In addition to what the other guy said, Mint is also more focused on desktop. A bunch of apps are pre-installed that one would expect on a desktop OS. Additionally, the default Mint UI, Cinnamon, feels very familiar to a Windows user. It has a start menu, task bar, tray, etc.
Debian is in the same family, and is more oriented for servers. It is super minimal out of the box, which is perfect when you want it to sit in the other room and perform specific tasks. However, you can install all the same programs, even the Cinnamon UI on Debian.
Really the difference is the out of box experience, but they are otherwise pretty similar.
Ubuntu and Fedora have different “up-to-date”. Ubuntu is patching old code to work / feel modern and Fedora is updating as fast as possible to new Software.
I think Ubuntu is unnecessary doing double work, but I guess they have to, since they have drifted too far from upstream…
I’ve been using Debian on my desktop for five years now so this information might be a bit outdated, but I have recently installed Mint on my server.
In my experience Mint (and Ubuntu) have been more beginner friendly with installation and initial setup. I remember trying to install Debian on my MacBook which just crashed on bootup whereas Ubuntu worked out of the box. Mint draws from Ubuntu’s repositories which are more up to date and has more packages in it. Being able to rely on apt for installing packages has meant an easier user experience. And the last thing is that there’s just more information out there for troubleshooting Mint problems than there is for Debian in my experience.
That’s what I find. I could be wrong about some of the details
Man, Microsoft advertising for Linux Mint YET AGAIN?! They are so gracious.
Why is everyone reccommending linux mint all of a sudden? What happened to ubuntu and fedora?
Mint is ubuntu with the icky stuff removed and given an extra layer of polish. Still loving it here.
Ubuntu added telemetry and forced snaps
And Ubuntu Pro popup ads. Linux Mint is, from a compatibility standpoint, Ubuntu without the crap.
So out of curiosity, why Mint over, say Debian? Has Debian added telemetry etc as well?
It’s just a comparable GUI surface.
In addition to what the other guy said, Mint is also more focused on desktop. A bunch of apps are pre-installed that one would expect on a desktop OS. Additionally, the default Mint UI, Cinnamon, feels very familiar to a Windows user. It has a start menu, task bar, tray, etc.
Debian is in the same family, and is more oriented for servers. It is super minimal out of the box, which is perfect when you want it to sit in the other room and perform specific tasks. However, you can install all the same programs, even the Cinnamon UI on Debian.
Really the difference is the out of box experience, but they are otherwise pretty similar.
Mint had had a Debian version for some time
Debian is a stable distro and therefore tends to have less up-to-date packages.
Ahh so Mint is kept up to date like Ubuntu/Fedora and doesn’t have all the telemetry and pop ups for Ubuntu Pro. Thank you!
Ubuntu and Fedora have different “up-to-date”. Ubuntu is patching old code to work / feel modern and Fedora is updating as fast as possible to new Software.
I think Ubuntu is unnecessary doing double work, but I guess they have to, since they have drifted too far from upstream…
I’ve been using Debian on my desktop for five years now so this information might be a bit outdated, but I have recently installed Mint on my server.
In my experience Mint (and Ubuntu) have been more beginner friendly with installation and initial setup. I remember trying to install Debian on my MacBook which just crashed on bootup whereas Ubuntu worked out of the box. Mint draws from Ubuntu’s repositories which are more up to date and has more packages in it. Being able to rely on apt for installing packages has meant an easier user experience. And the last thing is that there’s just more information out there for troubleshooting Mint problems than there is for Debian in my experience.
That’s what I find. I could be wrong about some of the details
Corporate distros and all
mint user here, I want my distro devs to work faster on fixing keyboard layouts on wayland.