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Linux Mint's success also means maintainer stress - The Register (www.theregister.com)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/linux@programming.dev
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[–] 9 points 6 months ago (7 children)

The more Ubuntu enshittifies, the more work Mint has to do to work against it. That's why my personal recommendation is against Mint. Ubuntu just isn't a good foundation to build on, IMO.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (6 children)

    For awhile there, PPAs were the reason to stick with Ubuntu as a base, because the .deb package format was (and still is) very popular, and PPAs allowed fairly easy distribution of software without dealing with the standard repository. Flatpak has kind of solved that problem by now, and so like you say defuckulating Ubuntu is just getting to be a bigger and bigger chore.

    Which is why LMDE exists.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (5 children)

    Which is why LMDE exists.

    Too bad LMDE is based on Sid. Some stuff can break on occasion.

    I few months ago I helped an older lady at a repair café to replace her Win10 with LMDE (because that's what she wanted). Installed just fine but didn't boot after reboot. Installed LMDE 2 or 3 additional times, to make sure I didn't overlook something. Same result.

    Then installed Fedora and it just worked.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    I have never had a problem with LMDE. My mother has been using it for about a year now. I used to have to come solve Windows problems for her a couple times a year but she had never asked me for any help with LMDE.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

    It's unlikely that an already properly installed bootloader just breaks. The base is Sid, Debian Unstable.

    Just because breakage doesn't happen all the time, there is still a higher than average chance. Sid is Debian's beta test branch, not a rolling release distribution. It just wasn't the right choice for the lady at the repair cafe.

    I was corrected that LMDE is not based on Sid. I redact that part of my comments. The experience I had installing LMDE on a lady's laptop at a repair cafe was as described, though.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

    LMDE is not based on Sid, it's based on Debian Stable. LMDE 7 is currently based on Debian 13 Trixie. You sure you had the right ISO?

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    LMDE is not based on Sid, it’s based on Debian Stable

    Oh wow, you're right. Did that change at some point and I just didn't pay attention? My bad!

    You sure you had the right ISO?

    I had the correct ISO and the experience with the lady's notebook was as described. Maybe the notebook needed newer kernel code?

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago*

    It's always been based on stable, AFAIK.

    Maybe the notebook needed newer kernel code?

    If it was able to boot the Live USB to install it, I figure that means the kernel is new enough to actually run the laptop properly. I can only guess something in the installer itself was messing up somehow? Or perhaps it wasn't making an entry in the boot table? That's an odd one for sure.

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