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Linux Mint drops Ubuntu Snap packages

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Re: Linux Mint drops Ubuntu Snap packages

#321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If desktop Linux is ever going to be mainstream there needs to be an easy to use "app store" where users can use a GUI to install apps which need to be sandboxed like on a mobile phone with defined permissions If this is what you're looking for out of a computer, then why not just use a phone, tablet, or something like ChromeOS?

Because there are lots of things a computer can do comfortably that a phone, tablet or chromebook can't. Sometimes there can be tradeoffs between convenience and security, but in the case of an app store the convenience actually enhances the security, because it diminishes the chance of people running random harmful commands from the Web.

There are a lot of things a metal lathe can do that other tools can't. But that doesn't mean a lathe is a good tool for everybody. In fact, it couldn't possibly be, because there are trade-offs between usefulness and safety. You just can't make a lathe that's safe for the casual user but useful to a professional user.

Re: Linux Mint drops Ubuntu Snap packages

#322

Is it time to switch from Ubuntu to Mint? Does Mint have enough repositories that work? I'm at Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 20 seems to have a host of unwanted Canonical-oriented features. I'd appreciate comments.

> "Ubuntu 20 seems to have a host of unwanted Canonical-oriented features."

I'm curious, what "Canonical-oriented" features are you referring to? (besides snap)

After the move to Gnome, I've found Ubuntu to be less and less "Canonical-oriented"... which is good

Re: Linux Mint drops Ubuntu Snap packages

#323

If desktop Linux is ever going to be mainstream there needs to be an easy to use "app store" where users can use a GUI to install apps which need to be sandboxed like on a mobile phone with defined permissions. Snapcraft is way ahead of Flatpak on this and the current Ubuntu setup works well. On Ubuntu you can go to the Ubuntu software app (gui) search for software and it blends apt results with snap results. This re…

As a user, I could not hate Snap more, along with whoever thought it was a good idea to release their crapware "for Linux" through Snapcraft only. If "desktop Linux" is going to be anything like Ubuntu and whatever Canonical stands for, I most definitely do not want it. That said, I do not really know what "the year of the Linux desktop" is supposed to refer to as I have been a happy Linux desktop user for way over two decades.

Re: Linux Mint drops Ubuntu Snap packages

#324

Just today I switched from Ubuntu to Pop_OS (I hate that name). Unity was giving me some trouble as it's starting to conflict with all the newer stuff so I had to make a decision. I dislike Gnome Shell. It's clean and fast but the GUI is "locked" to the main monitor and I can't even switch windows without looking at it. But I love how the distro is made focusing on a good user experience. To give you an example, the…

> "I dislike Gnome Shell. It's clean and fast but the GUI is "locked" to the main monitor and I can't even switch windows without looking at it."

In case you didn't know, check out the workspaces feature, it can make managing lots of windows much easier via the keyboard:

- Change Workspace: ctrl + alt + up/down

- Move Window to Workspace: ctrl + alt + shift + up/down

You can lock a workspace to a particular monitor too, while cycling other monitors

Re: Linux Mint drops Ubuntu Snap packages

#325

I wonder if it is finally time for me to give Arch a try. It's a shame that all my lab's machines run Ubuntu; although I find it solid, this sort of controlling behavior by Canonical seems against the spirit of FOSS.

Everybody telling you to try something else than Arch. There's a reason Arch is so famous and a meme: installation is a challenging weekend project if you've never done it, but it's the most stable distribution with the sanest ecosystem (AUR, sane defaults like systemd, fastest package manager, rolling releases, packages are kept as close to upstream as possible). Once you go Arch you probably won't go back and you w…

Just to add a small anecdote to this: what primarily caused me to switch distros in the past was encountering problems I wasn't able to solve. Over time these problems would build up to the point where using the distro became a series of constant annoyances. Not so with Arch. Sure, some of the reason why this is the case is due to Arch just being a great distro (hence the meme), but I think the biggest difference is just due to the simplicity of the architecture making it possible for you to be your own sysadmin, if that's what you want to do. In about 7 years of using Arch, I haven't encountered a single problem I wasn't able to solve.

Re: Linux Mint drops Ubuntu Snap packages

#326
post #316

snap vs flatpak vs appimages once again shows the fragmentation within the linux desktop ecosystem. as a user, it makes me sad, cz I can't have one good solid experience. snap, updates might break, flatpak is not fully supported. And my strong belief, is Microsoft is going to eat Linux Desktop. WSL to run your server apps and coding environment. windows for user apps. as someone who hasn't used windows in over 10 yea…

> "snap vs flatpak vs appimages once again shows the fragmentation within the linux desktop ecosystem."

A common misconception about the FOSS ecosystem is that many similar projects is "wasted effort". In reality, diversity is what allows for progress and flexibility. Otherwise you end up with a single package manager which nobody can change AKA mono-culture.

> "Microsoft is going to eat Linux Desktop. WSL to run your server apps and coding environment. "

Only if Microsoft make their OS free, otherwise you're buying windows to run a translation layer of Linux (WSL) on top of it... doesn't make sense to a lot of people...

Re: Linux Mint drops Ubuntu Snap packages

#328

Can someone explain the need for Linux Mint? It's derived from Ubuntu which is derived from Debian which just sounds ridiculous. Is Ubuntu considered difficult to install? Does it not support older hardware as well as Mint? Wouldn't Ubuntu be more supported if they just ended Mint and jumped aboard?

Originally, it was user interface.

Haha, that's like when they developed Pantheon, slapped it on Ubuntu and called it Elementary"OS".

There are people who lack so much ambition that they refer to sets of scripts and preconfigs with an OS branding.

Re: Linux Mint drops Ubuntu Snap packages

#330
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Red herring. The Linux Mint teams' main complaints have to do with issues around the way snap wrests control from the user. Like Linux Mint is doing the same? There is no control being lost by using Ubuntu versus Mint. I could remove snapd there without people making that decision for me. Worse would be Mint's decision of removing the only FOSS built version of chromium without offering an alternative in place. Cano…

> Canonical only installed the chromium snap because they did not have the resources to support a deb version instead So Canonical has the resources to make an entire DE, an init system, a mobile OS, a new display server (all of which were dumped on the roadside), and then going all in on a brand new sandboxing/package management system developed from scratch, but merely compiling a web browser officially supported b…

Yes. There is huge difference between:

a) One Snap package that supports all Ubuntu distros from 14.04 to newest, and also many other distros than Ubuntu

b) Compiling separate .deb package for all those Ubuntu versions from 14.04 to newest.

Chromium has huge amount of code that takes a lot of time to compile.

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