Hectic Geek: Linux Mint 18 is how it should be done
Hectic Geek’s review is quite thorough and includes some interesting performance comparisons between Ubuntu 16.04 and Linux Mint 18. The site was impressed with Linux Mint 18’s performance.
Gayan reports for Hectic Geek:
…Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon scored quite similar speeds while booting, although, Linux Mint 18 was about 4.4% faster (1.5 seconds). This could be ‘explained’ when you look at the memory usage readings.
Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon consumed 32.3% less memory compared to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. In other words, while booting, Linux Mint 18 had 32.3% (about 205 MiB) less data to be copied over to RAM from the main storage (because that’s what happens when an operating system boots) and that may explain why Mint was slightly faster to boot.
Even after all these years, Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon is still lean on memory usage, boots relatively fast (compared to many other distributions), power efficient, extremely responsive, ran on the hardware very well (except for the touch-pad related issue which is not exactly Linux Mint’s fault), very stable and shutdown time was also quite good. As mentioned, the desktop is very easy to use, gives you a lot of options to customize, yet retains a sense of simplicity. And other major concerns of an everyday user nowadays such as Skype, web browsing, Adobe Flash playback, Teamviewer, multimedia playback etc were all extremely satisfying from my end.
I’ve witnessed a lot of respect for this GNU/Linux distribution over on many occasions, and this release is no exception. My verdict is simple: “This is how it should be done!”
DistroWatch: Linux Mint 18 is a stable and problem-free experience
DistroWatch has long been a steady and reliable source of Linux distribution reviews. The site doesn’t disappoint in its detailed review of Linux Mint 18, and the reviewer at DistroWatch seemed quite pleased with it.
Jesse Smith reports for DistroWatch:
During my trial, Mint 18 provided me with a stable, friendly and problem-free experience. The distribution has a installer which is simple to use, a good collection of documentation and an excellent selection of default software. The configuration tools are straight forward to use, the software manager is easy to use and everything generally just worked the way I wanted it to. The one problem I ran into during my whole trial was the video display issue when running from the live disc, and that was quickly solved by switching to the fail-safe graphics mode from the live disc’s boot menu.
The one complaint I think people may have with Mint’s Cinnamon edition is the desktop tends to be sluggish if suitable video drivers are not available. This may be a problem for people running Mint in a virtual environment or on hardware without solid driver support. This issue can be side-stepped by using Mint’s MATE edition which is more forgiving where video cards are concerned and which offers a very similar desktop experience.
On its own, Mint 18 impressed me with its ease of use, array of software, media support and friendly utilities. However, where I think Mint really shines is when we compare Mint to its parent. Mint and Ubuntu mostly use the same packages and both strive to provide friendly desktop environments. When Ubuntu 16.04 launched a few months ago I tried it and found the desktop regularly crashed, the software manager would lock-up, Ubuntu failed to integrate with VirtualBox and the desktop was incredibly slow to respond. While Mint shares a lot of software with its parent, the Mint developers have managed to avoid all of the problems I encountered with Ubuntu and I was very pleased with this.
I was quite happy with Mint 18 and I would recommend it for most people, particularly Linux newcomers. The distribution manages to deliver a feature-rich, friendly experience with a minimal amount of problems.
Unixmen: Linux Mint 18 has it all
Unixmen also did a full review of Linux Mint 18, and its review also includes instructions on how to install multimedia codecs.
Chris Jones reports for Unixmen:
As we mentioned at the beginning of the Review, multimedia codecs are no longer installed out-of-the-box in Linux Mint 18. Instead of complaining about this decision, just go ahead and install them by running the following command in your terminal console as soon as your new system has completed installation:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install mint-meta-codecs
We are really happy with the results of Linux Mint 18. Once you have switched to the new theme and installed the multimedia codecs, there’s not much left to do. Mint 18 has it all. It’s selection of software is very well thought out and leaves very little for users to worry about post-installation.
Then there is the ‘Ubuntu-factor’ that can not be ignored. Linux Mint 18 traditionally depends on its Ubuntu heritage for a majority of its packages by utilizing its software repositories, in addition to its own dedicated repository for more updated packages that don’t make their way into the Ubuntu ones. Combined, you will find that you have a extensive package selection at your fingertips – all from inside Mint 18.
Matthew Moore: Two thumbs up for Linux Mint 18
Matthew Moore did a video review of Linux Mint 18 for YouTube and gave it two thumbs up:
Did you miss a roundup? Check the Eye On Open home page to get caught up with the latest news about open source and Linux.