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ubuntu_logo.jpgIt has been a really long time since I have used windows on my main desktop.  Starting in 1998, I was playing around with linux, and from 1999 forward, linux has been the Main / Only OS on my desktop.  So, I have been a long time linux user on my desktop at home.  In the beginning I used Mandrake, and Fedora Core, and they worked fine, but a few years ago, I switched to a new distrobution named Ubuntu..  Well....thats changed, and I can add another distro to the list.  I have had been using Ubuntu Linux for a long time, over 5 years now.  I started using Ubuntu at the first version (4.10, Warty Warthog) and have used them ever since.  The latest release of Ubuntu came out in April, and I upgraded to the new version, and did not like it at all.  With this update / new version, Ubuntu switched from the Gnome to Unity as the desktop, and many people incIuding me, did not like the switch.  I really, really did not like it.  As such, I went looking for something new, and I found Linux Mint (which is not actually new, but it is new to me).

linuxmint-logo.pngLinux Mint Started in 2006, and is currently based on the same software repositories as Ubuntu, and has roughly the same release cycle.  The latest release "Katya", version 11 was released on the 26th of may, and is the version that I installed.  The was the first install I had done in about 4 years, as I had always just upgraded from one version of Ubuntu to the next.  The Install was dead simple, and even allowed for me to set my own partitions with ease (I setup the system so that my /Home was on a seperate Hard drive than the Main OS).  

Linux mint is the best linuc distro that I have used to date, and that largely has do to with the ease of use.  After the Install (if you did it from CD as I did) you just press a button on the welcome screen and it installs all the extra stuff including Libre Office (a Microsoft Offiec Alternative) and all of the software that you need to play multimedia things.  Its just easy!

By far one of the best features that I have found to date is the Software Center, which allows you to install 35,000+ better different programs.  It is very similar to an "App Store" in that each program has a small display of the software, and then a description, along with user reviews.  Best of all, almost all of the software is free, and provided at no cost to the user.  

After having used the system for a day, I would not hesitate to recommend Linux Mint to anyone!  In fact I am now wondering why it took me so long to switch in the first place!

So long Ubuntu..... Hello Linux Mint!

P.S.  Now I just need to figure out how I can share a linux partition with my Windows Laptop over my home network.... I know it can be done.... just need to figure out how to do it.