Linux Mint Overview

Linux Mint Overview

By root
root@linuxmint.com

August 29, 2006

Linux Mint is a GNU/Linux distribution which is based on Kubuntu. Its purpose is to offer a customized version of Kubuntu which features:

Improved artwork
Up to date packages
Support for restricted multimedia formats

Linux Mint comes as a single Live CD which provides a graphical installer.

Artwork

One of the major difference between Kubuntu and Linux Mint is the artwork. In Mint, the idea is to use the most popular pieces of artwork from kde-look.org and fit them together in a nice and consistent way. Here is a screenshot of the default Linux Mint 1.0 "Ada" desktop:

Image not available

As you can see it's using the following things:

"Pure Technology" Color Scheme
"nuvoX" Icon Set
"Polyester" KDE Style
"Borealis" Sound Theme
"LoveKDE" KDM Theme
"Gears" KDE Splash Screen
"Crystal/Vista" Window Decorations
"Polar" Cursor/X11 Mouse Theme
A wallpaper from Brad Mering showing the Peruvian Alpamayo
A customized version of the Kubuntu Boot Splash.

Default Software Selection

Although OpenOffice is a wonderful project, Koffice was preferred for the default office suite. The default Web browser remains Firefox although it could be replaced by Konqueror in the future. The default email reader is Kmail, which could be replaced by Thunderbird in the future.

Multimedia Support

Linux Mint includes the following:

Flash plugin
MP3 support
Encrypted DVD support
Windows Codecs

Java is not installed by default (because it takes too much space to fit on the CD) but it is present by default in the configured repositories and you can install it by simply typing: "sudo aptitude install sun-java5-plugin".

Packages

Linux Mint uses APT and the following repositories:

All Ubuntu Dapper's repositories (including universe and multiverse).
Kubuntu.org's "latest" repositories for KDE, Koffice and AmaroK
Canonical's Commercial repository
PLF's free and non-free

This way it provides the same software versions as Ubuntu Dapper for most packages, up to date versions of AmaroK, KDE and Koffice, and a set of additional applications (for instance Skype, Realplayer..etc).

Drivers

915resolution: In order to support widescreen resolution for some ATI cards, Linux Mint has 915resolution installed by default. See this article for more explanations: http://linuxmint.com/content/view/212/52/

Installer

Although Kubuntu uses the Ubiquity installer which is quite good at what it does, it was decided that Linux Mint would feature its own installer. This installer is continuously improved but it is still very limited and doesn't provide much functionality. Overall, although Linux Mint can be quite attractive to new users its installer will certainly discourage some of them. For this reason a lot of efforts are put into improving it and it should hopefully get better after each release.