Linux Mint is a free and open source operating system and Linux distribution, presented as an alternative to Microsoft Windows and Apple MacOS as a low cost, lightweight but adequate alternative. According to its developers, the purpose of Linux Mint is to produce a modern, elegant and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use.
The value proposition for using Linux Mint are:
- It works out of the box, with full multimedia support and is easy to use.
- It's both free of cost and open source.
- It's community-driven. Users are encouraged to send feedback to the project so that their ideas can be used to improve Linux Mint.
- Based on Debian and Ubuntu, it provides about 30,000 packages and one of the best software managers.
- Safe and reliable with a conservative approach to software updates, a unique Update Manager and the robustness of its Linux architecture.
- Linux Mint requires very little maintenance (no regressions, no antivirus, no anti-spyware...etc).
It can be deployed on desktop and laptop computers and includes a fee integrated apps right out fo the box. These support:
- Graphic Design - Work in 3D with Blender, draw or edit pictures in Gimp, use Inkscape for vector graphics.
Productivity - With LibreOffice's office suite, use the word processor, make presentations, drawings, spreadsheets or even databases, or import from or export to PDF or Microsoft Office documents.
- Multimedia - Music, TV and movies, listen to podcasts, Spotify and online radio.
Linux Mint can be downloaded currently in three different editions:
- Cinnamon Edition - This version of Linux Mint is currently, according to the developers, the most popular and boasts feature-completeness, and end user friendliness.
- MATE Edition - Linux Mint is also involved in the development of MATE, a classic desktop environment which is the continuation of GNOME 2, Linux Mint’s default desktop between 2006 and 2011. Although it misses a few features and its development is slower than Cinnamon’s, MATE runs faster, uses fewer resources and is more stable than Cinnamon.
- Xfce Edition - Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment. It doesn’t support as many features as Cinnamon or MATE, but is more stable and lighter on resource usage.