TechieMoe.com

Introduction:

Linux Mint is fast becoming more than just Ubuntu with flair. I've read recently that a growing number of users are actually waiting for the next Mint release rather than adopting the latest and greatest from Ubuntu proper. I can't say I blame them.

Mint has consistently offered a polished user experience along with a handful of unique and useful applications. It does so without breaking compatibility with its parent, which is also nice. In fact, the Mint tools are supposedly available for regular Ubuntu now without modification.

I didn't expect to run into any major problems with Mint 8, and for the most part I wasn't disappointed. On to the rant.

Install:

The installer itself hasn't been changed much from Ubuntu Karmic, but the slideshow that plays while things are installing has been modified to include specific references to Mint.

Install was noticeably speedy. I was in and out in less than fifteen minutes. As is customary with Ubuntu-based distributions, no package selection was available for the default install.

Once the install was done I was asked to reboot and remove the disc, but not without a parting word (udderance?) from an ASCII cow.

Initial boot took about thirty seconds. The desktop has received a graphical upgrade. I was immediately shown a welcome dialog. I installed the recommended updates.

I chose "Package Manager" from the main apps menu and was surprised to see that it opened up Synaptic. One of Mint's key features is a custom package front-end called MintInstall. In fact, it's one of the apps listed specifically in their release notes. I'm a little confused as to why the first thing users see is regular old Synaptic.

It was only then that I realized there was another choice, "Software Manager," just above it. That opened up MintInstall. The inclusion of both right next to each other is redundant and confusing, in my opinion.

Most regular users aren't going to need Synaptic, and if they do it's in the Systems menu already. There's no reason to put both in the main menu, much less right next to each other. At the very least, the icon for "Software Manager" needs to stand out more from the background.

As noted in the release notes, MintInstall has received a refresh. The most obvious change is the new position of the screenshot panel in the lower left. It makes sense to me, and de-clutters the lower right panel somewhat.

Rather than showing a description in the lower right of the screen (as in previous versions), you can now double-click on the name of the program or click "More Info" to bring up a full window with information on the app.

The lower right panel now contains user comments and ratings. Personally, I don't find these to be very useful, but I guess if someone was new to Linux and needed some reassurance they might help.

Another welcome addition is the ability to select multiple software packages and install in one shot. I noted this frustration in 7, so either I wasn't alone, or they read my rants and responded. (Hey, I can dream, can't I?)

Screenshots loaded in a few seconds for each individual package depending on what I selected. This is a better approach than the old batch download that used to take place when you launched the program. The list no longer needs to be manually updated either, instead coming as a regular system update called "mintinstall-data." That's a nice touch.

A small UI tweak I'd like to see is some response when I click on the "Status" box next to a program. As it is, nothing happens. To select something you have to click on the program and then click the "+Install" button to check the box. It would be nice if (like Synaptic) the default action was applied when you click the box. For instance, Install for an unchecked and Uninstall for checked.

Software Selection:

Firefox, OpenOffice, and GIMP were present. There's a rumor that GIMP will not be in the default install of the next release of Ubuntu, so I'm curious if Mint will follow suit. I guess time will tell. I was pleased to see that Pidgin (not Empathy) was the default IM client. Nothing against Empathy, I'm just a creature of habit.

Notably different from the default Ubuntu choices was Mozilla Thunderbird for mail instead of Evolution. I don't use either anymore (web clients are my preferred method). The lack of Evolution might explain their choice in IM clients, since Evolution and Empathy share the same libraries.

Changes were made to a couple of the other Mint-specific tools such as their FTP client (now called Upload Manager). It's nice, if a little simplistic. I'm sure that was the idea. I still prefer FileZilla.

Sadly, no games were included at all. I understand the idea of space constraints on a single CD, but I personally could have done without, say, the full OpenOffice Suite (AbiWord is sufficient for me) in order to have Mahjongg and AisleRiot.

Speaking of Mahjongg, I couldn't find the default Gnome games in MintInstall, so I fired up Synaptic. When the games were done installing I noticed that the icons were missing in the apps menu. The game I installed via MintInstall (Wormux) had an icon, but the ones I installed with Synaptic did not.

The icons showed up on my next reboot, so I guess it was just a refresh issue with the menus. Still I find it odd that the icon for Wormux popped up immediately. Perhaps because Wormux doesn't have ties to the underlying Gnome desktop?

There is a "Universal" version of Linux Mint which is a DVD and includes (I assume) much more software. I would likely find games on there, but it suffers from the same limitation as Mandriva's Free DVD: no proprietary software. Given the choice between functional MP3 support and having to install my own games, I'll take the latter.

Conclusion:

Mint 8 didn't blow me away quite so much as their last release. It worked well as far as I could tell and there were some definite advantages to their package selections (lack of Evolution for one). The improvements to MintInstall continue to make it a pleasant and useful tool.

I'm not going to immediately wipe my Ubuntu Karmic install on the laptop for this release of Mint. It might grow on me, but for now I'm happy with the parent distro. Maybe Mint 9 will have some must-have feature for me, or at least a couple of games. Hey, I can dream.