The journey to Linux Mint XFCE
The Working Centre’s Computer Recycling Project has been using Xubuntu Linux since late 2009. Xubuntu Linux is far from the flashiest, or most elegant Linux distribution (collection of software), but it tended to work really well on the older hardware we were refurbishing.
When Xubuntu 20.04 (2020) was released there were enough changes that we started looking at the possibility we might want to consider switching the distribution we install on our refurbished computers to something else. At one point we found a major bug where almost every system we installed Xubuntu 20.04 on would freeze the printer dialog box if we tried to choose another driver. It seemed like a long time before this bug got fixed, something that I really wouldn’t expect should happen in an LTS release.
With Xubuntu 22.04 Canonical started forcing snap packages on all official release users. Snaps are not necessarily a bad thing, if you ask me, but not giving people a choice is. I won’t go too much into snap packages here, or snapcraft.io, the Canonical owned snap store, but I will mention that if you’re interested, you should look at the terms of service on their web site (hint: it actually excludes youth under 14 without their parent’s permission – imagine not being able to install software because you’re too young).
The final “nail in the coffin” for me was Xubuntu 24.04.1. While a lot improved between the release of 24.04 and 24.04.1, more pre-installed software was converted to a snap, and every system we installed Xubuntu 24.04.1 on, and updated, started throwing “xwrapper” crash messages. A lot of our clients who updated started calling and emailing us about the crash messages. And while the error doesn’t appear to break anything, the persistent error makes less experienced users thing something is seriously wrong with their computer. Software crashes on Linux Mint XFCE too, but it’s less in your face, and all crash reports are available through the mint System Reports tool.
Linux Mint 21.3 Improved Performance On Some Machines
One of the biggest attractions of Linux Mint was the fact that version 21.3 uses an old enough kernel that we were able to compile the old NVidia driver for computers like the Lenovo T530 (3rd gen i5 which uses the GF108M mobile Nvidia graphics). While there was a driver for this GPU when we typed “drivers” in Xubuntu 22.04, it would always fail to install (because the kernel is newer in 22.04 than Mint 21.3, and the code for the driver cannot compile against that newer kernel). This perk goes away if you switch to Linux Mint 22 as it has a newer kernel, but since the end of life for Linux Mint 21.3 is 2027, this is a pretty big boost for those laptops. The difference between the proprietary Nvidia driver and the open source driver was pretty significant. We used phoronix-test-suite to run OpenArena at 1024×768. Using the proprietary Nvidia driver we got around 127 FPS (Frames Per Second). Using the open source driver saves power, but drops the frame rate to only 66 FPS. Why only 1024×768, why not 1600×900, the native resolution of the T530? The phoronix-test-suite test for openarena only runs resolutions of: 800×600,1024×768,1920×1080, and 2560×1440. We chose a resolution (1024×768) that would work on anything we could run the test on to provide consistency in our benchmarks.
Software, And More Software
Mint also has some nice extra software with the default install, including timeshift (for creating system restore points), mintbackup (for backing up your home directory and other data), warpinator (for transferring files between systems – including Windows systems), and the mint image writer (a USB key writer for Linux ISO images).
While Linux Mint can take advantage of the flatpak format, there are no flatpaks installed on the default install of Linux Mint XFCE (21.3 or 22), and when we install extra software on machines we don’t install any flatpaks. End users can choose to install flatpak versions of software if they wish. I think Ankush Das does a nice job of summarizing the differences between flatpaks and snaps in his article Flatpak vs. Snap: 10 Differences You Should Know. In the article Ankush points out some of the positives and negatives of each form of software delivery.
I’m also going to mention AppImages, which are different from either of the software packaging and delivery systems above. I mention AppImages because Linux Mint XFCE seems to handle them a little bit better than Xubuntu. While all the AppImages I’ve made and tried have worked on Xubuntu, I noticed that Linux Mint XFCE showed a launch icon I’d embedded into a game I made as an AppImage, but Xubuntu just showed a generic icon. It’s a minor thing, but worth noting.
The last part of software differences has to do with the software centre’s in each platform. The software centre’s are important because they tend to be the face of software installation. While the Xubuntu 24.04.1 is miles faster (it looks better too) than the GNOME Software Centre that used to be used by Xubuntu in older releases, there isn’t an option for integration of flatpaks (you can still install flatpaks from command line if you’ve added flatpak support, but there’s no integration into the snap store as of 24.04.1). This could change in the future, and it’s still possible to integrate flatpaks into the old GNOME software centre (which can be installed alongside the snap store). The snap store is what Xubuntu has needed for awhile (in terms of speed and looks/usability), it’s unfortunate that the stress is on snaps. It is possible as of Xubuntu 24.04.1 to install deb (Debian packages) from the apt repositories through the snap store, but flatpaks are out for the moment.
Linux Mint’s Software Manager application does have to cache packages at the start like the GNOME software centre, but Mint’s Software Manager is quicker to display items, and does it in a nicer, more intuitive fashion. It’s also immediately obvious what is a flatpak versus what is from an apt repository. Software distributed as a flatpak have a little flathub icon and text below the application’s main icon within the manager.
Resemblance to Windows
While neither Linux Mint XFCE, nor Xubuntu look like Windows 11, Linux Mint XFCE starts with the panel (taskbar) at the bottom of the screen. Xubuntu’s default panel sits at the top of the screen. Up until Xubuntu 24.04.1 I would have said Linux Mint XFCE looks better. I actually love the new look Xubuntu adopted, but overall, I think Linux Mint has a few more theme options available included with the distribution.
Hotkeys
This is a funny thing to nitpick on, but I’ve become accustomed to the hot keys implemented in Xubuntu. It’s simple to hold the Windows (called Super key in Linux) key and press T to open a terminal. In Linux Mint XFCE you have to hold CTRL and ALT, then press the T key to do the same thing (that also actually works in Xubuntu). Xubuntu also has a shortcut for the default web browser (Windows key + W), Linux Mint does not. Pressing the Windows key in Linux Mint XFCE immediately brings up the whisker (panel) menu. In Xubuntu pressing the Windows key will also bring up the whisker menu if you let the Windows key go immediately, but if you hold the Windows key down it doesn’t open the menu – a difference between the two XFCE implementations. Hot keys are mostly there in Linux Mint, but you’ll have to learn the differences if you’ve gotten used to Xubuntu’s set of hot keys. In both distributions you can learn what many of the keys are by opening the whisker menu, typing the word keyboard, launching the keyboard application and selecting the Application Shortcuts tab. It’s possible under both distributions to create your own shortcuts, but this gets a bit troublesome if you change systems and forget to port your shortcuts.
Performance In Games And Productivity
In our testing there was little difference between Linux Mint and Xubuntu when it came to performance, other than what we previously noted for older NVidia graphics. In most testing Xubuntu tended to be slightly ahead a frame or two, but it was such a small difference — again with the exception of older NVidia cards.
Overall
My main workstation at home is still Ubuntu/Xubuntu Linux because of a quirk in the Handbrake video encoder on Linux Mint XFCE. Handbrake works fine in Linux Mint, but when you add a file to be encoded it always returns to the top level directory, so you have to drill down to any sub-directories from the top directory. Handbrake in Ubuntu/Xubuntu remembers the last directory you were in. This saves a lot of time when you have several hundred files in the same directory.
Were it not for this minor annoyance I would be running Mint in my main workstation. We do have Linux Mint XFCE on a couple of other computers, and my main workstation at work (outside of Computer Recycling) is also running Linux Mint.
There is a lot to like about Linux Mint:
- It’s user-friendly.
- The software store is quite a bit faster than GNOME Software.
- It has some really useful/practical applications: timeshift, backup, warpinator.
- The older version (21.3 is supported until 2027) has support for some cards that Xubuntu hasn’t supported for awhile.
- It supports flatpak, which is open source both on the application and server side.
- Changing kernels is fairly easy (not something end users would normally do, but because Mint makes it simple, it’s a bit more accessible).
- The theme of Linux Mint is a bit dark, but it looks polished.
- The Debian-based packaging system is familiar for anyone who has used in *buntu or Debian.
- Xed, the default text editor in Linux Mint XFCE, has some nice features like bracket completion, making coding a bit quicker.
- When an application crashes in Linux Mint XFCE, the details can be found in the System Reports application. When an application crashes in Xubuntu there’s a crash report prompting the user to send a report. From a developer perspective this might be desirable, but for newer Linux users the crash reporting is both scary (what’s wrong with my computer) and annoying. When the reports persist, it’s even worse. Mint’s System Reports tool lets users choose when they want to report.
Back when we evaluated Linux Mint in 2010 we felt Xubuntu was a bit ahead of the curve, it seemed to have less issues on the hardware we were using at the time. Things change and now Linux Mint seems to support a wider range of hardware, and making it easy to swap kernels is a big plus for system builders. I think Mint has leaped ahead with a few extra useful tools Xubuntu lacks, but if your main activity is encoding media Xubuntu is still a great choice.