Sick of Ubuntu's Bloat - Try Linux Mint

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djpharoah · #1 Post by **djpharoah** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:41 pm

I got so sick of Ubuntu and its theme, its lack of speed and just the bunch of crap that was installed when you install them. I find myself to be a power user in linux and well although I loved how Ubuntu did everything for me (yes I have been lazy after my Gentoo/Arch years) I just found it to be relaly slow and bloaty.

Anyways after looking for an alternative I came across Linux Mint. Its based of Ubuntu/Debian. Only its a lot faster, contains much less fat, and is just so much nicer to use. Its graphical theme, compiz/beryl were just so nice to have everything setup. Their forums are also really great. Ubuntu was nice and different but now its become the windows vista of the linux world - just not for me.

The other plus - it works GREAT with Thinkpads!!

madcow · #2 Post by **madcow** » Tue May 13, 2008 11:54 am

I'm running Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy) on my Thinkpad X41 with 2 G of RAM, and has 1.5 Ghz Pentium M. It is reasonably fast. Firefox 3 beta5 is not that fast. You can always replace it with Opera which is pretty fast but seems not to work with flash or java applets. Otherwise, it is fast enough. If the performance is hugely different, I might try Linux Mint.

Noblunts · #3 Post by **Noblunts** » Tue May 13, 2008 12:54 pm

What about straight debian? Ubuntu is based off debian. I used to use slackware so ubuntu configuring mostly everything was nice.

#4 Post by **archer6** » Wed May 14, 2008 8:12 pm

I'm running Ubuntu 7.10 on my meager R51e (test machine). With just a Celeron 1.5 and 756 mb of ram, it's very fast. Frankly I'm shocked as I expected it to be slow. Firefox launches faster than on my fully loaded T60p on XP SP2.

I used the R51e for testing only as I'm giving serious consideration to a dual boot config on my T60. In addition I was thinking of installing ver 8.04 now that it's out.

Any feedback from those of you with Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04 experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

pailhead · #5 Post by **pailhead** » Sun May 18, 2008 9:54 am

I find it hard to call a fully functional OS that requires only 2GB of space "bloaty".

bobbarker · #6 Post by **bobbarker** » Sun May 18, 2008 11:37 am

I wouldn't really consider Ubuntu bloated, idle on my X31 it uses about 150MB of ram and I've never seen it above 512. Although ubuntu does come with lots of extra crap most of it is useful. I don't think I could compare it to vista but it is noticeably lighter than XP (which is fairly slim by today's "standard" (if you can call vista standard)).

If you don't like the theme just get a new one.

texasmike · #7 Post by **texasmike** » Sat May 24, 2008 4:16 am

Noblunts wrote:What about straight debian? Ubuntu is based off debian. I used to use slackware so ubuntu configuring mostly everything was nice.

I run pure Debian on my PC. No Windows. The folks on the Debian forum say it works great. Just ordered my R61i and will set it up to dual boot Vista/Debian.

trent9008 · #8 Post by **trent9008** » Mon May 26, 2008 4:30 pm

texasmike wrote:
Noblunts wrote:What about straight debian? Ubuntu is based off debian. I used to use slackware so ubuntu configuring mostly everything was nice.
I run pure Debian on my PC. No Windows. The folks on the Debian forum say it works great. Just ordered my R61i and will set it up to dual boot Vista/Debian.

For the moment I am also using straight Debian and it works great on my T61. The wireless software (firmware-iwlwifi) is in non-free, and you have to manually install the hsfmodem driver from Linuxant if you have dialup. Apart from that I have no complaints.

jglen490 · #9 Post by **jglen490** » Thu May 29, 2008 8:03 pm

I have a T20, on which I have installed Kubuntu 7.10. Bloated? Not hardly

.

Code: Select all

john@john-laptop:~$ df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1             6.8G  2.7G  3.8G  42% /
varrun                189M  100K  189M   1% /var/run
varlock               189M     0  189M   0% /var/lock
udev                  189M   60K  189M   1% /dev
devshm                189M     0  189M   0% /dev/shm
lrm                   189M   34M  155M  18% /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/volatile
/dev/sda2             3.9G  1.3G  2.4G  35% /home

Now, is KDE heavy? Yes, but only in terms of video memory loading. Basically, you can load up Xubuntu and use the XFCE desktop, which is a lighter load, or you can forget running KDE/Gnome/XFCE and use an even lighter window manager - which are legion. I actually used to run Mandriva (another "fully-growed" distro), with IceWM, on a TP365XD (P120/72MB/3.2GB) with almost no problems. So running any Linux distro on a reasonably well equipped T2x/T30/T40/T60 will be a delight.

tylerwylie · #10 Post by **tylerwylie** » Thu May 29, 2008 11:34 pm

If you want a lean desktop distribution, and don't mind putting in some elbow grease, Arch Linux is GREAT for a customized distribution.

wswartzendruber · #11 Post by **wswartzendruber** » Fri May 30, 2008 8:48 am

What in the world brought you to leave Gentoo?

voneschenbach · #12 Post by **voneschenbach** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:19 pm

Tried Linux Mint on an X31 this weekend. Being an ubuntu derivative, it's great - it merely adds all of the proprietary multimedia drivers, but seems to take the same resources, etc. as Ubuntu. That is a benefit as I don't like to have to spend hours getting Flash, etc. working, but don't know why there was the impression that it is a lighter distro...

zmjjmz · #13 Post by **zmjjmz** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:46 am

The big weights in Ubuntu (for me) are Compiz (integrated card, so.), Flock, and GNOME.
Flock is based off of FF2, which Linux Mint uses (Actually I guess they use FF3 now), and Linux Mint still uses GNOME/Compiz.
So I don't see how Mint could be lighter.
The theme is better though.

#14 Post by **carbon_unit** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:02 pm

Yeah, it's not any lighter but more multimedia is pre-setup. Less time fiddling with it to get a finished install.

zmjjmz · #15 Post by **zmjjmz** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:47 pm

Not sure about you, but it takes like 30 minutes tops to configure everything, and it only happens once.
It makes sense if you need them on a LiveCD, but otherwise it's a pretty poor excuse.

#16 Post by **carbon_unit** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:00 am

Correct, you don't know about me. It all depends on what is in your finished desktop. Everyone has different priorities.
I'm not making any excuses. If you don't want to use Mint, don't.

BruisedQuasar · #17 Post by **BruisedQuasar** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:59 pm

When you report something is fast or bloated, you must have something in mind. When users discuss Ubuntu's speed, nearly all have Windows products in mind, since Windows dominates the PC world.

I was really impressed with Ubuntu, at first, compared to Windows, 98, 2000, XP, & Vista but speed was not the only factor in my decision to switch my PCs over to Linux or why I tend to recommend a Linux distro to people who seek my help with the family PC. I do not always recommend Linux. For instance, I never recommend a serious PC game enthusiast. No Linux distro can adequately come close to Windows gaming.

For a novice to Linux, Ubuntu is fast. It is also much more stable and it has several features that Windows just cannot equal. One is cost. Linux home and small business computing, in most cases (but not all), is vastly less expensive than Windows. For instance, I saved a small business thousands by introducing the owners to Ubuntu Linux. They run 12 PCs. They were paying for 12 copies of MS Word and several other even more expensive Window-genre programs.

Like most businesses of this size, they were buying 12 new PCs a year. Then there is the cost of a computer professional to come in about weekly or more to fix crashes.

Now, they buy newer used PCs every 2 to 3 years, rarely need a computer professional and then they need one to upgrade something.
No more goofy, regular disc maintenance, etc.

If we compare Ubuntu's speed to other Linux distros, Puppy Linux 4.0 even when running off a CD walks circles around Ubuntu.

We also must consider which Ubuntu we speak of. 8.04 boots and operates at an impressive speed, even just off the Live CD.

Then there is another important factor. Why are you messing around with a PC to begin with? Many Linux home users like to mess around with Linux. In the Windows world most users are not into PCs but just see it as a tool. Tools, by definition are supposed to save time, increase some productivity, & other real world things.

A person whose only interest in a PC is productivity is keenly interested in speed.

Then there are people like myself. I embrace both interests, productivity AND hobby.

I know in my productivity time, I want to see myself get a lot done in little time invested in the tool as possible. I do not want an expensive power saw for example that I put more time into fooling with than the work I get from it. That would be ridiculous.

--Bruised

Davemci · #18 Post by **Davemci** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:51 pm

What kind of hard drive are you using on that T20? Looks like SCSI?

jglen490 wrote:I have a T20, on which I have installed Kubuntu 7.10. Bloated? Not hardly .
Code: Select all
john@john-laptop:~$ df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1             6.8G  2.7G  3.8G  42% /
varrun                189M  100K  189M   1% /var/run
varlock               189M     0  189M   0% /var/lock
udev                  189M   60K  189M   1% /dev
devshm                189M     0  189M   0% /dev/shm
lrm                   189M   34M  155M  18% /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/volatile
/dev/sda2             3.9G  1.3G  2.4G  35% /home
Now, is KDE heavy? Yes, but only in terms of video memory loading. Basically, you can load up Xubuntu and use the XFCE desktop, which is a lighter load, or you can forget running KDE/Gnome/XFCE and use an even lighter window manager - which are legion. I actually used to run Mandriva (another "fully-growed" distro), with IceWM, on a TP365XD (P120/72MB/3.2GB) with almost no problems. So running any Linux distro on a reasonably well equipped T2x/T30/T40/T60 will be a delight.

Back on topic, I find all this my distro's better then your distro talk very fascinating. Sort of like arguing politics or religion. Not to put myself above all that, so I vote for Slackware...

bazciscor · #19 Post by **bazciscor** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:02 am

Debian is great on my T.P. Although I haven't used Ubuntu extensively at all, it seems much less configurable than Debian. I think that's due to their goal of making it more attractive to Windows users. Debian offers extensive control on how much of system you want beginning with the installation and anytime thereafter.

tylerwylie · #20 Post by **tylerwylie** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 11:36 pm

wswartzendruber wrote:What in the world brought you to leave Gentoo?

I got a job. Didn't have the time for it anymore.

tarvoke · #21 Post by **tarvoke** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 11:37 am

Davemci wrote:What kind of hard drive are you using on that T20? Looks like SCSI?

since libata started to replace even standard generic ide drivers, everything basically shows up as /dev/sdX -- sata, scsi, ide, usb, ...

confusing at first but ultimately makes life simpler, I think.

bazciscor wrote:Debian is great on my T.P. Although I haven't used Ubuntu extensively at all, it seems much less configurable than Debian. I think that's due to their goal of making it more attractive to Windows users. Debian offers extensive control on how much of system you want beginning with the installation and anytime thereafter.

you can always use one of the "alternate" ubuntu install media, or to be even more like the debian netinst just use the ubuntu server cd.

propellen · #22 Post by **propellen** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:04 am

tylerwylie wrote:
wswartzendruber wrote:What in the world brought you to leave Gentoo?
I got a job. Didn't have the time for it anymore.

heheh, so true.

syedj · #23 Post by **syedj** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:20 pm

I tried Mint for fun and I am sold. Although, I personally prefer KDE but Mint's UI is close to KDE and works a bit smoother than KDE. I also installed KDE anyways

jglen490 · #24 Post by **jglen490** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:26 pm

That's the best reason in the world. Try it - like it.

Forget about all the rest of the "taste's great - less filling" (U.S. beer commercial) arguments.

denisky · #25 Post by **denisky** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:35 am

I tried Linux Mint in my R51e, it was quite fast, but it became very slow since I used desktop effects... moreover it had a problem in creating wireless interface (everytime I created wireless interface with wlanconfig, the interface number increased: ath0, ath1, ath2 and so on)

Having that problems, I wiped out Linux Mint and went back to stable, reliable Debian Etch. Gotta love the apt-get feature... Long live Debian!

ajkula66 · #26 Post by **ajkula66** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:01 am

denisky wrote:

it had a problem in creating wireless interface (everytime I created wireless interface with wlanconfig, the interface number increased: ath0, ath1, ath2 and so on)

I hate to tell you, but you were doing something wrong there. I have Mint installed on several different machines with various wireless cards and I've never run into anything like that.

denisky · #27 Post by **denisky** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:13 am

ajkula66 wrote:denisky wrote:
I hate to tell you, but you were doing something wrong there. I have Mint installed on several different machines with various wireless cards and I've never run into anything like that.

Yeah, you're right. Maybe there's something wrongly configured.

But overall, Linux Mint is a such a great distro.

Sick of Ubuntu's Bloat - Try Linux Mint

Sick of Ubuntu's Bloat - Try Linux Mint

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