...and here's my pic: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2cgo...8#.VcaOTM054yo

While l like the Cinammon colour scheme better, I prefer Mint's customised Mate menu layout! I'm sure l'll be able to work something out.

Anything I can do in Windows, I can do in Linux now such as batch processing of photos (was Irfanview, now Shotwell). I'm fortunate that my printer's manufacturer (Epson) supports Linux so printing and scanning work well.

I hope that Win 7 is the last Redmond OS that I have any dealings with not least because there's a clear strategy change going on from large OS purchase price to less obvious (but still adds up) ongoing subscriptions and apps purchases. Not only that, a new Microsoft OS usually seems to require bigger and better equipment to run on and thankfully Linux distributions are far more forgiving.

As for KDE Plasma 5, I've seen the videos and it is indeed a visual delight. I've tried out some KDE-using distributions, such as Kubuntu, but they do tend to be a bit more resource intensive (although nothing like Vista!) and that does put me off a bit.

If you don't like Windows 10 and would like to try Linux instead, there are lots of people here who van give you excellent advice.

Theme change! Managed to find a more suitable Mint icon. Sorry, not wishing to turn this into a screenshot thread, but I do like to see your desktops. Linux desktops often vary so wildly it's hard to tell what you're running!

And actually it's amazing what a visual refresh can do for your desktop. I decided to install the Numix repository and go full on Numix. I really love the look tbh, and it's convinced me to stay with Mint. I'll stick KDE on my spare partition for fun.

I want to try and make the dock look a bit more like Lollipop's if I can. I take the criticism that it looked too like Mac OSX very seriously!

Completely agree with this. I love Mint as many of you know, but so many people across the internet have commented on what a mess the extensions are for Cinnamon. It's still a brilliant desktop environment, but boy please get this aspect sorted out guys!

Must admit, until you mentioned it, I hadn't realised Cinnamon even had those compiz-like extensions, even though I've had it installed for a good few years.

Looking at the list of available ones I don't think I've missed out on much?
I used to like 'Wobbly Windows', and still have it on Ubuntu, but don't think I'd bother with it now.

I still use wobbly windows on KDE tbh. I like the cube too, but again only on KDE. But the problem with Cinnamon is many of these extensions are no longer supported and don't work on newer versions. They'll crash your desktop if you try to install them, and yet there they are. The extensions approach to Cinnamon is fantastic, it works for things like Gnome (sometimes) and KDE, and also Firefox etc, as the article says. But on Cinnamon it needs a good rethink about how to make it more integrated and less broken for the user.

I've no doubt they'll figure it out.

Totally agree with this /\ its a mess and needs sorting, both for Cinnamon and Gnome.

Haven't got a up to date screen shot for you, as just got a bog standard Unity setup on my main drive. Mainly because i'm messing about messing with LXQT and Mate at the moment, so when finished just stick my Unity drive in so family can still use the PC.

i seem to be slipping back into my testing/swapping phase, think i need therapy, just can't help myself

LXQT is still very unstabel but isn't due for release for a bit, but a very interesting project.

http://lxqt.org/

And i am also messing with the next release of Ubuntu Mate, just to see what happening with the new software ctr
http://www.pcworld.com/article/29741...r-and-die.html as Conical one is old and slow and messy.

Here's some shots of the new software ctr Mate will be using, its clean, fast.
full screen =
http://pasteboard.co/5PN9mT7.png

Normal size=
http://pasteboard.co/5PXwkst.png

It's still work in progress so will change.

Ps Thanks Kal_El, noticed you use http://pasteboard.co/ hadn't heard of it, great drag and drop and no need to register

I'd be interested to hear how stable and reliable Ubuntu Mate is - thanks. I've been very pleased with the Mint version of Mate and I think it's a worthy replacement for a Windows operating system.

I was disturbed about that Ubuntu Software Center report though. It sounds like it's 'withering on the vine' so to speak but Canonical ought not to neglect it just because they're concentrating on the phone OS aspect (they'll have an uphill struggle there although I wish them well).

Installed Kubuntu 15.10 ahead of schedule. It's a little rough at the moment but yes I think I'm going to keep it as my secondary Linux. I really love KDE Plasma 5. It needs a bit more work but for this stage in the game it's ready to use, which is more than can be said for KDE4 at this point in its lifespan!

Lots of updates keep pooling in so hopefully it'll be nice and stable for everyone by release date.

Very stable, being part of the official Ubuntu family now, makes it complete.
https://ubuntu-mate.org/about/

Its got a very well connected team behind it
https://ubuntu-mate.org/team/
Basically its Gnome2 on steroids, blinged up but still staying true to the Gnome we all loved

I think it's a move for the better, using there own software ctr.

I personally never got along with any version of Mint, but admire them for what they have achieved, I've followed and tried releases from the 1st version.
Tried several others, KDE etc but always ended up back with Unity.

Discovered Ubuntu Mate and tried it when it was first released, but it just felt like a step backwards compared to the likes of Unity/Mint/KDE/xfce etc. I know looks aren't everything but and like my OS to look good as well as work great.
Still love the Global menu Unity uses, and tried installing it onto Mate, but it's buggy.
But after trying out the beta releases of Mate 15.10 with the new tweak tool/compiz/software ctr and ability to change log in screen etc, it will be my main OS once 15.10 is officially released.

The MATE desktop is really very nice indeed. I remember being extremely sceptical of it when it was announced, but they have really put a ton of work into it and it shows imho. Clem and Linux Mint had a lot to do with it in the early days if I remember correctly. Very much its own thing now.

My time with Kubuntu 15.10 is at an end. Over before it's even released! I like Plasma 5 a great deal but at the moment it's too buggy for regular use. So have instead decided to go with mainline Ubuntu 15.10 as my secondary OS.

It's been getting quite a bit of flack for being in a holding position for the last three years but I have really enjoyed using it again. Like a nice comfy pair of slippers, it feels like home again. I hope when they do move on from this Unity 7 desktop to the Unity Next desktop that they don't take away too much of the good stuff they put into it.

I've just given up on Plasma5 too, as you said it's buggy.
moved to Ubuntu Mate 15.04, can't use 15.10 as they have broken screen rotation for me.

btw, Ubuntu launchpad triagers are mentally damaged imo.

It's not good that significant bugs still remained in released editions such as this one here http://news.softpedia.com/news/criti...t-488621.shtml. It's that kind of thing that gives Linux a bad name.

While I am online (and remember!), did anyone ever get to the bottom of the mysterious disappearance of Pear Linux and who/what was responsible? It's a shame because it was quite an aesthetically pleasing distribution.

Get you're hard drives ready

Yes i am aware other distros are available and are released all year long.
Plus it's a blatant chance to bump the thread

But as so many distros (Mint etc) are linked into Ubuntu, it's always a mass release time soon after Ubuntu release a new version.
http://www.ubuntu.com/

Im just finishing tea, then its a fresh intstall of
https://ubuntu-mate.org/blog/ubuntu-...final-release/

Ps Any sign of Mint ever committing to going pure Debian and not following Ubuntu ?

There's no sign of that as far as I am aware although the Linux Mint team does remain committed to a specific Debian edition for the time being.

Snoochies boochies! Glad you're all well and still having fun with your Linux.

Ubuntu is very solid, but I'm sorry to say I'm getting the itch for something new, so I've decided to download and try Tanglu Linux. I like the fact that it's really up to date with Gnome and KDE etc, but is based on Debian rather than Ubuntu. Can't really find any recent reviews, but I'm going to see if I can install it as a secondary OS without any issue and I'll try it for a couple of days, see how we go.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Back to Ubuntu-based distributions, I have found that Firefox is particularly intolerant of outdated Flash Player plug-ins irrespective of the platform. Here's a quick workaround for updating the Flash Player plug-in on Ubuntu-based distributions:

Open a terminal, e.g. via Menu > System Tools > your Terminal package
Enter sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer then enter your root user password
Enter y when it asks you if you want to install it and wait for it to install (takes a bit of time)
Launch Firefox and check that the latest Flash Player has been installed

openSUSE 42.1 "Leap" is out!

I didn't get to try Tanglu, as I was sidetracked with the new openSUSE. Have to say, really great release. I downloaded the DVD and opted rather for the KDE Plasma 5 desktop instead of the usual Gnome I go for. It goes to show you the difference between this and Kubuntu. Plasma 5 seems much happier here. No crashes or hangs, everything working just fine so far. Definitely a keeper, I could even consider it for Mint replacement in the future. Well done to the openSUSE team. After such a protracted period of silence I feared the worst. Clearly, stuff was being done to improve the OS.

Great positive reviews from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkE4nSxEdF8
Note.. they are reviewing the Beta, so some negatives in there.
Skip to 47 mins

Used to listen to LAS all the time but find it hard going these days. I think a lot of that is just me to be fair; I'm nowhere near as geeky or "qualified" as the guys doing the podcasts! But LAS has gotten a bit dry imho. It used to be a wee bit more fun to listen to and a bit broader than it is these days, but then I do respect the effort to provide decent quality reporting and commentary and not clickbait crap. The Linux Voice podcast is the best I think, but even then it's been a while since I listened to these things consistently.

You, me and lots of other people aren't liking the new format of the show.
I just flick onto the site for a quick nosey, see if anything catches my eye.
Unlike when Matt Hartley used to be on the show. It was a good laugh then as well as being techy when needed.

Good news is since fitting
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-m...2-vga-dvi-hdmi

Instead of using the in build HD2000 Graphics, my Ubuntu Mate is running without any faults.
Been having issues, nothing serious, just when i try changing the appearance etc of most Linux Distros not just Mate. I would get all sorts graphics issues.
In the past i have used ATI as well as HD2000. So took the decision to go nvidia and so far so good.

May be something to do with the distros getting ready for the big graphics change in the next releases?

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2015/11/t...e-in-16-04-lts

Aye I saw this. To be replaced with the Gnome equivalent application. They should never have moved away from Gnome. Regardless of how well Unity has turned out, for what differences there are between them they would have had much less maintenance to do if they'd kept to the Gnome platform. Look at how far Gnome has come on in comparison to Unity, which has seemingly moved not one jot in 3 years. Now, I don't dislike Unity at all, but I think time hasn't been kind to the idea to move away. Just imho.