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Comment by tikhonj | Hacker News Reader

I'm curious: what do you see as the advantage of Ubuntu over Mint? My understanding is that Mint is just Ubuntu with a different default desktop environment and some multimedia codecs.

Do you just like Unity? (For what it's worth, I actually like it as well.)

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Well, fundamentally, there is nothing in Mint I can't have in Ubuntu (and sort of vice versa, though I don't know if Mint has Unity yet). Those codecs, for instance, are a click away in Ubuntu (either at install time or in Software Center).

That being said, I prefer Unity to any of the DE in Mint. Plus there's HUD and I'm going to assume all the other stuff Canonical is going to put out soon. I'm one of those people REALLY looking forward to being able to buy an Ubuntu for Android phone. I mean REALLY looking forward to it. In that case, I'll like the consistency of Ubuntu everywhere (Perhaps we'll see a TV soon with Ubuntu TV on it...that would be sweet. etc.).

Nothing against Mint. They are doing something pretty cool, just not my cup of tea.

As someone who's never used Mac OS, I much prefer Mint over normal Ubuntu. With Mint everything seems pretty natural to me, and it doesn't feel like I have to relearn almost anything at all. With Ubuntu, my first experiences with it were pretty frustrating, and I was even complaining to a more Linux-loving friend that I find it even less intuitive than Windows. Mint actually seems more intuitive than Windows to me.

Ubuntu has a huge community that makes any question you have easily Googlable, as well as a much more mature ecosystem in general. Even if they're built on the same foundation, these little things really make a difference and ease headaches.

And really, you can't write off the simple fact that its been around and strong for so many years. You can rest assured that it will continue to be.

I don't really understand your point. You can install the exact same thing on Mint as on Ubuntu. Both environments are very similar, and you can have the more resource efficient Cinnamon as Framework on Mint instead of Unity on Ubuntu. It's basically the same thing, and Mint benefits from the very strong Ubuntu foundation,.

exactly, if you have a problem then you can just Google for the Ubuntu solution which will always work unless it is a DM specific problem.

I forgot to mention you can even install the Ubuntu software center on Linux Mint. So, you get the best of both worlds, with no compatibility issues.

Key word is 'basically.' The funge factor adds up.

What kind of problems are you referring to that is easier to search for Ubuntu than LinuxMint? I've installed and deployed quite a few LinuxMint computers to folks with little to no computer experience. Throughout, I've never had any issues with not being able to quickly find answers for the few problems that I ran into.

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