There are so many Linux distributions, and they are all somewhat different from each other. In addition to Ubuntu and Linux Mint, between Ubuntu and ArchLinux. We will look at several aspects of Ubuntu versus Linux Mint to find out how they differ.
Debian was first. In 2004, Ubuntu was removed as a standalone distribution based on the unstable version of Debian, with the same system packages – deb. After that, in 2006, the first version of Linux Mint was released.
It was based on Ubuntu (more precisely, on its KDE edition – Kubuntu) and used its repositories. Here we see the first difference – Ubuntu is older than Linux MInt.
Ubuntu also has a large development team than Mint. It finances Mark Shuttleworth and his company Canonical, which has several subsidiaries and more than 500 employees worldwide. The development of Ubuntu and its sub-projects is controlled by the Ubuntu Technical Council and the many teams of engineers who work on the project.
On the other hand, in Linux, there are no management and support structures, as well as agreements with different users. As you know, Linux is a free, open-source operating system. Hence the main reason for such a variety of images. Yes, there are commercial versions. Buying such a product, you pay for branded packages and support, but not for the operating system itself.
That was what Red Hat was guided by when it organized the distribution of the CentOS Linux image under its roof and offered it to anyone who would like to use Enterprise class solutions for free. In fact, today the CentOS community is a Red Hat company. The CentOS distribution is fully compatible with the distribution from RHEL, and the technical difference is only in the presence of a trademark and design work. The project started in March 2004 and is currently one of the most popular server solutions due to its high stability and compatibility.
However, Ubuntu or Linux Mint has an installed system for naming new versions. Traditionally, each release of Linux Mint is assigned a female name, ending in “a”. Until 2007, Linux Mint came out with point releases – 2.0, 3.0, and so on. In 2008, Linux Mint switched to major version numbers, for example, Linux Mint 5 LTS, codenamed Elissya. But in 2014 the exact nominal beginning with 17 LTS was returned. The current version is 18, released in July 2016 with the code name Sarah.
Ubuntu has always had a version number with a dot reflecting the year and month of release. Ubuntu releases get a codename in alphabetical order, consisting of two words. An animal, as a rule, from rare species.
At first, Ubuntu did not follow the alphabetic pattern in the names. After all, the first releases started on W and H and were never releases with names on A or C. The version of Ubuntu number 15.10 Wily Werwolf, and we see that it was released in October 2015.
RELEASE CYCLES
New versions of Ubuntu are released every 6 months. Each release will take place in 10 months.
There are also LTS (long term support) releases. Ubuntu is LTS, which means they come out every two years. These were Lucid Lynx (04/10) in 2010, Precise Pangolin (April 12) in 2012 and Trusty Tahr (April 14) in 2014, the current LTS April 16 is Xenial Xerus, the next LTS is scheduled for 2018.
Linux Mint follows the sketch releases of Ubuntu. Also releasing two versions of the year. Once they are ready, one to two months after the release of Ubuntu. Mint also has a five-year LTS version. Every fourth release is LTS.