Ubuntu vs Mint, which is better and why?

Question

Ubuntu vs Mint, which is better and why?

Answer 1

Linux Mint without a doubt which is built upon Ubuntu



Linux Mint started off life as a distro. that was basically raw Ubuntu with a handful of added repositories however these days Linux Mint has changed in to a standalone distro. in its own right and now has quite a following mainly by people like myself looking for something more refined than raw Ubuntu



I first used the distro. then Linux Mint 3.1 which was built upon Ubuntu 7.04 (no longer supported)

http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_celena.php



How good the release number of Linux Mint very much depends on how good the corresponding Ubuntu release is.



For example Linux Mint 6 (Ubuntu 8.10) and Linux Mint 7 (Ubuntu 9.04) are nothing short of outstanding

http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_felicia_whatsnew.php

http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_gloria_whatsnew.php



However Linux Mint 8 (currently in Release Candidate) is set to be relatively disappointing as it is built upon Ubuntu 9.10 and there are numerous Hardware and Software issues with the current release of Ubuntu

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/karmic/+bugs



I thoroughly recommend Linux Mint 7 Main Edition which is built upon Ubuntu 9.04 Its easy to install and easy to use plus it comes with much of the software you are likely to need preinstalled



Linux Mint 7 Download

http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=38



Linux Mint 7 User Guide

http://www.scribd.com/doc/15884753/Linux-Mint-7-Gloria-User-Guide



The Perfect Desktop - Linux Mint 7 (Gloria)

http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-linux-mint-7-gloria



You download the ISO. image of Linux Mint 7 then you need to create a Bootable LiveCD for installation



Linux Mint 7 can also be run direct from the LiveCD from Booting up without touching your Hard Drive



INSTALL LINUX MINT WITHIN WINDOWS



Linux Mint has a feature called mint4win based on the Wubi installer (Ubuntu) http://wubi-installer.org/ which enables you to install Linux Mint within windows (Windows 7 run mint4win in vista compatability mode)



You keep Windows as it is, mint4win only adds an extra option to boot into Linux Mint. mint4win does not require you to modify the partitions of your PC, or to use a different bootloader, and does not install special drivers. It works just like any other application.



mint4win like Wubi keeps most of the files in one folder, and if you do not like it, you can simply uninstall it as any other application.



Boot in to windows insert the LiveCD you have just created and you will offered the option of installing inside windows which is where mint4win comes in, you will be asked how many gigabytes you wish to allocate to Linux Mint (I recommend 8gb) then you set a password for your installation then click install and thats it.



Once Linux Mint is fully installed upon starting your PC you will be given a choice of which operating system you want to use Windows or Linux Mint



Installing a dual-boot with Windows without partitioning

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/wubi



CURRENT SESSION



Linux Mint 6 ext3 with switchable Beryl 0.2.1* and Compiz 0.7.2**

http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=31

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21224431/Linux-Mint-6-Felicia-Official-Users-Guide

http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-linux-mint-6-felicia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_%28window_manager%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiz

*Beryl 0.2.1 sourced from Ubuntu 7.04 repositories

**Compiz 0.7.2 sourced from Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Alpha 5) repositories





LUg.

Answer 2

Why not take the best of both worlds? Install the latest of either Ubuntu or Linux Mint, then in Synaptic add the repositories for the other so you can access their programs as well. I've done this for the last two years and it works great. It does mean that I end up updating my system 4 times a year but it is worth the cost to have the best of both worlds.

Answer 3

I have been using Mint for quite a while now, in my opinion Mint is better,,,,, why! because it is community run distribution they know what the users want..



Ubuntu is run by a commercial company and their community is controlled by canonical who is trying to compete with windows, Certain Linux distributions are obsessed with smashing windows 7 this is going to be to the detriment of smaller Linux distributions,



I have just done a install test on Mint 8, Ubuntu 9.10, OpenSuse 11.2, Fedora 12, Mandriva 2010 and and guess what, I had problems with the commercial distributions, OpenSuse, Fedora, Ubuntu and Mandriva,



I have reinstalled Mint 8, Everything works out of the box with it, but at the end of the day you will install Ubuntu 'Why' because it is the best known Linux distribution it gets all the best publicity

Answer 4

Mint, no doubt.

Actually, Mint is derived from Ubuntu, so it has all of the good from Ubu plus a few of its own. Why not download and burn the "live" version of each and try them for yourself. You can install the one you prefer and still have a disk of the other to play with.

Mark

Mint 6 (Felicia)

P.S. Running each live will also give you the opportunity to see which, if not both, recognize your wireless card, sound card, etc.