Mint vs Mandriva vs Ubuntu?

Hello, I would love to try out a version of Linux. What is the difference or benefit of these different versions. Is there a good guide that anyone can recommend. It looks as if Mint might be a good place to start?

 

Mint is just a value added Ubuntu. Mandriva is pretty cool. If it's your first time I would start with Mint as it's already got all the codecs and restricted stuff installed for you. Try the liveCD's and see what you think...there are many for you to check out!

 

Ubuntu and Mint are very similar, since Mint is based off Ubuntu. But like theZoid said, Mint can be nicer because it has more relevant things pre-installed for you. I tend to like Mint Linux's looks more than Ubuntu as well. It's a very easy one to get you started.

Haven't tried Mandriva though, so couldn't tell you about that one.

 

Out of the three I prefer Ubuntu. Mint necessarily lags a bit behind ubuntu but gives you basically the same engine with a few cockpit modifications and extras. Mandriva is nice but I've never really taken to the whole buy/subscribe to the "powerpack" thing.

I'd say get your feet wet with ubuntu and learn the basics. One of the strongest selling points for Ubuntu is the community and their commitment to helping others find solutions to problems.

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Intrepid

^^^Burn a live cd of 8.10, install it and work your way through the guide above, installing and tweaking what you need. You'll make mistakes but learn from them. Eventually that guide will begin to be updated to 9.04 and you can install the latest, greatest with your new skills.

 

I agree insofar as the looks are concerned, though I recommend that you give Ubuntu 9.04 a shot when it makes its way out at the end of April. Some of the updates are certainly worth a look on their website. Of course, you'll probably see similar updates return eventually to Mint, but that's your prerogative if you want to wait up a bit.

 

So they are fairly similar except that Mint has more programs which load up in the OS and Unbuntu requires you to do it manually? Is there a good site that shows a side by side comparison of the two?

 

Are you frequenting Distrowatch.com? I don't know if I've ever seen a side by side....have you burned a liveCD yet? (of anything) Boot it on up and check it out...it won't change anything on your system.

 

But, the Ubuntu people don't care about KDE at all. If you notice, Ubuntu with Gnome version is always more up to date than Kubuntu. Also, there is a Mint 6 out with an updated KDE 4.2 but with Kubuntu 8.10 Intrepid, you have to upgrade the KDE version right away if you want the latest KDE and minimize the amount of bugs you get.

That is just one of my complaints with Ubuntu/Canonical. For all their talk that they want to have a cushy community, they sure exclude some popular Linux attributes. I bet far fewer people work on Mint 6 KDE CE than Kubuntu yet Mint 6 with KDE is more up to date and looks more polished. Too bad but Ubuntu should just admit that they could care less for KDE?

 

Yeah, but Mint KDE (community edition) came out 10 days ago, and now Kubuntu 9.04 with KDE 4.2 is about to be released this week. Now I have to wait 5 months for the KDE CE based on 9.04 that will work with my the hardware in my newish laptop? Unless Clement's gang can work faster, i don't see a huge advantage here.

Don't get me wrong, I really like what Mint is producing (the new KDE CE is beautiful in my opinion, i downloaded the day it appeared) and I think Clement's work nudges Ubuntu in the right direction a lot of times.

But my point is that a new user might be better served by leaning on the massive Ubuntu community to learn Ubuntu or Kubuntu 8.10 first. After he or she masters the basics, then the question can be asked: well, what does Mint or Mandriva or Mepis or Sabayon or etc. really get me? After learning Ubuntu by working through the ubuntu guide, they will be better able to experiment with and assess the pros and cons of other distributions. At least that is my feeling.

 

I'm thinking of installing either Kubuntu 9.04 or Mint 6 KDE CE on my Thinkpad T41.

My complaint wasn't really centered around a comparison of those two distros but a perceived neglect of KDE by Ubuntu. I don't know how many developers work with Kubuntu or on KDE but it seems that Ubuntu is always emphasized to an extra degree.

 

It's because Gnome is considered a simple(I didn't say simplistic) desktop environment while kde with it's plethora of options and perceived a more geared toward advanced users... And since Canonical goal is to allow people to get into linux easily Gnome is the de facto choice. If you don't like gnome you can always uninstall KDE-Desktop and get rid of Ubuntu Desktop through Synaptics or Aptitude.

 

I think ArchLinux could be a very good choice, too.

 

Ubuntu still win all

 

I have tried both and Ubuntu wins over Mint by a long way. As long as you have an internet connection anything missing in the initial install of Ubuntu will be installed when you first need it. Mint promises much by providing more things up-front (rather like pclinuxos), but I found the install process more problematic. Why not try both from a CD first? You will know which you prefer very quickly...

 

I'm sort of wondering what to put on my new desktop...

I'm thinking maybe Slackware or Arch.

 

pssst....Slackware (don't tell anyone I tipped you off)