Linux Mint Debian Edition 6 hits beta with reassuringly little drama

The next version of Linux Mint's alternative flavor, its Debian 12-based edition, is looming, and it's reassuringly unexciting. Specifically, Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) 6, codenamed Faye – or LMDE 6 for short – is nearly ready for release: the beta version is now available for download. This version is based on Debian 12 …

[pc-fluesterer.info]

Here is a happy and satisfied user

I for one use LMDE since version 2. LMDE 4 was quite good, LMDE 5 really grown-up. Looking forward to LMDE 6!

Will it offer an in-place upgrade such as Mint does?

Only thing I dislike is Cinnamon. I prefer Mate since the beginning, which I just installed additionally. So I use Mate plus Cairo-Dock.

[Liam Proven]

Re: Here is a happy and satisfied user

[Author here]

> Will it offer an in-place upgrade such as Mint does?

I am sure it will, as previous releases did.

> Only thing I dislike is Cinnamon. I prefer Mate since the beginning

That seems a little strange to me, since for me, they are near identical Windows-a-likes. Neither is my favourite in that field

What makes you like one and dislike the other?

> which I just installed additionally.

Seems a lot of work TBH. If it were me I'd probably look at other Debian-plus-$DESKTOP meta-distros and pick one.

[keithpeter]

Kudos: Min spec actually works...

Posting off a live session on a Thinkpad T60 with mem=2048M. This is a 64bit capable core-duo machine dating from 2006. Bearing in mind that this machine uses integrated graphics so the system only sees 1968 or so Mb, and that this is a live session with no swap so there must be some squashfs like overhead, I'm quite impressed.

Wifi (intel) works, firefox/youtube HD video playback (Gil Scott-Heron's I'm New Here) reasonably smooth on around 50% processor.

I could not find any keyboard layout selection when booting the live image, so it was en-us layout to start with. (Just because I could not find a keyboard setting on the boot up screen doesn't mean there isn't one, strikes me as an important thing to provide).

I had to install a language pack from inside the live session for en-gb and had to change the keyboard layout by adding en-gb. Both of those tasks could be achieved from the graphical settings menu.

Like Ubuntu live images back in the day, Libreoffice spell check won't work in English (UK) until you install the hunspell-en-gb package. Then it works.

The 2.6Gb live image includes something like 260Mb of wallpapers and three sets of themes.

Rather impressive for a beta. Running at 1645M now with 71M free and 321M 'available'.

[CAPS LOCK]

Dear Liam,

When you review a distro, also give a little attention to the community, especially the forum. FOSS software lives and dies by it's self help community. Are questions actually being answered? Are the answers of the form 'Read the man page newb' or genuine help. I know from my experience that the forums at Mint (forums.linuxmint.com) are exemplary. The same ins't true elsewhere (I'm looking at you FreeBSD).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dear Liam,

Not sure what "forums" (?) you're referring to for FreeBSD, but the community help I've seen and gotten over the years from FreeBSD folks on the official mailing lists and such has been great.

Plus, "read the man page" on any BSD is actually very good advice, precisely because the BSD man pages are generally top notch. I can't always say likewise about some Linux man pages.

[nautica]

Re: Dear Liam,

"...I know from my experience that the forums at Mint (forums.linuxmint.com) are exemplary..."

Define "exemplary", please. Your definition.

I stopped reading and consulting with Mint Linux's forums years ago specifically after Mint moderators (moderators !) jumped in--completely inappropriately--to some objective, polite, and well-thought-out observations and questions. The (several) responses from Mint's moderators were extremely vitriolic, contained ad hominem attacks, and had the tenor of what one would expect when dealing with a cult.

(Just as an FYI--one comment I specifically remember, was asking how Clement Lefebvre intended to counter MX-Linux's overtaking Mint for DistroWatch's number-one position when Mint's numbers were seriously dropping after Mint 18 was released. The reply was something like a very snarky, "...Clem doesn't HAVE to worry about a [here, fill in your favorite worst-case put-down you can think of...from a moderator, remember. Include the words, "third-rate", inconsequential", and the personal suggestion--to me--to "...go somewhere else".] )

A long-term Mint Linux user.

[keithpeter]

Re: Dear Liam,

"...how Clement Lefebvre intended to counter MX-Linux's overtaking Mint for DistroWatch's number-one position when Mint's numbers were seriously dropping after Mint 18 was released..."

@nautica: I have to admit that my own reaction to such an enquiry on a support forum would be along the lines of a Gallic Shrug. A polite shrug mind you, no need for drama, I'm a Brit.

Disclosure: I use Slackware on my more powerful laptops, and tried a LDME Cinnamon live disk just to see how the desktop performed as mentioned in an earlier post. I have absolutely no investment in all of this and hope that you have found a Linux that meets your needs (see icon).

[Liam Proven]

Re: Dear Liam,

[Author here]

> When you review a distro, also give a little attention to the community, especially the forum.

Two problems with that.

1. It needs days or weeks to get a feel for the community.

2. I personally *detest* web fora and only use them when I must. (Broken quoting, multiple horrible proprietary markup languages, etc.) Thus I mostly just don't join communities which only have web fora.

I am on the Mint ones; I don't find them terribly helpful the few times I asked. No better than any other web forum, TBH. I have been there since 2008 or so, but use them so seldom that when I checked recently, my account had been deleted -- without notice -- and I had to recreate it.

I prefer mailing lists. Mint used to have a very, very quiet one. I used that. It was shut down.

Given my tiny previous experience of the Mint forums, I can believe the reader's comments in the other reply to your post.

[Uncle Slacky]

32-bit UEFI on 64-bit

> 64-bit models had 32-bit UEFI firmware, which makes it complicated to install 64-bit editions of Linux or Windows.

For those in this situation, this page is very useful:

https://mattgadient.com/linux-dvd-images-and-how-to-for-32-bit-efi-macs-late-2006-models/

(black MacBook 2,1 owner here)

[Pelican Express]

Why not using Debian directly?

I was a fan of Mint, even donated an amount equivalent to a retailed Wiindows 10 license. One day I got something corrupted and could no longer update. I could very well reinstall Mint. But decided to try out Ubuntu Gnome 20.04. Then I got fed up with Ubuntu b/c of the mix half apt half snap. In summer 2023, I switched to Debian 12 + KDE. And I would say, this is the lightlest and stable distro I tried compared to all the previous Ubuntu derived distros.

I wonder if the Cinnamon desktop environment is a sufficient argument to attract an user to choose LMDE over Debian.

[Liam Proven]

[Author here]

> Why not using Debian directly?

TBH I thought I covered that in the article, and in the Xebian one too.

TL;DR: Debian itself is too hard for newbies. LMDE makes Debian as easy as Mint.

[nautica]

The ancient Greeks had THE solution which Mint has adopted for a long time--'kill the messenger'.

For all you fanboys out there who think that Linux Mint--and the motivations of its fan-base and developer-base is as pure as the driven snow--simply read this, here.

This is a first-person account of a seasoned tech writer who has been turning out high-quality tech articles since before most of you even heard of a computer or, most likely, were even walking; and how he was treated by the Linux Mint community for daring to say something less than highly laudatory and complimentary of Linux Mint. He tried to do this anonymously, no less, but was 'dragged to ground' by the gentle, understanding, and totally rational Linux Mint fanboys--and fangirls.

A small sample from

"Linux Mint Turns Cinnamon Experience Bittersweet"

By Jack M. Germain May 24, 2019 5:00 AM PT...

...“Critical of the Critic

"I logged onto the Linux Mint user forum recently to look for helpful hints on solving performance issues. I used my own LM forum user credentials, which are not identifiable with this publication. Of course, I found nothing. What I did find was my name and reference to the Linux Mint-related comments from a few of my LinuxInsider reviews. That is when I discovered the vitriol directed at me...”

“...Other user forum comments included the alleged performance troubles I “claimed” to be having were simply my fault because I was obviously a newbie, didn’t know what I was doing, or was trying to “get more eyeballs” for my LinuxInsider reviews by making “snide, unsubstantiated comments” derogatory to Linux Mint...”

"...The trolls rejected my polite explanation that I was a long-time Linux Mint user who went from having no issues with earlier versions to experiencing the same issues on the same three computers...

"...I tried to explain to the LM forum naysayers that my comments were neither snide nor unsubstantiated, and that I still used Linux Mint 19.1 Cinnamon, in fact. Of course, the flamers once again insisted that I had attacked Linux Mint unfairly and repeatedly. So I stepped out of the conversation.

"Ironically, while the LM forum diatribe was unfolding, I received an email at ECT News Network from a supposed reader who claimed to be interested in my reviews about Linux Mint. She asked me to send her a link of all my published reviews on that topic..She asked me to send her a link of all my published reviews on that topic..."

[Ian 55]

Security updates?

At one point, LMDE's repositories noticeably lagged behind the upstream ones, with the result that published security updates could take days or weeks (or was it even months in some cases?) to become available.

Memory tells me that this affected things like Firefox. Oops.

Is this still the case?