June 1 Distro of the Day: Linux Mint 3.0

The first featured Distro of the Day is Linux Mint 3.0, codenamed Cassandra. Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based distribution whose goal is to provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including browser plugins, media codecs, support for DVD playback, Java and other components. Normally with Ubuntu, you have to manually download and configure many media codecs and other essential software like browser plugins. Linux Mint comes with everything preinstalled, plus a minty-fresh look and some additional treats.

Version 3.0 was just released two days ago and features a new program called "mintInstall" that makes it really easy to find and add programs. They also updated to the newest version of many packages, like OpenOffice, Thunderbird, Pidgin, Gimp, and Amarok.

Starting up the Linux Mint LivePC gives a nice loading screen with the tagline "From freedom came elegance". And it is clear from using Linux Mint that they put a lot of thought into aesthetics. The background and menus are bathed in a pleasant minty green, similar to the moka5 green in the LivePC Engine user interface. It gives a nice cohesive feel. The sound effects are fresh and clear. Menus are smooth without the cheesy KDE triangle fade-in effect. Overall, Linux Mint has a much smoother experience than most other distros.

The start menu is a little different, too. Applications are categorized and by mousing over a category, you can see the set of applications in that category. It also features a search bar, much like the Vista search bar, where you can type in some text and see the matches update in real-time. This makes it very easy to both browse applications by category and to also find specific applications by name. There is also a "Favourites" (the British English spelling exposes the European roots of this distro) section where you can put your favorite applications for easy access.

Speaking of search, Linux Mint also contains Beagle, an excellent indexing and search tool. I started up Beagle and typed the name of a program analysis tool I had built. Surprisingly, Beagle actually found my Powerpoint presentation on a shared folder on the LAN! So it not only indexes files on the local machine, it also indexes files on shared folders. This is because Beagle indexes your home directory and Linux Mint automatically makes a "Network" folder in our home directory where you can browse accessible Windows shares. Clicking on the Powerpoint brought up my Powerpoint presentation in OpenOffice, without a glitch. The performance was very snappy, as good or better than Google Desktop Search. I was highly impressed!

My only negative about Linux Mint is that it is a little bulky; at nearly 800MB, it takes a little while to download the whole thing. But it includes full versions of lots of great applications like OpenOffice, GIMP, F-Spot, Amarok, and more, so it is not that surprising it is a little plump. This is definitely a full-featured distro with plenty of functionality. You should wait until the LivePC is "ready" before clicking start, or the bootup will be quite slow.

Overall, Linux Mint is a smooth experience with a cool look and some great features. Highly recommended!