Hi all, I recently switched from Mint to Linux Mint Debian Edition and can vouch for it, it's very polished and stable.
Best, Hamish On 10 March 2025 09:24:08 GMT, Tim <t...@windriders.co.uk> wrote: >Hi James > >If you are looking at the Mint, then Mint has a Debian version you could try. >While I have not used it for a while it is the same as the other version of >Mint but built on Debian rather than Ubuntu > >https://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php > >You get a polished version of Debian with the ease of Mint > >Tim H > > >On 10/03/2025 07:04, James Crowfoot wrote: >> Thanks, That is really helpful, >> I am planning to use it for home and everyday use on my laptop. >> I think that arch is a bit too complex for my needs, Mint will probably >> give me the smoother transition and looks nicer from stock compared to >> debian which I am more familiar with however. >> >> On Sat, 8 Mar 2025 at 09:18, Ralph Corderoy <ra...@inputplus.co.uk> wrote: >> >>> Hello James, >>> >>> I've seen you've popped up on the IRC channel when the few of us that >>> linger there have been ‘away from keyboard’ so it's nice to finally talk >>> to you. >>> >>>> At some point in the future I am planning on switching from windows 11 >>>> to linux but I am not sure what distro to go for. >>>> I'm most familiar with debian, through raspberry pi os, but also >>>> either mint or ubuntu are also on the table. >>> I think the answers from Tim, Rhys, and Terry nicely cover some >>> different things to consider, and having used Raspberry Pi's Debian >>> spin-off you'll be familiar with some of them, but they were a bit >>> implicit, so I'll list them. >>> >>> - Unlike Microsoft Windows, a Linux distro tends to have a lot more >>> swappable parts. Three interesting layers are: >>> >>> - The kernel which marshals the hardware and arbitrates requests to >>> access it from the programs above. Most users don't find >>> sufficient here to distinguish one distro from another, though >>> some more unusual bits of hardware may need a particular kernel >>> module for support. >>> >>> - The distro's preperation of software for easy install of a new >>> program as a ‘package’, and the other packages it depends on. >>> Then keeping installed packages up to date with upgrades. >>> >>> The two main flavours of package managers are APT, from Debian, >>> and DNF, from Fedora. I'm not sure there's much to choose between >>> them as competition worked its magic. >>> >>> - The graphical desktop interface is the key one in many users' >>> eyes. Terry uses the Kubuntu distro which is the KDE desktop on >>> Ubuntu. There are many desktop environments, and they can each be >>> installed as a package at the same time, at the cost of disk >>> space. The graphical log-in prompt for username and password >>> normally provides a menu of the available ones to choose from for >>> that one session. >>> >>> So don't think plain Ubuntu with its default of the GNOME desktop >>> means KDE is out of reach. Or the lightweight XFCE, or a tiling >>> window manager like i3 plus other parts of your choosing. You can >>> experiment with different desktops without switching distro as >>> most provide all the main ones. >>> >>> - Hardware compatibility used to be a significant hurdle in Linux's >>> earlier days, and can still cause more minor problems like getting the >>> audio working, etc., as new chips are continuously arriving on the >>> market. A ‘live’ version of a distro lets you boot from a USB drive >>> to check how much of the hardware works before installation. >>> >>> Searching for your model of PC or motherboard along with ‘Linux >>> compatibility’ may also show up those who have walked the same path >>> before you. The program ‘inxi’ run from a live distro can summarise >>> the hardware. >>> >>> - The philosophy of the distribution. Not just whether they're zealots >>> for an aspect of licensing, but what's their approach to releasing >>> updates. Is it every six months on schedule, or when volunteer effort >>> means it's ready, or is it a rolling release where they're keen to get >>> an upstream release of a single program into their users' hands? >>> >>> - The level of activity in the project. Some have paid staff, others >>> are volunteer efforts, and some a mixture. Do they have a means of >>> community you like: mailing list, IRC, web forum, ... Is it active >>> enough: are others getting a thread of replies going to their >>> question? >>> >>> ✻ ✻ ✻ >>> >>> Separate from all that, there's what do you want to use the distro for? >>> Something you can forget about? Or something to play, experiment, and >>> learn through? You've the mainstream ones, split by Debian or Fedora >>> ancestry, and then the others like Arch Linux and its spin-offs. >>> >>> Pure ‘Arch’ has a very manual installation process where you're left at >>> the shell prompt of a root user and you work your way through setting up >>> the network configuration, then installing just the packages you want >>> using their ‘Pacman’ package manager: neither APT or DNF. This may >>> appeal if you like to learn how things are put together. You can have >>> a skim of the instructions without thinking of installing Arch. >>> https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Installation_guide >>> >>> I use Arch Linux at home. On remote servers, especially for clients, >>> where I want to ‘install and forget’, I go for Debian. I'd be happy to >>> use Ubuntu or Fedora if it was the client's wish. >>> >>> Hope that helps. Tell us what you decide and how you get on. Feel free >>> to ask this list questions. >>> >>> -- >>> Cheers, Ralph. >>> > >-- > Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2025-04-01 20:00 > Check to whom you are replying > Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... https://dorset.lug.org.uk > New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2025-04-01 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... https://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
