Linux Mint
There
are two key reasons for Mint's stellar rise in the popular distro charts. One
is that it's based on Ubuntu, and the other is that despite being based on
Ubuntu, its default desktop is much more traditional than Ubuntu's
controversial Unity interface.
Linux
Mint offers users a choice of two Gnome-based environments, which are dubbed
Mate and Cinnamon. Mate is designed to be a faithful continuation of the
outdated Gnome 2 desktop. Cinnamon on the other hand appears more modern with a
neat menu that provides quick access to all the system's settings and
applications in one place.
Like
Ubuntu, this distro is also preloaded with a full complement of daily use
applications for work and pleasure. But in a marked departure from several
mainstream distros like Ubuntu and Fedora, Mint ships with audio and video
codecs catering to your multimedia needs out of the box.
The
latest release, Mint 17, is a long-term release that will be supported until
2019. As with the current release, the distro's next few releases will also be
based on Ubuntu 14.04, itself an LTS release. This means that this OS will not
introduce any stellar new features until Mint 18, scheduled for release in
2016. As a result, users running Mint 17 can choose not to upgrade to the
upcoming Mint 17.x releases.
Verdict: A simple to install and polished desktop
that works out of the box. It's ideal if you're looking for a stable system
that won't introduce any major changes any time soon.
Rating: 9/10
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