In addition to what the other guy said, Mint is also more focused on desktop. A bunch of apps are pre-installed that one would expect on a desktop OS. Additionally, the default Mint UI, Cinnamon, feels very familiar to a Windows user. It has a start menu, task bar, tray, etc.
Debian is in the same family, and is more oriented for servers. It is super minimal out of the box, which is perfect when you want it to sit in the other room and perform specific tasks. However, you can install all the same programs, even the Cinnamon UI on Debian.
Really the difference is the out of box experience, but they are otherwise pretty similar.
Ubuntu and Fedora have different “up-to-date”. Ubuntu is patching old code to work / feel modern and Fedora is updating as fast as possible to new Software.
I think Ubuntu is unnecessary doing double work, but I guess they have to, since they have drifted too far from upstream…
I’ve been using Debian on my desktop for five years now so this information might be a bit outdated, but I have recently installed Mint on my server.
In my experience Mint (and Ubuntu) have been more beginner friendly with installation and initial setup. I remember trying to install Debian on my MacBook which just crashed on bootup whereas Ubuntu worked out of the box. Mint draws from Ubuntu’s repositories which are more up to date and has more packages in it. Being able to rely on apt for installing packages has meant an easier user experience. And the last thing is that there’s just more information out there for troubleshooting Mint problems than there is for Debian in my experience.
That’s what I find. I could be wrong about some of the details
Oh wow that’s a great explanation, thank you! I have a bit of experience with Ubuntu and a fraction of that with Debian but absolutely no experience with any other Linux distro, so I appreciate your reply!
I run Ubuntu Server for my home lab and had a RaspberryPi running Debian for a short while as well but it was all CLI so I have almost no experience with the GUI. I was quite surprised to hear about pop ups for Ubuntu Pro.
I personally found setting up Debian for the Pi to be fairly straight forward and about as difficult as converting an old windows laptop into an Ubuntu Server…server, so they might have made Debian a bit easier to get up and running.
That being said I can’t recall if I got that particular installation specifically for the Pi so that might have an impact there.
And Ubuntu Pro popup ads. Linux Mint is, from a compatibility standpoint, Ubuntu without the crap.
So out of curiosity, why Mint over, say Debian? Has Debian added telemetry etc as well?
In addition to what the other guy said, Mint is also more focused on desktop. A bunch of apps are pre-installed that one would expect on a desktop OS. Additionally, the default Mint UI, Cinnamon, feels very familiar to a Windows user. It has a start menu, task bar, tray, etc.
Debian is in the same family, and is more oriented for servers. It is super minimal out of the box, which is perfect when you want it to sit in the other room and perform specific tasks. However, you can install all the same programs, even the Cinnamon UI on Debian.
Really the difference is the out of box experience, but they are otherwise pretty similar.
Debian is a stable distro and therefore tends to have less up-to-date packages.
Ahh so Mint is kept up to date like Ubuntu/Fedora and doesn’t have all the telemetry and pop ups for Ubuntu Pro. Thank you!
Ubuntu and Fedora have different “up-to-date”. Ubuntu is patching old code to work / feel modern and Fedora is updating as fast as possible to new Software.
I think Ubuntu is unnecessary doing double work, but I guess they have to, since they have drifted too far from upstream…
I’ve been using Debian on my desktop for five years now so this information might be a bit outdated, but I have recently installed Mint on my server.
In my experience Mint (and Ubuntu) have been more beginner friendly with installation and initial setup. I remember trying to install Debian on my MacBook which just crashed on bootup whereas Ubuntu worked out of the box. Mint draws from Ubuntu’s repositories which are more up to date and has more packages in it. Being able to rely on apt for installing packages has meant an easier user experience. And the last thing is that there’s just more information out there for troubleshooting Mint problems than there is for Debian in my experience.
That’s what I find. I could be wrong about some of the details
Oh wow that’s a great explanation, thank you! I have a bit of experience with Ubuntu and a fraction of that with Debian but absolutely no experience with any other Linux distro, so I appreciate your reply!
I run Ubuntu Server for my home lab and had a RaspberryPi running Debian for a short while as well but it was all CLI so I have almost no experience with the GUI. I was quite surprised to hear about pop ups for Ubuntu Pro.
I personally found setting up Debian for the Pi to be fairly straight forward and about as difficult as converting an old windows laptop into an Ubuntu Server…server, so they might have made Debian a bit easier to get up and running.
That being said I can’t recall if I got that particular installation specifically for the Pi so that might have an impact there.
I genuinely appreciate your explanation! :)
Mint had had a Debian version for some time