Changed Main Computer Operating System

Naturally

Naturally

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I'll bet you're wondering why I gathered you all here today ;)

It's to announce a change of operating systems on my main computer.
For 15yrs I've run Linux Mint Mate, but based on rave reviews, decided to give Linux Mint LMDE 6 a try.

Linux Mint has always been based on Ubuntu but LMDE 6 is not based on Ubuntu at all.
LMDE is a Linux Mint project which stands for "Linux Mint Debian Edition".
Its goal is to ensure Linux Mint can continue to deliver the same user experience if Ubuntu was ever to disappear (not likely). It allows LM to assess how much it depends on Ubuntu and how much work would be involved in such a Ubuntu disappearance event. LMDE is also one of LM's development targets, as such it guarantees the software developed by LM is compatible outside of Ubuntu.

So what exactly is LMDE 6?
A Cinnamon 5.8 desktop environment riding on top of the Debian 12 “Bookworm” package archives.

I've always preferred the Mate desktop environment to Cinnamon and wish Mate was the choice of desktops for LMDE.
That said, Linux Mint is proud of Cinnamon, their flagship desktop, so I'm not shocked that's what they chose.
In 15yrs of Linux Mint continuous use, my experience is that Mate is more stable and uses less resources than Cinnamon but haven't kept up closely with Cinnamon.
By now they should have all the bugs worked out of Cinnamon that were around years ago.

So I'll see how it goes. So far so good ... but I haven't burnt any bridges and will run back to Linux Mint Mate at any sign of trouble.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with Mate, just wanted to try a different version of Mint.
 
Interested to follow your reviews, I ran Debian standard (no gui) since about 2006, a couple years ago I added the LXDE windows environment. About six months ago I switch all my machines to Linux Mint Cinnamon. I like it, drivers are a dream, 5 machines not one driver glitch. Even grabbed my neighbour's wifi printer. Not as stable as Debian, had to do a few restarts but nothing to cry about.
 
Well the thing about LMDE 6 vs Linux Mint Cinnamon is that there is no driver manager in LMDE like there is in LM Cinnamon.
So, someone running LMDE on an older machine that may need update drivers would be left to fend for themselves and search for 3rd party Linux drivers. Don't think that would be a problem for you should you run against that in any operating scenario ... given your experience.

That said, installation of LMDE 6 went without a glitch or hiccup on my Mint Box II from Intense PC. It's a fanless little Intel i5 with 16gig ram that I picked up in about 2019. I didn't have to add any drivers. Everything was "plug and play" ... even saw and installed my old HP Envy 5530 network shared printer without missing a beat.

I would think going from Linux Mint Cinnamon to LMDE 6 would be almost transparent. There are virtually no more differences in the way things are handled than the things I've noticed between Mate and Cinnamon desktops. Everything under the desktop just operates flawlessly.

If you are looking for cutting edge software, LMDE 6 may not be a good choice. Even though LMDE 6 uses flatpaks to make up for that somewhat.
Debian is after all just about the most conservative and stable OS out there. Changes happen "when ready" ... about every year and a half or so. That compared to distros that update about every six months. The thing is, I don't use flatpaks at all. They take up more space and are sometimes slower than system apps.

In Cinnamon, I've disabled all the "effects", done some other tweaks per the Easy Linux Tips Project and have everything dialed in the way I like it. She's a runnin' smooth, fast and light on her feet right now.

The LMDE ISO was a gig smaller than LM Mate and the whole shebang loaded and tweaked the way I like it is taking up 3gig less space on my SSD than the standard Linux Mint Mate flavor.

I would recommend giving LMDE 6 a try for anyone wanting an OS based solely on Debian. Linux Mint LMDE 6 is good stepping off point. Yes Ubuntu is based on Debian but like it or not, there is the canonical and snap considerations ... and Mint is a fork of Ubuntu but without canonical and snap. LMDE 6 is the purest of all except just standard Debian. Just the widely acclaimed Debian 12 “Bookworm” with a Cinnamon desktop thrown on top ... and of course, some Linux Mint choices of default programs ... that are easy enough to change depending on user preference and experience.
 
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Couple of annoying things I had to tweak ...

Every version of Mint I've run, there is some annoying "popping" out of my Klipsch speakers.
That's because the sound electronics is powered on and off as required.
The thinking is that doing so saves battery power ... on a laptop.
But I'm not running a laptop and it's just annoying on my desktop computer.

I think it's more how the kernels are configured. Regardless and in a terminal session ...
sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/snd-hda-intel.conf <<<'options snd-hda-intel power_save=0'
... takes care of that. Once the sound is initiated at boot, the sound doesn't power off when not actively required.
No more popping !!!

The other thing was the toolbar in Libre Office. I couldn't see all the icons unless I moved a cursor over them.
To correct ...
From within Libre Office Writer: TOOLS > OPTIONS > VIEW > ICON THEME ...
There is a drop down menu that I changed from AUTOMATIC to COLIBRE
Problem corrected.
 
Interesting box, Mint Box II. Is the ram upgradable?

I switched to Linux Mint for the Nvdia drivers and gaming. A lot easier to install WIndows games, find and install the correct ones, Mint just finds them, Debian doesn't do anything to make it easier to work with proprietary packages. My own memory isn't working so well anymore, it's all becoming a lot harder to remember commands and hotkeys, the whole reason i moved away from no gui.

The toolbar thing sounds familiar, took me awhile to find that. I have one set of speakers that's popping, I thought it was Paprefs I installed to split sound to different outputs. I'll fix that tomorrow, thank you.
 
iksentrik said:
Interesting box, Mint Box II. Is the ram upgradable?

I switched to Linux Mint for the Nvdia drivers and gaming. A lot easier to install WIndows games, find and install the correct ones, Mint just finds them, Debian doesn't do anything to make it easier to work with proprietary packages. My own memory isn't working so well anymore, it's all becoming a lot harder to remember commands and hotkeys, the whole reason i moved away from no gui.

The toolbar thing sounds familiar, took me awhile to find that. I have one set of speakers that's popping, I thought it was Paprefs I installed to split sound to different outputs. I'll fix that tomorrow, thank you.
Click to expand...

The Mint Box II came with only 4gig ram. It has slots for two sticks. Tossed in two 8gig sticks for a total of 16gig.
It also came with a hard drive that I changed out for an SSD.

The Mint Box II from IntensePC (made in Israel) is no longer available I don't think, but they do have other Linux Mint dedicated offerings.

Having that much ram allows me to put Firefox network cache into the RAM rather than using the system disk and saves all those time consuming disk read / writes. Makes Firefox down right snappy. I allocated 4gig of RAM for Firefox to use as it likes. That's more than plenty enough for anything going on in Firefox.

Here are the Firefox tweaks I followed ... Firefox: optimize its settings
In addition to that I also disabled all Firefox telemetry and some of the built-in Firefox add-ons.
I did that using the about:config tweaks #3 and #6 here ... Simple Tweaks to Speed Up Firefox Immediately
The second link is a bit dated and some of the config entries listed in the link are no longer used in Firefox but most are.
If the entry doesn't exit, I just skipped over it rather than make a new word in config.

Those tweaks certainly sped up Firefox and made it behave itself a little better. Firefox is a downright joy to use now.

I hear ya iksentrik about the need to make things simpler. I think we've both forgotten much more than we now know :ROFLMAO:
Such is life :)
 
iksentrik said:
Okay, so now I have to try it...
Click to expand...

@iksentrik ... here's a Linux Mint Support Forum for LMDE that might be of interest ... LMDE Forums
Thought I'd mention it as there are several threads about nvidia, although some are in regard to prior LMDE releases.

On another note, I just downloaded Debian 12 and using a graphical install on an old Dell Latitude D830 from 2007.
I use the old laptop for playing around with stuff so I don't mess up my main computer.
Interestingly, during the Debian 12 install there is a choice of ALL the popular desktops to add to the install.
For now I'm just playing around with the Mate desktop on Debian 12.

So far it's a lot more "work" to sort things out than simply installing Linux Mint LMDE 6.
The time may be worth it but geez, it sure is easy to just install LMDE 6 and call it a day :ROFLMAO:
 
Oh and another thing worth mentioning @iksentrik ...
When installing Linux Mint Mate or Cinnamon, there is an option to install additional multimedia codecs (mint-meta-codecs).
However comma that option isn't available in the LMDE 6 installation.
BUT on the second page of the Welcome screen pop up on first boot is an option to install the codecs.
Those codecs may be needed for some media content and online formats.
 
As a 15yr user of Mate ... well a couple of those were Gnome I think ... I'm getting used to Cinnamon since that's the only way LMDE 6 comes.
I'm getting used to Cinnamon because I've disabled all the Windows like bells, whistles, effects and fluff in Cinnamon.
No shimmying, shaking, fading and sliding or hocus pocus ... or music required for this dance.

Honestly I think I was initially drawn to Mint Mate (and Gnome before), because it was the distro most like Win XP.
I migrated over to Linux when Microsoft ended support of XP or at least announced it ... back when

EDIT to add: Of course it would only take a terminal session to add the Mate desktop to LMDE 6 and select which desktop to use at boot login.
Don't think I'll ever go that route though ... haven't hit any show stoppers in Cinnamon yet.

Besides, don't think installing Mate desktop would install the Mint default programs as part of the package.
Although I think FirefoxESR and Libre Office comes standard with the Mate desktop, but that's about it ... maybe a couple of system tools.
In other words, if I'm not happy with Cinnamon in LMDE 6, I'll just run back to the Mint Mate release that's based on Ubuntu.
 
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By playing on my old Dell Latitude D830 test bed this afternoon, I found ...

Installing just the Debian 12 ISO and selecting Mate desktop as part of the installation offering, it was just too much trouble (well tedious anyway) then trying to install all the programs and tools I like to use and rely on. I finally thought to myself ... "Ya know, I'm just trying to reinvent Linux Mint here :ROFLMAO: ". So I nixed that whole idea and just installed LMDE 6 on the laptop. Even as old as that laptop is (2007), it accepted LMDE 6 with nary a problem or issue.

Hardware upgrades I've done over the years to the old laptop: Replaced hard drive with an SSD. Replaced the WiFi card many years ago when Linux wouldn't install the old WiFi card and I was running around trying to find a 3rd party driver. The laptop is still old and slow but hardware is recognized and installed and the old laptop works quite well as a Linux toy.
 
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