I Installed Linux Mint

[Michael Haney]

A major hurdle towards getting Ubuntu install natively on my PC rather
than in a Wubi virtual partition has been cleared.  I got a 1TB
external drive to store all of my files that I wanted to keep.  So, I
had some options to consider...

1.  Wait for Karmic to come out and use what I have for now.

or

2.  Give another distro I've been hearing about a try then later
install Karmic and compare them.

That distro is Linux Mint.  Linux Mint was built from Ubuntu and is
compatible with its repos.  One of the things that makes this distro
stand out from Ubuntu is the inclusion of codecs for Restricted
Digital Media Formats like MP3s, videos, Adobe Flash and etc.  Gnome
is the desktop environment, customized differently from that of Ubuntu
with a menu system more akin to KDE 4 and Windows than anything else
but still logically laid out and easy to navigate.  What also stood
out is the inclusion of more CompizFusion customization options than
what Ubuntu offers.  I especially like the Burn effect which makes it
look like windows are going poof like flash-paper when you close them.
 Try that on Windows!

The Software Manager, Linux Mint's equivalent to Ubuntu's Add/Remove
Programs, includes screen-shots, user reviews and a button that takes
you to the website for that particular piece of software.  It also has
a Feature Applications button which opens a window for installing
stuff like VLC, Google Earth, Opera, Skype, Adobe Acrobat Reader for
Linux, Scribus, and other popular Linux apps.  Uninstalling software
is as easy as right clicking its icon in the menu and choosing
uninstalll.

Linux Mint uses PulseAudio by default and includes the configuration
apps for changing the sound server's settings (including PulseAudio's
audio streaming capabilities).  gParted is installed by default and
used during the install process which is a big plus.  There is also a
backup utility and ndiswrapper is installed by default too.

I've only been using Linux Mint for about a day or so and I'm already
impressed.  Its very polished, runs smoothly, and hasn't given me any
real headaches.  There is still the issue of not being able to set
your monitor settings in the screen resolution app, so I had to once
again edit the xorg.conf file.  Despite that snag its been pretty easy
getting things up and running the way I like them.  I was able to add
the Ubuntu PPA for Firefox 3.5 since Linux Mint's repos are also
out-of-date like Jaunty's, and I was also able to easily install the
Gnome applet Wallpaper Tray and Avant Windows Navigator.  Linux Mint
even has a larger selection of screensavers, but I like using the
Pictures Folder screensaver because i have a lot of anime pics.

Overall I like it.  This is the first time I'm running Linux
"natively" on this machine.  Windows XP is completely GONE!  I used
gParted and wiped both of my hard drives clean of that "virus".  I'm
surprised at how much of an overhead Wubi actually adds to Linux.  I
don't have the usual slow performance anymore, everything is fast and
responsive, and even Flash Video plays better, but still won't play
smoothly in full screen so I have to zoom in to do that (BTW, found a
program that adds the same Mac OS X/Linux desktop zoom functionality
to Windows, its called QZoom).  Also, Firefox loads much faster and
doesn't hang like it used to when loading pages with Flash content.

I had to go digging online to find out how to mount my second hard
drive.  There was no tool on the menu for doing this so I had to do it
manually by editing my fstab and mtab files.  Had one hiccup, when I
created the folder I wanted to mount my second drive to I forgot to
change all of its permissions so it came up Read Only .... DOH!!!
But, I fixed that easily with chmod.

I'm going to try this distro out for a few weeks.  I'll order a Karmic
CD from LaunchPad as soon as they are available or just download and
burn the ISO then install it after I'm done evaluating this one for a
while.  Or, I might stay with Linux Mint and update to its newest
version which is also coming soon.

What do you think?  Comments?  Suggestions?  Flames will be | to /dev/null.  ;-)

-- 
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
thezorch at gmail.com
http://thezorch.googlepages.com/home
Twitter: TheZorch | Skype: thezorch
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MSN Messeger: haneymichael at hotmail.com
Free Your PC from the Bondage of Windows http://www.ubuntu.com