1 yr. ago • 96%

Anyone else want LMDE to become the primary release?

I've always liked Linux Mint. It's been one of my go-to distros for a long time.

Lately though my interest in using it has waned due to the fact it's based on Ubuntu. I'm not a fan of what Canonical is doing with Ubuntu, snap focused, and some of the tracking they've added.

I realize the Linux Mint team does their best to remove this from their fork, but as Ubuntu bakes it in more and more with each release, I'm wondering if it makes sense to drop Ubuntu and focus on LMDE solely instead.

It would also put them closer to the upstream source instead of being a fork of a fork. And at this point I trust distros based on Debian a lot more than distros based on Ubuntu.

What do you think?

10 comments

Personally, I'm fine with the Ubuntu base. Canonical does a great job.

I feel Mint takes an already great distro and makes it way better.

I've used LMDE and it works well but keeping a Ubuntu base means we can reference soooo many Ubuntu based help forums.

If Mint is already removing the parts of Ubuntu we don't like then great, let them keep doing it 🙂

9
- I agree up until the point where snap becomes the default way to install software. Then I'm out.
  
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  What's wrong with snap? Honest question.
  
  2
I use LMDE on my gaming PC and my daily driver laptop. It works great and I could not be happier. That said I tried using LMDE on a media PC and I struggled to get MythTV to work. I switched to Ubuntu-Mint and it just worked. My conclusion is that while LMDE is fine for most things, Ubuntu-Mint gives you all of that you get with LMDE plus compatibility with Ubuntu stuff as well. I am not immediately switching off LMDE, but I will be less likely to stick with it in the future when upgrading.

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My daily driver is the Ubuntu-based Linux Mint. I want to install LMDE on it, but it's such a procedure to get my files and applications moved across. All new systems are having LMDE installed and 3rd party applications are backed by Flatpaks.

I don't like the additional weirdness that Ubuntu do. At the end of the day, Canonical is a company.

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Probably Ubuntu-based version becomes immutable?

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The ubuntu base is why I never gave mint a fair shot on the first place, so I agree.

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I never liked ubuntu, partially for the reasons you mentioned. But I somehow ended up with mint anyway.

I'd love if Mint would transition into being a sibling of Ubuntu instead of a descendant, but I'm not sure if it practical to over time change it into being purely based on Debian without Ubuntu in between.

I've tested a few distros, trying to find another debian based alternative, and while ZorinOS came close, none of them worked as well for me as a primary desktop OS as Mint did.

I've stuck with Mint for 12 years now, so I might as well stay, provided the team continues to do a great job with weeding out the Ubuntery.

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Couldn't agree more, Ubuntu is wack. I always recommend LMDE if I'm not recommending Arch.

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