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Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

HairyMcbiker
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Registered: ‎16-02-2009

Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

LinuxMint 7 Gloria has just been released (see http://www.linuxmint.com )
It is based on Ubuntu Jaunty and is currently only available in 32 bit (64bit to follow)
It has all the multimedia codec's installed including Moonlight for Firefox.
New features include an easy installer, if you know the name of the app you want to install and it is in the repo's you have setup, just enter it into the search box on the Mint menu, it will then offer to Install it for you, click on install and it will download and install automatically, Very Nice.. (I know you can do the same thing via Synaptic & search but this way it saves you opening synaptic)
I couldn't wait for the upgrade so did a fresh install of 7, then needed to install some apps, like acidrip, devedee etc, just typing in the name and it installs it, easiest installer I have ever seen.
It also includes MintNanny for restricting your offspring's browsing and a few other nice features, like the add programs with previews & reviews.
Why not give the Live CD a try?
K
15 REPLIES 15
VileReynard
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Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

I thought Moonlight was just a piece of Microsoft DRM software that some people might conceivably want to install on a Linux system.
No thanks.  Smiley

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

Waldo
Grafter
Posts: 473
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

Moonlight is an open source implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight - rather like mono being an open source implementation of Microsoft's .NET framework - I think Silverlight was conceived as an alternative to Flash.
HairyMcbiker
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Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

Well if you want to view the ITV catchup player then you need Moonlight on your Linux box. It is just a plugin developed by Novell, easily removed it you don't want/need it.
VileReynard
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Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

So is Moonlight GPL - I know there is a Microsoft / Novell agreement in place.
See http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ForbiddenItems#Moonlight - for instance...
Quote
There are serious concerns about Moonlight, due to Microsoft and Novell's public statements around its inclusion in their "covenant".

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

HairyMcbiker
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Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

Don't know if it is GPL'd, but it is Open Source.
If you want to go Pure GPL then fine but, I want to be able to view and or listen to online things.
There is a version of Mint that is free of the addons, the universal edition.
More info on Moonlight http://blog.bodhizazen.net/linux/how-to-moonlight/
Waldo
Grafter
Posts: 473
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

Quote from: Crucibleofevil
So is Moonlight GPL - I know there is a Microsoft / Novell agreement in place.

It's released under the LGPL.
$ apt-cache search moonlight
libmoon - Free Software clone of Silverlight 1.0 - unstable runtime library
moonlight-plugin-core - Free Software clone of Silverlight 1.0 - plugin core components
moonlight-plugin-mozilla - Free Software clone of Silverlight 1.0 - Xulrunner 1.9 plugin
$ apt-cache show libmoon
Package: libmoon
Priority: optional
Section: libs
Installed-Size: 1740
Maintainer: Debian Mono Group <pkg-mono-group@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Architecture: i386
Source: moon
Version: 1.0.1-3
Depends: libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.20.0), libavcodec52 (>= 3:0.svn20090303-1) | libavcodec-unstripped-52 (>= 3:0.svn20090303-1),
libavutil49 (>= 3:0.svn20090303-1) | libavutil-unstripped-49 (>= 3:0.svn20090303-1), libc6 (>= 2.3.6-6~), libcairo2 (>= 1.8),
libexpat1 (>= 1.95.8), libfontconfig1 (>= 2.4.0), libfreetype6 (>= 2.2.1), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.16.0),
libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.12.0), libpango1.0-0 (>= 1.14.0), libstdc++6 (>= 4.1.1), zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4)
Filename: pool/main/m/moon/libmoon_1.0.1-3_i386.deb
Size: 587800
MD5sum: 91b8201aa0b0d9dda70371f57cd27c7b
SHA1: 4a47d0ed34d0eddd5901c4b11bd0b60c2da63238
SHA256: 3d9e671a86e0c1b0040054b8404c4e5c212c173673319af621d548a64ce0597e
Description: Free Software clone of Silverlight 1.0 - unstable runtime library
Moonlight is a free Silverlight clone, allowing Free Software systems to
run embedded web-browser objects or standalone code targetting Microsoft
Silverlight.
.
About Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device
plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences
and rich interactive applications for the Web.
.
This package contains required runtime files.
Homepage: http://www.mono-project.com/Moonlight

VileReynard
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Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

Well - purely as an experiment - I installed this Moonlight stuff in Ubuntu 9.04 using the proper packages,
Went to the itv site, signed up, downloaded and installed the Firefox plugin
It didn't work (admittedly on a 64 bit system)
Since ITV don't actually have much content, I swiftly removed all this moonlight stuff.
Perhaps Mint works better?
Although if it's using Ubuntu 9.04 as a base, it's chances are not good. Cheesy

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

Denzil
Grafter
Posts: 1,733
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

The ITV Player didn't work for me either with 32 bit Ubuntu. See <a href="http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,73661.0.html">this thread</a>.
alanf
Aspiring Pro
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Registered: ‎17-10-2007

Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

get_iplayer works with Ubuntu. It is command driven but it does the job.
http://linuxcentre.net/getiplayer/
Not applicable

Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

Downloaded this morning. Now working from CD Live. Connected via Ethernet but when I click Edit Connections under the wireless tab there are no wireless connections showing (there are usually about 4 or 5 including my own).
Laptop is a Dell Vostro 1700 and it has worked wirelessly with my Linksys set to WEP although can't remember if it was with the Ubuntu live CD or PCLinuxOS (think it was Ubuntu/Kubuntu). Currently am using the Thomson set to WPA.
Have had bother with wireless on another laptop which I never solved. Any ideas please?
HairyMcbiker
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Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

No real experience of wireless under Mint, but if it worked in Ubuntu it should still work in Mint  Huh
Open a Terminal and try the usual commands like lspci to see if it has been recognised, also have  a look in the Mint forums/google to see if anyone else is having problems with that hardware.
VileReynard
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Posts: 12,616
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Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

Try the command line:-
iwlist scanning

This should show several access points - at least in Ubuntu.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

Not applicable

Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review

Thanks for the info. Will keep trying. Was thinking of trying the Win4Mint thingy which is on the disk and looks like Wubi for Mint but read up and it isn't tested with Vista so I am going to leave it alone.
HairyMcbiker
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Posts: 6,792
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Registered: ‎16-02-2009

Re: Linux Mint 7 a quick Review