Minty fresh Linux

In case you haven't guessed by now, I like desktop Linux. I admit though that Linux is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to dealing with proprietary media formats. These formats are designed to lock users into a particular video or audio player and those programs seldom come in a Linux version. There are answers though to this problem and that's one of the reasons why I like the Linux Mint distribution. It makes listening to proprietary audio and viewing restricted video as easy as it's ever going to get on Linux.

Mint isn't well known outside of Linux fan circles, and that's a pity because it's an outstanding distribution. It's based on Ubuntu, and it tracks Ubuntu quite closely. So, the latest version, Linux Mint 6 Felicia, is based on Ubuntu 8.10, aka Intrepid Ibex.

As such, Mint is an up-to-date desktop Linux. It's based on the Linux 2.6.27 kernel and uses Gnome 2.24 and X.org 7.4 for its graphical interface. Mint comes in two versions. The first, the Main Edition, is the one that comes with support for multimedia codices and drivers for proprietary hardware. The other, the Universal Edition, doesn't include any proprietary multimedia or hardware support.

The Main Edition is the one that has the goodies in it. Right off the disc, Mint Main Edition can play WMV (Windows Media Video), WMA (Windows Media Audio), QuickTime, and Flash media files. In short, with Mint you'll be able to watch and listen to pretty any media you'll find on the Web.

Mint also supports watching commercial DVDs. You may not know it but almost all retail DVDs are encrypted by a DRM (digital rights management) system called CSS (Content Scramble System). Without a way to get around the encryption, libdvdcss in Linux's case, you can't watch a DVD.

This Linux distribution also comes with proprietary drivers for NVIDIA and ATI graphic cards and Wi-Fi chipsets. While proprietary hardware drivers are finally being abandoned by vendors, they still exist.

If you know what you're doing, you can add all of Mint's functionality to your own Linux distribution. The key phrase there is "If you know what you're doing." Not everyone does. And, frankly as someone who does know how to do it, it's a pain I'd just as soon live without.

Mint, however, is far more than just a distribution that adds all the available proprietary bits into Linux for you. It also includes several great features of its own.

My particular favorite, and it's especially apt now that some Windows users are confused about how to install programs on Linux, is Mint's software installation program, MintInstall. MintInstall presents you with not just an easy to select software menu, it only presents users with the top-level programs. You can dig down to the obscure program level if you want, but for new users MintInstall is great.

Besides just showing you a best of selection of programs, MintInstall includes a brief description of the program, a screen-shot of it in action, and links to reviews and the software's home site. It's the closest thing in software that you're going to get to having a buddy sit next to you and tell you how to find and install programs.

Mint also includes a great automatic update program, MintUpdate. This program not only updates your system and installed software for you, it also gives you access to all the information you're likely to want about each patch.

If it sounds to you like I like Mint, you'd be right. Over the last year or so, it's become one of my favorite desktop Linuxes. If you give it a try, I think you'll quickly learn to like it too. It's not as cutting-edge as Fedora or as business-like as openSUSE, but I can see many users preferring this 'ready-to-go from the start' desktop Linux.