Ubuntu vs the world
How the Ubuntu family tree rules the waves.
While you can credit Ubuntu for helping establish Linux as a mainstream alternative, it isn’t the only distro that’s designed for use as a regular desktop. The distro that has spawned several spins and downstream projects is itself based on a project that adorns many a desktops. Besides Ubuntu there are several other projects that are toiling hard to create the perfect desktop distro that will appeal to a wide range of use cases.
The outstanding pupil
Linux Mint is one of the most popular distros built on top of Ubuntu. Despite this connection, the two have grown apart quite a lot and take different approaches to providing an easy to use and intuitive desktop.
One of the main reasons for Linux Mint’s popularity is its custom tools. Fans of the distro like the fact that Mint packages the best of Ubuntu in a more usable and relatable desktop. The core component of its enhanced usability experience is its home-brewed Cinnamon desktop that has established itself as a mainstream desktop environment that follows the conventional desktop metaphor. So while Ubuntu went ahead with Unity despite users voicing their displeasure, Mint paid attention to the users’ frowns and tried to look for a solution by initially introducing a set of extensions for Gnome 3 and then building its own desktop.
Both Ubuntu’s and Mint’s desktop shell take cues from proprietary desktops. But while Ubuntu will feel familiar to users from Mac OS X, Mint will appeal to users coming from a Windows desktop. For new users getting familiar with and navigating Ubuntu’s Unity takes more time than it takes to get started with Mint’s Cinnamon.
Cinnamon features a taskbar at the bottom of the desktop which has a Start menu-esque Mint Menu that brings up a categorised list of apps and gives you access to the various settings on your computer. You can even add shortcuts to the side of your taskbar to mimic Windows’ quick launch behaviour. Another reason for Mint’s popularity is its ease of customisation; Mint has loads of settings for tweaking everything down to the minute details of your interface.
Although Linux Mint bundles its own custom settings tool that can be used to influence the appearance of the desktop and tweak compositing effects, some of its elements are similar to Ubuntu’s. The one major difference is the Device Drivers tool. In contrast to the one that’s bundled with Ubuntu, Mint’s tool has a tweaked user interface and helps users make an informed decision about which drivers to use for their devices.
In terms of applications, both Ubuntu and Mint come with a set of preinstalled apps that cover most of your needs, but Mint supplies a wider collection. It’s also a lot more usable straight out of the box as it ships with the popular codecs and plugins. For adding apps, Mint uses its own Software Manager app which isn’t as slick as the UbuntuSoftwareCenter, but does its job nicely.
Going upstream
Ubuntu is based on Debian’s Unstable branch but the two have marked differences. For starters, Debian caters to over a dozen hardware architectures as compared to Ubuntu’s three supported architectures: 32-bit, 64-bit and ARM.
Also, while the Debian installer can be used by first time users, it puts more emphasis on flexibility and rolls up enough
options to be of use to experienced campaigners as well. While it selects sensible default options, it allows users to customise selections at every step of the installation process.
Visually speaking, Debian defaults to a stock Gnome release and the distro boasts of one of the largest repos of software so you can replace the desktop with virtually any of the available options. One of the biggest difference between the two is in the age of the package available in their respective repos. Ubuntu’s software is usually more current than Debian’s, but as a trade-off, Debian’s software tends to be more thoroughly tested and stable. The two distros also use different security models: Ubuntu does away with the root user and instead uses sudo .
Debian’s packages are divided into three main repositories: Unstable, Testing and Stable. Between these three repos Debian caters to users looking for stability at the cost of features as well as to users looking for bleeding edge software and everyone in between.
Lastly, Debian like Linux Mint is primarily a community supported project. All its maintainers get a vote on all issues, including the selection of a Debian Project Leader. Ubuntu does things differently. Although it does have a Community Council and Technical Board, Ubuntu’s founder Mark Shuttleworth is a permanent member of both, and is known to use his veto power to push certain changes through that he feels are important to Ubuntu’s and Canonical’s future, some of which we’ll see in Xenial Xerus 16.04 LTS in 2016.