyone who is (or has been!) running it, please Review it?

 

[excollier]

I am running the KDE version of Mint 16 (Petra) on two computers, for two weeks now, no problems so far.
Be mindful, though, that it only has nine months support, and that Mint 17 will be the next Long Term Support (five year) release in late May/early June

 

[Lazarus]

Yes, I noticed that: But (qv the Crunchbang Thread) it actually works on the Acer Laptop. No dark screen due to Video Driver incompatibility. So I'm keen to give it a whirl.

Glad to hear it's stable.

 

[Piltdownpaul]

I can only speak for my firefox and xbmc software not liking it at all. I'll be waiting for Mint i think and try that. I'm on mint 15 now and its been exceptionally stable.

Ive noticed a lack of updates in the last two weeks for Mint 15, maybe its holiday time........

 

[Lazarus]

Not much in the way of updates at all. At least Linux Distros update seamlessly and fast, unlike Micros**t Update!

 

[Piltdownpaul]

Yep , none of this "you need to reboot", that always occurs when i'm doing something critical on Win 7.

 

[hexah]

There's Linux buggy and there's Microsoft buggy!

If you switch between them it can be amazing how sluggish Microsoft is on the same hardware. Linux is like greased lightening. Like the Linux one mouse click vs Microsofts implementation which is so bad it sometimes selects things in the inactive window. They had decades to get it right. Utter garbage.

As you are all backed up you can't loose by giving it a go.

You know you want to!

 

[Lazarus]

Installing now ......................

 

[mbsnr]

There's two favours of Mint (well 3 if you include the rolling Debian release). I run the MATE desktop as it is supposed to be less resource hungry than the Cinnamon version for lower spec'd laptops etc. You may have read that the Cinnamon version is 'buggy'. I believe it may be slightly less stable than the MATE desktop version (based on GNOME 2) but I doubt there's much to choose between them. You can always install the MATE desktop afterwards from the package manager anyhow (or vice versa), if either is not behaving correctly. I've been running the MATE version for 2 wks now without an issue on a low spec netbook.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

[Lazarus]

Up and running with Cinnamon. No apparent glitches or bugs as yet and I'm working it hard.

I have had the Mint 15 "Olivia" Cinnamon 32bit version running on my Netbook for a while and love it.

 

[hexah]

I've used Xfce for years because it is lightweight. With integrated graphics you get less cpu cycles. Thunar is an improvement on the older manager (flashier graphics) and whizzes on newer hardware.

It's worth giving the Xfce version of Mint a try if you haven't already. I think I have got used to using the lightweight versions over the years so the all mod cons versions don't seem essential.

I wonder if Mint 15 "Olivia" Cinnamon is named after Olivia Colman.

 

[Lazarus]

Been running it for several hours now and it's as steady as a rock.

SWMBO will love it.

 

[excollier]

I can only speak for my firefox and xbmc software not liking it at all. I'll be waiting for Mint i think and try that. I'm on mint 15 now and its been exceptionally stable.

Ive noticed a lack of updates in the last two weeks for Mint 15, maybe its holiday time........

Support for Mint 15 ends this month as it also is only a short term release, so no more updates time to move on. The last LTS (long term support) was Mint 13, next one is 17 in May,(after that Mint 21 May 2016) everything else has only 9 months support, sort of interim releases.
@Tivu, I'm surprised Cruncbang didn't work, it's fine on my 2007 Acer laptop

 

[excollier]

There's two flavours of Mint (well 3 if you include the rolling Debian release).

Actually, there are five: Cinnamon, Mate, XFCE, KDE and Debian (which itself has Cinnamon and Mate variants)
You could also try out SolydXK for a rolling release model, very good.

 

[Lazarus]

@Tivu, I'm surprised Cruncbang didn't work, it's fine on my 2007 Acer laptop

It did - been using it for a couple of years as it was, at the time of installation, the only Distro that didn't give the dark-screen bug on some Acers.

But the new Mint Distro also works, so I've "upgraded"

 

[excollier]

I cannot see any good reason for actually renting/using MS Windows. Unfortunately, for me, I have to study and use it as I am doing the CompTIA A+ exams so I will have to grin and bear it for the time being.......

 

[Captain Jack]

Does Linux work with the likes of CrazyScan software...I.e. is there an equivalent for DVB-S cards?

 

[Lazarus]

I've no experience of that, but have come across this

Seems to be relevant, but I wouldn't swear to it!

The Glossary of Links at the end might provide a route towards a definitive answer.

 

[Lazarus]

Hmm. Reading further suggests the answer to your question is NO

 

[Llew]

Does Linux work with the likes of CrazyScan software...I.e. is there an equivalent for DVB-S cards?

I use Updatelee's programme in Mint. That has a handy spectrum scanner and blindscanning, although I still prefer Crazyscan in Windoze.

See my post #871 here:- http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...n-dvb-s2-and-dvb-s.138910/page-44#post-839130