TooMuchGreen

Mint 7 RC1 then…..(codename ‘Gloria’)

Firstly a touch of background. Mint is a rather slick derivative of Ubuntu (and thus Debian) running a tweaked and optimised window manager (predominantly GNOME), it proffers a functional *out of the box* experience geared toward the home user with a range of media codecs pre-installed (flash for example) and a tailored application suite & accompanying easy menu system aimed at generic web & media computing, it also boasts a full range of ready to roll Wi-Fi drivers to get you connected from the word go, side stepping all that potentially confusing command line jiggery pokery you still need to delve into with some of the less amiable desktop distros.
It’s Dad, plain old lovely Ubuntu, is undoubtedly a firm favourite of mine but admittedly would still be (more) at home in the business enterprise than on the media hungry streaming, burning, ripping, synching desktops of the home user fresh out of PC World, this will obviously change however (it already is, for one you’re reading this right?).

Anyway, down to business, the install was a breeze (as it always is with Mint) and once on the desktop it was as elegant as expected (although much greener, wow, that’s GREEN..!), with a chilled choice of readily available desktop themes and wallpapers I had a bit of a play about first before checking out what else was on offer (as you do, it’s always desktop wallpaper 1st yes?).

Into the menu system then, first off the bespoke Mint tools, here’s a brief mixdown of the big four -

Mint Nanny – A Domain blocker, browsing security for your kids.
Mint Updates – As it says, for updates.
Mint Backup – Indeed, I wonder that that’s for?

…and finally…

Mint Install – This is just great, no doubt. It offers one-click install of ‘Featured Apps’ (check out the screen grab), i.e the most popular extra applications (I used it to install Skype, a few easy clicks) and although it was a shame not to see a Twitter client option (especially as Kubuntu 9.04 comes with one) it was no biggie to pull Twitux down through Firefox and let it auto-install (http://www.getdeb.net/app/Twitux). As I say, no real hassle and both apps were up and running in as much time as it’s taken me to type this paragraph, certainly not rocket science in any shape or form, far from it.

What else, well you get full blown Thunderbird for your mail with the Lightning Calendar already built in (nice) and aside from your regular Open Office, Gimp and media offerings (Brasero, Rythmbox etc) Mint also comes with something called ‘Pulse Audio‘. Basically this is a ’sound/audio’ server package with streaming support for Airtunes, however as I haven’t used it myself I can’t really comment in any depth. Further down toward the system end you get a pre-installed GUI for the UFW (Linux Firewall), a partition manager and a cool little app called ‘Giver’ which opens up simple desktop file sharing around the home or office, a cool choice for a pre-install and a lot more useful than you’d think (especially in a small office workgroup).

I really like Mint, always have done and version 7 is certainly something special. For home users who don’t fancy the glitzy swish rounded pop of Kubuntu 9.04’s KDE 4 or the perceived drop to business ready Ubuntu itself Mint is so much more than just a ‘mid-ground’, in fact for home use I honestly don’t think it can be beaten, this new version rocks.

Download RC1 for yourself HERE.