I installed Linux Mint 14 Mate edition and it lasted about a week. It's
gone because of the following problems.
Their server capacity is inadequate and it was hard to update. Ubuntu
has 500 mirrors world wide, Mint only has a couple of dozen.
There are less packages available on their mirrors than on Ubuntu's.
The install frequently doesn't boot up properly. That can be fixed by
toggling the system restore, but remember this is the waitress test and
that is a fatal error (The waitress test is, if I gave a CD to the
waitress at the Palace Diner, could she get it up and running on her
system in an evening without help. It also has to be one distro, one
desktop and one operating system because she doesn't want to spend a lot
of time maintaining her pc and she doesn't compile.)
I wound up doing an install of Xubuntu, then adding Mate and taking
Xubuntu out. That required cutting and pasting command code which also
flunks the waitress test. I think that at some point, Ubuntu will
invent "Mubuntu" a long term support distro with Mate or maybe "Cubuntu"
with Cinnamon, but in the meantime we should give her Lubuntu.
That's in case it is an older system. Lubuntu the only one that will
still support a 386 processor). Then, if she finds LXDE a little basic
or rough cut, tell her to try adding KDE or Xubuntu through the package
manager. If she puts KDE in, she should immediately disable the desktop
effects and Nepomuk. She can experiment with them later when she is
sure that she is fully installed and configured.
KDE also has a package called nofat kde or something like that which
changes some settings to better work with legacy processors.
Unless you are SURE that she has a 64 bit system or a state of the art
system. But most people who are playing with Linux for the first time
try it on an older system, and most of the Ubuntu CD's will only tell
her that the CD doesn't support her processor and self abort.
Linux Mint 14, Mate edition has a lot of potential, but the Mint people
are struggling to service it properly.
Mark
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Mark Wallace
PO Box 11144
Newburgh, NY 12552-1114
Telephone: (845) 541-7396
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Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org
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Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) Vassar College
Jan 9 - High Performance Computing at a Small Scale
Feb 6 - Raspberry Pi
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