this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Ubuntu is based on Debian. LMDE have existed as a backup plan in case something wrong happened to Ubuntu, Mint could still go on without problems.
Using LMDE is like just removing a "middle-man": Debian --> Ubuntu --> Mint, Debian --> LMDE. (I've been using LMDE for a few years on my notebook while on my gaming desktop I use Linux MX, also based directly on Debian).
I understand some people don't want Ubuntu to avoid commercial distributions but for me the reasons are different.
Ubuntu LTS is base on the testing branch of Debian, while non-LTS are based on Debian sid, that is the development branch, in both cases you lose - in my opinion - one of the biggest advantages of using Debian that is rock-solid stability, sid packages are not controlled by Debian security team so in that case you also lose out on security.
Another reason is Ubuntu have been trying to push their own sort of "proprietary" version of containers that have been proven times and again to have serious security flaws. They also use them everywhere and I don't like that, I want to be free to decide if/when to use them, not being forced to do so for everything.
Sometimes they make very questionable decisions, like when they wanted to discontinue libraries for 32bit compatibility (while Debian does not), ignoring there's still a huge amount of 32bit software that cannot be recompiled to 64bit (mostly Windows games), that made me question they know what they're doing.
I don't think I've heard one good user view on snaps, which is what I'm assuming you are refering to when talking about containers. I don't have much experience with it but the view on them is overwhelmingly negative.
I do like the concept of cutting out the middle man in this case. However, I'll probably stick with cinnamon for a while as I'm still learning about the linux environment and distribution hopping will add lots of unnecessary frustration for me.
Thanks for the write up.
Yes I was referring to snaps.
That's a fair point. Cinnamon is the desktop manager and it's been the only one available on LMDE so far, in any case, it's perfectly fine to use Mint, just know that if they ever decide to make LMDE their primary, you have nothing to worry about, being already used to Cinnamon we'll make it so you won't notice the difference at all, LMDE is still Mint after all.
How do you think LMDE and MX compare to just installing Debian directly, these days?
It's been a while since I installed Debian directly, anyway I believe it's a godsend as a base and amazing as a server, but for desktop usage I prefer derivatives because I find them more user friendly.
LMDE vs MX: they're both really good, MX is a bit more "nerdy", LMDE is beautiful out of the box and has the total friendliness of Mint, MX (XFCE) is a little more barebones when it comes to user apps/GUIs but it has some fantastic tools to get into its customization, more flexible than LMDE from that point of view.