There were a few posts that got a lot of comments this past week, so I'll only be able to post a handful of those.
An anonymous commenter said, "At work, I am forced to use Windows (ticket tracking system only works in Windows, my company's timekeeping system requires IE). So to get around it, I installed Mint 10 on all of my PCs with Virtualbox 4.x. I run Windows as a VM. The OS works great, and I can provide IT support to my client. Looking forward to Mint 11!"
Another anonymous reader said, "Mint loaded like a dream. Thought I would give it a test run. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the nvidia flicker to abate even after trying a series of recommended work arounds. So,had to dump it and go back to Ubuntu."
Commenter daemox said, "Just a correction, 12.04 is the next LTS Ubuntu will be releasing not 13.04. :) Nice write up though! I'm a Linux Mint user myself, and though I had played with it a lot before, Linux Mint 8 was the first GNU/Linux release that did everything I needed. It was the point that GNU/Linux became easier and less time consuming to use in my daily life than Windows. I went back to Ubuntu for a while after that, but now I'm back with Linux Mint 10, and am planning to stick with it so long as they maintain the main edition with the Ubuntu basis. Cheers!"
Another anonymous reader added, "Hi there, I had a similar issue when testing Mepis 11 RC1 (blank screen, blinking cursor, nothing happened) but that time it had something to do with kdm not starting. Ctrl+Alt+F1 and startx worked then. Just out of curiosity, have you tried Debian squeeze (like a live cd or something), I'm wondering if it's a debian or a mepis specific issue. If you are not completely discouraged, you could ask for help at the mepislovers forum, it's the friendliest forum I've ever seen by the way (and I'm not a mepis user). Also what you experienced sounds like a bug, it shouldn't happen because it scares new users away, but it happens even on friendly distros ;-) Ubuntu won't even boot on my uncle's toshiba notebook (nvidia related issue). PS. Don't take this the wrong way, your post's title is very misleading. Most readers click at a link at tuxmachines, or lxer, or linuxtoday etc. that says "Mepis Review", they read several paragraphs only to find out this is not an actual review. It's a true and honest experience you are describing there. But not a review. Just for the sake of your readers, as I am one of them. Keep it up."
Commenter Barnaby had these tips: "PV, you know there are RW DVD's out there, I've used some of them more than 50 times for testing and reviews and they're still ok. It might be worth getting one. Furthermore, why are you picking a fight with your readers, because it sure reads like it. Perhaps better not to post on a bad day. Please don't feel offended, just trying to help."
Reader Komac said, "This has to be the worst "review" I've read here on this page. You really should take the time to actually install it. What is written here belongs more into the bug report for SimplyMEPIS (I sure hope you at least filed a bug report about this). I myself, being greatly disappointed by Ubuntu 11.04 and Unity crap, I will actually burn a DVD and try SimplyMEPIS as I'm currently in search for the best distro based on KDE (which I fell into love with recently)."
Thanks to all those who commented on this past week's posts. This coming week, as I won't be quite as busy as in previous weeks as this is my last week of classes for the semester, I hope to have reviews of Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" and its ilk out. Remember, if you like the content here, please continue subscribing and commenting!
Linux Mint: Two Years, Going Steady
Reader jai ho said, "i was fed up with virus and later anti virus in windows (both almost broke my computer).. that time i have read about the new release of ubuntu in local newspaper..that time i had a slow connection..so i searched google about ubuntu..then somehow i found linux mint..the reason why i switched to linux mint is that ubuntu was so ugly that time with brown color while linux mint was looking like windows and better than ubuntu..i can't imagine windows for 1 month as i am sure that it will have some problem during that 1 month.. if virus has not broke my pc i'm sure one of the anti virus update will definitely brake it.."An anonymous commenter said, "At work, I am forced to use Windows (ticket tracking system only works in Windows, my company's timekeeping system requires IE). So to get around it, I installed Mint 10 on all of my PCs with Virtualbox 4.x. I run Windows as a VM. The OS works great, and I can provide IT support to my client. Looking forward to Mint 11!"
Another anonymous reader said, "Mint loaded like a dream. Thought I would give it a test run. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the nvidia flicker to abate even after trying a series of recommended work arounds. So,had to dump it and go back to Ubuntu."
Commenter daemox said, "Just a correction, 12.04 is the next LTS Ubuntu will be releasing not 13.04. :) Nice write up though! I'm a Linux Mint user myself, and though I had played with it a lot before, Linux Mint 8 was the first GNU/Linux release that did everything I needed. It was the point that GNU/Linux became easier and less time consuming to use in my daily life than Windows. I went back to Ubuntu for a while after that, but now I'm back with Linux Mint 10, and am planning to stick with it so long as they maintain the main edition with the Ubuntu basis. Cheers!"
Movie Review: Chak De! India
Reader Abhijith said, "If you like such practical no-nonsense movies then you should really try 'Shor in the city'. Recently released. Quite a low-budget movie so I don't think it has been released here. You will be amazed at how well Indian (mainly Hindi) movies have matured. I am not talking generally. Generally its still the same mindless drivel. However, there are a few gems that have been coming out occasionally in the recent past."Review: SimplyMEPIS 11.0
Commenter Nick had this response to a few prior rather critical comments: "You guys are being really critical for a short article. You're right, this is, hopefully, far from magnum opus quality for the author, HOWEVER, this is a blog, and he can say whatever he wants about. Perhaps it shouldn't be called a "review" since, apparently, review means that the author covers every aspect, and not just what happened when used, perhaps it should be called an 'experience' Ultimately, it was a fine article that encouraged me to see if simplyMEPIS will work on my machine."Another anonymous reader added, "Hi there, I had a similar issue when testing Mepis 11 RC1 (blank screen, blinking cursor, nothing happened) but that time it had something to do with kdm not starting. Ctrl+Alt+F1 and startx worked then. Just out of curiosity, have you tried Debian squeeze (like a live cd or something), I'm wondering if it's a debian or a mepis specific issue. If you are not completely discouraged, you could ask for help at the mepislovers forum, it's the friendliest forum I've ever seen by the way (and I'm not a mepis user). Also what you experienced sounds like a bug, it shouldn't happen because it scares new users away, but it happens even on friendly distros ;-) Ubuntu won't even boot on my uncle's toshiba notebook (nvidia related issue). PS. Don't take this the wrong way, your post's title is very misleading. Most readers click at a link at tuxmachines, or lxer, or linuxtoday etc. that says "Mepis Review", they read several paragraphs only to find out this is not an actual review. It's a true and honest experience you are describing there. But not a review. Just for the sake of your readers, as I am one of them. Keep it up."
Commenter Barnaby had these tips: "PV, you know there are RW DVD's out there, I've used some of them more than 50 times for testing and reviews and they're still ok. It might be worth getting one. Furthermore, why are you picking a fight with your readers, because it sure reads like it. Perhaps better not to post on a bad day. Please don't feel offended, just trying to help."
Reader Komac said, "This has to be the worst "review" I've read here on this page. You really should take the time to actually install it. What is written here belongs more into the bug report for SimplyMEPIS (I sure hope you at least filed a bug report about this). I myself, being greatly disappointed by Ubuntu 11.04 and Unity crap, I will actually burn a DVD and try SimplyMEPIS as I'm currently in search for the best distro based on KDE (which I fell into love with recently)."
Thanks to all those who commented on this past week's posts. This coming week, as I won't be quite as busy as in previous weeks as this is my last week of classes for the semester, I hope to have reviews of Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" and its ilk out. Remember, if you like the content here, please continue subscribing and commenting!
