Linux Mint or Ubuntu
 

Someone asked me recently if Linux Mint is actually Ubuntu why not just install Ubuntu and I did not know how to answer them.

Hi poncedeleon,

Mint is not Ubuntu - it is a distinct distribution. Like many distros, one version of Mint is derived from Ubuntu and uses many common components. Another version of Mint is derived from Debian (from which Ubuntu itself is derived ...).

Hope that clears things up - if not - don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,

Rick

The answer depends on whether it's the DE that matters most, or something else. Ubuntu uses the Gnome DE. Ubuntu has its own derivatives that use other DEs, such as Xubuntu using XFCE DE, Kubuntu using KDE Plasma DE, and Lubuntu using LXQt DE. But for the DE, there is very little to distinguish these derivatives. Furthermore, any of the other DEs can be added to whichever was originally selected. Mint shuns Gnome for Cinnamon, MATE & XFCE, and provides its own DE customizations. IME, Mint is the epitome of bloat, so if an included custom kitchen sink, every language and font imaginable, and multiple tools for single jobs, among many other things, is what you're after, it makes an ideal choice. OTOH, if all you really want is a stable foundation without bloat, and your own specific DE and tool choices, Debian itself makes a lot of sense, as the simpler toolset takes less space and thus less time and bandwidth to backup and maintain. Like Ubuntu, Debian also defaults to Gnome, but it also offers XFCE, KDE, Cinnamon, Mate, LXQt and others. Thus, *buntu and Mint are there for those who are after whatever only the derivatives offer, rather than pure, solid Debian. KISS users like me I think tend to rely on Debian itself, or some other distros that have been around longer than Debian's derivatives.

I would take exception to this statement. Mint does include by default more stuff than does Ubuntu, but, if you find that stuff functional, it's not "bloat." It's just more stuff.

Personally, I lean towards Mint over Ubuntu, but it's really a matter of what you want to do with your machine. Both of them are excellent distros.

Also, the DE is a side issue. Regardless of the DE a distro comes with, you can install and run whatever DE or WM you want. Over there ---> on that other machine, where I'm currently listening to an episode of the old time radio show Nero Wolfe from mysteryshows.com, I'm running Ubuntu MATE. I have installed the Plasma desktop (because I prefer native KDE applications to any others that I've used), but my day-to-day GUI is the Fluxbox window manager (because I like tabbed windows and the flexibility of Fluxbox).

Ubuntu is a rock-solid distro. So is Mint. You might try booting to Live CD/USBs of both and then making your own decision.

Just my two cents.

A few points.

Frm a review I wrote of Debian 11 (32-bit Xfce version), which I have to use as it supports the Banias Pentium M on my laptop:

When I ran the installer, it told me that I needed proprietary firmware and that I should go away, get it, put it on a usb stick, and then the installer would use it — not a good start. When I finally got Debian installed, after a very long wait, I found I was missing a firewall, a file searcher, an email client, a calculator, a character map, and a menu editor. On the other hand, I had complete support for Thai! The graphical package manager failed to find some things I needed and panicked when asked to remove the Thai packages, so I had to use the command line. Eventually I got there and I have a functioning computer again. Debian does the job and seems reliable once it's working, but the concept of user-friendliness seems to have completely escaped them.

A good example of the difference between Mint and Ubuntu came up a few years ago. Many people trying to install Ubuntu had the installer shut down with no explanation. The problem wasn't solved until the next version. Mint, having inherited the problem, found a solution and published it in a couple of weeks.

Desktop is hardly irrelevant. Some distributions only offer one (CentOS) or have tools which rely on the default (Fedora). It's true that you can add any desktop to an existing installation, but then you have two of everything — file manager, editor, picture viewer, PDF client, etc, etc — now that's bloat.

"Someone asked me recently if a cheese and jam sandwich is actually a cheese sandwich why not just eat a cheese sandwich..."

(The answer of course being "I like jam".) It's not as simple as a single extra ingredient, but hopefully that conveys the gist?


To put another way:
* Ubuntu is the result of Canonical Ltd taking a copy of Debian Testing and adding stuff.
* Mint is the result of Clement Lefebvre and others taking a copy of Ubuntu and adding/removing/changing stuff.

Canonical have done some unpopular things in the past, so even if one doesn't want the Cinnamon DE, Mint is a good choice for those who would like the benefits of Ubuntu and trust Clement to be on-guard against bad decisions by Canonical. A recent example is the Canonical Snap Store.

Not really. Default Mint Cinnamon makes it relatively 'easy' to transition from Windows to Linux. Where vanilla Ubuntu (Gnome) is really 'alien'. I myself just can't get used to it even to this day. One of the reasons I usually recommend Mint over Ubuntu. The other reason as stated above is Mint includes more stuff to make the transition easier. I don't call that bloat. Disk space is 'cheap' and not at a premium even if it takes up a couple more GBs of diskspace. Yes, I use KUbuntu now and like it, but then I've been around Linux since I could download Slack to a stack of floppies. I did set my Dad with KUbuntu on his laptop and he had no problem with it with just a little tutoring (was running slow Win 10 on HDD, now running Linux on SSD).

Good answers so far. I didn't see this, but it might matter to you; Ubuntu is maintained by a corporate entity, Canonical. Mint is community maintained.

Might have been mentioned, but LMDE5 (Linux Mint Debian Edition) is based directly on Debian Stable, whereas the main versions are Ubuntu based. I find that I like using LMDE5 better.

Thanks to all for the explanations. Now have a better understanding.

+1 for the reference to mysteryshows.com - thank you, I didn't know about this and I have really enjoyed listening.