[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Three new features coming in Linux Mint 15 here

[cwwgateway]

I think there has been some confusion over what "live-installer" is. "live-installer" is the Linux Mint Debian Edition installer (which SolusOS, SnowLinux, and Swift Linux also use). It is very possible that, in the future when it has new features, it could replace ubiquity in the main edition (even by Mint 15). Clem has expressed some dissatisfaction of Ubiquity, but I think he recognizes that live-installer, while one of my favorite installers, isn't ready for the main edition. It currently doesn't have (U)EFI support, automatic partitioning, etc.

[CaptTurk]

I've been a Mint user for years and have always recommended it to others, at least till Mint 13 came out. Starting with Mint 13 they have left out alot of drivers for Broadcom and other wireless drivers. You have to have an ethernet connection or access to the internet from other sources to download the drivers, and then have to jump through a bunch of hoops to try to get it to work.
Their excuse is that the drivers are propriatary and can't be included. I ask why the earlier versions had them included in the kernal, but now all of a sudden they can't include them. If they can't include them anymore in the kernel, then they should be included on the disk with a script to install them.
As it is, I'm sticking with Mint 12. It just works...

[Tiger323]

CaptTurk

I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that:

You're mixing Mint 13 and the Linux kernel, these are two different things. Linux kernel is the Linux OS (current version 3.7) and then the distributions (Ubuntu/Mint/Fedora/etc) use the Linux kernel to build their perspective distribution. If the Broadcom & wireless drivers have been removed from the Linux kernel is because of the people that manage/program/build the Linux kernel have decided to remove them (Mint probably had little, if anything, in its say to what goes into the kernel and what doesn't). For example, the Linux kernel 3.8 will remove support for 386 processors.

Proprietary drivers in Linux kernel is like politics: some want only free & open source drivers, others want to add the proprietary drivers for added functionality. Also the GPL might prevent addition of proprietary drivers. Also, maybe in the past the drivers were included and since Linux wasn't that much popular yet, Broadcom (and others) maybe didn't care much; but as Linux gets more popular day by day everyone is making sure the kernel is proper.

But I do agree, I'm actually struggling to get HP Officejet Pro L7590 to work properly on my Mint 14: wired network printing works fine; USB printing outputs blank & half-printed pages; Simple Scan & Xsane can't scan because of either no scanner detected (USB & LAN) or if the scanner is detected the software can't communicate to the scanner. Going back to Ubuntu 10.04.4 in virtual machine I am able to scan over the USB, even though the Ubuntu VM is running on Mint 14. The way I figure is that Simple Scan (and Xsane) in Mint 14 can't properly communicate with the drivers to gain access to the scanner. I will try Mint 12 under VM to see if the scanner works under USB. Also, I don't remember if the scanner under LAN ever worked with any Linux distribution. So basically to use my fancy $150 printer/scanner I need to have LAN connection for printing, and USB connection for scanning (if/when the scanner works). Also, I even tried Wireshark to see if Simple Scan sends any packets to the scanner over the LAN; no packets show up in Wireshark so Simple Scan or the drivers are not sending anything to the scanner.

[CaptTurk]

I should have been clearer in what I said. The new kernels don't include the drivers for a LOT of wireless chipsets.

It seems that as usual, someone doesn't care if thier greed screws a lot of people. I'm gonna make sure next time I buy a computer it will NOT have Broadcom anything in it.

[Tuxman]

Have you tried HP Linux Imaging and Printing (HPLIP) and CUPS? I use both of them in Ubuntu 12.04 and have no problems printing or scanning.

HPLIP will help with a printer/scanner connected directly to the computer, and CUPS will export that printer to a network.

Thanks to HP and Apple for these nice FOSS tools

[Tuxman]

Quote

Have you tried HP Linux Imaging and Printing (HPLIP) and CUPS? I use both of them in Ubuntu 12.04 and have no problems printing or scanning. HPLIP will help with a printer/scanner connected directly to the computer, and CUPS will export that printer to a network. Thanks to HP and Apple for these nice FOSS tools

Sorry--this reply was for Tiger323, not to the whole thread.

[Tiger323]

Tuxman, thanks for the input. Yes I've tried various hplip versions from the HP site, but neither would work and they actually reported that Mint 14 was not supported during the installation.

but,
I've got it working with default Mint 13 VM install, hpcups 3.12.2. Both printer & scanner work using the LAN. I've used system-configure-printers, entered the printer's IP for a manual search, then I was asked to log into the workgroup (which I just used my user name & password). selected HP Officejet Pro l7500 all-in-one (even though i have the l7590).

Then I ran the updates for Mint 13, both printer & scanner still work under LAN. I guess I'll just downgrade from Mint 14 to 13, which isn't so bad since Mint 13 is LTS.

Thanks.

[brainout]

CaptTurk, on 19 December 2012 - 06:55 AM, said:

I've been a Mint user for years and have always recommended it to others, at least till Mint 13 came out. Starting with Mint 13 they have left out alot of drivers for Broadcom and other wireless drivers. You have to have an ethernet connection or access to the internet from other sources to download the drivers, and then have to jump through a bunch of hoops to try to get it to work.
Their excuse is that the drivers are propriatary and can't be included. I ask why the earlier versions had them included in the kernal, but now all of a sudden they can't include them. If they can't include them anymore in the kernel, then they should be included on the disk with a script to install them.
As it is, I'm sticking with Mint 12. It just works...

Wow, thank you for this. I was just about to buy Mint 13. Now I won't, but will try to find 12.

[Tiger323]

brainout, Mint 12, 13, 14, and every Linux is free. You can download from linuxmint.com. There's not need to buy, unless you meant to pay $5-10 to ship the DVD to you.

When you do go to linuxmint.com, hover over the Download link, then click All Versions. Select 12, then choose the 32 or 64bit and the desktop environment you want (Gnome/KDE/MATE/LXDE). If you want to use Cinnamon desktop, then install the Gnome version, then after installation you can install Cinnamon (by typing in ternimanl: sudo apt-get install cinnamon). The catch is, I'm not sure if Mint 12 will support Cinnamon. But I think Mint 12 uses Gnome 2.x so it still has the classic look&feel vs. Gnome 3 that uses the sidebar and has changed how the desktop works.

Also, since Mint is free, you can download 12, 13, & 14, boot Live DVD for each and see which one you like better.

If you need more help, you could post here, or visit linuxmint.com.

[CaptTurk]

Brainout, I'll go along 100% with Tiger323. 13 and 14 wouldn't work for me because of hardware. They may both work fine for you. Download them from the site and try them from the LiveCDs. That's the only way to tell for sure, and you are only out the cost of the CD/DVD's.

By the way, you will need an .ISO burner to burn the CD/DVD'. There are a number of them available for Windows as a free download. Google "CDBurnerXP". That is the one I used when I first started out trying linux.

[Tiger323]

Brainout. There's also Burn4Free, and as a last resort you can download trial version of Nero.

Also, I'm not sure how good you are with computers; but I would suggest dual booting Windows and Linux. There are two ways: if you know what you are doing you can create a new partition for Linux. And then install Mint to that new partition. You will also need an aditional partition for SWAP space (about the size of your phisical RAM). If you do this, carefull not to modifiy any factory restore partitions that the computer maker may have set up to recover Windows. If this is too confusing use the below method.

If you want the easy way, use wubi (Ubuntu) or Mint4Win (Mint). Both wubi & Mint4Win work the same, basicaly you install Ubuntu or Mint under Windows as if you were installing any other Windows program. During install it should ask only about 4-6 questions: Size to use, create username & password for the Linux, and maybe a few other. After install, you will have the boot menu where you can select either Windows or Linux to boot to. The only catch is that Linux will run a little bit slower than if it was installed on a seperate partition, but you still get the full experience of Linux.

If you don't like to keep Linux after all, you just boot to Windows, go into Control Panel, Programs, and Unstiall Linux as if you were uninstalling any other Windows program.

[Tiger323]

Also, I think if you are going to use wubi or Min4Win you don't need to burn the .iso to the disc; wubi & Min4Win will directly use the .iso file.

I should mention that the boot menu shows up after (and every time) you reboot.

[Tiger323]

Also, you already have burned the .iso to a disc wubi & Min4Win should be located on the disc; and if you have autoplay enabled in Windows the installation window should popup.

[dante123]

Here is a suggestion for setting up printing in Linux Mint 14. Bypass the printer setup that comes with 14 and use regular CUPS browser interface. Poin your browser to:

localhost:631

And select your printer from there. Worked for me when Mint 14 built-in printing utility failed.

As for your scanner, my Canon scanner only works in linux if I install "scanbuttond" and then run that command from terminal. Then it detects the scanner and simple scan works. Give that a try. Hope this helps.