Why I switched to LMDE?
This is the View of the Mint Developers.
As the name suggests, LMDE is Linux Mint based on Debian instead of Ubuntu.
Mainline Linux Mint is one of the most popular Ubuntu based distribution.
The Mint team goes to great lengths to mitigate some of Ubuntu’s more controversial decisions, such as removing snaps in favor of flatpaks.
Mint also defaults to the project’s own Cinnamon desktop environment (DE), which is often praised as one of the easiest DEs for Windows users to switch to.
Ultimately, Mint manages to build on Ubuntu’s ease of use and surpass it in many areas.
If mainline Mint is so successful, why create an alternative version of Mint that is based on Debian, the same distribution that Ubuntu is based on?
In short, LMDE is an insurance policy for the Mint team in the event that something happens to Ubuntu or, more likely, if Ubuntu becomes too difficult to work with.
Canonical’s (Ubuntu’s parent company) continued embrace of snaps could eventually be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Firefox and Chromium are already only available in the Ubuntu App Center as snaps, meaning the Linux Mint team has to bundle a non-snap version of both apps.
With the upcoming Ubuntu 24.04 release, Canonical is taking snaps further with plans to ship the CUPS printing service as a snap rather than a DEB package.
As a result, the Mint team will need to package the DEB version of CUPS themselves, like they do with Firefox and Chromium.
My own reasons are;
1. Debian is stable.
2. Its installer is the NEW Calamara Installer.
3. Its Window/s management is smoother.
4. I am a Debian User for a long time I do not want to fiddle with my programs and I am comfortable with Debian.
5. SNAP is in Containers and very bulky.
6. Debian still has Synaptic Package Manager.
7. I think Flatpa(c)k is still based on libraries and dependencies.
8. Box utility lets me test drive (Virtual Machine) Live distributions.
9. OBS let me play music and videos.
10. I do not like daily updates.
I can schedule and configure them on weekly or monthly basis.
11. The is integration of SNAP and Synaptic and same application is not installed twice (one with connection to libraries and other in a separate container) in Debian (I just tested it).
12. Ubuntu let you install two packages (one in a separate SNAP container).
13. Of course, I have Ubuntu as a separate distribution installed in my NUC, it is not difficult to see the differences.
14. What is different in different distributions is the desktops type. Debian has a Live DVD for most of the desktops and one can pick and choose the distribution one needs.
15. Different Distributions have different plans and some of them are heavily involved in commercial activities which include Redhat, Fedora, Zorin and Suse Linux.
Unfortunately, Ubuntu is also involved in commercial activities lately.
16. They either pay or entice the YouTube Presenters to (bend the Free Software Protocol) twist or encourage certain distributions. Tuxedo and Pop Os come to my mind.
There is nothing wrong in this approach for corporate guys with business ventures but an average user buying these product except a USB or a DVD (Windows guys who cannot download an image and write into a USB) is simply exploitation.
There is another caveat here.
Lots of guys and girls don not want to expose their ignorance.
Nobody, in my long exposure to Linux has asked me for an image (I won't dish out my USBs free) of Linux.
I do not ridicule them but if they say their problem is either Windows or Apple, I bluntly say I have not heard of them and I only use Linux.
That save me lot of time.
Besides, I have couple of Tiny books at Amazon Books, how to "Write a Book" without copyright infringements using only Linux Utilities.
