Linux Mint x64 - First impressions

[BF]

Decided to start playing around with Linux again after a long time away (am still very much a linux newbie)..

I read about Linux Mint, liked the look of it, so downloaded it and gave it a whirl..

Here are my first impressions..


Two things which struck me straigtaway were:

1. CUDA works "out of the box"!  Just had to say yes to using the restricted propriety driver in this distro.  Got straight onto crunching GPU grid without trying to follow complicated set-up instructions (sorry, have invested too much time getting to know windoze inside out over the years  biggrin )

2. 64bit flashplayer works "out of the box".. don't know if by now other 64bit distros do this as well, but I remember last time round for me it was just a little bit hard to get this working..   and then it didn't work too well.. Flash is important to me to feed my facebook scrabble addiction, and various other little web games I like to waste my time on!

It seems to be easier for me to work out how to do various things in Mint, for me it has a more "logical" feel to it, than last time I played around with various distros, I particularly like the way the equivalent of the windows start menu is set up here, and is able to be changed.

Mint also has a "WUBI" style install option called Mint4win, for those die-hard windows addicts like me..  Means you don't actually have to set up any partitions or install a Linux boot-loader for dual installs.  As far as BOINC goes, I haven't noticed any performance disadvantages with that style of set-up compared to a partitioned install.  Although they do tell you that disc performance will be slightly affected with this type of setup.  The ease of this type of set-up is incredible simple for Linux newbies, I just had to pop in the disc with windows running, enter username and password, and click on install.. That's it!  It uninstalls like any other windows program when you do this..

No doubt I'll be asking for some help with various things as they pop up, will post more at a later time when I've got to know Mint better.  Having sung its praises from a newbie perspective, I would be very interested to know what seasoned Linux pros think about this distro if you've used it..  You know who you are!  biggrin

[Rob]

Hmmm, was thinking of giving Ubuntu a go seeing as I can't get Cuda to work in Kubuntu, but if it's as easy as you say to set up I might try Mint instead ;D

[BF]

Great Rob!  Let me know how you find it.. 

[teemac]

LinuxMint is very easy to use - it is promoted as a Windoze refugee distro.

I've been following it's development for a couple of years, but was hooked on Kubuntu with it's easy to operate system under KDE 3.x. Kubuntu has gone all Visduh looking with KDE 4.x, it is unusable, everything in hidden places and completely non-intuitive anymore. Now that Mint finally has a 64bit version, Mint is to be my replacement on my main machine in the very near future.

The big benefits of Mint is that all codecs, swf etc are all included in the distro 'out of the box' and it just works straight off the bat. Ubuntu et al can also be set up with these extras, but take some fiddling around until you learn a bit about synaptic etc.

With Mint you just install it and use it. It just works straight away with no knowledge at all about linux. All items in the menus are logically laid out and easy to find. Even dangerous updates are clearly marked with a numbering system from 1 (safe) to 5 (Don't do it).

Now that Gnome in Ubuntu is going to go all Vista'ish next year with the new ver3 of Gnome, Mint is a very viable option as it's version of Gnome will still be usable due to the layout Mint uses. Well at least I hope it stays usable with Gnome3.

[veebee]

Hmmm.. I am just about ready to upgrade my Ubuntu installs, as all bar one computer are still running 8.04.

Couple of questions... where do we download the install disc (something I have had great trouble with whilst trying to get an install disc for the RC of Win 7 .... have downloaded/ burnt 4 times without success..

also, with the "mint4win", does that allow the playing of "heavy" Windows games ?(ie "crysis" etc)

Might be time for a change..... I liked the change from Kubuntu to Ubuntu... this might be even MORE likeable from the sound of it...

[BF]

Hmmm.. I am just about ready to upgrade my Ubuntu installs, as all bar one computer are still running 8.04.

Couple of questions... where do we download the install disc (something I have had great trouble with whilst trying to get an install disc for the RC of Win 7 .... have downloaded/ burnt 4 times without success..

also, with the "mint4win", does that allow the playing of "heavy" Windows games ?(ie "crysis" etc)

Might be time for a change..... I liked the change from Kubuntu to Ubuntu... this might be even MORE likeable from the sound of it...

The install iso is located here.  If you have any trouble with the install disc with this one, let me know and I'll send you one.

The mint4win option does let you play any heavy windows games, as despite installing as a windows prog, windows and mint don't actually run at the same time.  It looks just like a dual boot, giving you the choice to boot into windows or mint at boot-up in the windows boot loader.  To uninstall mint again, you just boot into windows and uninstall via "add and remove programs" in control panel.

LinuxMint is very easy to use - it is promoted as a Windoze refugee distro.

That must be why I found it so usable!  biggrin

[veebee]

The mint4win option does let you play any heavy windows games, as despite installing as a windows prog, windows and mint don't actually run at the same time.  It looks just like a dual boot, giving you the choice to boot into windows or mint at boot-up in the windows boot loader.  To uninstall mint again, you just boot into windows and uninstall via "add and remove programs" in control panel.

hang on... now I'm a bit confuzzled... does this "mint4win" get installed "onto/into" a windows install ? if so, does the windows s install need to be 64 bit to run the 64 bit version?

I have downloaded the live CD x64  Mint.. is this different? it is, I imagine, a live CD/ install CD for the x64 version of Mint... not something I install in windows.


EDIT: just did a bit of reading (funny how that helps...) and found that the Mint live CDcomes with "Mint4win" (amongst other things) on the disc.

simply insert the CD while windows is running and it installs  Mint inside windows (sort of like "Wubi" ?) and gives a dual boot option to the machine. It can be uninstalled as you would any other "program" on windows.

hmmm, unless the 64 bit Mint will work inside Win Xp 32 bit, i will just try the full install I think..

[BF]

Have got Mint going on my laptop as well now, going great guns.. even the scroll pad works properly again (there were no windows 64bit drivers for it)  It's BOINCing away on some CPDN 

[Rob]

I've downloaded the iso and am just waiting for my cache o run down so I don't trash too many wu's. Should hopefully have it up & running sometime tomorrow  ;D

[BF]

Excellent! Looking forward to your report..  biggrin

[Rob]

Aaarrrggghh this is so frustrating :hbang: Spent the whole morning on this, tried several different boinc versions & all fixes that have worked in the past if only temporarily & still no cuda devices found  :cry2:. I've had enough for today, got other stuff to do. I'll try to install the video drivers from scratch tomorrow using Veebees method.

[BF]

Rob, it should just work on a clean or a mint4win type install, just select the "use proprietary drivers" option when it pops up after the installation is complete.  Then just restart the machine for the driver to load.  Apart from that I had to download no other drivers to get CUDA working.. I downloaded BOINC 6.4.5, and it recognized both my 9800GT and my 8800GTS on different computers, without going to the CUDA website to download more drivers.

[Furlozza]

damn, I still can't get Ubuntu/boinc to pick up my 9600GT in iGnatious as a cuda device.... even after installing the latest version of BOINC and putting all the thangs in the right holes. *mutter mutter mutter*

[Wang Solutions]

On Ubuntu anything later than BOINC 6.4.5 does not work well with CUDA. Use BOINC 6.4.5 and the 180.x series drivers for best results. Also make sure you completely uninstall any previous driver before installing the new one.

[Furlozza]

Thanks WS. In that case, shall just let theGnat have the gpu fun and leave iGgy to do the cpu work. Slack bugger that I am.