Over the years, I’ve seen more Linux distributions than anyone this side of the Distrowatch editors. Some end-up staying in my offices. For example, I use openSUSE and CentOS on my servers, and I’ve often used Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, and MEPIS on my desktops and laptops. I’m also constantly looking at new Linux distributions, such as SplashTop and Peppermint on my test boxes or a VirtualBox virtual machine. Now, though, I find myself using Mint 10 as my main Linux desktop.
Why? Because Mint works, really, really well. Simple isn’t it?
I run the mainline Mint distribution. It’s based on the Ubuntu 10.10 with its GNOME 2.32 desktop. I’ve been using it on both my work laptop a Lenovo ThinkPad R61 with its 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7500 and has 2GBs of RAM and my workhorse desktops: Dell Inspiron 530S powered by a 2.2-GHz Intel Pentium E2200 dual-core processor with an 800-MHz front-side bus. This box has 4GBs of RAM, a 500GB SATA (Serial ATA) drive, and an Integrated Intel 3100 GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) chip set. These are in no way, shape, or form leading edge computers. While Windows 7 SP 1 doesn’t show to good advantage on either system, Mint runs quickly and smoothly on them.