9 replies to this topic

[CommittedC0der]

Hey! I've been wanting to try Linux for a while now and tomorrow I'll have access to some unlimited Wi-Fi to download a distro. I plan to dual boot it on my laptop with Vista. I was pretty sure I wanted to try Ubuntu but then I looked at Mint 11, and its looks pretty sweet. I'm not sure witch will be better? I want something that looks nice, but is also easy to use, I want to ease into iT from Windows and see if I like it. Ubuntu and Mint both seem to have a good app market(Or w/e that's called) so which one would be the best for me to ease into while still retaining the raw power of Linux?

Pretty much a total noob to Linux so some questions maybe dumb, but any advice welcome! :)
~ Committed.

[Vaielab]

Ubuntu and Mint are almost the same thing.

Mint have a ubuntu base. So whatever Ubuntu get has an upgrade, Mint have it too (not 100% true, but almost).
If you look at DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. you can see that for the last 6months ubuntu had 2199page hits by day, and mint had 2186page hit by day... so they are pretty close to each other.
Personally I'm a fan of ubuntu, I tried Mint 11, but I didn't like it, I didn't like the design, but a lots of people love this new design.

So in an other word, what ever wich one you learn, you will know the other since they are almost the same.
They both have a livecd version on their disc, so if you want to test them before installing them, you can do it.

[WingedPanther]

My wife uses Mint 9, I'm using Ubuntu 11.04. Overall, they are not that different, other than I've got the "newer" version. The main difference I've noticed is Mint uses a more "windows-ish" start menu, has different wallpaper, and different startup sounds.

In all seriousness, they're nearly interchangeable. Why not download both and compare them in Live-CD mode?

[CommittedC0der]

Quote

So in an other word, what ever wich one you learn, you will know the other since they are almost the same.

Quote

In all seriousness, they're nearly interchangeable.

Ok, good to know!

Quote

They both have a livecd version on their disc, so if you want to test them before installing them, you can do it.

Quote

Why not download both and compare them in Live-CD mode?

Ooo, didnt realize I could do that! Tomorrow I'll just plan on downloading each one and see what I like better, then install. :)

Thanks for the help, I'll post back if I have any problems. :pinguin:
~ Committed.

[Alexander]

With these in mind, note that Ubuntu you may have to download multimedia drivers to get basic video to work. Mint (on their about page) lists some features it provides over Ubuntu, of which tries to be relatively minimal and productive.

About - Linux Mint

[CommittedC0der]

Quote

note that Ubuntu you may have to download multimedia drivers to get basic video to work.

This makes me lean towards Mint a little bit since I have limited bandwidth internet, thanks for sharing.

Quote

Mint (on their about page) lists some features it provides over Ubuntu, of which tries to be relatively minimal and productive.

About - Linux Mint

Yes I seen that. It seems Mint is just a tad bit easier to use(Installation doc's looked super easy!), but Ubuntu looks like a good 2nd option! We'll see though, I still plan to test both. :)
~ Committed.

[IOn Photoshop]

I personally prefer Kubuntu, right now I am running regular Ubuntu with KDE4 installed on top of it(basically the same as running Kubuntu).

[hostaddonltd]

Also It depends what you want, If you want a more classic Linux use Mint. If you want a more original linux which is more compatible use Ubuntu

[Sysop_fb]

You're going to want to always run a livecd for the distro you're looking into using for a laptop just to make sure everything works with your hardware; like your wifi card. Most linux distros will have a livecd that doubles as a platform to install from so it's win/win anyway.
Ubuntu to me is like the windows of the linux world, if you want a linux that boots up after install and everything magically works without needing too much from you. Another thing you should look into is which window manager you want, there's many different variants of ubuntu I believe the standard one comes preloaded with the Gnome window manager, kubuntu comes with the KDE window manager preloaded, xubuntu comes preloaded with the XFCE window manager.
Personally I don't like either ubuntu or mint but for a first time average user switching from windows either one would be a good choice.

[Jeremy Morgan]

I installed a copy of Mint on my desktop to play around with and check out for my Mom who I want to convert to Linux, and ended up keeping it. For most of what I do daily it works very well, and it has been very stable. I installed it, compiled a kernel for it and set it up and forgot about it.

As others have said they are basically the same thing but there will be more multimedia drivers and other things automatically installed with Mint. Ubuntu first became popular because it was so easy to set up, Mint has taken that a step further. It's as easy as Windows now.

You have to ask yourself, what are you using it for? If the OS is merely a tool for you and you want to browse the web, write programs etc then Mint works great. Also Mint is very "turn key". If you want to do some more serious hacking on the OS Ubuntu is probably better. Think of it like a car, do you want to buy a car and drive it to work, or do you want to assemble a bunch of parts into a sweet race car? Somewhere in between? There is no wrong answer here.

I think you'll be happy with either one as they are both great distros.

*Actually if you really want to hack an OS, or have a really lean and mean system you can do a lot of configuring with, try Slackware or Gentoo. You have a lot more control over every detail with them.