LMDE is based on Debian’s Testing platform and its release is based on the rolling distribution. This means that you just install it once for all and all future updates/upgrades come in the rolling fashion. Unlike Ubuntu and other version of Linux Mint, you do not need to do the re-install any more whenever a stable edition comes out. I really like this idea that I installed LMDE on my own computer that I use on daily basis. This entry itself was posted with my computer running LMDE.

Having used Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04 and 10.10 and Linux Mint 8 and 9, I like this Linux Mint release based on Debian. It is extremely fast and is not as resource hungry as Ubuntu and other version of Linux Mint.

However, I do face some challenges that can easily be solved otherwise. Right now I am facing the challenge of installing Skype and Google Earth. Have tried many times but have not been successful so far. If you know how to do it, please let me know. Thanks!

Good News! I just fond that I can install Skype or any applications using a .deb file by first installing gdebi using Synaptic and then type this terminal command “sudo gdebi whatever_filename.deb” to install any application as long as it has the .deb file. I learned this trick from this blog. For the installation and use of Google Earth in LMDE, the problem most people are experiencing has nothing to do with the installation procedures. The root problem is unlike anything you can think of – click here to see how I got this problem with Google Earth in LMDE resolved.

The newest Ubuntu is around the corner. Among all other improvements, the booting and shutting down time has been reduced further compared to version 9.10 – our testing shows that it boots and shut down it in less than 20 seconds.

We use Ubuntu and Linux Mint on all our computers in the office. However, because our accounting software – Simply Accounting – only runs in Microsoft Windows, we installed Microsoft Windows on some computer inside Ubuntu/Linux Mint via Sun Microsystems’ VirtualBox. Yes, you can run Windows XP or 7 inside a Linux PC – not dual-boot – but run Windows XP or 7 via VirtualBox just like running a normal Linux program. And you can even move the entire Windows install to another PC without re-install.

Last weekend we chose to change one of our computers from Ubuntu to Linux Mint and this computer had Windows XP installed inside Ubuntu via VirtualBox. BTW, we did notice that Windows run very slow on this computer – we did some cleaning and run disk defrag but it still run slow. Anyway, because of this OS change, we backed up everything, including the .VirtualBox folder which contains this file winxp.img, the virtual file for Windows XP. We did notice that this winxp.img file is very big, about 18.3GB, which we thought normal initially.

After changing the OS for this computer from Ubuntu to Linux Mint, we tried to restore everything including Windows XP in VirtualBox. However, we could not get VirtualBox to use the huge winxp.img file we backed up together with all other files and folders in the .VirtualBox folder.

Having searched and tried very hard to re-use this huge winxp.img file but failed, we had no way but to re-create a new virtual disk and then install Windows XP fresh on that virtual disk. Realizing the old Windows XP image is 18.3 GB, we created the new virtual disk to be 40 GB and then installed Windows XP fresh and then installed all the same programs in it, just as in the case of the old Windows XP installation.

Then we found something that really shocked me. After we finished the installations of XP and all programs in it, we realized the new winxp.img file is not or even close to 18 GB – it is only around 2 GB!

This means that a fresh installation of XP and the same programs in it uses only 2 GB disk space while the same XP system used for a year or so grew to such a big size of 18 GB!

We understand that the browser surfing could accumulate a lot of cached files and a lot of other unused files could stay inside XP. But still 2 GB vs 18 GB is a huge gap. This may explain why Microsoft Windows becomes slow and slow with time.

BTW, the freshly installed XP inside VirtualBox run much faster than the old copy. But we worry how soon this 2 GB installation will grow to 18 GB or even close to 40 GB that we have set it for

No surprise! We started almost all the same with PCs that came with Windows XP, Vista or 7 preinstalled. Microsoft Windows is not too bad when it is freshly installed. But all Windows computers share the same problem – the longer you use it, the slower it gets.

The solution? Switch to a Linux Desktop operating system!

After numerous tests, we settled down with Ubuntu. And we recommend Kubuntu if you like the KDE desktop system and Linux Mint if you like the GNOME desktop system.

We are currently building this website. We will explain more why we recommend Kubuntu and Linux Mint as we build this site up.

If you are testing or using Ubuntu or Linux Mint but need help, please go to Ubuntu Linux Mint Community.