Mint 14 released, 'Nadia'

[Bateluer]

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

Linux Mint 14 is the result of 6 months of incremental development on top of stable and reliable technologies such as MATE, Cinnamon and MDM. This new release comes with updated software and brings refinements and new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use.

I prefer Mint over Ubuntu for a desktop *nix OS, better UI.

The torrent is probably the best way to grab it right now.

 

[LumbergTech]

What is the difference between the "MATE" desktop and the "Cinnamon" desktop?

Based on what I am reading, I am going to try Cinnamon, but I would be interested in other's input

 

[lxskllr]

What is the difference between the "MATE" desktop and the "Cinnamon" desktop?

Based on what I am reading, I am going to try Cinnamon, but I would be interested in other's input

Mate is Gnome2, exactly. It was forked, and the names of some programs changed, but it's Gnome2. Cinnamon is a sane version of Gnome3. It uses the Gnome3 programs, but has a traditional desktop.

I prefer Mate, but I'm not convinced the project will last. Gnome is a huge code set to maintain for one or two devs, and it likely won't change. Once the base technology gets deprecated in mainstream, where will it go? I think the code will turn into a mess, and it'll die a slow death. Cinnamon is built with current tech, so it should be easier to maintain. I think it has a better chance of surviving.

My speculation doesn't affect what you or I do today, but I like picking winners. I loved the Gnome2 desktop, but it's gone. I'm not willing at this time to prolong the inevitable with Mate. FWIW, I use Xfce. I've made it look like Gnome2, and it has some niceties of its own that make it worth running. It isn't as fully featured as Gnome2, but I'm happy with it. I also feel I'm on the same page as the devs. A solid classic desktop experience, with slow gradual changes. I don't think they'll be doing anything crazy any time soon.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

I just installed Mint 13 a few months ago (as my re-entry to linux..). What's the best way to do and upgrade re-install and minimize setup tweaking? Can I keep my /home folder and just slap 14 onto the 13 partition? Or should I redo everything? Copy apps from home and put them back in afterwards? Will it make a difference?
Sorry for basic questions, I'm still working on understanding how the linux file/install structure works.

After flirting with KDE and some serious customization craziness on mint 13 I ended up going back to Cinnamon. KDE was cool, but in the end I'm not sure all my messing around really helped me much.. Cinnamon really is a nice, no fuss DE. I have Ubuntu 12.10 on my laptop and it's nice, but once I re-install I think I'll be staying with Mint on my main machine.

 

[lxskllr]

Any reason you don't want to do an in place upgrade? That would likely be easiest. Otherwise, I'd use your exiting /home partition. I'm not familiar with Mint's installer, but you may have to go through some kind of advanced setup to use your existing /home.

Edit:
Meant to quote myself

 

[obidamnkenobi]

Any reason you don't want to do an in place upgrade? That would likely be easiest. Otherwise, I'd use your exiting /home partition. I'm not familiar with Mint's installer, but you may have to go through some kind of advanced setup to use your existing /home.

I thought recommended practice was to do a fresh install for a new version? At least that's what I've read for the ubuntu releases..

If I can keep my existing /home with what's installed there that would be helpful, but if an in place upgrade works fine that would of course be easiest

 

[lxskllr]

Ubuntu has a reputation for rocky upgrades, but they've always gone well for me. I'd backup /home to a different drive, and then in place upgrade. If it works right, it's as easy as it'll get. If something gets hosed, you're only out a bit of time.

 

[Bateluer]

Ubuntu has a reputation for rocky upgrades, but they've always gone well for me. I'd backup /home to a different drive, and then in place upgrade. If it works right, it's as easy as it'll get. If something gets hosed, you're only out a bit of time.

I'd had Ubuntu upgrades go south, but I think that was mostly because I attempted it on launch day. :/ Sub 10kbps download speeds on the package downloads.


Has anyone attempted installing Mint 14 or Ubuntu 12.10 on a Macbook Air(2011) yet? Most of the articles and guides I see with a Google search are several months old, and it appears like its a bit of PITA.

 

[lxskllr]

Any reason you don't want to do an in place upgrade? That would likely be easiest. Otherwise, I'd use your exiting /home partition. I'm not familiar with Mint's installer, but you may have to go through some kind of advanced setup to use your existing /home.

I was just thinking about it, and realized I assumed you had a separate /home partition. If that isn't the case, keeping it might be a little more complicated. It would likely have to be migrated by the installer, and I don't know if there's anything configured to do that. For a clean install, if you have everything in one partition. I'd backup /home, install, then manually copy over the the parts you want. If you don't use a separate /home, you may want to consider it for your next install. It makes keeping your old data easier when you have to reinstall.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

I was just thinking about it, and realized I assumed you had a separate /home partition. If that isn't the case, keeping it might be a little more complicated. It would likely have to be migrated by the installer, and I don't know if there's anything configured to do that. For a clean install, if you have everything in one partition. I'd backup /home, install, then manually copy over the the parts you want. If you don't use a separate /home, you may want to consider it for your next install. It makes keeping your old data easier when you have to reinstall.

Thanks.
I do have a separate partition for /home. Cut my 128GB SSD into system, home and a 7GB extra partition, for testing other distros and whatnot.

I did the backport upgrade last night, to get the new cinnamon 1.6 and file manager from 14 into 13 without upgrading, with not great results. The Menu stopped working occasionally, and the Win/super button no longer brought it up, which really messes with me since I'm so used to it. Tried to revert to old cinnamon but in the end hosed it completely and I have no desktop at all now. Have to boot into gnome classic. I'll do a complete reinstall of Mint 14 I think.
I try not to be tempted to revert to my win 7 install, but now that I spend more time setting up and messing with my computer than using it, or playing games (little luck with Wine..) it's a bit hard. The alluring temptations of Balmer are hard to resist..

 

[lxskllr]

Thanks.
I do have a separate partition for /home. Cut my 128GB SSD into system, home and a 7GB extra partition, for testing other distros and whatnot.

I did the backport upgrade last night, to get the new cinnamon 1.6 and file manager from 14 into 13 without upgrading, with not great results. The Menu stopped working occasionally, and the Win/super button no longer brought it up, which really messes with me since I'm so used to it. Tried to revert to old cinnamon but in the end hosed it completely and I have no desktop at all now. Have to boot into gnome classic. I'll do a complete reinstall of Mint 14 I think.
I try not to be tempted to revert to my win 7 install, but now that I spend more time setting up and messing with my computer than using it, or playing games (little luck with Wine..) it's a bit hard. The alluring temptations of Balmer are hard to resist..

Well, it's already broken, so a full upgrade won't break it anymore. It doesn't hurt to try, but I wouldn't expect much.

As far as Windows vs GNU/Linux goes, that's personal preference. I like playing with my setup, or rather I like the ability to play with my setup. It didn't take me long to get it where I wanted it, and it's only made slow evolutionary changes. I'm allowed to change it though. No hoops to jump through, and no hassles other than technical ones.

For games, if that's a primary use for you, you should probably at least dual boot. I don't game much anymore, and I've been happy with the games that have native support. I will be getting Bioshock3 when it comes out, and Vista will get used for the first time in a couple years, but otherwise, I don't miss a single thing from Windows. Sometimes I miss Foobar2000 a little bit, but DeaDBeef has filled most of that desire.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

Well, it's already broken, so a full upgrade won't break it anymore. It doesn't hurt to try, but I wouldn't expect much.

As far as Windows vs GNU/Linux goes, that's personal preference. I like playing with my setup, or rather I like the ability to play with my setup. It didn't take me long to get it where I wanted it, and it's only made slow evolutionary changes. I'm allowed to change it though. No hoops to jump through, and no hassles other than technical ones.

For games, if that's a primary use for you, you should probably at least dual boot. I don't game much anymore, and I've been happy with the games that have native support. I will be getting Bioshock3 when it comes out, and Vista will get used for the first time in a couple years, but otherwise, I don't miss a single thing from Windows. Sometimes I miss Foobar2000 a little bit, but DeaDBeef has filled most of that desire.

yeah, full re-install should fix it. Since I did the install not long ago it's not much of a loss anyway. I too like the ability to change my setup, and the freedom that linux allows, and (mostly) enjoy tweaking stuff. Just feel that lately it's been a little much.. Once I get it set up again I'll refrain from messing around too much (installing, then deleting KDE etc) and hopefully it'll be more stable.

I don't game much either these days so doing 99% linux shouldn't be a problem, just keep my win 7 partition just in case. If I can get civ 4 and some Paradox games working i wouldn't need much else😛

update: in case someone are interested. Formatted my mint 13 partition, but kept /home, and all the DE settings (wallpaper, favorites, shortcuts etc) were migrated over. Since my cinnamon setup was kinda borked that was not a good thing. I got my panel back, but the buttons and menu still didn't work right. May have been obvious to everyone that this would be the case, but I'm still figuring out what's placed on /home vs /
In the end i did a format of both the system and home partition. Now have a perfectly functioning Mint 14 desktop!

 

[LumbergTech]

Currently running 14 w/ Cinnamon in a VM. I changed the theme to "Void" and I like the look of it so far. I noticed that they did a 14.1 respin due to a bug. It says if you already have 14 installed you don't need to reinstall..but it doesnt explain if I need to do something to get the changes?

 

[lxskllr]

Currently running 14 w/ Cinnamon in a VM. I changed the theme to "Void" and I like the look of it so far. I noticed that they did a 14.1 respin due to a bug. It says if you already have 14 installed you don't need to reinstall..but it doesnt explain if I need to do something to get the changes?

Just update your system as usual, and you'll get the updates. Usually, the only time you have to worry about doing something, is when you're running a complete version number or greater behind the main release. A complete version number for Mint is a whole number. For Ubuntu it would be the 10s place since the whole number is the year, and the 10s the month.

Mint13x - You need to see if you have to do anything special
Mint14x - You're cool. Just update as usual
Ubuntu12.04x - You need to see if you have to do anything special
Ubuntu12.10x - You're cool. Just update as usual

Every distro is a bit different, but if it's actively supported, you'll generally get security/stability updates, but not necessarily new features. You can tweak the system with backports and ppas to get new features, but you don't usually get official support by doing that.

 

[Paperlantern]

I will likely try this distro in time. Iv used every one from Mint 7 so far and liked them all for various reasons. I have too many distros on the back burner right now though to get this right away.

 

[Phantomaniac]

Liking Mint 14 a lot, though Cinnamon is still buggy. The most frustrating thing is the visual tearing when scrolling up and down in an application. Happens with both the stable and experimental Nvidia drivers. Might work fine in Noveau but I can't game with that driver. Once Cinnamon is ironed out things will be pretty sweet. I love the modern effects with the traditional layout.

 

[Jodell88]

Liking Mint 14 a lot, though Cinnamon is still buggy. The most frustrating thing is the visual tearing when scrolling up and down in an application. Happens with both the stable and experimental Nvidia drivers. Might work fine in Noveau but I can't game with that driver. Once Cinnamon is ironed out things will be pretty sweet. I love the modern effects with the traditional layout.

That may be a mutter issue.

 

[Phantomaniac]

That may be a mutter issue.

So it most likely affects Gnome 3 in general? Do you think switching to MATE would help? I'd be willing to give up some fancy effects for better performance and less glitching.

 

[dkm777]

Using the XFCE version in a VM. The first time ever everything works. Almost a Mac experience. Docky is great. Going to see if I can install it on my Pentium M ThinkPad.

Edit: no can do - need PAE support, which the Pentium M doesn't have.