Minty Fresh: Victory

For those who have been here a while, you'll remember I was struggling with Ubuntu and my problems with Unity. I liked it in theory, but in actual use it needed some love, and Ubuntu forced you to move over.  So I tried Mint, an Ubuntu-based Linux flavor that seemed to give me all that I loved about Ubuntu without the crap.

It's been true love ever since.

Today I'm putting Mint on my beloved new desktop, after taking a look at Ubuntu and reading reviews on the improvements.  They weren't kind.  For those it works for, it works great.  For the rest of us, tough cookie and better luck next time.

I will always love Ubuntu, and will eventually have all three on here, because I've seen me do it.  Windows is driving me batshit crazy, and I expect Mint to carry my work while Windows just eases the occasional compatibility issue that comes up.  I'm even going to play with Cinnamon, and likely review it here.

The great news is this: no matter what your experience level (I'm not all that when it comes to Linux, just loyal) there is a Linux out there for you now.  If pretty matters, you can have it.  If function means more than anything, you can have that too.  And because it's free, you can try and test to your heart's content and eventually have your computer just how you want it.

Minty Fresh: How It Compares To Others

The 2011 Linux scorecard has been released.  It compares the versions and explains their strengths and weaknesses.  It also describes what types of users may be interested in particular features.  For example, if you're like me and you update every chance a new release comes out, some versions are better choices.  Levels of experience are measured, as are bugs and (ugh) dependencies.

For the last few weeks, I have been using Mint exclusively.  I picked it up very quick, but the differences between it and Ubuntu have all been improvements from my perspective.  There are a few weaknesses, but they don't apply to my habits so I have been unaffected.

For those who do not know how to approach Linux, this is a great article to read.  Each major version is described in plain terms and aimed for newbies who need a launching point.

Minty Fresh: Hello, Old Friends

I had just one day to appreciate this in Ubuntu before I made the move to Mint: Chromium Apps. Chromium is a great Chrome alternative, and this access to the market has taken it from great to incredible. My Blogger, Google Docs, favorite games and even access to RetroMUD can all be had from within my browser.

Evolution is available, and even works better than it did with Ubuntu.  This alternate to Microsoft Outlook has all the great tools and seems to integrate with other programs seamlessly.  My calendar and contacts are accessed by my computer at all times, so it's extremely easy to move that information into use by another system.  All my old friends were waiting for me; Empathy, Banshee, Chromium and Kjots were set up within minutes.

The move has been completely painless, and I have yet to find a single sacrifice by having done so.  My opinion is high and continues to climb.

Minty Fresh: Look And Feel

The software manager works just like Ubuntu, handling dependencies intuitively and letting you search and add as you please. I was able to get it to connect to the router and after a run of updates I was completely at home.

One subject of debate with Minty is the difference in menu styles.  However, with a few clicks I had reset my Ubuntu drawers and customized menus. I actually like the menu, but those who do not can go back to the Ubuntu look and feel with a little tweaking.

As you can see above, the top left corner has the traditional main menu that is instantly recognizable. You can pin favorites on the new menu, or browse all your applications.

The desktop and window graphics are superior to Ubuntu.  The green tones are actually subdued and attractive (you can change them if you like) and the little pretty things are even prettier.  The graphics don't seem to burden my laptop, unlike the last couple of Ubuntu updates.  The workspace manager lets you stay organized and productive.

Look and feel gets a five out of five.  It's the best of Ubuntu with significant improvement.  It is efficient and clean, and geared towards productivity.  What a newbie wouldn't know, they could find with some modest effort on their part.  The support and help files are friendly and easy to follow.  The menu allows you to make as many taskbars as you like, and line them with drawers that are 100% customizable as well.  If you have a certain way of doing things, it would be hard to find a setting that can't be easily altered to suit you.  This is completely newbie friendly and ready to run.  When compared to Ubuntu 11.04, Mint 11 wins by miles.  When compared to Windows it wins by an even wider margin, because it allows you to set up with ease and is even more attractive than what I've seen of Windows 7.  I have no Mac comparison, but if any of you are Mac people please let me know what you think.

Ubuntu To You, Too

At first, I wasn't too concerned when I read negative reviews about Ubuntu 11.04.  I've read some scathing reviews and been impressed all the same.  This time, however, they were right.  Ubuntu has brought a lot to the table with this revamp but they have lost the things that made them heroic.  No longer is it intuitive and thoughtful.  The controls are complicated and unnecessarily compartmentalized so that you have to hunt and pray if you wish to avoid the command line.  The hardware functionality took a big hit, as there is a rather intimidating problem with certain (and common) graphics cards.  Grub has issues, and that is scary as hell to a novice.  The graphics card issue prevents being able to log in, a paralyzing problem for someone who just moved over to try Ubuntu.  Worse yet, the graphics issue didn't exist in the generic drivers, so we had no reason to expect a problem until an update made booting up throw an error that for some just led to a flat black screen.

This is not the ideal version for a newbie. Previous versions are stable and delightful, this has a lot of growth and bugfixing required.  The graphics card issue can be resolved by booting into recovery mode and then selecting failsafe graphics mode.  This is a fancy way of saying your graphics card is considered out of date, with no fix date in sight.  I have not found a way to permanently set that, so each time you log in you will have to repeat the process.  The methods I found don't always stick, and may reset to the buggy default at random.  Not the worst thing in the world, but not great either.  The other bugs are significant and can make for a poor experience if one isn't used to tinkering around in Ubuntu.  Experienced users with better hardware will have a great time, everyone else will find it frustrating to navigate.

Ubuntu has been great for years.  I'm still willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume with some time they can get this up and running.  These massive changes will require a certain amount of catching up while they get drivers and patches for older systems.  I have come to expect a high quality product, and I will continue to hope that the developers bring Ubuntu along to where it used to be.  But for now, I recommend staying with an older version and giving the a chance to get a grip on some pretty serious issues.  Just because I enjoy solving problems and learning doesn't mean I have time to do that for every single function I want to perform, and it sure has felt that way lately.

Which leads to a few things.  One, the new geekery tag will keep all my Ubuntu and other articles together, as I open up a on a wider variety of topics.  Two, I will be posting more geeky news and updates here, because the response has been good.  Three... after four years of faithful love, I have left Ubuntu.  Oh, it's just a trial separation and we're still on good terms for the kids sake, but I needed more.  I have just installed Linux Mint and it could be love.

More will follow.

Ubuntu 11.04 Review

So far it's a raging success in most ways.  Here are some of the first things you will notice:

The desktop interface, also known as Unity, gives it a look and feel unlike any operating system ever.   Some will like it, some will hate it.  I like it a lot, but it takes some getting used to.  There is a lot to learn about Unity, and I will be posting some basic information along the way.  It is very intuitive, and once you get the hang of navigating it is efficient and clean.

Programs run smoothly and are pared down. The response time is excellent.  My modest laptop runs it with full graphics easily, and I had twelve programs running at the same time and suffered no impact.  Unity makes it easy to switch work spaces and stay organized.  The new office software, called LibreOffice, loads much faster than OpenOffice and seems to have zero issues when transferring to traditional Microsoft  Word, including formatting and special characters.  Even with the most recent version of OO, this was a major challenge.

You can switch easily between different desktops to keep your work separate.

A few opportunities for improvement are with the boot loader.  Grub had a difficult time loading, and there are several known bugs with booting up the computer.  There are tricks around this, but complete newbies to Ubuntu or Linux may want to hold off a few weeks until those problems are taken care of.  The Ubuntu community is excellent about fixing issues quickly.

This is the first time I had to add some control features as though they were options.  The tweaks and settings category gives you instant access to settings that used to be built into the Administration toolbar. Sure, you can set them the hard way, but Ubuntu is supposed to be easy and pretty.  Rest assured, it is.

This new release has surpassed the hype.  Developers did a great job of keeping a lid on this and releasing a stable beta.  A lot of careful work went into this, and the glitches are few and far between.  However, as one can expect from such major changes, there are some glitches and they can be a little difficult on this first day of use.  Ubuntu is still easy to install and update, but for the first time I would recommend casual or new users hold off just a bit until they get the first round of fixes in.  That would guarantee a positive experience, because if you haven't worked with Linux it can be a little intimidating when it doesn't work out of the box and give you some time to adjust.

But pretty?  Oh my God, yes.  I've never seen anything like it, and I am in love.  The graphics are advanced and effortless, and the navigation is both logical and pretty.  Ubuntu has finally arrived, and reinvented themselves.  They have gotten rid of any bloated processes, and the result is a beautiful but lean and mean operating system.  This is a complete improvement over any previous Ubuntu flavors, and in both design and performance they have leapfrogged all other operating systems, at least in my book.  Because of the enormous scope of the changes, it will take some adjusting.  Still, despite the glitches I discovered, I had so much fun that I was up for a full 24 hours because I couldn't bear to put it down. A complete and utter newbie could pick this up and find their way, and a longtime Linux user is going to enjoy it for the elegant and powerful beast that Nat has proved to be.

My initial review is a full five stars out of five.  There is a lot of updating and testing to do but the bar has been set very high.