mintCast 206 – Debian and LMDE

3 Replies to “mintCast 206 – Debian and LMDE”

1. 

   Gord Campbell

   August 18, 2014 at 5:10 PM

   Reply

   Half the world’s computer users are in mourning because it’s no longer safe to use Windows XP, and you think an 18-month-old distro is a problem? Mint 13 still does everything I need.

   I tried Mint 17 64-bit with Cinnamon (dual-boot), but it locks up tight on my primary system after several hours. Oh well.

2. 

   Danny

   August 22, 2014 at 9:41 AM

   Reply

   The promise of getting off the upgrade cycle sounds very attractive to me. I’m still running Mint 13 on most of my computers because I need the stability. Most of my computers are used in a production environment, and I don’t want to deal with the hassle of an upgrade for the sake of sweeter eye candy. I have Mint 17 Cinnamon on my laptop, so I know what I’m missing–and I’m sorely missing Xfce! Frankly there is no compelling reason for me to move off of 13 until I have to. If the Mint team releases an LMDE on the stable branch, I’m all over it. I want stability. If I wanted the latest and greatest in broken features, I’d be running Fedora or something else other than Mint. Give me LMDE on a stable branch, please.

   • 

     MDM

     August 26, 2014 at 2:59 AM

     Reply

     Hi Danny. I’m using Mint 17 right now, and I don’t miss XFCE – because, since I wanted XFCE, that’s the version that I downloaded and installed; so I do not understand your comment.

     Additionally, while I understand (in theory) that a person might wish to use a distro that is based on Debian Stable on a production machine so as to avoid any instability, neither I nor any of the users that I “support” – including a man that knows next to nothing about his computer or its software, a 76-year old woman who is little more advanced and would panic if she experienced anything unusual, and a young man that seems to want to tinker with everything (computer-related or otherwise) that he gets his hands on – have experienced ANY problems, crashes, or instabilities from Mint 14 onwards. (BtW, the range of computers that we use runs from a very new i5 laptop to a 12-year old AMD Athlon 2200+.)

     In fact, I routinely read threads at the XFCE DE home forum in which a user asks how to do something or for help with a problem, someone posts how to accomplish it or expresses confusion because that problem has been fixed for some time and no longer exists… only to learn in later posts that the OP is using Debian Stable (which, evidently, uses XFCE 4.8, lol). Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that, while Debian Stable might be “stable” (as in unchanging), it shouldn’t be considered to be “rock-solid and ready to go.” Not every developer creates change solely to be making a change; most of them actually seem to think it is a good idea to release new versions that solve the problems present in the older ones and which contain user-requested features that make things easier to use and more powerful. I probably should not use an automotive analogy – since some of them actually do have issues from time to time – but I understand that when the electric starter was introduced, some folks refused to use it out of a fear that it would cause problems (and no few of them asked how they could use those hand-crank starting devices without having the crank occasionally break their arm). Now, to continue the automotive analogy, some brands have problems that other brands do not (take Honda, for instance, a brand that generally produces vehicles which “just work, all of the time”). The same is undoubtedly true with linux distros, and I have found that linux Mint (main edition, especially the XFCE version) also “just works, all of the time.”

     I have begun to realize that Debian “unstable” might be more unstable than most, lol, almost as if they feel that anyone not running Debian Stable should be cast adrift, to sink or swim if you will, all on their own. (That could be part of the improper perception that some folks have about Mint’s main edition.) But this is most definitely NOT the case where Mint (main) is concerned; Clem (et al) seem to truly care about the Mint (main) users and try their best to see that we have a trouble-free experience. That might not have been the case before Mint 14 (IDK, that is the version that I started the Mint-adventure with), but it most certainly has been since.

     Personally, I do not understand the allure of a Debian edition of Mint to the end-user unless he/she is unable to access the Internet on a regular basis and, therefore, are forced to only update their system a few times per year. But I do understand that a person should have the right to make their own choices. I only hope that they are able to make informed ones.

     Regards,
     MDM