Linux Mint is slightly ahead of Ubuntu today

11/4/20011 Linux Mint is slightly ahead of Ubuntu today for the first time (data collected over the last 6 months) on DistroWatch! I love my Linux Mint 11

Not surprised too many complaints about unity.

bobd13045 wrote:11/4/20011 Linux Mint is slightly ahead of Ubuntu today for the first time (data collected over the last 6 months) on DistroWatch! I love my Linux Mint 11

Just came from there and its still up. Want to see something more interesting? Change the Data Span to "Last 30 Days", even more pronounced! JohnP

JohnP wrote:

bobd13045 wrote:11/4/20011 Linux Mint is slightly ahead of Ubuntu today for the first time (data collected over the last 6 months) on DistroWatch! I love my Linux Mint 11

Just came from there and its still up. Want to see something more interesting? Change the Data Span to "Last 30 Days", even more pronounced! JohnP

Yes, very pronounced

Here's a quote from today's news on Distrowatch;

"As they say, once you are on top, you can only go one way. After being (largely unopposed) the number one distribution in our page hit ranking statistics since April 2005, Ubuntu has finally been dethroned. Ironically, it's one of its many derivatives, Linux Mint, a distribution sometimes referred to as "Ubuntu done right", that assumed the top spot late last week. Why? Some DistroWatch readers have already started speculating about the reasons - the all-too-frequent radical changes, the controversial Unity desktop (see our opinion piece below), the increasing amount of unresolved bugs... Of course, this little piece of statistic doesn't mean that Linux Mint has suddenly more users than Ubuntu, far from it. But it does perhaps indicate the increasing dissatisfaction of users with Canonical's flagship product and a growing interest in an alternative, at least among those Linux users who frequent this website. And in many ways, Linux Mint is a perfect option - it's still more or less Ubuntu, but without the unpopular changes that have given many Ubuntu users nothing but frustration."

I guess that's why I've been using it pretty well since their version 8. I'm still a Lindows/Linspire kind of guy so I keep looking around. Mint is the closest for me at the moment, Fundutu is interesting also... JohnP

I love Linux Mint, but I miss the old Spire Forum. That is why I still keep on coming back to this forum.

Linux Mint 12 preview

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1851

bobd13045 wrote:Linux Mint 12 preview

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1851

Wow, definitely come a long way from the earlier editions!

Ray

bobd13045 wrote:I love Linux Mint, but I miss the old Spire Forum. That is why I still keep on coming back to this forum.

Me too, that was the whole purpose of these forums in hopes to retain the Linspire/Freespire crowd. Good to see the old gang here!

Ray

Just came from Distrowatch and now even Fedora is gaining on Ubuntu! Just for giggles I selected the span of seven days and Ubuntu was coming in fourth!! JohnP

Fedora just released version 16 that is always good for a couple of positions but it usually tapers off in a month.

jpisini wrote:Fedora just released version 16 that is always good for a couple of positions but it usually tapers off in a month.

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out...

Linux Mint 12 RC released today. Downloading it now.

bobd13045 wrote:Linux Mint 12 RC released today. Downloading it now.

You should look at the Hits listing today!! I changed the Data Span to 7 Days and Mint has MORE than three times the hits as Ubuntu! In fact, it's in fourth place now last behind Mint, Fedora and OpenSUSE.
I know people resist change, but man! Reminds me of way back when IBM brought out the PS2 computer to combat the import of the cheap machines from Japan and Taiwan. How times change... John

Didn't someone once say the more things change the more they stay the same???

Tried to install Mint 12 RC (32 bit DVD version)
Installed OS on hard drive. Task bars were not on the
desktop. They may have been off the screen.

My test system was an HP Pavilion.

I guess I'll wait for the final release and
try again.


Bob

bobd13045 wrote:Tried to install Mint 12 RC (32 bit DVD version)
Installed OS on hard drive. Task bars were not on the
desktop. They may have been off the screen.

My test system was an HP Pavilion.

I guess I'll wait for the final release and
try again.


Bob

I tried it on my Dell D830 laptop, it worked pretty good for me. It is the 64 Bit version and I am considering installing it to see how it functions.... JohnP

Is it using gnome 3 or Gnome 2?

jpisini wrote:Is it using gnome 3 or Gnome 2?

I liked the look, at least to me it looked better on the Dell than 10 or 11.

Here's the quote from Distrowatch;

The first release candidate for Linux Mint 12, an Ubuntu-based distribution with a choice between a highly customised GNOME 3 and MATE (a fork of GNOME 2) desktops, is out and ready for testing: "The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 12 'Lisa' RC. Linux Mint 12 is a new step forward, using new technologies and a brand new desktop, built with GNOME 3 and Mint GNOME Shell Extensions (MGSE). MGSE is a desktop layer on top of GNOME 3 that makes it possible to use GNOME 3 in a traditional way. You can disable all components within MGSE to get a pure GNOME 3 experience, or you can enable all of them to get a GNOME 3 desktop that is similar to what you've been using before. The main features in MGSE are: the bottom panel, the application menu, the window list, a task-centric desktop (i.e. you switch between windows, not applications), visible system tray icons."
End of Quote.

I'm curious to see what happens on one laptop I have. I'm a laptop junkie! So I have one here for one function, one there for another... I have a HP NC6400 on a roll around cart when I am couch potatoeing..

Anyway, Mint 11 causes a reboot once in a while when I am checking things on the web. It's always when I click on something to read, like the act of opening another window triggers the reboot. I haven't run into that on others, just this one. I've resorted to running Windows 7 for the time being... JohnP

Here's a comment about Ubuntu in this weeks Distrowatch Weekly News;

Rarely a week goes by, it seems, without an author from a major publication feeling a need to vent his frustration with Ubuntu's default desktop. Last week it was the turn of ExtremeTech's Jason Kennedy who found the Unity user interface unsuitable for desktop computers: "Ubuntu took away most of the customization controls Linux users had grown accustomed to; one of the main reasons to use Linux at all over Microsoft or Apple. I was clicking where I wasn't used to clicking, and finding myself using the search functionality over shortcuts, which added steps and interrupted the flow of working. To me an operating system should be invisible; something that gets out of your way so you can do what you're supposed to be doing." Like many others, the author has realised that Unity is designed for touchscreens rather than the traditional computer monitors: "Suddenly it all clicked: Unity was the beta of a touch interface. In that form factor, it will probably work wonderfully. But I can't help but feel like Canonical misled its users. Unity isn't a user-willed push; it's a way for Ubuntu to branch into what's hot -- the mobile market. Business-wise, it's a secure move. As a user, though, I feel cheated, fooled. Disappointed."

Followed by their comment about Mint;

Linux Mint's ascent to the top of DistroWatch's page hit ranking statistics has generated quite some interest in Linux media worldwide. Slashdot's "Linux Mint: the New Ubuntu?" generated over 600 comments, while Austria's Der Standard newspaper also noticed the change (article in German). Other publications reporting about Mint's rise included BeginLinux, Habrahabr (in Russian), Fayerwayer (in Spanish), Hungarian UNIX Portal (in Hungarian), Unixmen, Tecnoblog (in Portuguese), The Register, Osarena (in Greek), Xinmin (in Chinese), IDG (in Swedish), PYSN Noticias (in Spanish) and many other blogs and websites. But perhaps the most interesting among them was the post by the editor-in-chief of Brazil's largest Linux portal, BR-Linux.org. In "Ubuntu deixa o primeiro lugar no ranking do DistroWatch" (article in Portuguese), Augusto Campos writes: "My Ubuntu-using years are coming to an end. I'm obviously no longer the target user and I have an impression that the distribution has taken a conscious decision to serve a much larger audience, but to which I do not belong." The author feels that he is not alone in this assessment: "In the last 10 days, two teachers of my friends approached me for advice on Ubuntu alternatives to migrate their school's computer laboratories to - they simply felt that Ubuntu was no longer adequate."

I'd have to say that Ubuntu had better make a 'U' turn of some type or there is going to be a major migration from Ubuntu specifically , and even Linux in general. JohnP

they are going to find themselves in the same boat as Linspire where they ticked off the core users to focus on another market.