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Old 06-23-2017, 10:17 PM   #1
linuxmigrant
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Debian? Mint? Graphic Designer


I am a graphic designer/illustrator wanting to migrate to Linux.

Part of my reason is to escape data-gathering/phoning home and other security woes common to Windows and OS X

From my research so far, Ubuntu is a "No" because of the phoning home.

In the "Yes" pile are: Manjaro, Mint and Debian. There are probably more, but these are the ones that leap out as being ones to get.

I hear 2 things at the same time:

1. They're all about the same, and
2. They're different from each other.

I don't know enough about the differences to know what same/diff is right for me!

I'd appreciate some clues narrowing down my choice. Thank you in advance!

lm

---------

Software I'll be using:

Gimp
Inkscape
Scribus
LibreOffice
Blender
Krita

FileZilla or similar
some kind of code editor
a files backup tool
video editing
 
Old 06-23-2017, 10:43 PM   #2
AwesomeMachine
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Debian is the ultimate source for almost all Linux distros. Mint and Manjaro are essentially smaller versions of Debian with some customization and automation built in.

Debian itself is a manual operating system. You must set up everything yourself. But, it gives you access to all 60,000 or so Debian packages.

Slackware, Centos, Red Hat, Fedora, openSuSE, Mandriva and Gentoo are a few non-Debian distros. But I just installed Mint Mate 18.1 in a VM last night and it works perfect. It looks good, has tons of applications, a sensible layout, nice menus, and the install was flawless.

I'm impressed with Mint!
 
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Old 06-23-2017, 11:17 PM   #3
linuxmigrant
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AwesomeMachine View Post
Debian is the ultimate source for almost all Linux distros. Mint and Manjaro are essentially smaller versions of Debian with some customization and automation built in.

Debian itself is a manual operating system. You must set up everything yourself. But, it gives you access to all 60,000 or so Debian packages.

Slackware, Centos, Red Hat, Fedora, openSuSE, Mandriva and Gentoo are a few non-Debian distros. But I just installed Mint Mate 18.1 in a VM last night and it works perfect. It looks good, has tons of applications, a sensible layout, nice menus, and the install was flawless.

I'm impressed with Mint!
So, is Mint as good, in a way, as Debian, but with less adjusting required from the User?

Or, is Debian well worth whatever set up it requires?

I don't mind configuring things if there's support as to how to properly do it, and as long as, once set up, you're "there."

Thank you!
 
Old 06-24-2017, 06:45 PM   #4
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Is this to be on a laptop or a desktop, wired or wireless? If wireless, what is the wireless chipset (I ask because some chipsets, such as Broadcom, can take an extra step or two to set up.

I like both Debian and Mint. Mint has a reputation for making its default GUIs a little easier for a Windows user to navigate than some other distros. As it is not based in the US, it also tends to come with more multimedia codecs than some other distros.

Debian is aggressively free, as in free and open source software. Some software that Mint includes is not included by default in Debian, but it is available post-install.

In my experience, Debian has been quite easy to install, as easy as Mint. I don't know how it got a reputation for being somehow difficult or complex, except as mentioned above, unless that's a holdover from its early days. Debian is also the second oldest Linux distro still developed and supported (Slackware beat it by about six months) and it is rock-solid stable.

Manjaro is based on Arch and Arch is very much its own thing. I have not used Manjaro and it's been several years since I played with Arch, so I'm not qualified to comment on it in any way.

One footnote: As Krita is a KDE application, you may wish to consider KDE for your desktop environment. The last time I installed Debian (a few months ago), KDE was an option at time of install. I generally find KDE applications superior to their Gnome equivalents in terms of configurabilty. I'm not necessarily a KDE fanboy, but I am certainly a KDE applications fanboy.

Just my two cents.

Last edited by frankbell; 06-24-2017 at 06:49 PM.
 
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Old 06-24-2017, 07:12 PM   #5
DVOM
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Linux Mint Debian Edition. LMDE
 
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Old 06-24-2017, 08:57 PM   #6
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+1.
 
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Old 06-24-2017, 10:01 PM   #7
linuxmigrant
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frankbell View Post
Is this to be on a laptop or a desktop, wired or wireless? If wireless, what is the wireless chipset (I ask because some chipsets, such as Broadcom, can take an extra step or two to set up.

I like both Debian and Mint. Mint has a reputation for making its default GUIs a little easier for a Windows user to navigate than some other distros. As it is not based in the US, it also tends to come with more multimedia codecs than some other distros.

Debian is aggressively free, as in free and open source software. Some software that Mint includes is not included by default in Debian, but it is available post-install.

In my experience, Debian has been quite easy to install, as easy as Mint. I don't know how it got a reputation for being somehow difficult or complex, except as mentioned above, unless that's a holdover from its early days. Debian is also the second oldest Linux distro still developed and supported (Slackware beat it by about six months) and it is rock-solid stable.

Manjaro is based on Arch and Arch is very much its own thing. I have not used Manjaro and it's been several years since I played with Arch, so I'm not qualified to comment on it in any way.

One footnote: As Krita is a KDE application, you may wish to consider KDE for your desktop environment. The last time I installed Debian (a few months ago), KDE was an option at time of install. I generally find KDE applications superior to their Gnome equivalents in terms of configurabilty. I'm not necessarily a KDE fanboy, but I am certainly a KDE applications fanboy.

Just my two cents.
Likely notebook and wireless. Possibly this Mac Book Pro, and I can't see what the chipset is for wifi...

Sounds like what you describe is a Debian installation, with a KDE desktop environment, is this correct?


Thank you for the meaty answer..very helpful in trying to navigate my way!
 
Old 06-24-2017, 10:02 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by DVOM View Post
Linux Mint Debian Edition. LMDE

Best of both worlds?
 
Old 06-24-2017, 11:35 PM   #9
AwesomeMachine
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Smile Debian worth it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by linuxmigrant View Post
So, is Mint as good, in a way, as Debian, but with less adjusting required from the User?

Or, is Debian well worth whatever set up it requires?

I don't mind configuring things if there's support as to how to properly do it, and as long as, once set up, you're "there."

Thank you!
I actually use Debian on my laptop, because when I started using it all the other distros didn't exist yet. I would say it's worth it to learn the operating system, but these days it isn't as necessary as it once was.

I use some semi-obscure applications--like for RF antenna system design and wave propogation, arbitrary precision mathematics, EEPROM reading and writing, network packet editing, serial port monitoring, and x86 system BIOS development--that might not be included in Debian forks.

A Debian fork is a distro based on Debian. I'd have to say that beginners will advance more quickly with something like Mint.
 
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Old 06-25-2017, 12:00 PM   #10
DavidMcCann
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All of the software you mention is available on almost every distro, so that's not a problem. But why Krita as well as Draw and Gimp?

Debian would not be my choice for a beginner as it's a bit fiddly if you need to change anything and the package management requires more work. The last time I reviewed it I described it as "more like the ingredients for a distro than a finished product."

Manjaro I like, although I'm note sure that a rolling-release model is best for a professional system. The fact that's based on Arch means that you can always consult the Arch wiki, probably the best guide in any distro.

Mint is solid and reliable and very easy to configure.

I suggest you get the live versions of all three and try them. So much is a matter of personal taste. I remember when I tried Debian as my default system, between Fedora and CentOS: it took just 3 weeks to retreat in exasperation, yet thousands love it!
 
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Old 06-25-2017, 12:38 PM   #11
hazel
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Debian is absolutely mainstream; it's neither a newbies' or an experts' distro. Mint is more angled to newbies (like Ubuntu on which it was originally based). It has the reputation of being particularly hardware-friendly; things should work out of the box even if that means using some proprietary software.

One nice thing about Debian is that you can choose how near the bleeding edge you want to be. The Stable branch is suitable for servers. Most desktop users want something a bit more up to date and use Testing or Unstable.
 
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Old 06-25-2017, 12:39 PM   #12
linuxmigrant
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Krita because my understanding is that it is more of a dedicated Paint program.

Hmm...Mint seeming like a good choice..

Very helpful for me to read this discussion about the choices, and which advantages each has to offer.

Thank you!
 
Old 06-25-2017, 12:45 PM   #13
linuxmigrant
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Originally Posted by hazel View Post
Debian is absolutely mainstream; it's neither a newbies' or an experts' distro. Mint is more angled to newbies (like Ubuntu on which it was originally based). It has the reputation of being particularly hardware-friendly; things should work out of the box even if that means using some proprietary software.
Thank you, hazel.. Does Mint have the phoning home or data-gathering issues that Ubuntu has or had?
 
Old 06-25-2017, 12:56 PM   #14
hazel
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Not to my knowledge. You need to remember that Ubuntu is managed by a commercial company even though it's free software in the legal sense. Inevitably commercial considerations get in the way. Debian is managed by a community group.
 
Old 06-25-2017, 01:54 PM   #15
linuxmigrant
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And Mint is managed by that same community group?

Thank you!
 
  


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