Linux Mint vs Ubuntu

bikegremlin

Yes, I know there are thousands of other distros, but I'm curious to hear LESbian thoughts & experience with these two (apart from the obvious Cinnamon vs Gnome difference).

Why?

Long ago I had settled on Mint. It is noob-friendly and works well.

However, I got a new mini PC that came with Ubuntu stock.
Right out of the box, it asked if I wish to create a restore media. Kudos for that.
And, it seems to look and work quite well - at least those are my first impressions.

So, I'm considering to just not bother with Mint installation at all.

P.S.
What's the deal with the "Ubuntu Pro" ("free for up to 5 computers")?
Anyone use that?

Ympker

I am happily using Ubuntu Desktop on my small Futro S740, but I use it as a server with gui for convenience and to use as rdp (hence desktop environment), soo..

AlwaysSkint

Much prefer the ethos of Mint. I previously used Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) then when switched, never looked back. I hate the imposition of for example, snap, as just one of Ubuntu's supposedly great ideas. Also, as a general rule, I try to stay clear of large (profit-driven) organisations when it comes to Open Source (in particular).

SharedGrid

@bikegremlin said: What's the deal with the "Ubuntu Pro" ("free for up to 5 computers")?

Yes, we use it for our servers.

It's good, but it has a focus for business or enterprise systems rather than a desktop at home. Live kernel patching without a reboot, automatically harden your server against CIS and other guidelines and check for compliance against those guidelines, landscape for centralised management and a few other things.

I generally don't use Linux as a Desktop OS though so can't comment on Mint vs Ubuntu for Desktop - well, apart from 1 Ubuntu installation for building/compiling an open source project I develop.

carlin0

@AlwaysSkint said:
I hate the imposition of for example, snap

Snap you can easily delete it and install Firefox from the Mozilla repository

@bikegremlin said:
What's the deal with the "Ubuntu Pro" ("free for up to 5 computers")?

50 for Ubuntu Members

root

I use Linux Mint MATE. I simply like it more than Ubuntu Desktop. It is light and simple, the way I like it, since I am too old for bells and whistles of a more complex desktop environment.

EDIT: As remote desktop on a server I use Debian 12 with LXDE, to keep the server as light as possible.

somik

Desktop = Linux Mint MATE / Windows 11
PC Recovery = Puppy Linux
USB Live Linux = Porteus MATE (for booting public PCs)
Server = Ubuntu 22.04 (or any other LTS version)

That's what I settled on after trying out 40+ linux distros.

Amadex

I would stay on Ubuntu or maybe install Kubuntu because of KDE.

Ubuntu Pro is live kernel patching, so less reboots. I use this on servers.

AuroraZero

Slackware daily,

Kali recovery/hacking - until I finish my Slackware build,

Mint if in a pinch and don't need my Intel wireless,

Never cared much for Ubuntu don't care for developer attitude

bikegremlin

@Amadex said:
I would stay on Ubuntu or maybe install Kubuntu because of KDE.

Ubuntu Pro is live kernel patching, so less reboots. I use this on servers.

Does it make any sense to use the Pro for a desktop/daily runner?

Amadex

@bikegremlin said:

@Amadex said:
I would stay on Ubuntu or maybe install Kubuntu because of KDE.

Ubuntu Pro is live kernel patching, so less reboots. I use this on servers.

Does it make any sense to use the Pro for a desktop/daily runner?

Nope

bikegremlin

Well, I had to use the terminal to install Viber and to (actually, successfully) update Chome on Ubuntu 22.04.

Mint is more user/beginner friendly.

Having said that, Gnome has its pros on wide screens (as most screens are today).

So far, not too bad, but not great.

somik

@bikegremlin said:
Having said that, Gnome has its pros on wide screens (as most screens are today).

So far, not too bad, but not great.

My 3440x1440 screen doesn't have any issues with any of the GUIs I have tried, and I mostly stick with MATE or LXDE/XFCE.

bikegremlin

@somik said:

@bikegremlin said:
Having said that, Gnome has its pros on wide screens (as most screens are today).

So far, not too bad, but not great.

My 3440x1440 screen doesn't have any issues with any of the GUIs I have tried, and I mostly stick with MATE or LXDE/XFCE.

I mean that the default side-bar makes more sense for the today's screen formats (the 16:9 cost cutting abomination of screen dimension ratios that's become prevalent nowadays).

havoc

@bikegremlin said: What's the deal with the "Ubuntu Pro" ("free for up to 5 computers")?

That's part of why not everyone is keen on Ubuntu. They're making decisions that are very business like. Not in a particularly evil way, but straying far enough from the pure *nix part to rub some people the wrong way. Ubuntu pro being an example...a subscription but with choices designed to pull you into their more commercial side...like the try a little bit free 5 subs.

Need to decide this too soon...I have xenbook I use only when travelling that is just not coping w/ windows10. If I had the energy I'd try NixOS or Arch but will probably land on Mint

somik

@bikegremlin said:

@somik said:

@bikegremlin said:
Having said that, Gnome has its pros on wide screens (as most screens are today).

So far, not too bad, but not great.

My 3440x1440 screen doesn't have any issues with any of the GUIs I have tried, and I mostly stick with MATE or LXDE/XFCE.

I mean that the default side-bar makes more sense for the today's screen formats (the 16:9 cost cutting abomination of screen dimension ratios that's become prevalent nowadays).

Ah, yes, forgot that ubuntu got it on the left as almost all of my distros got it at the bottom left.

As for the 16:9, get an ultra wide monitor and use it as two side by side windows/screens?

That's a 3.58:3 (taller then 4:3) aspect ratio

Example:

AlwaysSkint

@somik said: taller then 4:3

Eh?

Linux

@havoc said:

@bikegremlin said: What's the deal with the "Ubuntu Pro" ("free for up to 5 computers")?

That's part of why not everyone is keen on Ubuntu. They're making decisions that are very business like. Not in a particularly evil way, but straying far enough from the pure *nix part to rub some people the wrong way. Ubuntu pro being an example...a subscription but with choices designed to pull you into their more commercial side...like the try a little bit free 5 subs.

Need to decide this too soon...I have xenbook I use only when travelling that is just not coping w/ windows10. If I had the energy I'd try NixOS or Arch but will probably land on Mint

I got rid of Ubuntu Pro upon discovering that the company uses the "free" tier to beta test new patches

"After passing internal testing, the livepatch was published to our free tier users (typically personal systems). Canonical services also run in this tier as an early warning system, and the defect was noticed at that stage."
https://canonical.com/blog/livepatch-2021-03-24-incident-investigation-report

somik

@AlwaysSkint said:

@somik said: taller then 4:3

Eh?

4:3 is 4 parts wide, 3 parts high. What I use is 3.58 parts wide, 3 parts high x2 with two windows. That equates to about 4 parts wide, 3.35 parts high ( 3.58 : 3 = 4 : 3.35 ). So taller then 4:3

Exactly 1720x1440 px per window

AlwaysSkint

@somik said: So taller then 4:3

This is gobbledygook!
So taller than 4:3
Jeez, literally got to spell it out.

somik

@AlwaysSkint said:

@somik said: So taller then 4:3

This is gobbledygook!
So taller than 4:3
Jeez, literally got to spell it out.

LOL! Ya, i get those two mixed up A LOT!

Anyway, Linux seems to have pretty good support for all monitor resolutions so any GUI you go with should be ok if you decide to get a ultrawide

bikegremlin

@somik said:

@AlwaysSkint said:

@somik said: So taller then 4:3

This is gobbledygook!
So taller than 4:3
Jeez, literally got to spell it out.

LOL! Ya, i get those two mixed up A LOT!

Anyway, Linux seems to have pretty good support for all monitor resolutions so any GUI you go with should be ok if you decide to get a ultrawide

Printers, on the other hand... damn!

Amadex

Gnome's fractional scaling sucks

carlin0

Between Mint and Ubuntu, better mom Debian

somik

@bikegremlin said:

@somik said:

LOL! Ya, i get those two mixed up A LOT!

Anyway, Linux seems to have pretty good support for all monitor resolutions so any GUI you go with should be ok if you decide to get a ultrawide

Printers, on the other hand... damn!

Please dont remind me

Luckily Brother printers has pretty good support for Linux. And by that, I mean they have linux drivers that support some linux distros, like Ubuntu, ubuntu and uBuntu (Does work on all debian based distros)

AlwaysSkint

Epson printers had never been an issue for me, though I don't tend to purchase the latest/greatest shiny model. My (old) Epson flatbed hi-res negatives scanner was always a pain to get working, though thankfully my Samsung color (sic) laser works no problem. As for my now gone Kodak photo printer: forget it! IIRC, my portable Canon photo printer works fine (not used in at least a decade).
Graphics card full support has always been a PITA, though my linux boxes are for serious stuff, rather than games - I migrated from PC to consoles for that frivolity. I get @Amadex 's point though IME, that's more down to the chosen/enforced Desktop Environment, rather than distro.

somik

@AlwaysSkint said:
Epson printers had never been an issue for me, though I don't tend to purchase the latest/greatest shiny model. My (old) Epson flatbed hi-res negatives scanner was always a pain to get working, though thankfully my Samsung color (sic) laser works no problem. As for my now gone Kodak photo printer: forget it! IIRC, my portable Canon photo printer works fine (not used in at least a decade).
Graphics card full support has always been a PITA, though my linux boxes are for serious stuff, rather than games - I migrated from PC to consoles for that frivolity. I get @Amadex 's point though IME, that's more down to the chosen/enforced Desktop Environment, rather than distro.

I use windows 11 for gaming. Forget linux, they dont even have proper support for most games and running it in Wine is just an additional layer of complexity and slowness...

bikegremlin

After having been using Ubuntu + Gnome for a while:

It can work, but it sucks compared to Mint + Cinnamon.

It doesn't suck bad enough for me to do a new Mint install, but with hindsight, I would have installed Mint right away.

AlwaysSkint

^ I did say!
Now if you have/had your home/data partitioned, then the underlying Linux variant makes/would make no difference. (In the past, I've mutli-booted to three different distros; ain't got time/energy for that now though. Just Windoze, for those arrgh moments where a developer hasn't taken off their blinkers.)

P.S. With a little bit of planning/effort, you could boot a live OS and shrink your one big partition, to redistribute your data - assuming that you didn't get "conned" into using xfs.

df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3 14G 12G 1.5G 89% /
/dev/sda9 27G 25G 2.1G 93% /Photos
/dev/sda8 57G 56G 613M 99% /Data
/dev/sda7 12G 9.6G 1.8G 85% /home
/dev/sda6 4.0G 192K 3.9G 1% /tmp
/dev/sda10 18G 16G 2.0G 89% /Projects

/dev/sda2 contains Windoze 10 with /dev/sda1 the boot partition

vyas

@AlwaysSkint said:

df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3 14G 12G 1.5G 89% /
/dev/sda9 27G 25G 2.1G 93% /Photos
/dev/sda8 57G 56G 613M 99% /Data
/dev/sda7 12G 9.6G 1.8G 85% /home
/dev/sda6 4.0G 192K 3.9G 1% /tmp
/dev/sda10 18G 16G 2.0G 89% /Projects

/dev/sda2 contains Windoze 10 with /dev/sda1 the boot partition

That is reminiscent of my multi-disk "Kitchen Sink" desktop setup. Don't recall the exact split, but it is something like this:
- 500 GB NVMe (Dual boot Win10/Linux Mint, 3 partitions)

• 480 GB SATA SSD (Media files)
• 120 GB USB SSD (My writing + Images)
• 500 GB HDD (archived media files, 2 partitions)
• 1500 GB USB HDD (backup of the above, 3 partitions)

Now if you have/had your home/data partitioned, then the underlying Linux variant makes/would make no difference.

The Linux OS on desktop changes every two to three months...might do away with Windows altogether next month. *

---

* Have turned it off to save electricity bills (we don't pay for electricity if the consumption is below a certain threshold, pay in full if it exceed.. last month we exceeded, Mrs. is unhappy, so had to shut off the desktop).

AlwaysSkint

^ I actually have 13 partitions (including the Extended one) on this 256GB laptop.