commit: 359b24249fc6bba8e2a874e16bbe010841196c26
parent 7db373605758062fd81f9e8f996ae2611d977012
Author: Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2021 16:48:57 +0100
Linux Mint & elementary OS
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+---
+title: Impressions of Linux Mint & elementary OS
+date: 2021-12-14
+---
+
+In a [recent post], I spoke about some things that Linux distros need to do
+better to accommodate end-users. I was reminded that there are some Linux distros
+which are, at least to some extent, following my recommended playbook, and have
+been re-evaluating two of them over the past couple of weeks: [Linux Mint] and
+[elementary OS]. I installed these on one of my laptops and used it as my daily
+driver for a day or two each.
+
+[recent post]: https://drewdevault.com/2021/12/05/What-desktop-Linux-needs.html
+[Linux Mint]: https://linuxmint.com
+[elementary OS]: https://elementary.io
+
+Both of these distributions are similar in a few ways. For one, both distros
+required *zero* printer configuration: it just worked. I was very impressed with
+this. Both distros are also based on Ubuntu, though with different levels of
+divergence from their base. Ubuntu is a reasonably good choice: it is very
+stable and mature, and commercially supported by Canonical.
+
+I started with elementary OS, which does exactly what I proposed in my earlier
+article: charge users for the OS.[^1] The last time I tried elementary, I was
+less than impressed, but they've been selling the OS for a while now so I hoped
+that with a consistent source of funding and a few years to improve they would
+have an opportunity to impress me. However, my overall impressions were mixed,
+and maybe even negative.
+
+[^1]: I downloaded it for free, however, because I did not anticipate that I would continue to use it for more than a couple of days.
+
+The biggest, showstopping issue is a problem with their full disk encryption
+setup. I was thrilled to see first-class FDE support in the installer, but upon
+first boot, I was presented with a blank screen. It took me a while to figure
+out that a different TTY had cryptsetup running, waiting for me to enter the
+password. This is *totally* unacceptable, and no average user would have any
+clue what to do when presented with this. This should be a little GUI baked into
+the initramfs which prompts for your password on boot, and should be a regularly
+tested part of the installer before each elementary release ships.
+
+The elementary store was also disappointing, though I think there's improvements
+on the horizon. The catalogue is *very* sparse, and would benefit a lot by
+sourcing packages from the underlying Ubuntu repositories as well. I think
+they're planning on a first-class Flatpak integration in a future release, which
+should improve this situation. I also found the apps a bit *too* elementary,
+haha, in that they were lacking in a lot of important but infrequently used
+features. In general elementary is quite basic, though it is also very polished.
+Also, the default wallpaper depicts a big rock covered in bird shit, which I
+thought was kind of funny.
+
+There is a lot to like about elementary, though. The installer is really
+pleasant to use, and I really appreciated that it includes important
+accessibility features during the install process. The WiFi configuration is
+nice and easy, though it prompted me to set up online accounts *before*
+prompting me to set up WiFi. All of the apps are intuitive, consistently
+designed, and beautiful. I also noticed that long-running terminal processes I
+had in the background would pop-up a notification upon completion, which is a
+nice touch. Overall, it's promising, but I had hoped for more. My suggestions to
+elementary are to consider that completeness is a kind of polish, to work on
+software distribution, and to offer first-class options for troubleshooting,
+documentation, and support within the OS.
+
+I tried Linux Mint next. Several years ago, I actually used Mint as my daily
+driver for about a year — it was the last "normal" distribution I used
+before moving to Arch and later Alpine, which is what I use now. Overall, I was
+pretty impressed with Mint after a couple of days of use.
+
+Let's start again with the bad parts. The installer is not quite as nice as
+elementary's, though it did work without any issues. At one point I was asked if
+I wanted to "enable multimedia codecs" with no extra context, which would
+confuse me if I didn't understand what they were. I was also pretty pissed to
+see the installer advertising nonfree, predatory services like Netflix and
+YouTube to me — distributions have no business advertising this kind of
+shit. Mint also has encryption options, but it's based on ecryptfs rather than
+LUKS, and I find that this is an inferior approach. Mint should move to
+full-disk encryption.
+
+I also was a bit concerned about the organizational structure of Linux Mint.
+It's unclear who is responsible for Linux Mint, how end-users can participate,
+or how donations are spent or how other financial concerns are addressed. I
+think that Linux Mint needs to be more transparent, and should also consider how
+its allegiance with proprietary services like Netflix acts as a long-term
+divestment from the FOSS ecosystem it relies on.
+
+That said, the actual experience of using Linux Mint is very good. Unlike
+elementary OS, the OS feels much more *comprehensive*. Most of the things a
+typical user would need are there, work reliably, and integrate well with the
+rest of the system. Software installation and system upkeep are very easy on
+Linux Mint. The aesthetic is very pleasant and feels like a natural series of
+improvements to the old Gnome 2 lineage that Cinnamon can be traced back to,
+which has generally moved more in the direction that I would have liked Gnome
+upstream to. The system is tight, complete, and robust. Nice work.
+
+In conclusion, Linux Mint will be my recommendation for "normal" users going
+forward, and I think there is space for elementary OS for some users if they
+continue to improve.
