Mint 7 RC1 review: DownloadSquad

Introduction:

Lee Mathews wrote a mini-review of Linux Mint 7 Gloria RC1 on DownloadSquad.com:

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/05/08/linux-mint-rolls-out-an-impressive-version-7-rc-of-its-own/

Happy reading everyone.

Comments:

Lee writes: “you can install Mint from within Windows using Mint4Win (Wubi, modified).

–> Just a precision about this. As written in the release notes, mint4win does not work in this RC release and it will fixed for the stable release.

42 comments

  1. Nice 🙂
    Good job on mintmenu!

    I don’t consider compiz stable. When I install graphics drivers it wass enabled by default. I say use xcompmgr (shadows don’t work well on me though) or gnome compositing…
    It has crashed several times here, especially when watching flash videos and with videogames. It looks really awesome, but, it’s just not stable. You should use stable software by_default for stable OSes…

  2. Another positive review for Linux Mint- Yay! Looking forward to the final release but RC1 runs flawlessly on my system so far 🙂

  3. Another great release, my favourite distro, Linux Mint i hope Gloria has got a lot to offer me and the rest! I loved Felicia! So Gloria my sweetheart I can’t wait to embrace you sweetheart! Louis & Thukani (South Africa)

  4. X_x Must try this one, Recently tried Ubuntu 9.04 ..but sticked to 8.10, Hoping for big. Fedora 11 already impressed me, looking forward to Mint 7

  5. I really like this version or the distro altogether.
    It was really nice to see that the “start” menu can now be run with a keyboard button. This is what I really love about gnome desktops in general how they can be controlled by a keyboard alone when properly set up (that’s about the greatest reason why I’m using the main version of Linux Mint on my laptop, BTW ) and it is nice to see how programmers follow this ideology. I also think it kind of reflects a main linux ideology – use keyboard, it’s faster (whether in the CLI or GUI).

    What I would further improve about Linux Mint is to get the ctr+alt+backspace for shutting down the x-server reenabled by default.
    Plus I would rig MintInstall with choices for removing software as well. As I see it, MintInstall strives to be something like Synaptic but for “real” (i.a. easily noticeable within GUI) programs only. So for that reason I’d add the remove function as well.
    And I don’t know if this could be done easily but if a choice for something like “Confirm Installation after Downloading” would be presented, the installer would not have to lock after pressing Apply and the user could browse and choose more applications to install. The very installation could then kick in once all the applications have been downloaded. Or it could be done some other way, it’s just about having the download and installation process separated thus getting rid of the lock during downloads.

    Anyway thx for the good work.

  6. default short cut key for Mintmenu conflicts with default shortcut key for Gnome-Do. Of course the user can change the short cuts in both modules. But it is not fine for the reputation of Linuxmint! Please take it considaration for the finals release.

    thanks

  7. Been Running RC1 on two of my systems for a week, it’s pretty solid.

    I also suggest fixing Ubuntu’s idiot decision of disabling ctl-alt-backspace. I cannot believe they did that and the lame excuse they gave was a joke. To prevent users from “Accidently pressing ctl-alt-backspace”? Please give me a break ::)

  8. “I also suggest fixing Ubuntu’s idiot decision of disabling ctl-alt-backspace. I cannot believe they did that and the lame excuse they gave was a joke. To prevent users from “Accidently pressing ctl-alt-backspace”? Please give me a break ::)”

    Another vote here for enabling this much needed function!

  9. Sorry but this RC version is a rather unstable beta version not a RC. system crash, with regularly intervals it initiate my backspace (surfing along the net, suspecting nothing, when suddenly it races back to the first site. this also occur in nautilus). And lots of other issues. However my previous problem with wireless network is gone, and that is a big step forward 🙂 other than this, it is just the greatest.
    I like the taste of mint

  10. speed and compatibility are what mint is good for and needs to work on for years to come because its dominate in everything but compatibility which can be fixed other then that keep speed tweaking and rock on

  11. I must say, i have tried quite a few builds including opensuse 11.1, puppy linux 4.2 which i thought was impressive for such a small build, but mint is the best i’ve come across, after having to manually install it, must not like vistaNT oem. Can’t wait for microsoft 8 comes out. looks like its linux lol. what next microsoft, you going to steal the linux code too?

  12. I just want to tell you that I am constantly amazed at what you decide to pack together, and the genius you have for the look of it all. Ubuntu orange has never been a good to me.

  13. ………………………………………………..

    “I also suggest fixing Ubuntu’s idiot decision of disabling ctl-alt-backspace. I cannot believe they did that and the lame excuse they gave was a joke. To prevent users from “Accidently pressing ctl-alt-backspace”? Please give me a break ::)”

    Another vote here for enabling this much needed function!

    ………………………………………………..

    ok ok… i just wanna say that i use ubuntu 9.04 with mint repo..
    but the best problem is with the romove of ctrl+alt+backspace and the ati drivers… i can’t run ati closed drivers and i feel as with a big limitation. i hope linux mint 7 will be better than ubuntu 9.04, or i will came back linux mint 6, that was stable and good..

  14. http://f.imagehost.org/0839/Schermata-1.png
    http://f.imagehost.org/0846/Schermata.png

    This is my Ubuntu 9.04 with (half of all) gloria repository..

    for ctrl+alt+backspace, u can solve so:

    sudo apt-get install dontzap
    sudo apt-get install dontzap
    sudo dontzap -d

    i hope linux mint 7 will be ready soon as possible.. with envy ng full working with ati and nvidia closed drivers and with dontzap configured.. i’ll wait with u guys… Have a nice Gnu-Linux..

    PS.i’m total win…s free 1000% and you have to do it too.

  15. Michael: That’s for people who don’t want to affect their bootloader, who don’t want to modify their partitions or who want the comfort of being able to remove Linux Mint the same way they remove any Windows program. Some people also aren’t used to boot from the CD and might not be aware of the BIOS and the boot options they have. Inserting a CD, installing a program and removing it in Windows, these are things people are used to, and it doesn’t scare them as much as booting from a CD, changing the BIOS settings, making modifications to their partitions (which they’re often used to see described as C:\, not as /dev/sda1… ), overwriting their boot loader.. etc.

    For more info on Wubi (on which mint4win is based): http://wubi-installer.org/faq.php

  16. Nice job , but you dont repair probblem , my webcam CANYON CNR-WCAM43 ,

    does not work in linux ,
    lsusb
    Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
    Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0c45:6128 Microdia
    Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

    PLEAS HELP MY fom my grammar becouse IM Slovam an I speak Englis small 🙂
    PS sorry

  17. Correction******
    PLEAS HELP MY
    PS sorry fom my grammar becouse IM Slovam an I speak Englis small 🙂

  18. Just tried the rc and it is very nice. No need for propritary drivers for the wifi card. Seems solid. Unfortunately, activating the ATI driver did not work. I click on it… put in the password… the screen updates and the driver is still listed as not activated. This feature worked in 6 with my HD4870. Other than that pretty solid.

  19. Just to say thanks for one more great issue (what this RC will bee, I’m sure)!
    From time to time I try some of the other popular distro’s, but just to bee reasured that Mint is definitely distro I need/like/enjoy using.
    Keep up the god work, there’s people out who need LinuxMint!

  20. Support questions in the forum or the IRC please
    They will not be answered in the comments to any blog

  21. I HOPE the new LM7 to be more stable and faster than LM6 and not a bad release with bugs and slower than LM6! :S
    I’m little scared from the comments here :/

  22. Is there an exact (or rough) date as to when is Mint 7 going to be released?
    All these delicious reviews make me hungry…
    Also, is there an automatic update tool being released for mint 7 as well, just like it was for v6?

  23. im new and i don’t understand
    this is the final version of gloria
    or can i wait for more?
    thanks

  24. Will there be an upgrade option in the install cd of the final release?

    I have always felt this as something that is missing from Mint or have I been install fressh copies each release witthout the need to do so, because I can perhaps upgrade through synaptic if a synaptic upgrade is possible coudl someone point me in the right direction as to how to perform this

    Thanks

    This Distro really rocks

  25. Just discovered Linux Mint, and I must say, wow!! I’m somewhat new to the Linux experience, and I must say the features this o.s offers as opposed to other Linux distros are not only great, but also fit comfortably with me considering I’m a Windows user. Very impressed with Linux Mint and can’t wait for the final release.

  26. I wonder if this new version has resolved the Nvidia 3D driver problems that Nvidia admit became an issue with the last kernel used? (Not that this is a Mint problem, but an Nvidia one!) The last time I successfully use that driver on My Nvidia 7350LE card was version 4)

  27. “Just tried the rc and it is very nice. No need for propritary drivers for the wifi card. Seems solid. Unfortunately, activating the ATI driver did not work. I click on it… put in the password… the screen updates and the driver is still listed as not activated. This feature worked in 6 with my HD4870. Other than that pretty solid.”

    It is the same for Nvidia (-_-). I have an Acer-4520. Another thing too is that the status bar for the driver downloads doesn’t even give you the percent status? It stays at 0 percent! How can I know that the driver is even downloading, if the percentage guage isn’t even woking? Furthermore, when it is completed, it is still deactivated? O.O xD I had to restart my pc to see the result, and yep, the driver actually installed, but without notification prior to restart (manual). There were even times that the system gave an error regarding downloading drivers too. Strange….
    This version of linux is a great build and is the longest standing one I have tested. Longest of all the others, even PCLinuxOS. It’s a great distro, but seriously needs some more rechecking.
    We need a linux that will just dominate the Linux World! Linux Mint? You have to do exactly that! (^_^) *victory* You’re gonna get there. =D Keep up the great work, and the community is awesome!

  28. TOO MANY BUGs IN LM7rc ! :S I’m not happy from the LM7
    I don’t like the new theme anw wallpaper,LM6 theme and wallpaper is much better!
    Tooooo many bugs
    and nothing special ,this version is not LM7 is LM 6.2 with lot of bugs..

  29. Here are some addons for the /etc/apt/sources.list

    Extremely usefull, when you have Problems with INTEL-Graphics, or ATI-Graphics

    ## +++ TOR (stable) +++
    deb http://mirror.noreply.org/pub/tor/ jaunty main

    ## +++ Remastersys (stable) +++
    deb http://www.geekconnection.org/remastersys/repository/ ubuntu/

    ## +++ OpenOffice 3.1 (stable) +++
    deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ppa/ubuntu/ jaunty main

    ## +++ Pidgin-Twitter (stable) +++
    deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/jean-baptiste-lab/ubuntu/ intrepid main

    ## +++ Graphic Drivers ++++
    deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/xorg-edgers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

  30. @ Chrisanthos

    Can you please elaborate on the “bugs”. It is, of course, not that I don’t believe you. I would just like to know what problems you encountered.

  31. Have been using Mint since version 4 and up to 7, only the important things, there I use the 5. Even so does my wife, former Mac user….
    Have had no problems with our four rather old pentium III and IV.
    Thanks!!
    joatun

  32. @daspooky I will install again LM7 and I’ll tell you. I was click in a check box in the “control panel” something about compiz was it i think and then the screen going black and the LM7 every time starts with black screen and not works!

  33. Can anyone tell me if there is an upgrade option for 7 rc1, or do you have to do a fresh install?

    thanks

  34. Linux mint 7rc runs beautifully on my Toshiba laptop. Just upgraded from LM6 and am very impressed with the speed and the new look. The OS feels rock solid when I’m surfing the net or working in Open Office. I purchased my new laptop a year ago and it came with Vista. Vista is history. Having dual booted Windows and Linux for years, I am finally Windows free because of this great distro. Great, job Mint team!

  35. Ok, so I have installed new Linux Mint 7 and I have the same problem I had with Linux Mint 6. When just installed it works fine until I install the nVidia 3D driver and than it boots to bash not GUI. I have installed 3rd party nVidia driver recommended by Mint developers (180.xx), I have tried one off nVidia’s website (180.xx), and I have tried the old one 78.xx and I still have no GUI. I have done some research on the internet and everyone is saying is some issue with nVidia kernel compatibility, but nobody is saying how to resolve it. It seems like at this time i can either run it using 2D driver (vesa) that works fine for anything non-3D, which means to cool desktop effects and no games, or i can install the 3D driver and be limited even more…

    Help! Please! Anyone?!!!

    P.S. This is not Mint thing, Ubuntu and Debian have same issue (I tried them both).

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