Linux Mint 18

[markomalley]

From Linux Journal:

As the release date for Linux Mint 18 approaches, project announcers have reported that they are no longer shipping live CD images with embedded codecs. Furthermore, they also are dropping support for OEM images with codecs. These changes bring Mint in line with most other distros, which also feature codec-free images. This also means they can release new versions of Mint faster.

At first glance, this may seem to be a case of the developers putting their needs ahead of their users', but in actual fact, the impact on end users will be minimal. The new flavor of Mint will come with several simple ways to include codecs during or after installation. (It will require an Internet connection to download the codec packages.)

Including the codecs at install time is a simple matter of ticking a check box. Even if the user misses the check box (with a bad case of dialog box blindness), the codec option still will be visible on the welcome screen. And, there's also an option in the main menu to install the codecs under Sound and Video. Of course, users confident with the console may prefer to use apt-get.

Besides the changes in the installation experience, Mint 18 also will introduce the Xapps suite. Xapps is a collection of four GNOME-based applications, which are designed to provide a consistent experience on different platforms and desktops. These basic apps will replace several other apps that are included in the current version of Mint.

Xapps includes the Totem-based Xplayer media player, which will be familiar to Mint 17 users. There's also a new text editor called Xed, which is forked from Pluma. Xapps includes the Xviewer image viewer as well, which is derived from eog (Eye of GNOME). Finally, there is an Atril-based document reader called Xreader, which is replacing Evince on Cinnamon and MATE versions of Mint 18.

Although there had been talk of sweeping changes in the area of desktop themes, the Mint team has listened to the community and held back on some of the more radical ideas. Instead, the team intends to introduce changes to a new theme gradually, while continuing to support the popular default themes upon which users have come to depend.

Besides these highly visible changes, there are a number of tweaks under the hood. For one thing, Mint 18 is based on Ubuntu 16.04, which includes fresh packages from the Debian repos. This makes for a more stable foundation, and the Mint team has been able to remove some of the fixes and hacks that were required to hold version 17 together.

I've been running Linux Mint 17 for a couple of years as my primary desktop OS and have been very, very happy with the stability and usability of the release. I'll probably run release 18 in a VM for a few months to see how well it works or not. This didn't mention if Mint will port over the Snap install packager from Canonical or if it will continue to depend upon apt-get.

[geronl]

I still run Ubuntu 12.04

 

[Blizzardnh]

I still run Ubuntu 12.04

 

I have five with mint , two duel boot with windows, and two duel boot with other Linux. (Kali and Ubuntu.)

[Blizzardnh]

Tried to put a hackintosh together but was using an amd processor , just pulled a lot of hair out of my head.

[Oceander]

I likes *nix

[ABX]

I have several old laptops sitting around and have been thinking of switching those over to Linux and making a dark net only PC with Tor mostly just to do it but also it would be nice to have an alternative.

That may be this week's project. Better than all those old laptops sitting around collecting dust.

[markomalley]

I have several old laptops sitting around and have been thinking of switching those over to Linux and making a dark net only PC with Tor mostly just to do it but also it would be nice to have an alternative.

That may be this week's project. Better than all those old laptops sitting around collecting dust.

You could look at installing Tails for that Darknet laptop. I have a Tails VM that works OK.

I have a couple of older laptops that run Peppermint and it seems to work well with them.

[ShadowAce]

I run Fedora both at home and at work.  I am eagerly awaiting F24 this June to take advantage of GCC 6.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I used LInux MInt a few years ago and was disappointed.

The only satisfactory experience I have ever had with Desktop Linux is Ubuntu, IMO. Other than that they've all been duds.

I"m a sysadmin who administrates Windows, Linux (Suse and Centos), Solaris, HP-UX, and OS-X. I have administerred AIX and even used SCO Unix way back when.

[geronl]

Ubuntu 12.04 on a 32-bit machine, 4 GB RAM, runs great. I can't let the Firefox browser update though because it won't work. Pale Moon is the only browser I have tried that will work with Hulu

[VarmintAl]

I have a dozen friends using Linux Mint KDE 64 Bit. They are very happy with it. The updates are easy and the system is solid. All were ex-Windows users and it was easy for them to convert over to Linux.

It was easy for them because I installed the OS for them. It is an easy install and much easier than any Windows install I have done. Only a personal password is required and NO authentication is required.

The beauty of Linux Mint is that I can install the complete OS with all the important applications on one hard drive and then duplicate that hard drive for other computers. All of the necessary drivers and built in. Linux Mint finds the wireless hardware almost automatically and is a snap to setup. (Try that with Windows and the included wireless setup CD)

Also going from Linux Mint KDE 17 to 17.3 is as easy as one click of the Update Manager. The Update Manager automatically checks for updates and does NOT bug you with Pop Ups. The manager icon merely puts a blue dot in its icon's center when an update is available.

I am sure happy I cut the ties with Microsoft a year and a half ago.

Here is a link if you are interested in trying Linux Mint 17.3 "Rosa" KDE version.

PS I have installed Linux Mint on about 10 different laptops including 4 Dell 620 Latitudes and numerous desktops and it works great.

I am looking forward to the new Linux Mint 18.
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I have installed Windows on probably dozens of machines and virtual machines, no hiccups whatsoever. Only exception was the SATA bug with XP a while back. Upgrading is another story.