LMDE 6 has been officially released. The big deal about this is that it’s based on the recently released Debian 12 and also that being based on Debian LMDE is 100% community based.

If you’ve been disappointed by what the Linux corporations have been doing lately or don’t like the all-snap future that Ubuntu has opened, then this is the distro for you.

I’m running it as my daily driver and it works exactly like the regular Mint so you don’t lose anything. Clem and team have done a great job, even newbies could use Debian now.

Personally I think LMDE is the future of Linux as Ubuntu goes it’s own way, and this is a good thing for Mint and the Linux community. Let’s get back to community distros and move away from the corps.

EDIT: LMDE is 64bit only. There is no 32bit option.

  • thayer@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I’ve never had a use for Linux Mint myself, but I’m still happy to see them cut out the middle man and base it directly off of Debian. Hopefully being closer to the source will result in even more upstream contributions.

    • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Oh, no. They consider Ubuntu the best APT base out there, and even after some trouble with Canonical, they insist on basing Mint on Ubuntu. This is a plan B, it came precisely after the differences between Mint and Ubuntu were public, but I can’t find any source of that episode between Canonical and Clemente Lefebvre.

      EDIT: Found one.

      • herr@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Big thing about being based on Ubuntu is that the community support is the biggest. Any issue you find, you can google, and there’s a 99% chance there’ll be an answer for Ubuntu which can be applied as-is to Mint.

        • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          True, but it’s not like Ubuntu is this unique distribution with very peculiar software. Most of the time, no matter which distro I use, the best reference to solve any problem is the Arch wiki.

      • thayer@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Ah, my bad. I thought LM was going all in on Debian. Well, I’m glad they’re at least providing the option then.

  • palordrolap@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Copypasting: (source)

    The cautious approach for LMDE5 users: If your system is working fine and there are no especially must-have features in LMDE6, there is almost certainly no rush to upgrade. Take your time.

    Make backups. Test backups. Play games. Work. Do things entirely unrelated to the distro.

    You could even almost (aaalmost) completely forget about LMDE6 (but do keep an eye on the LM blog).

    The Mint team haven’t announced an EOL date for LMDE5 yet, but if past dates are anything to go by, it’ll be at least 18 months before they pull the plug. Even then, LTS updates might still filter through from Debian proper.

    [How many people will actually see this message and how many it actually applies to out of them might well include me and literally one other guy somewhere else on the planet, but if you’re that one guy, breathe friend. No rush.]

    • Bitrot@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      Debian 11 and thus LMDE 5 have a libvirt bug where libvirt doesn’t properly create config files for apparmor for virtual machines that are imported instead of created on the specific host. You have to recreate the vm definition from scratch, or disable apparmor to start it. Not fixed in Debian backports either.

      It’s a niche issue but I’ve been chomping at the bit for LMDE6 for some time.

      • palordrolap@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        That sounds like one of the “especially must-have” features I was talking about. Maybe I was thinking about less serious things when I said it (gotta have that shiny new program that only works in 6 or whatever), but it still fits.

    • Sparking@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I’m not super familiar with the goals of the mint project. But this is generally a bad approach to take with project development. Even if you plan on offering LTS, it is always preferable to have users on the most up to date version. Going through the pain of supporting multiple versions of commercial software at work has taught me that lesson the (very) hard way.

      • palordrolap@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        To some extent I think they’re thinking of people who are in the Windows/Mac situation of wanting a stable OS that doesn’t require getting hands dirty (so to speak) every 5 minutes to do basic things, and who generally call in a relative or friend who knows what they’re doing (and is almost certainly the person who installed Mint in the first place) when things really need changing.

        There’s never more than two LMDEs active at any one time, so while they are giving themselves a little extra work, they’re also managing the main Ubuntu-based Mint derivatives at the same time so they’re bound to have some kind of streamlining at their side.

        As for 5-to-6 upgrades, they’ve provided an official tool that will work for most people and will require very little admin user interaction once it’s off and running. A sensible sysadmin would like to have a backup anyway, just in case.

        My initial comment was aimed at the odd rare case like myself who isn’t always up for sysadmin work (it’s why I’m on Mint after all), or doesn’t have the time. There’s no immediate rush to use that official tool. Take your time. Make your backups, etc.

        If you want bleeding-edge rolling updates, Mint is not the distro for you (though LMDE is a little closer to that than regular Mint).

        Do they keep up with security updates and patches, though? Yes. Very much so.

  • Julian@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Been using mint for a while on my main machine and I’m not keen on doing a reinstall, but the next time I do I’ll definitely be looking at Debian edition.

    • Certainity45@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      If you don’t have Nvidia gpu, then LMDE is better. It is slightly snappier and boots slightly faster.

        • palordrolap@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          I have a very old Nvidia GPU and am on LMDE5. The official legacy driver works fine for me. Can’t speak for the open-source one.

          Going to assume that LMDE6 will be similar when I get around to upgrading.

        • Certainity45@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Well, the thing is I don’t have Nvidia gpu but it is a general rule since LMDE doesn’t ship with the driver manager as the “regular” Mint does.

          • merthyr1831@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            That’s because it doesn’t need to use the Ubuntu drivers. I’m pretty sure it’s intentional (if a bit less user friendly). I wish distros could come up with a universal(ish) driver app.

  • superkret@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Oh boy, here I go distro-hopping again.
    Just kidding - you can pry Slackware from my cold, dead hands.

      • superkret@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        It’s more stable than Debian and more simple in design than Arch.
        It basically doesn’t do anything, except run your hardware and software, and that’s all an OS should do.

          • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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            1 year ago

            And pretty hard to achieve, considering breaking Debian is borderline an endeavour.

            • superkret@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              I use “stable” not in the sense of “doesn’t break”, but in the sense of “doesn’t change its behaviour”.
              Debian is rock solid, but Slackware is the most stable in the sense that it still looks and works pretty much exactly like it did 10-20 years ago.

          • superkret@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            …is irrelevant due to how Slackware works.
            It installs all dependencies for the entire official repo right from the start.

    • mFat@lemdro.id
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      1 year ago

      Has the package manager improved? Can it automatically handle dependencies?

      • superkret@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Slackware works differently than other distros. After a default installation, dependency tracking is pointless because you install its entire repository up front.
        If you need something that isn’t in the repository, you’ve got Slackbuilds that work just like Arch’s AUR. Or you can use third party repos with their own package managers, semi-official tools with depedency checking, flatpaks or whatever else you want. The point is, how you manage your packages is your choice. The default package manager is just a helpful bash script.

        • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          People wouldn’t be talking about the lack of dependency management of it didn’t cause.some problems somewhere, so where could it be? Third party stuff I guess?

          • superkret@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            “Slackware has no dependency management” is a meme as old as Debian, and basically the only thing people know about it.
            Fact is, you install additional packages from Slackbuilds, and there’s a tool that resolves dependencies for that (slpkg). It’s not officially supported but well-maintained and it works. So in practice, it works the same way as Arch’s AUR (where absolutely everyone uses yay even though it is also not officially supported or recommended).

            So, the fact that the default package manager doesn’t resolve dependencies is irrelevant in practice. What is relevant, and an actual valid criticism of Slackware, is that the default installation isn’t minimal or tailored to you, and should’t be changed unless you absolutely know what you’re doing. It gives you a wide variety of software for all kinds of tasks that wasn’t chosen by you, but by benevolent dictator Patrick Volkerding. And his choices are very different from what’s become the de facto Linux standard today (e.g. Calligra instead of LibreOffice).

            My take on it is that Slackware is the perfect OS for maybe 100,000 people on earth, and I happen to be one of them.

  • makeasnek@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Very excited to see this. After having been through the last few Ubuntu versions, they have made some very frustrating decisions that have made the system management side a real pain.

  • 👁️👄👁️@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Can anyone tell me if the Debian Testing branch has been stable? I like Debian, and I like rolling release to be more up to date, so I was considering swapping from Fedora.

    • superkret@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Either use Stable or Unstable. Testing is actually the most unstable of the three branches, due to how Debian works:

      Updated packages are first introduced into Experimental, then into Unstable when they actually build and run. So Unstable is equivalent to Arch’s main branch.
      Then they automatically enter Testing after a few weeks without anyone reporting a critical bug.

      What this means: Testing is the only branch where the decision over what enters isn’t made by a human.

      If someone notices critical bugs in Testing, the packages may be kicked out of Testing again until the bugs are fixed. So Testing is the only branch where packages can simply disappear when you run an update.

      It’s also the most insecure branch: When a vulnerability is discovered, the packages in Stable are patched to close it. The packages in Unstable are updated to a new version that closes it. In Testing, the vulnerability stays until the new version eventually migrates down the line again after spending a while in Unstable.

      I’ve run Unstable for years. IMO it’s a great rolling release distro with horrible branding.

      • 👁️👄👁️@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Thanks for the info! I know what you mean that unstable is similar to Arch, but I know Arch has like a 3 day period or something like that before it hits the default “stable” repo. Is Unstable similar to that, or do they just raw dog it?

        • SteveTech@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          I’ve only been running Debian testing for a few weeks (hopped from Ubuntu dev), but I believe testing also has a 2 to 10 day period before pulling packages from unstable. Like after 10 days in unstable with no issues it automatically gets moved into testing, with more important updates getting a human moving it earlier.

        • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Sid is not a rolling release distro, it’s an unstable distro. If you want a rolling release distro, you want something like Arch Linux, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed or OpenMandriva RR.

          Unless you know how to deal with problems, go ahead and install Sid. It shouldn’t be a problem if you already know Linux and Debian specifics.

          • superkret@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            That’s just semantics in my opinion. Debian Sid isn’t meant to be a rolling release distro, but it works perfectly fine as one.
            You have to take the same care as with other rolling release distros - actually read the changelogs, don’t automate updates, and type “No” if it wants to remove packages you need. Other than that, I’ve never had any issues, and never heard from anyone whose Sid brakes regularly.

            • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Debian does not agree. They even warn you about packages with unfulfilled dependencies. In my experience, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed does feel like a finished, polished rolling release distro. Sid breaks sometimes, it’s okay for it to get broken. I don’t know your use case but it did for me, especially with some obscure libraries or with very specific versions of scientific ones. It’s not semantics only, Sid is fundamentally designed as an unstable distribution, not as a rolling release one.

              But I insist, if it works for you as a rolling release distro, it’s great. I just feel the obligation to warn the others what’s the intention behind Sid.

    • Nik282000@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      I ran 12 (testing) for the last year and the only issue I had was related to unsupported hardware with a newer laptop.

  • banazir@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I wonder if they’ll ever ditch Ubuntu and release a version based on Debian Sid.

    • dinckel@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Not Sid, but that’s exactly that Mint LMDE is. Rather than being built on top of Ubuntu, it’s built on top of Debian

  • phanto@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I just installed it in a VM to check it out, as I’m not a Cinnamon guy usually, and I really like it! I need to try it out on metal and see how it handles games, but so far I’m really happy.

  • Gutless2615@ttrpg.network
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    1 year ago

    So I’m showi my my extreme age but I remember when Mint was born as a sort of windows-like Ubuntu for easy migration. Has it carved out a reason for existing for folks that don’t want a windows like experience?

    • Bitrot@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      Their interface is familiar to Windows users but so is KDE and many things that aren’t GNOME. Primarily it is the flagship distro for Cinnamon, they put a lot of work into making the user experience seamless and their implementation of Cinnamon especially is much better than other distros that ship it as an option. They also co-founded MATE when GNOME 3 came out and have supported that forever.

      Main thing for me is extremely sane defaults, just enough automation to simplify some things without it getting in the way, just enough customization without it being overwhelming or an eyesore (I hate KDE context menus). It’s been very good for getting out of the way so I can focus, I appreciate that it doesn’t have a ton of flying, shiny objects all over the place but still looks good, and I don’t have to add a ton of extensions to get it the way I like.

    • Fecundpossum@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s just a generally solid, stable, and easy to use distro. I use EndeavourOS nowadays, but when I was first getting started Mint was what I always returned to after spats of distro hopping. As far as it’s primary DE, Cinnamon, it’s less “windows like” and more “not gnome like”. Every DE that isn’t gnome could be called “windows like” in my experience.

    • danielfgom@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Yes. The Mint team have done all the work that you normally would have to with Debian, to give you a nice stable, fast and full featured desktop system.

      Plus they keep Cinnamon up to date over the years. Even though the Debian base will remain the same (apart from any security patches/important updates) you’ll always have the latest Cinnamon desktop and utilities from Mint like Timeshift, Warpinator etc

      Btw Warpinator works like Airdrop. Install the app on your Android, pair to LMDE and you can easily send and receive files and photos between phone and desktop.

        • danielfgom@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          KDE Connect is more full featured. It can also show phone notifications on Linux, copy clipboard, screen mirror your android to Linux.

          Warpinator is literally just to transfer files wirelessly.

        • rush@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Warpinator is essentially what would happen when you flesh out the “send file” feature of KDE Connect a bit more. It doesn’t cover the rest of KDE Connect.

    • LeFantome@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      I would say Mint adds more to Debian than EndeavourOS adds to Arch.

      For one thing, Mint has its own DE ( Cinnamon ). You can install this on other distros but it was made for Mint and it is the DE experience out-of-the-box on LMDE.

  • siipale@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    and also that being based on Debian LMDE is 100% community based.

    At first I read it as “completely based” and wondered whether LMDE is also red pilled.

  • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    Well, time to try it. Hopefully XFCE runs well; Cinnamon is not to my liking at all.

    • pH3ra@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago
      1. Desktop Theming: LMDE is gonna look like Mint out of the box, while Debian is gonna look like this
      2. Mint Software repositories and Mint’s System tools, like Mint Install or Mint Update, on LMDE
      3. LMDE is installed with Calamares, which is a little more user friendly than Debian’s installer

      If you’re an advanced user there’s no big difference overall, but for a new user LMDE is gonna be a little easier to approach

    • danielfgom@lemmy.worldOP
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      Literally the only difference is that regular Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu and LMDE is based on Debian.

      So LM will use the Ubuntu repo and any additions to the code Ubuntu made, whereas LMDE will use the Debian repos and their code.

      At the moment LMDE actually has a newer kernel (6) than LM (5) and newer apps, but that will change with the next version of Linux Mint when it should catch up.

      And finally, LMDE is also available in 32bit as well as 64bit, whereas LM is 64bit only.

        • pastermil@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          They’re pretty much the same to novice users, only differing in packages versions (including the kernel, as OP mentioned).

          I am guessing this is kinda the point, to make it as similar as possible, since Linux Mint team is looking to replace its main base to Debian from Ubuntu.