Linux Mint
Mint is a promising Ubuntu-based desktop OS.
Installing Mint with Cinnamon in a virtual machine may lead to low performance due to the lack of hardware acceleration.
Go to System Tools | System Settings | Sound and set Sound Effects to OFF.
By default, Mint does not load the drivers necessary for some wireless cards (e.g. the one in Dell E6520 laptops). To connect to the Internet either
- use a UTP cable or
- use a smartphone with USB tethering
Go to the Driver Manager, and enable bcmwl-kernel-source.
This happened once, had 12.10 and just installed regular updates. See http://www.upubuntu.com/2012/10/how-to-fix-unity-and-wireless-problems.html. Connect to the internet with and UTP cable or USB tethering and run:
sudo apt-get install -y linux linux-headers-generic kernel-package
sudo apt-get install -y --reinstall bcmwl* firmware-b43-lpphy-installer b43-fwcutterDepends: python-gpgme but it is not installable
...
you have held broken packages.
Trying to install python-gpgme throws:
but it is not installable
...
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages
Solution suggested by http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=208&t=137267:
sudo apt-get clean && sudo rm -r /var/lib/apt/lists && sudo apt-get update
Linux Mint offers many options for choosing your desktop environment.
Pros:
- Looks nice
- "Snap function"
- Collabshot works
Cons:
-
TheIt does work in Mint 17.1.Windows+Ehotkey does not work properly, see this issue: https://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamon/issues/549 - Requires more system resources
Pros:
- Very quick and stable
-
Windows+Ehotkey works well (but theWindowshotkey won't work for the "Start menu", see next section)
Cons:
- Not that pretty
- No "snap" function
- Problems with repaint
- The file manager (Caja) may act buggy sometimes (e.g. jumping between monitors)
Open Nemo, click Edit -> Preferences, then go to the Behavior tab. Near the bottom of the page, uncheck "Automatically open a folder for automounted media". Source: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=262187
This solution works on Linux Mint MATE, it does not work on Mint Cinnamon. Set the shortcuts in Keyboard Shortcuts. Right click the "start menu", choose Preferences... and set the Keyboard shortcut to Alt_L by pressing the left Windows and the left Alt key.
This only applies for versions <= 17. Until version 17.1, Cinnamon had a long-going issue (https://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamon/issues/549) which causes some characters in combination with the Super key (e.g. Win+E) to be skipped. This way, you have to press Win+E+E to get to the Home folder. To work around this, go to Keyboard, Layouts, Options..., set the Alt/Win key behavior to Hyper is mapped to Win-keys. However, with this, the Super key will not bring up the "start menu" anymore.
Mint Cinnamon may slow down when running on battery as the CPU frequency is turned down. Install this app and you'll be able to change between Powersave and Performance profiles:
sudo apt-get install -y indicator-cpufreqThe tray icon of the Nextcloud (née Owncloud) storage service might not show on Cinnamon. The workaround is to go to Startup applications and set a sufficiently large sleep value, e.g. 10 seconds.
Apparently, for no reason, you only have a Dummy output audio device. Quick and dirty solution:
pulseaudio -k && sudo alsa force-reload
By default Ctrl + Alt + Backspace restarts Xorg. You might want to turn this keybinding off but you will not find it in the Keyboard settings. Instead, go to Startup Applications and turn off autostart for the Ctrl Alt Backspace application.