Mint 12

[hazelnut]

Trying the new Linux Mint 12 live cd out.

 

It sure looks different to Windows

[Winapp2.ini]

Neat, thanks Hazel.

[DennisD]

Looks good and it isn't green. (Unless you've changed it )

[hazelnut]

Looks good and it isn't green. (Unless you've changed it )

 

Not sure Dennis You know how it is when you are trying out a new distro, you turn something on by accident and then you have to figure out what you did

[login123]

Thanks, Hazel. Will try it soon.

 

Downloading it now, at the blistering rate of ... 185kb per second.

 

I've gotta get after those hoodlums at AT&T, I think I am paying for a faster connection than that.

[DennisD]

1gb!

 

I wonder if the full version will squeeze onto a 1gb flash drive?

 

I've an 8gb in case it doesn't, but I'll give it a try.

 

EDIT: Download says it's 1.1gb.

[Icedrake]

Tried Mint 12 and disliked it quite a bit. Their Gnome-Shell extensions are pretty nice, but I don't get why they had to leave 2 bars. It would've been better if they were combined into one bar, and made it look Mint-like because both of the bars have the same function and the top bar is the more useful of the two. You can accomplish this by disabling the bottom bar extension, but when it combines with the top bar, it looks absolutely terrible.

 

Another point: They also need to update the version of Faenza that they are using. Some of the icons are out-dated and have been replaced by the newer versions.

 

However, Gnome-Shell really is quite nice. And if you're really looking for a pure Gnome-Shell experience, make sure to try out Fedora. Fedora 16 is actually quite nice, been using it now with Ubuntu 11.10. Can't decide which is better; Gnome-Shell or Unity.

 

@Dennis: You can download the CD version, the size of that is only around 700 mbs.

[DennisD]

I gave up downloading it Ice it was so slow.

 

I wanted to try the full version, but I may just have another go downloading tomorrow.

 

If that distro is similar to others, then once you've disabled the bottom bar you should then be able to move the top one to the bottom which is what I always did with either Puppy or Ubuntu (can't remember which or it may have been both).

[Icedrake]

I gave up downloading it Ice it was so slow.

 

I wanted to try the full version, but I may just have another go downloading tomorrow.

 

If that distro is similar to others, then once you've disabled the bottom bar you should then be able to move the top one to the bottom which is what I always did with either Puppy or Ubuntu (can't remember which or it may have been both).

Yep, when you disable the bottom bar it seems to automatically combine with the top bar. However, that makes the top bar look pretty ugly. Try a secondary download link at the bottom, I gave up trying to download from the main links as well. The secondary ones were faster for me.

[Super Fast]

Looks neat. Still needs work, but seems like each generation has better driver support, cleaner/better graphics, & updates to work a little easier.

 

Love to see it by version 25 or so...

 

[Icedrake]

Looks neat. Still needs work, but seems like each generation has better driver support, cleaner/better graphics, & updates to work a little easier.

 

Love to see it by version 25 or so...

 

Version 25... If you go by Ubuntu's release cycle that's in around another 12.5 years!

[login123]

I gave up downloading it Ice it was so slow.

 

I wanted to try the full version, but I may just have another go downloading tomorrow.

. . .

 

Yep, that's what I had to do also. First efforts got 2 different files, wrong size, wrong md5 sums. Finally got it from the site in Canada. Took about an hour and a half (the download rate soared to 215kb/sec once .

 

On here now with it, looks pretty good.

 

Won't let me upload a picture to photobucket, just freezes. Was trying to upload the startup desktop, it is sort of artistic.

 

Still exploring.

[login123]

An interesting thing happened on the way to the forum. :-)

Its a bit annoying,

I used print screen on the keyboard while in Mint 12 to make screenshots.

Saved them to an external USB drive, using these filenames:

Screenshot at 2011-11-28 15:50:00_2.xcf. (the default file extension in mint 12 ??)

Screenshot at 2011-11-28 15:50:00_3.jpeg (using GIMP)

and

Screenshot at 2011-11-28 15:50:00.png. (using GIMP)

 

They all opened OK in Mint 12.

 

They are still there now, visible in windows, but they won't open with the picture & fax viewer, nor paint, nor my old photo editing app which opens everything.

 

They won't delete. Unlocker won't delete them. Offers to delete them on reboot. Couple of other "super file zappers" say they cannot read from the source or disk.

 

Just posted this because I don't know why the normal looking files won't delete...if Mint 12 does that for all the files one saves to a USB drive thats bad.

 

Still exploring, will try to delete on reboot.

[hazelnut]

What happens if you take them with the Mint screenshot app and save them, do they open in Windows?

[login123]

Be careful ...

I'm having difficulty deleting those picture files saved by Mint 12 to the usb drive.

 

So far:

- deleting them normally in windows doesn't work, says "Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source file or disk."

- unlocker wouldn't delete them at once or on reboot.

- dos won't delete them

- - the del command in C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe (start / run / cmd) says it cannot find them

- - the del command in C:\WINDOWS\system32\command.com says it cannot find them

- - the dir command from both dos apps shows them to be there.

 

Have no idea what is going on here, what have I planted on my usb drive?

Am probably overlooking something obvious. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[login123]

What happens if you take them with the Mint screenshot app and save them, do they open in Windows?

 

Nope, that is how I made the pictures, and nothing here will open them. Some of these photo apps say the file type is unsupported, some say the file cannot be found. ??

 

Edit: Problem solved. Started up with the Mint 12 DVD and navigated to the Mint12_Lisa folder and just deleted the picture files. Back in windows now and theyre GONE!! Easy as that. :-)

 

Still have no idea why windows would not delete those files. Any ideas? Might help someone else to know what was going on there.

[DennisD]

I've no idea, but I know a guy who won't be able to resist going down the same road.

[login123]

I've no idea, but I know a guy who won't be able to resist going down the same road.

 

Glad you said that. I am going to try it again, and now I can admit it.

[Super Fast]

@ login123:

 

Doesn't work in XP, so you say, but what about in Windows 7/ Vista? Does it work in those OS?

 

Perhaps it has a permissions problem. What I mean to say is, that sometimes when you access folders on an external drive from within Windows XP/Vista/7, they have the option to click here to gain permissions permanently to a file/folder. Usually, the Documents & Settings\(user name) under XP & Users\(user name) under Vista & 7. But they have other folders from time to time that exhibit similar characteristics.

 

Do you suppose that Mint 12 is giving them special permissions that prevent it's deletion from within Windows?

[DennisD]

Downloading the CD version now, at a reasonable rate (just under 450kb/s) from the French secondary download mirror.

 

But what a strange quirk that the name of the mirror reads as it does ...

 

 

If you need an explanation:

[Alan_B]

Still have no idea why windows would not delete those files. Any ideas? Might help someone else to know what was going on there.

I am the "Go To Guy" for special ideas

 

Here is my best shot.

 

Mint includes its own formatting Partition Manager,

and when Mint created those files it converted those sectors from the FAT32 file system format to something like EXT2.

EXT2 is the format recommended by

http://linux.koolsol...or-usb-devices/

[login123]

I am the "Go To Guy" for special ideas

...

 

You are for sure. You and Super Fast are way over my head, but I'll try most any suggestions.

 

I do intend to duplicate that experience, because if Mint 12 files get "stuck" on a windows system we need to know it.

 

@ Super Fast. Good questions. The drive is a "spinner" not an SSD. Used for storage. Also, I don't know what would happen with win 7, don't have it. Yet.

 

Those pictures seemed to be just a simple create & copy until I tried to delete them. The file extensions looked OK. It just seems that windows couldn't "find" them. There was another file in the folder, a .txt file, and it behaved normally (edit, save, copy, delete, etc).

 

Right now, I'm going to boot up Mint 12 and use LibreOffice (its included in the DVD) to create a file or 2, then make those screenshots again, and put it all into a new folder, then come back in windows and see what happens. Only problem is time, Mint 12 boots sloooowly here.

[hazelnut]

Fired up Mint 12 to test this for you login.

 

(I think that anyone who doesn't know about live cd's will think it is not going to work as after the initial screen it goes black for a minute or so, then says configuring network, then goes black again before it all starts up properly !))

 

Anyway to task in hand, I booted up Mint and when desktop was loaded I typed in screenshot. The screenshot little box came up, I plugged in an 8gb Sandisk and saved the screenshot of the desktop to it.

 

I checked in Sandisk that it had been saved.

 

I told Mint to shut down, took out disc and removed Sandisk.

 

Then I started pc and in Windows I plugged in Sandisk and could see the saved png. I opened it using paint and then opened it using fax and picture viewer. No problems.

 

Then I deleted it. Again no problems.

 

I have no ideas why you had that problem. Did you reboot (not cold boot) into Windows with the flash drive still inserted?

[login123]

What happens if you take them with the Mint screenshot app and save them, do they open in Windows?

 

Edit: Thanks, Hazel, you posted that while I was editing this.

 

Hazel, I was wrong, had used the gimp screenshot. Found the Mint 12 screenshot at "menu > accessories > screenshot" and it worked. Thanks for the gentle suggestion. :-)

 

So here is what has transpired. I made a bunch of files Using Mint 12: .doc, .pdf, .xcf (it's a GIMP file), presentation files (like Powerpoint), and .txt files.

 

They all open, copy, edit, etc normally in windows (the presentation files won't, but I didn't expect them to). All can be moved and deleted. Everything is working OK now.

 

No idea what happened before. Would like to know, but probably never will.

[login123]

@Hazel.

...Did you reboot (not cold boot) into Windows with the flash drive still inserted?

 

Answer is yes: Shut down Mint 12, removed the DVD, booted with the USB drive plugged in as normal. Its a big old external HD.

 

And yes, booting a linux cd is scary, I keep wondering whats happening, is this a disaster, oh dear oh dear, etc.

 

So far, never a glitch with any of them except this last time with the stubborn files, but that's OK too, now.