Mint Linux

I've been trying out Mint Linux (http://linuxmint.com/) for the last few months. It is a multimedia distro based on Ubuntu. My motivation is I would like to find a usable distro for the "average user". I tried version 7 and was impressed. Version 8 is less impressive but still functional. When the 64 bit version came out I gave it a try and was not impressed at all by the way it handled KDE. Granted both Mint and Ubuntu prefer the Gnome interface, I prefer KDE. Gnome works fine for those looking to give it a try.

As with most modern Linux distros Mint comes on a live disk (CD/DVD). This is to say it will run off the disk and not touch the hard drive on a computer unless the user chooses to do so. The option to install the operating system is available as an icon on the desktop. It's sort of a "try before you buy" situation. The thing the user needs to bear in mind is because it is running off of the disk it will be SLOW. Once installed on the hard drive it is much faster.

This particular disro has a fairly high "wow" factor. Particularly if the user has an interest in multimedia.