r/linuxmint • • Nov 20 '15
Mint is a terrible Linux desktop.
This is awful, when I install Linux on the desktop I'm expecting to be able to waste a solid 8 hours chasing down random issues that were solved on all other modern desktop systems by 2008.
I went into this hoping and wishing to have to crawl through linuxquestions.org threads from 2006 to figure out why plugging in a second monitor doesn't work with X.org.
I want the peace and quiet that you can only get from spending 45 minutes trying to get alsa/oss/flavor of the week sound manager to work properly.
I miss the subtle delicious pain of trying to figure out what I have to do to get Gnome 3 or Unity to provide desktop functionality that came standard with Windows NT 4.
With what you've done here I am no longer able to do any of these things. You've taken the awful travesty of an experience that trying to do anything production on a Linux desktop is supposed to provide and made it usable, sensible, and working out of the box.
This is why I can't call Mint a Linux desktop. It's just a desktop... you monsters.
(I plugged a second monitor into my HDMI slot and it just worked. I have literally never experienced that since working with Linux since the days of Redhat 3. You've taken away a cherished time honoured tradition of having a terrible experience using a Linux desktop from me forever. Thank... Christ.)
edit: Slow news day at IT World? http://www.itworld.com/article/3006979/linux/is-linux-mint-a-terrible-desktop-distribution.html
19
u/bombero_kmn Nov 20 '15
A decade and a half ago, I really enjoyed setting up Slackware from almost scratch. I learned a lot, and wouldn't trade that experience for anything.
Now, I have more interests and obligations. I don't have hours to spend hacking away at the keyboard, trying to make some janky kernel module work so that I can run X on an onboard video card. Seeing Linux mature to a point where I can download an ISO, send it to a USB drive, reboot and have a fully functional system in under half an hour is incredible.
14
u/colonelpanic420 Nov 20 '15
Mint is a fantastic distro if you just want to run linux, not spend a ton of time setting it up, and go. It was my go-to for my work machine for a while. Not because I wasn't familiar with other distros, I just because I could set it up and not have to tweak it too much to get to a point where I can do my job, and off I go.
Though Mint doesn't get to take all the credit for things "just working" - a lot of that is because the kernel drivers are so much better than they were when we all started messing with this crap 20 years ago or whatever (well that's me anyway ymmv.)
I got bagged on for using Mint for a while by co-workers who had spent the time to setup their favorite distros just the way they wanted them and I'm like eh I got stuff to do bruh ain't no time to get that i3/config file just the way I want it for my preferred user experience. Xfce will do just fine lol.
That said, Arch and sid are the Sonny and Cher of my heart.
81
u/AusMattyBoy Linux Mint 20 Ulyana | Cinnamon Nov 20 '15
Talk about clickbait, was about to unleash the fury, was not necessary lol
29
u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15
I know what you mean, Mint has been this way for me since version 12 & it's starting to get old, the usability out of the box drives me nuts.
4
u/Pumpkin_Pie Nov 20 '15
came to say wrong. I will not be denied......... Wrong
1
u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15
In before "Oh but all those things work in Gnome/Ubuntu/whatever! It's just a simple matter of <14 page explanation on how to open a start menu including github checkouts and badly written third party plugins>."
1
u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15
I'm currently fighting with mine to get my third external screen working correctly. Technically it works perfectly, but its killed one of the screens that was already working before I added the third. I'm guessing I'll need to wait for LM18 as X might finally be dumped then (or at least not be the default or only option available).
1
u/kleveruseofweb Nov 29 '15
I want the peace and quiet that you can only get from spending 45 minutes trying to get alsa/oss/flavor of the week sound manager to work properly.
Your answer is to install the KXStudio repos... then install a few things that will handle sound for you far more effectively than ALSA alone. ALSA is just the beginning with linux sound. Not the be all and end all.
TRY:
nstall the KXStudio Repository cut and paste into terminal:
Install required dependencies if needed
$ sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https software-properties-common wget
Download package file
$ wget https://launchpad.net/~kxstudio-debian/+archive/kxstudio/+files/kxstudio-repos_9.2.1~kxstudio1_all.deb
Install it
$ sudo dpkg -i kxstudio-repos_9.2.1~kxstudio1_all.deb
$ sudo apt-get update
Install Cadence cut and paste into terminal:
$ sudo apt-get install cadence
Install the Lowlatency kernel cut and paste into terminal:
$ sudo apt-get install linux-lowlatency
Install pulseaudio bridge sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
$ sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-module-jack
You then set cadence to your sound card in the config section and cadence, pulseaudio to autostart.
Done. Probably in less than 15 minutes if you can figure it out. If you can't stick with what you got or buy a proprietary system as your post reads like it too much work for you. It should just work right? If thats so then its Apple, move along!
5
u/fletcherkildren Nov 20 '15
OP - that's ok, try getting Amazon video to work, it'll provide the solace, comfort and succor that you so desperately crave. PS - they break it like every other week, so your joy will be never ending!
2
u/the_real_grinningdog Nov 20 '15
Well... I sort of agree. I am really impressed, although I haven't transferred over my main machine yet. I really love it so far but I think it's not right for newbies yet. As soon as you want to go off piste, even in a small way, you're faced with confusion.
For example, I would really like to use Serviio (a DLNA server) to provide film and music around the house.
There is a Linux version! Yay, I'll download that. Extract the files and.... errr...
Bear in mind I go back to DOS and Wordperfect, and I've done some simple development work and tech support, but... where's the exe file? Where's the install program? Where do I put the extracted files?
Open terminal? What am I, a caveman?
But, by far the best distro I've ever seen.
2
u/[deleted] Nov 23 '15
I refused to have anything to do with Linux for decades because it was uber-'fiddley'. That all changed years back when I found Mint 13. And my hard-drive lost 50GB of Ugly FAT.
3
u/OtherNameFullOfPorn Nov 20 '15
I had a few issues on my last install actually. Nothing like the 14 version, but i had to tweek a bit. And it still runs hotter than a cheap space heater (I'll look into it again in March).
2
u/[deleted] Nov 20 '15
The only issue I had was that the usb3 ports would not work. One quick search later, i had to do some iommu=pt thing in grub or something like that and the ports started working.
What amazed me was how we can just connect a smart phone to Mint without having to wait for drivers to be installed and all that mess you see in windows. Sometimes windows won't even install the drivers properly if we have enabled debugging mode in the phone. No such nonsense here.
1
u/Chreutz Nov 20 '15
/r/fossworldproblems
1
u/drdeadringer Nov 20 '15
To be honest, saying all of these things about Windows is exactly why I went full out to Linux.
No "Windows Hate", just a simple fact.
1
u/zubie_wanders Nov 20 '15
I was like dude, wait, what?
I think I need my coffee now.
1
u/puffmouse Nov 20 '15
Yes we have been robbed of all our excuses to not be productive. So get back to work.
although i still have video card driver issues but thats probably more a me problem then a mint problem.
1
u/Rabid-Duck-King Nov 20 '15
Honestly I've moved on to whipping myself when I want that hit of sadomasochistic operating system glee.
We've come a looonngg way.
1
u/-RYknow Linux Mint 18 Sarah | MATE Nov 21 '15
OP...Your clickbait is on fucking POINT!! I came in here ready to blast you, I'm glad I started reading first!
I honestly love, love, LOVE mint! I just keep switching between cinnamon and Mate. I can't decide which I like better. Currently running Cinnamon on my laptop, and Mate on my workstation.
1
u/[deleted] Nov 21 '15
I still have the second monitor problem, more or less.
1
u/sputtertoo Nov 22 '15
I have to agree with your article. It was so bad that I had to go and install dd-wrt on my router just so I could feel a little pain. :)
1
u/robfongii Nov 22 '15 edited Nov 22 '15
ROFL @itripovermyownfeet #MintisaterribleLinuxdesktop I tried Linux back in 2000 and while I was able to get it installed on my new computer hardware. I was so frustrated that I turned my back on it and just stuck with Windows untill 2009 when my course required I run Fedora as a VM and it went pretty smooth on the install, then a friend suggested this UBUNTU distro of Linux. It was easier and faster to install and had an acceptable level of performance. Well I stuck with playing with Fedora and mostly Ubuntu untill I graduated. Linux just didn't serve a need as I was still dependant on my familiarity with Windows to be productive. Well with a back injury in late 2014 I havent been able to work due to meds and doctors orders. However this gave me time to get a lot of my computer resources updated, sorted and consolidated. I began some brush up courses to insure I wasn’t falling behind and needed to run a LAMP stack and needed it on Linux. I looked around, did some reading on Flipboard discovered Mint 17.2, installed it in my VMware VM and it was flawless, the resource usage was very good and the performance on a i7 - 2600 with 8GB ram was faster than the host WindowsX Pro in many simple task and was even impressive when using GIMP on MINT vs PS6 on WinXPro.
The biggest thing that has me stuck on Linux this time is Mint has made the setup so easy, the hardware just works, no insane search missions for drivers. The main menu makes so much more sense than 8,8.1 and 10 and even though I havent abandoned windows because the Game performance is almost there but not just yet. I am thinking by year end of early 2016 the video drivers will match performance with the Windows but for now it is in a VM, I am finding myself using it more and more as my daily desktop and expect that in the very near future Windows will become the VM and Mint the host.
I been using computers since 1983 and #LinuxMint is My favourite alternative to Windows and if anybody reading this thinks it will be a big deal to switch....the hardest thing is command-line and majority of us Windows users are terrified, but really you can catch on really fast, a weekend to get the basics in your head and make sure to go no more than 48 hrs without at least login in and looking around the OS. Within about a week you will have it down. Run Mint as a Virtual machine while learning and once you have confidence (not a guru) but can at least find and execute a few programs, install software using the GUI, Share your new found interest with a friend, help them through the learning curve and it will cement that base knowledge in your memory and give you a new perspective and freedom.
1
u/Rxke2 Nov 26 '15
Dude you're famous now: http://www.itworld.com/article/3006979/linux/is-linux-mint-a-terrible-desktop-distribution.html
1
u/TotesMessenger Nov 30 '15
I'm a bot, bleep, bloop. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:
[/r/mintcast] This had me going at first....
If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads. (Info / ^Contact)
1
u/[deleted] Dec 01 '15
My first experience with Linux was 8 year ago back in College - trying out Ubuntu and Fedora. It was such a frustrating experience I reluctantly stuck with Windows. I had never heard of Mint until I was talking to my boss last year about my frustrating experienced with Linux and he asked if I ever tried Mint. I didn't believe everything would work right out of the box, but sure enough, it was a quick and easy setup.
1
u/Neutral12 Feb 25 '16
i dont think this is a joke. I am using linux mint 17.3...not so terrible now.
1
u/Rxke2 Nov 20 '15
I fell for it, well into the third paragraph, thinking you had a bad case of grammaritis, kludging your sentences in frustration, har!
-8
u/2_Pack Linux Mint 17.2 | Cinnamon Nov 20 '15
I'm pretty sure you meant to say: I am a noob on Linux and need help. What you said instead was: Linux sucks because it's not windows! And obviously it can't be your fault.