Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if the Mint team decided to
make LMDE the main Linux Mint, it would arguably be easier on them AND
it could help facilitate the transition from Windows to Linux for more people.
Of course, I could be completely wrong here, but I'd like to know if
anyone else feels the same or different.
Pretty much what the subject line says. I haven't really touched anything Ubuntu (or Ubuntu-adjacent) in years - I'm not counting Debian and derivatives for obvious reasons, but I did download the latest version of Ubuntu a few weeks back to play with in a VM. To me, it's MUCH less like
the Ubuntu I used to use when I was new to Linux (2010-2012), or even
what
I used to run on a Chromebook. To say that it feels like the third choice for an overlord (Microsoft, Apple, Canonical) isn't 100% accurate, but
it's the closest phrasing.
No, I'm not being ideological, all three seem to be creating problems for solutions that just result in more problems, put broadly.
Anyway, the main reason I'm bringing this up is because, on the side, I refurbish laptops and sell for about $200. They're not cutting-edge or anything, but still useful. Obviously, I'm installing LMDE on them
because, from the perspective of someone who made Linux look like Windows for years (muscle memory), I'm a HUGE fan of the Cinnamon desktop, as
well
as the Mint tooling in general. Granted, as a Debian user, stability is pretty-damn important to me, pardon the French, and I also feel that
Debian, when the DIY aspect is replaced with something more complete (basically what LMDE nicely does), it can easily throw out the argument
for what Ubuntu has become, though I say this through the lens of someone whose main OS has been some Linux distro for basically ten years now.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if the Mint team decided to
make
LMDE the main Linux Mint, it would arguably be easier on them AND it
could
help facilitate the transition from Windows to Linux for more people.
Of course, I could be completely wrong here, but I'd like to know if
anyone else feels the same or different.
On Thu, 7/23/2026 9:40 PM, Adam wrote:
Pretty much what the subject line says. I haven't really touchedIf the deals between Clem and Canonical break down, LMDE is the "escape capsule".
anything Ubuntu (or Ubuntu-adjacent) in years - I'm not counting Debian
and derivatives for obvious reasons, but I did download the latest
version of Ubuntu a few weeks back to play with in a VM. To me, it's
MUCH less like the Ubuntu I used to use when I was new to Linux
(2010-2012), or even what I used to run on a Chromebook. To say that it
feels like the third choice for an overlord (Microsoft, Apple,
Canonical) isn't 100% accurate, but it's the closest phrasing.
No, I'm not being ideological, all three seem to be creating problems
for solutions that just result in more problems, put broadly.
Anyway, the main reason I'm bringing this up is because, on the side, I
refurbish laptops and sell for about $200. They're not cutting-edge or
anything, but still useful. Obviously, I'm installing LMDE on them
because, from the perspective of someone who made Linux look like
Windows for years (muscle memory), I'm a HUGE fan of the Cinnamon
desktop, as well as the Mint tooling in general. Granted, as a Debian
user, stability is pretty-damn important to me, pardon the French, and
I also feel that Debian, when the DIY aspect is replaced with something
more complete (basically what LMDE nicely does), it can easily throw
out the argument for what Ubuntu has become, though I say this through
the lens of someone whose main OS has been some Linux distro for
basically ten years now.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if the Mint team decided to
make LMDE the main Linux Mint, it would arguably be easier on them AND
it could help facilitate the transition from Windows to Linux for more
people.
Of course, I could be completely wrong here, but I'd like to know if
anyone else feels the same or different.
That's its purpose. It isn't just some random experiment, it is the
escape pod.
Ubuntu is high in the table on the right, but exactly why, escapes me.
https://distrowatch.com/
Paul
If the deals between Clem and Canonical break down, LMDE is the "escape capsule".
That's its purpose. It isn't just some random experiment, it is the
escape pod.
Ubuntu is high in the table on the right, but exactly why, escapes me.
https://distrowatch.com/
On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 23:24:18 -0400, Paul wrote:
If the deals between Clem and Canonical break down, LMDE is the "escape
capsule".
That's its purpose. It isn't just some random experiment, it is the
escape pod.
So far the Mint developers have been treating it as 'Break glass in case
of emergency'. Until/unless that changes people going with the flow
won't even notice it.
Ubuntu is high in the table on the right, but exactly why, escapes me.
https://distrowatch.com/
Well, it's distrowatch. CachyOS tops the list of search hits probably
because of the buzz in gamer circles. Whether it tops the list for real installs is something else. Mint is second, with MX third. I'm running Mint/Cinnamon on a laptop and MX/Xfce in a VM. I like MX but again I
don't know how many installations there are. Ubuntu is tenth, barely
making the top ten list.
I'm running Ubuntu 26.04 on this machine, more or less by a twist of
fate.
When I was setting it up two of the isos I had on hand didn't work and
Ubuntu did. I'm neither a fan of GNOME or snap but I've lived with it
and am too lazy to reinstall. Besides I have two other machines
Fedora/KDE and Leap 16/KDE that I use depending on my mood.
Mint and Zorin get talked up as beginners distros and I'm not sure why.
The MX Welcome dialog is quite nice and their tweak of Xfce has a
taskbar and start menu like Windows. I'm running Mint because I got
involved in a project at the library to help people transition from
Windows that uses Mint.
Pretty much what the subject line says. I haven't really touched anything Ubuntu (or Ubuntu-adjacent) in years - I'm not counting Debian and derivatives for obvious reasons, but I did download the latest version of Ubuntu a few weeks back to play with in a VM. To me, it's MUCH less like
the Ubuntu I used to use when I was new to Linux (2010-2012), or even
what
I used to run on a Chromebook. To say that it feels like the third choice
for an overlord (Microsoft, Apple, Canonical) isn't 100% accurate, but
it's the closest phrasing.
No, I'm not being ideological, all three seem to be creating problems for solutions that just result in more problems, put broadly.
Anyway, the main reason I'm bringing this up is because, on the side, I refurbish laptops and sell for about $200. They're not cutting-edge or anything, but still useful. Obviously, I'm installing LMDE on them
because, from the perspective of someone who made Linux look like Windows
for years (muscle memory), I'm a HUGE fan of the Cinnamon desktop, as
well
as the Mint tooling in general. Granted, as a Debian user, stability is pretty-damn important to me, pardon the French, and I also feel that
Debian, when the DIY aspect is replaced with something more complete (basically what LMDE nicely does), it can easily throw out the argument
for what Ubuntu has become, though I say this through the lens of someone whose main OS has been some Linux distro for basically ten years now.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if the Mint team decided to
make
LMDE the main Linux Mint, it would arguably be easier on them AND it
could
help facilitate the transition from Windows to Linux for more people.
Of course, I could be completely wrong here, but I'd like to know if
anyone else feels the same or different.
Le 24/07/2026 |a 03:40, Adam a |-crit-a:
Pretty much what the subject line says. I haven't really touched
anything Ubuntu (or Ubuntu-adjacent) in years - I'm not counting Debian
and derivatives for obvious reasons, but I did download the latest
version of Ubuntu a few weeks back to play with in a VM. To me, it's
MUCH less like the Ubuntu I used to use when I was new to Linux
(2010-2012), or even what I used to run on a Chromebook. To say that it
feels like the third choice for an overlord (Microsoft, Apple,
Canonical) isn't 100% accurate, but it's the closest phrasing.
No, I'm not being ideological, all three seem to be creating problems
for solutions that just result in more problems, put broadly.
Anyway, the main reason I'm bringing this up is because, on the side, I
refurbish laptops and sell for about $200. They're not cutting-edge or
anything, but still useful. Obviously, I'm installing LMDE on them
because, from the perspective of someone who made Linux look like
Windows for years (muscle memory), I'm a HUGE fan of the Cinnamon
desktop, as well as the Mint tooling in general. Granted, as a Debian
user, stability is pretty-damn important to me, pardon the French, and
I also feel that Debian, when the DIY aspect is replaced with something
more complete (basically what LMDE nicely does), it can easily throw
out the argument for what Ubuntu has become, though I say this through
the lens of someone whose main OS has been some Linux distro for
basically ten years now.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if the Mint team decided to
make LMDE the main Linux Mint, it would arguably be easier on them AND
it could help facilitate the transition from Windows to Linux for more
people.
Of course, I could be completely wrong here, but I'd like to know if
anyone else feels the same or different.
You have to be a wizard to get a user hooked on Linux.
Maybe, but I just like sharing information and letting people know what
their choices are.
On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 07:33:34 +0200, german newsgroups wrote:
Le 24/07/2026 |a 03:40, Adam a |-crit-a:
Pretty much what the subject line says. I haven't really touched
anything Ubuntu (or Ubuntu-adjacent) in years - I'm not counting Debian
and derivatives for obvious reasons, but I did download the latest
version of Ubuntu a few weeks back to play with in a VM. To me, it's
MUCH less like the Ubuntu I used to use when I was new to Linux
(2010-2012), or even what I used to run on a Chromebook. To say that it
feels like the third choice for an overlord (Microsoft, Apple,
Canonical) isn't 100% accurate, but it's the closest phrasing.
No, I'm not being ideological, all three seem to be creating problems
for solutions that just result in more problems, put broadly.
Anyway, the main reason I'm bringing this up is because, on the side, I
refurbish laptops and sell for about $200. They're not cutting-edge or
anything, but still useful. Obviously, I'm installing LMDE on them
because, from the perspective of someone who made Linux look like
Windows for years (muscle memory), I'm a HUGE fan of the Cinnamon
desktop, as well as the Mint tooling in general. Granted, as a Debian
user, stability is pretty-damn important to me, pardon the French, and
I also feel that Debian, when the DIY aspect is replaced with something
more complete (basically what LMDE nicely does), it can easily throw
out the argument for what Ubuntu has become, though I say this through
the lens of someone whose main OS has been some Linux distro for
basically ten years now.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if the Mint team decided to
make LMDE the main Linux Mint, it would arguably be easier on them AND
it could help facilitate the transition from Windows to Linux for more
people.
Of course, I could be completely wrong here, but I'd like to know if
anyone else feels the same or different.
You have to be a wizard to get a user hooked on Linux.
Maybe, but I just like sharing information and letting people know what their choices are.
One old geezer, he thought a fingerprint reader hump, was an "on-off
switch". He thought that if you pressed hard on it, it would turn
the phone on, like some kind of light switch. The tech support told
him it was a fingerprinter reader. Well, the light in the
refrigerator still wasn't going on. the individual was still
pressing that hump like it was a light switch. The helper said "roll
your finger across the sensor so it can read your finger". Nope,
light is still not on in the refrigerator. Geezer is still pressing
that fucking hump for all he is worth.
On another note, I DID play around with MX Linux and AntiX some in the
past, but it was mostly just in VMs. There wasn't anything that REALLY
stood out to me, apart from the lightweight OS, but they failed my
testing because of the rabbithole test. Perfectly capable, but not for
me.
"When rescuing someone who is drowning, always approach from the
back.
NEVER from the front. Drowning people have the instinct to climb to
whatever they can. If you come from the front, they will try to
drown you to get leverage. Not rational, simply an instinct."
He thought that if you pressed hard on it, it would turn the phone on,
like some kind of light switch. The tech support told him it was a fingerprinter reader. Well, the light in the refrigerator still wasn't
going on. the individual was still pressing that hump like it was a
light switch.
I'm installing LMDE on them
Adam wrote:
I'm installing LMDE on them
Good choice.
(again, a Debian/Fedora/[...]
Arch setup that looks and feels like Windows 10 by design is stupid, but
at the same time, completely necessary).
For $48 you can get Zorin Pro with 12 desktops that try to mimic
everything.
... I don't think that a DE that 'looks like' Win is 'the issue' for a neophyte linux user, because there are *plenty* of linux DEs that give a 'compatible' desktop experience that a superficial 'windowsness'
similarity isn't necessary.
The typical adjustment difficulties that the new linux user encounters
is the 'missing' Windows applications that s/he is accustomed to.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if the Mint team decided to
make
LMDE the main Linux Mint, it would arguably be easier on them AND it
could
help facilitate the transition from Windows to Linux for more people.
On 24/07/2026 02:40, Adam wrote:
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if the Mint team decided to
make
LMDE the main Linux Mint, it would arguably be easier on them AND it
could
help facilitate the transition from Windows to Linux for more people.
To make the transition as smooth as possible, the first thing you should
do is install the Microsoft fonts using these seven commands:
< sudo add-apt-repository multiverse >
< sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer >
< sudo fc-cache -f -v >
< wget -q -O - https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Blastoise/72e10b8af5ca359772ee64b6dba33c91/raw/2d7ab3caa27faa61beca9fbf7d3aca6ce9a25916/clearType.sh
| bash >
< wget -q -O - https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Blastoise/b74e06f739610c4a867cf94b27637a56/raw/96926e732a38d3da860624114990121d71c08ea1/tahoma.sh
| bash >
< wget -q -O - https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Blastoise/64ba4acc55047a53b680c1b3072dd985/raw/6bdf69384da4783cc6dafcb51d281cb3ddcb7ca0/segoeUI.sh
| bash >
< wget -q -O - https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Blastoise/d959d3196fb3937b36969013d96740e0/raw/429d8882b7c34e5dbd7b9cbc9d0079de5bd9e3aa/otherFonts.sh
| bash >
These commands will make sure that their LibreOffice documents look
exactly the same as their Microsoft Office documents. This will also
ease their mindset because they will have all the fonts they use/used in Windows.
x-posted to Ubuntu because they might also be doing something like what
you are doing.
... but... not everything in the Windows design is stupid. Every
time I go to save a file, and realise that I should have renamed or
copied the file before I started working on it, I think about how
Windows made their file explorer available as a standard dialog for
such operations in 1995, and wonder how much longer I will have to
wait for functionality like rename, move, delete in such standard
dialogs in Mate / Gnome / Cinnamon / etc.
The typical adjustment difficulties that the new linux user
encounters is the 'missing' Windows applications that s/he is
accustomed to.
The various large organizations or administrations that want to
'force' linux onto their hundreds or thousands of employees (such as
.eu) have variable 'ease' or success (or lack thereof) depending on
the nature of how to handle the transition.
These commands will make sure that their LibreOffice documents look
exactly the same as their Microsoft Office documents. This will also
ease their mindset because they will have all the fonts they
use/used in Windows.
On 24/07/2026 02:40, Adam wrote:
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if the Mint team decided to
make
LMDE the main Linux Mint, it would arguably be easier on them AND it
could
help facilitate the transition from Windows to Linux for more people.
To make the transition as smooth as possible, the first thing you should
do is install the Microsoft fonts using these seven commands:
< sudo add-apt-repository multiverse >
< sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer >
< sudo fc-cache -f -v >
< wget -q -O - https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Blastoise/72e10b8af5ca359772ee64b6dba33c91/raw/2d7ab3caa27faa61beca9fbf7d3aca6ce9a25916/clearType.sh
| bash >
< wget -q -O - https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Blastoise/b74e06f739610c4a867cf94b27637a56/raw/96926e732a38d3da860624114990121d71c08ea1/tahoma.sh
| bash >
< wget -q -O - https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Blastoise/64ba4acc55047a53b680c1b3072dd985/raw/6bdf69384da4783cc6dafcb51d281cb3ddcb7ca0/segoeUI.sh
| bash >
< wget -q -O - https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Blastoise/d959d3196fb3937b36969013d96740e0/raw/429d8882b7c34e5dbd7b9cbc9d0079de5bd9e3aa/otherFonts.sh
| bash >
These commands will make sure that their LibreOffice documents look
exactly the same as their Microsoft Office documents. This will also
ease their mindset because they will have all the fonts they use/used in Windows.
x-posted to Ubuntu because they might also be doing something like what
you are doing.
But back in X11R4 days, all the users who were using X11, were only
too aware of fonts, font conversion routines, the need to prepare
certain folders and update the font index for that folder
(xlsfonts?) and so on.
That's what I mean by spoiled -- nobody even thinks about their DE
needing fonts and someone has already provided them.
On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 01:15:17 +0100, George wrote:
These commands will make sure that their LibreOffice documents look
exactly the same as their Microsoft Office documents. This will also
ease their mindset because they will have all the fonts they use/used
in Windows.
I never knew that the typical Dimdows user even understood what a rCLfontrCY was.
That was supposed to be something only typography geeks cared about.
X11 even ran a font server back then. Ever dealt with one of those?
Moving font handling to the client app side, instead of the server side,
was one of those small steps that eventually led to Wayland.
On Fri, 7/24/2026 8:15 PM, George wrote:
On 24/07/2026 02:40, Adam wrote:
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if the Mint team decided to
make
LMDE the main Linux Mint, it would arguably be easier on them AND it
could
help facilitate the transition from Windows to Linux for more people.
To make the transition as smooth as possible, the first thing you should
do is install the Microsoft fonts using these seven commands:
< sudo add-apt-repository multiverse >
< sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer >
< sudo fc-cache -f -v >
< wget -q -O -
https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Blastoise/72e10b8af5ca359772ee64b6dba33c91/raw/2d7ab3caa27faa61beca9fbf7d3aca6ce9a25916/clearType.sh
| bash >
< wget -q -O -
https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Blastoise/b74e06f739610c4a867cf94b27637a56/raw/96926e732a38d3da860624114990121d71c08ea1/tahoma.sh
| bash >
< wget -q -O -
https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Blastoise/64ba4acc55047a53b680c1b3072dd985/raw/6bdf69384da4783cc6dafcb51d281cb3ddcb7ca0/segoeUI.sh
| bash >
< wget -q -O -
https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Blastoise/d959d3196fb3937b36969013d96740e0/raw/429d8882b7c34e5dbd7b9cbc9d0079de5bd9e3aa/otherFonts.sh
| bash >
These commands will make sure that their LibreOffice documents look
exactly the same as their Microsoft Office documents. This will also
ease their mindset because they will have all the fonts they use/used in
Windows.
x-posted to Ubuntu because they might also be doing something like what
you are doing.
These are typically installed as part of WINE.
I'm not good at doing WINE installs, but these might be in winetricks.
They aren't entirely unknown, to people who have fitted WINE to their install.
*******
We are spoiled today, by having "sufficient" fonts installed, to not
really care about them. There were "hard times", when the fonts available
to you, were teeth-grindingly bad.
I remember fonts typically came on a 5-+-inch floppy
disk which was best kept under lock and key. You didn't want someone to accidentally overwrite the disc after paying all that money for it.
Then came the internet, open source stuff, free fonts and all the rest
of it.
Good old times.
On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 10:28:39 +0200, Monsieur wrote:
[snip]
I remember fonts typically came on a 5-+-inch floppy disk which was best
kept under lock and key. You didn't want someone to accidentally
overwrite the disc after paying all that money for it.
Then came the internet, open source stuff, free fonts and all the rest
of it.
Good old times.
I remember that whenever I got something on a floppy, I would write-
protect it before use. If it was something that requires write access to
the distribution disk (not a good thing), I would use a copy. This
almost always worked (there were a few of those "assume you're a thief" things that were incompatible).
And if they ever complained that a font was missing and still had
access to the C:/windows/fonts folder (or put it on a usb before the
flip) then could put those in the $HOME/.fonts folder. Especially ttf
fonts. Not the whole windows/fonts folder, just select.
The ZIP file can be extracted, and the entire folder can be copied
or moved to '/usr/share/fonts/truetype/'.
On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:50:53 +0100, George wrote:
The ZIP file can be extracted, and the entire folder can be copied
or moved to '/usr/share/fonts/truetype/'.
I would recommend not doing that. Put it in /usr/local/share/fonts
instead.
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