> My questions for LMDE users: > * If you're a more advanced linux user, what don't you like about it? > * How is the community for support and bug fixing? I have been using Ubuntu since it came out, but found it floundering in the last couple of years. As I get new machines or need to reinstall for whatever reason, I've been trying out new distros. One of my computers has LMDE on it. Others will probably get LMDE or vanilla Debian as their turn comes up. * The community has been good. Less knowledgeable than the Gentoo forums were back in the day, less knowledgeable than the smart people on the Ubuntu forums, but a much more friendly crowd. * Bug fixing is hit and miss, depending on how popular the package is and how busy the package maintainer is. Mostly good though. > * How does it compare to my near decade experience (I realize I gave a > brief synopsis of this) with Arch Linux? > * Are there custom kernel options that are pre-compiled (for example, > I use a pre-compiled Intel -ck package for Arch; have not had time for > custom patching / compiling kernels for about two years now)? When I was a Gentoo user, I fussed with my settings constantly. Working around bugs, seeking better and better optimizations. When I finally switched to Ubuntu and now LMDE I didn't feel a need to tinker with the OS or compile options because (nearly) everything Just Worked. The milliseconds I lost by using the default kernel have been more than reclaimed by the time I spend not worrying about my config files. The couple of packages I really care about (Inkscape, ffmpeg and a few others), I check out their source code directly and compile them separately. I file bugs and suggestions directly with the projects themselves. The rest of the OS stays with whatever kernel, gcc, python, etc. version LMDE is using. > I'm spending more and more time over the past couple > of years adapting...I find it annoying I have to invest unexpected time to fix things on my > 3+ year old install of Arch with updates and new big changes If you can convince yourself to stick with stock packages for the stuff you don't care about LMDE shouldn't cause you many troubles this way. > * I noticed some of the packages are a couple weeks behind compared to > Arch repos (for example, Firefox). Is this because more testing is > involved before releasing updates as stable? http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1781 This blog post is about a year old, but it says packages are pulled from Debian Testing monthly, which probably accounts for the delay. LMDE is a good distro. It's Debian based which means tutorials, support and packages abound and the community is decent. I don't LOVE it like I did Gentoo back when I discovered Linux, or Ubuntu in the early years, but it's good and I can give it a stamp of approval. Best of luck, Michael -- http://fridleyfarmer.com -- The Fridley Farmer http://stuporglue.org -- Web programming, Moore's Ramblings III and other Miscellaneous Projects