Mint Update: was Why Mint? Was [Leaplist] backup application

[tom foster]

On Fri, 3 Jul 2009 15:52:01 -0400
Steve Litt <slitt at troubleshooters.com> wrote:

> On Monday 01 June 2009 12:55:19 am David Simmons wrote:
> > let us know when that happens.....I've got a bet of about 2 weeks
> > until it's on your main machine (or you're really wanting it on
> > your main machine).....I gotta get back to my bookie to let him
> > know when you make the switch....it's like the movie, 'Rat Race'...
> >
> > -dave
> 
> Dave, your bookie's gonna want his money -- you lost your bet. But
> for a bizarre reason...
> 
> I tried Mint on a laptop. Loved it. Then on an experimental machine.
> Loved it. Then on 2 of my kids' computers. Loved it. Then on my
> wife's. Loved it. I was making plans to put Mint on my main machine
> when I heard about THE PROBLEM.
> 
> THE PROBLEM:
> 
> On May 2 or 3, 2009, Mint founder Clem LeFebvre wrote on the official
> Mint blog asking his community to take sides in one of these
> Hatfield-McCoy international disputes. More accurately, he said that
> supporters of one side need not contribute code or money to Mint.
> 
> After weeks of people writing Clem that his request had no business
> in free software, ON HIS PERSONAL BLOG he modified his position to
> say he felt sorry for the innocents on both sides and that everyone
> was welcome in the Mint community. But 2 months later, nothing's
> posted on the MINT website saying that people of all political
> persuasions are welcome. The last position taken on the OFFICIAL MINT
> WEBSITE is that they don't accept supporters of a certain side in a
> certain international dispute.
> 
> MY REACTION
> 
> Suddenly my lovely Mint had a big, ugly, bleeding infectious wart on
> its cheek. This community wants me to take a political litmus test to 
> participate. I'm sorry, but that's too high of a price to pay. I
> couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I joined such a community,
> and we all know you can't get full power of software unless you join
> the community, at least on a mailing list level.
> 
> MY PLAN
> 
> For practical reasons I can't immediately wipe Mint from my wife and
> kids' computers. Instead, over the long term, I'm going to provide a
> Mint substitute, with its benefits but without the political baggage.
> This will be done using a 3 step plan:
> 
> 1) Use and study Mint to find the features that make it good
> 2) Create scripts, install scripts and apps giving Ubuntu the Mint
> advantages. 3) Look for a distro that out of the box gives the Mint
> advantages without the political baggage.
> 
> PROGRESS
> 
> We discussed this plan at the latest GoLUG meeting. People knowing a
> heck of a lot more about Ubuntu than I convinced me that Mintizing
> Ubuntu is primarily installing some non-free programs and codecs from
> Ubuntu repositories, and maybe changing the user interface a little
> bit. They convinced me it's not going to be as difficult as I'd
> thought. I downloaded Ubuntu last night and will soon start
> experimenting.
> 
> HELP
> 
> If anyone would like to help with this, I'd appreciate it. Mint's
> advantages are:
> 
> 1) Installs on almost anything.
> 2) Easy and quick install.
> 3) Works out of the box
> 	A) Including non free things
> 		i) Codecs
> 		ii) NDISwrapper
> 		iii) Other common programs
> 4) More intuitive and navigable user interface
> 
> The preceding is of benefit mainly to non-tech people who would
> otherwise demand Windows. If you're stuck maintaining Windows people
> and would like to switch them to a Linux distro enabling them to
> error-free do minor maintenance, and if you don't want to be required
> to take sides in an international dispute, then by all means help me
> in this project.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> SteveT
> 

I don't suppose you've ever given pclinuxos a serious go, have you?  I
think it has all the codecs and junk out of the box too.  A while back
I gave my nephew a laptop with Mint on it.  it was irritating to use,
so I tried fedora.  Irritating to use too. So I tried pclinuxos on it
and six monthes later it's still going.

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