Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon review by Dedoimedo http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/linux-mint-rosa.html

I think dedoimedo must have been having a bad day as he gave it 0 out of 10. Personally I think it is the best one yet.

Seems to me that if ALL the distros suck the fail point is the tester.

Rosa Mate 64bit is just about flawless on the 2 machines I've installed it on.

Wow that is scathing. I can't comment on Mint myself as I haven't used it in a few years

That reminds me, Windows is the OS that normally gives me trouble but over the Christmas holiday, I got a "grub hd0 out of disk" error message on my laptop. Never had that before and I still don't know what caused the bootloader to get corrupted. Was easily solved using the repair option on my Rescatux disc - http://www.supergrubdisk.org/rescatux/ - it's worth having a copy.


Actually, that 2015 list is a pretty good selection of distributions for newcomers to Linux to try out.


That review is out of kilter with the others that I've read, such as this one here http://www.pcworld.com/article/30130...ience-yet.html so I think it's an unrepresentative outlier which ought perhaps to be ignored.

Dedoimedo has had another go and appears to have cheered up giving Mint a 9 out of 10 score in his updated review. He didn't give it a 10 due to bluetooth issues.

http://dedoimedo.com/computers/linux...a-to-rosa.html

"It's not a jerkfest competition who gets their git commit in faster."

That does seem to happen a heck of a lot, users getting frustrated if they fo not have a safe but narrow list of hardware.

This article made delightful reading last night:

8 Reasons to Switch from Windows 10 to Linux
"I opened up my daughters new W10 Dell i7 laptop to see what W10 was like and after three hours or so decided it was an ABOMINATION – a cheap circus with a plethora of harrowing, time wasting sideshows."

Some of the quotes in the comments section are pricless plus there's the cautionery tale of Windows, a careless employee and cryptolocker - double

Just had a notice in Chrome (running on Mint 17 Qiana 32-bit) that it will no longer be supported on my laptop after March. Looks like Chrome is dropping support for 32-bit Linux Operating systems from then on. it seems this was announced in December but I missed it. I only have 32-bit hardware dating from 2008-2011 which I have spiced up with RAM upgrades and SSD's over the years.

http://www.xda-developers.com/xda-ex...-discontinued/

Looks like that you'll still be able to use Chromium, just not the full Google Chrome?
You can probably continue to use Chrome, but it won't be updated so will become less secure.

Also seems they are dropping support for Chrome on anything based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, which might be a bigger issue, as it's supposed to be supported till April 2017?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/30104...-debian-7.html

I wonder what Opera will do?

Seems its come back to bite them on the ass.
Mints policy of not upgrading/dating as often as other Distros.

Maintaining your own Apps is making a lot of extra work for themselves.
Also as time goes on, Mint will become even more isolated from the norm. Making maintaining it even harder.
http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2985

Scroll to 40mins
http://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com/9...le14x-las-402/

Mints doing great work at the moment, but say in 2-3-5 yrs its going to be dated and requiring lots of extra work to maintain.
They are still reliant on Ubuntu as they haven't moved over to the Debian release as the default release.
Ubuntu are of on a different path to what Mint want to do.

Dedoimedo has definitely cheered up. He has just given Linux Mint 17.3 xfce a 10 out of 10 review.

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/l...rosa-xfce.html

You've posted all this just to garner a response from me.

People have been saying these things for some years now, and yet here is Mint and it's still going great guns. I'm not sure how you've read that article but Mint have always said they did not have any desire to be maintaining extra programs and accessories.


Clem is nothing if not pragmatic about how to move forward. The solution they have presented allows them to work more easily between the different versions of Mint they create. Hey, if it doesn't work and they look like fools, then I'll be the first to look at other options. But I remember having these discussions some years ago when Cinnamon first hit, but that turned out fantastically well. I'm not worried one bit for the future of Mint.

No

I Hope they make a go of it, just seems lots of extra work for them.
Still think they would be better in the long run putting there time into making the Debian release the default.
Plus it seems as time goes bye they will become more isolated. If it doesn't work, it's going to be lots of work to come back into line with others.
But as you say, when has that ever bothered Clem

Suppose its a bit like https://elementary.io/
They have there own way of doing things, and so far it's working.

This year will see a few changes for the top Distros.
Unity 8 going there own way with Mir.
Others using Wayland.
Some using LXQT. http://lxqt.org/

Anyone tried SuperTuxKart recently? Just been reading Dedoimedo's blog and though I'd give it a go. It's come a long way! Lot's of fun, well worth your time.

Lol, I think I shall pass on that one, fun though it may be!

And now for some promising news not least because it'll provide a cash boost to Canonical:

AT&T's latest Linux choice may profoundly shape Ubuntu. AT&T has struck a deal with Canonical that could shape the future of the platform currently "owning" the cloud.

In particular, I agree with this point, "but Canonical would be remiss if the company turned its back on the desktop", and hopefully the cash injection will provide the means to improve desktop Ubuntu which, I feel, has been neglected in the past couple of years.

New! (and why the desktop has been neglected)

Canonical's new Ubuntu tablet can also be your PC. Canonical still believes in convergence. The company that makes the open-source OS Ubuntu and tried to raise $32 million for a smartphone that can power a PC has announced its first ever tablet, promising that the device is just a keyboard and mouse away from a full desktop experience.

I know this is from a 'usual suspect', but it is true, isn't it?

Why switch to Windows 10 or a Mac when you can use Linux Mint 17.3 instead? Linux Mint 17.3 is the best Linux desktop operating system and it might be the best PC operating system, period, for you.

That is particularly annoying since there's still plenty of 32-bit laptops and desktop PCs in circulation and working well after having been given a second lease of life with a Linux distribution. Apparently, 32-bit Linux users were only a small minority of Chrome's user base and were thus not worth bothering with - http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/01/g...t-discontinued

Which reminds me, Google are also in the doghouse for their heavy handed action against the Chromixium distribution because Google set their lawyers on to them to get them to change their name - they're now Cub Linux: https://cublinux.com/2016/01/17/chro...a-cub-is-born/

It reminds me of the Windows-Lindows action from 2002 onwards but this time the villains reside not in Redmond but in Mountain View, CA.

Seems even Ubuntu are dropping 32 support as well.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/039161.html

think they may have a point.
think its time to move on for all concerned.

Move on?

Well, some of the near current Atom stuff is 32 bit and run better for not having the 64 bit overhead. 64 bit never really gained in performance, and on mobile it is more likely a mildly frustrating loss.

Ouch!


http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2994

First of..... Bastards...

Clem has devoted his life to Mint and they do something like that.
Wouldn't mind but he's a good guy, thought they only went after bad corporates etc.

Am curious why they picked on him?

Still, this will raise a lot of discussion again about Mint and security.

The main site is still down
http://linuxmint.com/

and passwords have been compromised
http://blog.linuxmint.com/

He comes across very well in his on-going Q&A

I agree entirely. What type of total scumbag would hack and disrupt the distribution a free Linux operating system that anyone, regardless of their income, can use? This as morally bad as stealing lead from church roofs and I hope the scumbags responsible are identified and prosecuted.

I think the type of scumbag in question is simply a thief. Suggestions are already being made about ways in which security on the Mint site could be improved, but as these things go, I think Clem and his colleagues have reacted with admirable speed and done everything possible to limit the immediate impact.

The main problem I'm having at the moment is that the advice is to change your forum password.

But the site is down. I cannot do this.

Luckily I have a pretty strong Keepass generated password that is unique to the site, but still, I would not like to think any personal info has been compromised.