Moved to Linux Mint 11

Linux Mint LogoOne could probably guess from my last (even more belated than ever) post that I’ve switched to Linux Mint 11.  Like many others, I’ve been using Ubuntu for some time now.  Up to 10.10 I’ve been more than pleased with Ubuntu.  In fact, I’ve found it much better than Fedora Core or SuSE as a desktop operating systems.  Red Hat (or CentOS for those of you who want freeware) is still my Linux flavour of choice for server operating systems, but for the desktop, they didn’t quite seem to have the “polish” needed for real day-to-day use in my opinion.  In fact, more than 8 years ago I moved from Red Hat to SuSE.  Back then, I found SuSE a pretty great desktop operating system.  When Novell bought SuSE it seemed to have a great future; that is, until Novell did the great nosedive into what seems like obscurity (RIM take notice – you can be the creator and leader and then become a footnote – outside of law suites 😉 )

After about three years of proving to my self that Linux could be used totally for daily use (except for Diablo – Windows XP was still needed) I switched back to using Windows XP exclusively on the desktop.  After looking at Ubuntu 8.04 LTS I decided to go back to Linux again.  I was quite happy with Ubuntu up to the “Perfect Ten” – 10.10.  Then 11.04 showed up and the move to the Unity user interface instead of GNOME Shell.

I don’t know what it is with the wanting to ape the Apple interface (note that it stared with the min|max|close windows buttons moving left – seems socialistic to me) but if I wanted the Apple GUI I’d buy an Apple.  While I’ll contend that you’re paying too much for being “hip”, the Unix underpinnings of OS X are excellent.  That being said, I hate the Apple GUI.

Unity seems to be the desire to create and open source Apple GUI and, while the “classic” Gnome GUI is available in Ubuntu 11.04 it apparently is going away in 11.10.

Hence my search for my next Linux.  After seeing Mint mentioned in a number of places, I decided to give it a whirl.  And I like it.  I get Gnome back and the underpinnings are still part of the Ubuntu.  I’ve been using it for about a month now and everything seems to work just fine – or at least as well as it worked under Ubuntu.  (The Avermedia TV Tuner card in my Dell XPS 15 L501X still doesn’t work under Linux and it seems like it never will…)

About Mike Pelley

Let’s see… A little about me… I’ve been around information technology since 1983 with computers such as DEC Rainbows (weird machine – the standard DOS couldn’t format its own floppy disks – remember them? – and I had to format them on a friend’s IBM PC) to Radio Shack TRS-80 to Apple ][e and Apple //c in the beginning. I have programmed in 8-bit assembly language on 6502, FORTRAN and COBOL on IBM System/370 (and I still hate JCL), VAX BASIC and COBOL (and a weird and massive WordPerfect 4.0 macro) on DEC VMS (Alpha), C/C++ on Digital Unix (ALPHA), and C/C++, Perl (it may be powerful but I still hate it), PHP on Linux (Red Hat, Centos, Ubuntu, etc.). I have work with databases such as Digital RDB (later to become Oracle RDB), Oracle DBMS, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL and PostgreSQL on VAX, Alpha, Sun and Intel. Check out my professional profile and connect with me on LinkedIn. See http://lnkd.in/nhTRZe I still think that Digital created some of the best ideas in the world: VAX clustering, DSSI disks (forerunner to SCSI) and the Alpha processor (first commercial 64-bit processor – Red Hat screamed on an Alpha!). DEC just could not seem to be able to give air conditioners away to someone lost in the Sahara Desert! VMware is one of the best ways to get the most out of an x64 server. And I have tried Oracle VM, Virtual Box and Microsoft Virtual Server. Outside of that I am a huge military history buff starting in the early 20th century. I love Ford Mustangs (my ’87 Mustang GT was awesome) and if I had the money I would have a Porsche 928S4. If I had a lot of money I would have a Porsche 911 Turbo. I also play too much AmrA 3 Exile mod. Over 5,000+ hours... I have a wonderful son, Cameron. I have a long suffering (Do you really need all that computer junk?) wife, Paula. I live in Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador.
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