Linux Mint 4.0 daryna

[madokie]

I downloaded this and put it on my box last night and lordy lordy I must say this might just be the linux that gets me off the gates wagon. Any info or comments on this is greatly appreciated, pro or con.



http://linuxmint.com/download.php

[SKKY]

1. Linux Mint is pretty nice...

...but it's so much like Ubuntu, I just stuck with Ubuntu. Either way, it's nice to see more people giving *nix a shot. My only serious need right now, and one that would get me off of Windows and Windows applications all together, would be a Linux portal of itunes, or something like it. I've tried Floola, Banshee, and Amarok, and all fall just short of what I really need for my iPod.

[Occulus]

2. I'm using Fedora Core 8

I must say, I've had more satisfaction with this incarnation of Fedora than I've ever had with any previous version. Everything just... works, even items I didn't expect- like being able to run Command & Conquer 3 for Windows in linux under Wine. Bryce 5 also works like a charm (most of the time). Since everything else I use other than games also has a linux native version, the division between Windows and linux is growing more and more narrow as time passes. This version of Fedora even autodetected all the partitions on my hard drive, not just the ones it "recognizes", as Window$ does. It even found my Window$ network, without me having to lift a finger as I have had to do in the past.

Getting the GUI to even function was an expected pain: I'm using an HDTV as a display device, and so I had to take measures that users with tried-and-true monitors will never have to face to get it going to the point it was usable. My desktop, for example, has to run in 1280x800 with the TV set to "stretch" just to see everything properly, and at that I still lose over an inch of underscan to a black border all the way around. Yes, I know- set a custom modeline in xorg.conf, but with which settings?

Still, a bigscreen HDTV as a monitor, at any reasonable resolution, is nothing to complain about, particularly if getting it to work at all is something of an accomplishment. I truly doubt linux developers will be able to get this issue solved, as xorg renders the desktop very differently from Windows, from what I understand (could be wrong, please set me straight if so), and so very few people use their HDTVs as monitors in linux for it to be an issue for any but a vanishingly small number of powerusers.

Once I got compiz-fusion running (and the compiz that ships with Fedora Core 8 is not compiz-fusion; you need to completely uninstall the Fedora compiz and reinstall compiz-fusion and all the rest of its adjuncts), I was astonished. Compiz-fusion makes Micro$oft Window$ Aero look like a rushed, amateur hack job. There really isn't any comparison at all.

If Wine starts being able to support games like Bioshock and Crysis- as well as so-called casual games like those from Realarcade (which, BTW, does not install properly under FC8)- linux could easily beging to replace Window$ as a gaming platform, with or without the developers' help in the matter.

I would definitely prefer linux native versions of software, but if I have to emulate under wine, well, let's make wine as perfect as possible.

[SKKY]

3. I have not been able to get iPod to work under Wine...

...or CrossOver for that matter. If you can help, I'd probably name by next born after you. I haven't used Fedora in a long while, but I hear it does work better than it did before.

[Occulus]

4. I have no Apple hardware

Otherwise, I'd be happy to help. Perhaps someone else who does have an ipod and runs linux could give it a shot....?

...anyone?

As I said, I'm very happy with the new version of Fedora. I know people complain about the length of time between versions, but I think it's starting to be worth the wait.

Now, if they would only include compiz-fusion by default, and work on native DirectX support.... :evilgrin:

I'm this close || to dumping Window$ for good. Gaming is my only stumbling block at this point.

Well, and full and proper HDTV support, but that's an xorg problem, and a special one at that, and doesn't have anything to do with linux itself (the kernel, I mean).

[RoyGBiv]

9. Xorg ...

Unfortunately, no advice here.

But a friend and I were talking the other day about Xorg and all the potential options, modelines, etc. If I'm ever in the mood to criticize Linux, *that* is the subject that instantly springs to mind. There is basically no documentation of any use to anyone but those already familiar with it, and the problem there is that the thing is so slapped together from various projects that accurate documentation seems nearly impossible. Simple syntax changes in subtle ways from version to version ... it's just bizarre that a system built on a certain theory of efficiency has such an inefficient core system.

But then again ... I'm having a nightmare with my Windoze installation right now. My NVidia drivers somehow became corrupted. I only boot that system once a week or so, and when I booted yesterday, the driver wasn't functioning. This has happened before, so I did what I did then, deleted it, used another program to make sure it was deleted, then cleaned the registry, made sure every reference to it anywhere on the system was gone (well, anywhere I could think to look), then reinstalled. Booted once ... it worked. Rebooted, it was dead again. Did that whole scenario once again, and this time it didn't work at all.

So here's some irony. I can't get 3d acceleration to work under Windoze. Works just fine in my Linux installation (same system, different hard drive), but not Windoze. On the rare occasion it has died under Linux, I just recompile the driver module and all is well.

Damn computers. :-)

[madokie]

11. Roy is there a linux I could get that only comes with what it takes to surf the web

read my mail etc and plus with a little word processors, nothing fancy. So far both I've tried, ubuntu and mint seem to be somewhat bloated with addons that I have no need for. I am running a self hacked and highly tweaked xp that I don't load anything on startup except avg antivirus and have disabled a lot of stuff in services so it runs pretty fast and so far it was much faster than ubuntu was and somewhat faster than what mint is. Thats why I'm looking for a linux that is pretty much only the basics it takes with me adding on what I need.

Thanks for any and all input and have a great day,

speed is what I am looking for mostly ;-)
I'm running a pretty good dell with 2 gig, radoen card

[RoyGBiv]

12. DamnSmallLinux

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

E-mail and web browser and a few ancillaries, all within 50MB.

You can run the thing from a Flash drive.

More long-term, if you ever catch the bug, you're actually a candidate for something like Gentoo or Slackware, something you build the way you want it built. But you do need to be more of a hobbiest with this 'cause you'll have to learn about compiling from source and such.

One problem you may be having is that, yes, the systems people put together have a TON of stuff. That's by design because it's how bigger distros compete with Microsoft. Generic Linux Distro can go to a school or something and say, hey, look at us. We have ALL THIS STUFF for nothing but the cost of support. The same thing from MS runs into the tens of thousands for small organizations.

You can tweak what you have to perform better. I have a guess that the problem you're having is related to your graphics card but just haven't had the time lately to try to troubleshoot it. ATI and Linux don't play nice until you beat it into submission, which isn't precisely the problem actually ... Anyway, the system can *seem* slow because the screen is struggling to draw.

[RoyGBiv]

13. Since you are distro hopping ...

Try installing PCLinux.

It is the only distro I've ever used that would configure an ATI chip video card correctly out of the box.

Slick system. Has quite a bit of stuff on it, but it runs pretty smooth as I recall.

[madokie]

14. thanks, I'll try it

[madokie]

15. I am using puppy linux from the cd this morning and man o man I can say this is fast

seems to be as fast in using the web as xp and ie7 is too and I am running it off the cd so I can imagine what it will be like once loaded on the hard drive.

[RoyGBiv]

16. Cool ...

Puppy is supposed to be streamlined. I'd just never messed with it and so didn't know whether to recommend it or not.

[madokie]

17. I have it loaded on a 1 gig sd card and it boots

seems to be faster than running it from the cd too. I have mint on a dual boot with xp sp3 and would like to replace it with puppy but haven't figured out how to do it yet, hopefully tonight I'll get that done. I'm using puppy right now and I must say I sure like it so far. Somewhere I noticed that there is a barebones version that I may want to check out and then only add what I need, to me that would be too cool. I may be way off on what I think about all this but at least I'm having fun. ;-) Thanks for the help you've been even when I wasn't the one asking the questions.
:yourock:

[RoyGBiv]

18. Oh, I wish we were neighbors ...

I'd turn you into a Slacker (Slackware) quicker than you could pronounce it. :-)

You just said the magic words, "barebones version that I may want to check out and then only add what I need."

The system I run now is, from a certain point of view, a mishmash of crap all hacked together that somehow accidentally works. I started with a barebones Slackware installation, dropped in the SuSE kernel sources because of a patch to that kernel I couldn't find separately anywhere that makes configuring my mouse easier, compiled that into a working kernel using options customized for my system, then just started throwing junk in until I was tired. I'll eventually get the bug again and get a new hard drive and start over.

But, right now, my system screams with efficiency and to the naked eye out-performs my XP installation by leaps and bounds, mostly because I built it from a very base system and don't have anything working I didn't do myself. I customized Windows down as far as I could, but it still has some issues that make Linux far preferable to some things I do fairly regularly. I say "naked-eye" mostly because direct benchmark comparisons between Linux and Windows are difficult to do. One of those things I do fairly regularly, though, is render video. I did the same project on both Windows and my Linux installations (same machine), and Linux using transcode and various related tools did the job 15 minutes faster than the Windows box and some commercial software I found had come with one of my graphics cards.

Haven't burned a DVD from Windows in ages, but I've rarely had any problems with K3b, a Linux CD/DVD burning tool, and was constantly cursing Nero on Windows when I did use it.

Anyway ... hope your journey is a good one. Be sure to give us updates.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

7. ...but it's so much like Ubuntu, I just stuck with Ubuntu

That's my thinking also. I'm sticking with UbuntuStudio...but I'll still try others.

[FormerDittoHead]

8. I'm going to stick with Ubuntu as well...

Hey, linux isn't linux. It's a family and depth of support. Not all distros are the same, and I'd avoid johnny come latelys...

Like all these people touting PCLinux, or whatever it's called. I go to check it out - and their damn web site's down for like A MONTH? Whew! Glad I didn't NEED anything like... HELP!

Then I tried to install Fedora core, but those guys have such a phone pole up their butts about proprietary software like Nvidia drivers, Java, MP3, macromedia flash, mpeg, etc, etc, etc... And they didn't want to do ANYTHING to try to HELP people get it installed. It was just "it's not open source so fuck you, you're on your own. PS: fuck you"....

And DAMN if I'm going to bother, because I loaded up Ubuntu, hardware detection was 100%, even onboard audio drivers, then with a couple of warning screens, did like 1-2 click installs of all of the "evil" proprietary software....

Their updates and (deb) packaging are great - something which Fedora still was mucking about with this time last year.

Every other "got to have" distro I've seen is just "fabulous" because it defaults to some kind of eye candy, but I know that running a computer is much more than that, and Ubuntu is just that.

It works, and it continues to work...

[hobbit709]

5. How is it on wifi

That's always been a major pain.

[madokie]

6. since I'm using a wired connection I don't know

of the linux distro's I've tried this one is by far the better of them, too me that is. I believe it indicated that wifi is covered in this release though but don't take my word for it ;-)

[SKKY]

10. I have no issues what-so-ever with Wireless on Ubuntu...

...I've tried 802.11b and g cards and they both work exactly as they should. I don't know about
802.11n, but I'm about to find out because I bought a new 802.11n ADSL modem/wireless router from
Belkin. Fedora Core is another issue. I have yet to try a version that works with my
802.11g US Robotics wireless card and router.