LinuxMint has a reputation as easy and beginner- friendly Linux distribution, and I have sucessfully recommended it to work co- workers and relatives. Now version 12 “Lisa” has even replaced Ubuntu as no. 1on Distrowatch. It remains yet to be seen if this will be as significant as the last change in 2005(!), when Ubuntu followed Mandrake, but Mint is definitely the distribution of the hour. Reason enough to give it a thorough test drive as my main OS on the Asus 1215N.
Technically Mint 12 is just Ubuntu 11.10 with extras (some tools, themes and Gnome extensions) and Gnome Shell instead of Unity. This has the welcome side effect that all Ubuntu packages, PPAs and tools work out of the box.
Even if Gnome 3 my look similar to Unity at first glance, it is not. No global menu, no ”dash”, no auto hide, no embedded file management, no ‘leftist’ window buttons – Gnome 3 has all the looks but none of the annoyances of Unity. My only criticism right now is the lack of easy customizing options. With Gnome Tweak Tool (“Advanced Settings”) and Gnome Extensions you can work around the most severe pain points (read thisForum Thread for a comprehensive list tweaks), but there should be an easier (and more secure) way to hide the Bluetooth icon than to install an extension attached to some forum thread … Still, after a little tweaking Gnome 3 is a very pleasant desktop environment and compared to let’s say KDE4 at a similar point in life, it is very stable and feature complete.
The extensions included with Mint allow users to get used to know Gnome Shell without having to abandon desktop icons, taskpane and start menu right away. For me this has worked really well, after 2 weeks I have turned off the desktop and the bottom panel / menu, but I’m still using the Window List extension that shows all tasks in the top panel instead of only the current activity. Other than that I’m happily using Gnome Shell’s “Activities Overwiew” for all my app launching, searching and switching needs.
I only had a very short look at the Mate and “Fallback” options, both seem to work ok but especially Mate looks really dated compared to the other two. Still it’s nice to have the option around for all the die hard Gnome 2 fans out there – Linux is about choice after all.
For now I’m going to stay with Mint, i.e. will keep my install on the Eee and will replace the dated (still Ubuntu- based) Crunchbang Install on my old laptop, that now serves as kids / guest / backup PC. If you want a Linux distribution that “just works”, Mint is more than ever my number one recommendation. It is easy to install, easy to use and offers a non disruptive way to try out Gnome 3, the most interesting desktop environment of our time – give it a chance, you might be surprised !!
MATE is great. With MATE you can still use Compiz and Emerald, the babies that got thrown out with the bathwater. Mutter is cool, but it is still a few options short of friendly.
[...] few weeks ago I wrote a rather enthusiastic review about Mint 12 “Lisa”, and I’m still using it as my daily OS. I really like my current Gnome Shell setup and I [...]