Linux Mint 18.1 "Serena"

[viking60]

I downloaded Serena and chose the Xfce version since I believe that is the best DE.
Mint has Mate, Cinnamon, and KDE too if you prefer those. The Live CD pops up with a very nice Xfce desktop; here I chose "Install Linux Mint".

I could encrypt the disk and use LVM but I simply chose to erase the disk and install.

I picked my language and set my userID and chose proprietary drivers - all very easy!
After that the installer started to copy over the files - and that was it!
Installation finished - rebooted and:

I noticed that I did not have to enter the root data during install so I went to a terminal and typed

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su

and entered my "normal" password.

That worked like a charm so the installer does that for you without asking.

That makes the installation real easy and is a dream for a beginner.

Using it:
The first thing I do after an install is to update so I did a:

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apt-get update

followed by an

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apt get upgrade

there were a lot of updates.

I never liked apt-get that much so I will install pacapt so that I can use the Arch method now....
That worked right out of the box !

For people that do not know what a terminal is (and don't care) there is a nice "App store":



Just take your pick and click and install - it is easy.

All the Office programs are there and they look great.

You get an update manager that lets you manage your update policy:

That is convenient.

Mint is quite a "looker" - everything simply looks great.

More importantly - every thing just works too

This is an easy distro to like and clearly something to recommend for a greenhorn.

Don't get me wrong; Mint is very capable for the experienced user too - but it is better than most/all for beginners.

I just like it and hereby recommend it for beginners.

If I will use it? I am close...but probably not since I am to "Archefied".. tormenting myself with very complex updates and manual interventions

You don't get that with Linux Mint.

[viking60]

There is one concern regarding Linux Mint:

Since it is the most popular Linux distros it will attract hackers.

In February 2016 the Mint 17.3 Cinnamon ISO was hacked and a backdoor was planted. The PHPbb forum was also hacked so the compromised data were
Avatars, Dates of birth, Email addresses, Geographic locations, IP addresses, Passwords, Time zones, Website activity

So if you have installed the Mint ISO on Feb 20th 2016 - you better reinstall.

That is the burden of being popular.

Who was behind it?

The fashionable thing is to say "The Russians" but it looks very much like a strategy the NSA would use too and script kiddies do it all - so it is anybodies guess.

In the cyber war it is like with all wars; The first victim is always the truth.....