# Newbie Question: Xubuntu vs Mint



## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

Good day!

So I have been considering moving to a Linux environment. I have been reading about the different versions and so far I'm on the fence between Xubuntu and Mint.

I am unable to locate any article comparing them side-by-side. May I ask what is the difference between the two? Or maybe, what should I consider when choosing between the two?

I have read so far that Xubuntu is very stable, whereas Mint has an impressive interface.

Any tips for this first time user will definitely be appreciated! TIA!


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

Hi!

Funnily enough I have them both dual booting from my wee netbook (an Advent 4211 aka Msi Wind). Xubuntu is great, it's sleek, fast and very customizable. Mint is amazing though has some performance issues on my netbook, on a desktop the Cinnamon environment is one of if not the best looking and feature rich desktop environments that has ever been. Both are awesome but Xubuntu is better on low spec computers or netbooks and Mint cinnamon environment is better on normal to high spec computers and laptops. 

As you are a first time user I would go with Mint as everything is installed and ready out of the box and is a great introduction to Linux.

Any questions when installing or when your using your chosen OS just post away :grin:

Good Luck

Steve


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## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

Thanks for the reply Steve!

I plan to dual-boot with Win7 and a Linux system. Since Xubuntu is lighter (resource-wise), should I go with it instead?

My notebook's processor is a Core B940 with 4gigs of RAM. Not sure if that matters really. Thanks again!


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

Even on Linux Mint the resource usage vs Windows would be like a holiday in a Swiss Spa for your computer. You have plenty of resources regardless however as i mentioned before, for a beginner mint is the one to go for OR because you can...burn the two of them on to live dvds or usb and try them before you install.


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## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

Mint it is then; I'll give Cinnamon a shot.

Thank you much, Steve!


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## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

Is it possible to have 3 partitions?

For example, for a 640Gb hdd, 300 for Win7, 300 for Mint; the remaining 40 is shared between the two. So I can access files stored there from either OS.




And can I follow this procedure to do ^that?
Partitioning with fdisk


TIA!


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## Rbbt (May 9, 2012)

Of course you can, but I think 300 GB for mint is too much  You maybe use 40GB for mint and 300 GB as an archive/store or something else


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

Hi again!

For both windows and linux to read the shared partition it must be formatted as FAT rather than ext 3 or 4. You will have this choice to do during install which the best time to setup partitions on your hard disk.

Hope this helps

Steve


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## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

*Thanks Rbbit and Steve!*

I've been reading guides and other threads:
Linux and Manual Partitioning | Tech Support Forum
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f64/yet-another-dual-boot-question-668443.html
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f64/solved-dual-booting-windows-7-and-ubuntu-help-654675.html

So this is what I'm planning to do to the 640gb hdd:
Partition 1: Mint, 50gb
Partition 2: Win7, 250gb
Partition 3: files (ext 3 or 4), 300gb
Partition 4: shared (formatted as FAT), 40gb

I understand I don't need a partition for swap since my RAM is 2gb. Am I on track so far?


Also, what should I install first: windows or mint? If I install windows, I guess I can use fdisk to create partitions then?

What's the difference between ext 3 and 4?

If the windows partition is infected, I assume the shared partition has a chance to get infected as well. Will it impact the Linux partitions though?


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

Hi, Those are really good questions and its great to see your being thorough with this rather than jumping in head first :grin:

Ok so firstly i'd install windows first. Secondly you do need a swap partition in linux just as windows has virtual memory and the paging file that you don't know how much you have until you look.

The difference between ext3 and ext4 file systems can be found in my second ever thread in this forum way back in January :grin: 

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f64/solved-advice-on-the-ext-filesystems-625635.html

ahh the memories :lol:

Lastly here's my recommended installing method for your computer (but its up to you completely how you would like it)

1. Install windows, during installation partition the drive for windows to say 250GB
2. Make sure the windows installation is good.
3. Boot up the mint live DVD/CD and click on install mint(you can refer to the guides to help)
4. Once you are in the installtion and have clicked on something else to bring you into the manual partitioning then in here create the rest of the partitions so they would look similar to this;

/boot - 500mb
swap - 2048mb
/ - (probably only need 20-25gb max)
/home - say 350gb

Then the rest format as FAT using the same manual partition editor on install.

Then you should be good to go taking heed of the note in the installation guide

*Note:* Before installation, you must consider where you want to install GRUB 2, the boot loader used by most Linux distributions. The default location is in the Master Boot Record of the hard drive. If this is a standalone installation, this is the best location for GRUB. However, if you are attempting to setup a dual-boot configuration with another distribution or operating system, you might consider installing it in the boot partition that you have configured.

This is the /boot partition.

Hope this helps and hasn't made it seem complicated.

Steve


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## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

_"I'm baaaaccccckkkkkk...!"_ lol

Work has made this a little more difficult than it seems. I had re-installed win7 as planned and created 2 partitions. I now have a D:\

I assume I need to re-partition this as I install mint, correct?

Re: Grub 2, I've read it is unstable compared against Grub 1. Your thoughts please? And do I install Grub before or after I install Mint?


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

If this is the first linux distro that you are installing it will install grub when it installs.


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## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

*Happy Holidays, Steve and wmorri!*

Please excuse the delayed reply, I ran into difficulties Win7 side. It's still being resolved but in the meantime, I installed Mint on a hunch to confirm I don't have a bad hdd.

I followed the steps and created partitions (/boot, swap, /, /home) and was supposed to have 250gb or so left. I couldn't use this to create another partition; I still wanted to add a shared partition and another where I can install Windows.

Did I miss anything or am I really only limited to 4 partitions during installation?

I know I can resize the partition for /home post-install; is this how it's really done? Or did I miss a step?

Thanks again!


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

Hi,

Happy Holidays to you too! :grin:

What you've done is created 4 primary partitions which i believe is the limit. From these 4 Primary partitions you can create extended partitions. So in that 250gb space, when creating the partition, select extended from the drop down menu.

Steve


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## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

I've already installed Mint. I assume I can re-size the partition to install Windows? If so, can you please recommend a tool or a method? TIA!

Also, I am using a usb modem (isp: smartbro, model: longcheer iirc) but it's not being detected by network manager. Would anyone in TechSupport be knowledgeable in these? I found two possible solutions, i.e. a <sudo apt-get> command line and another recommending to use usb_modeswitch, but I need an expert's advice. Again, thanks!


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## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

Err, bump please.


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

Hi sorry it took so long to get back to you.



> I've already installed Mint. I assume I can re-size the partition to install Windows? If so, can you please recommend a tool or a method?


It's recommended to install Windows first then Linux but since you've already got mint installed i would make a virtual machine and install windows on it using virtualbox. DL from the software centre. Then use a program such as imgburn to copy your windows disk to .iso format and install on to your VM.

Here's a guide to follow (but use windows instead)

Installing Ubuntu inside Windows using VirtualBox

Steve


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## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

HI again! *Sorry Steve*, been busy at work and I haven't been paying attention to Linux lately.

Anyways, I managed to install Windows and Xubuntu this time on a second machine. I noticed though I see my windows C drive while logged on to Xubuntu, with write access to the files. Same goes to removable drives formatted in NTFS.

Is this normal? I was under the impression Linux cannot read drives in NTFS.

Does this mean that viruses/malware can "cross-over" from one OS to the other?

Thanks (again) in advance!


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

NTFS has been readable/writable for quite a few years.

As for malware, it can be copied under Linux but would not be able to run, just as any other program compiled to run under Windows will not run normally under Linux (Wine usage notwithstanding).


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

Fjandr is spot on. It's only windows that can't read the linux filesystems such as ext4. If you are dual booting between windows and linux and are sharing files it's always best to still do an AV scan on the files you downloaded on Linux as Fjandr mentioned, viruses/malware can be copied across, completely harmless to Linux but a killer on windows.


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## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

*Thanks Fjandr and Steve!*

I was just surprised to see the Windows folder on the Linux desktop. If that is the case, what is the purpose of the swap partition?


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

The swap partition acts as virtual memory does on windows. If your running alot of heavy programs on your computer and it uses up all your available RAM then rather than kill any processes to make room then it uses space from your hard drive as temporary memory to keep things running although swap memory or virtual memory is not a substitute for RAM as it is much much slower.


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## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

SteveThePirate said:


> The swap partition acts as virtual memory does on windows. If your running alot of heavy programs on your computer and it uses up all your available RAM then rather than kill any processes to make room then it uses space from your hard drive as temporary memory to keep things running although swap memory or virtual memory is not a substitute for RAM as it is much much slower.


Sorry my bad. I meant creating a partition to swap files between the two OSes; the one in bold:_/boot - 500mb_
_ swap - 2048mb_
_* / - (probably only need 20-25gb max)*_
_ /home - say 350gb_​


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## Fjandr (Sep 26, 2012)

That's not a swap partition. The / is the root partition. It holds all of the non-boot files which run the actual operating system.


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## ver CO (Feb 14, 2012)

Sorry to the both of you. I had to backread a little.

There was a recommendation of sorts to create a shared partition to allow me to dump files while using Windows and still be able to access it while using Linux (formatted as FAT, I believe...) I can't remember which is which anymore, but I assume that it's unnecessary as Linux can see my Windows folders anyway, correct?


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