Linux Mint 12 (Lisa)
A couple of weeks ago I installed Linux Mint 12 (Lisa) on this laptop.
It wasn’t without problems as the ATI video card seemed to object. I tried the two drivers suggested by Mint and neither worked. It either reverted to a basic GNOME desktop or else presented me with a screen where have the text was randomly missing or pop up windows had their contents screwed up. In the end I removed all the drivers and for some reason it then worked perfectly.
Since then, I have installed it on two other machines. The first of those again gave some problems [using a Nvidia card] but once again adding and then removing the drivers seemed to cure the problem. The third machine [an ATI card] installed perfectly first time without touching the suggested drivers.
My original intention was to run Lisa using the MATE desktop which carries the old Mint Menu. However, to my surprise I like the new GNOME 3 interface. It took a couple of days to get used to but I am happy with it now, even though I still try to check the time at the bottom right corner of the screen.
There are a couple of very small niggles that annoy me. One is the lack of any apparent method to customise the top and bottom bars. For example, it would be nice to be able to increase their height to make the icons a little bigger and more visible. There seems to be a general lack of right-click options which is frustrating at times as it means a trip around the houses to find some functions.
One feature I missed straight away was the ability to edit the menus. In the end I installed Alacarte. Problem solved.
Generally speaking though, I am happy with 12. A tip of the cap to the crowd in Mint!
I didn’t think I’d like Gnome 3, but I’m liking it so much that I find I’m doing things using the pointy-click interface instead of the console as I usually do.
Only problem I’ve noticed is that sometimes X locks up, usually when on a complex website (opacities, shadows, etc).
Still haven’t tried Mint. I’m too used to the RedHat way. but I’m open to try it…
As I said, I have been using it for a couple of weeks now and have had no problems with it so far.
I am a relative newcomer to Linux but am a complete convert. I started on Mint and have stuck with it. Just to be sure I wasn’t missing out, I tried most of the other flavours (in VirtualBox) but Mint does all I ask of it. It’s Ubuntu based (and Irish) and I would highly recommend it.
I have to admit I was a bit troubled about Linux Mint going to Gnome 3/gnome-shell DE for it’s main edition as well as (sometime in the near future) LMDE. However, I find myself really enjoying Mint’s version of Gnome 3/gnome-shell despite the few little niggles that you point out. MATE is starting to flesh out quite nicely as well despite it still being in it’s infancy.
But the thing that really surprises me is that two old codgers like us are still flexible enough (in mind anyway) to accept a new type of desktop environment (I guess they would call it a new desktop paradigm?).
You are never too old to learn! I did make a conscious decision to work with Gnome 3, as that seems to be the future as imposed on us. If it was inevitable, then I thought I had better get used to it, to the degree that I am not tempting myself to use MATE. It’s fine as an emergency fall-back but that’s it.