[DISCUSSION] Linux Mint

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That would be totally personal preference. That said I prefer Xfce over Cinnamon and MATE (the other 2 I've tried. KDE is just way too 'blingy' for me) by a long shot. They all have most of the same features but Xfce just has a look and feel that I prefer. I wish I could remember the exact reasons I did not like the others, but I can't. Basically I always got an hour or two into setting it all up after install and found something I could not do how I like or something that was buggy, etc. Xfce just has all the settings/features I want and none of the extra nonsense I don't. I like the main 'start' menu much better than the others. I find it easier to customize the panel/task bar the way I like it. I like the default programs that come with it like Mousepad text editor and Ristretto image viewer, though Mint has decided to replace those now with their own Xapps *ugh!* so I have to remove xapps and replace them back to Xfce 'default'.

But yeah, as mentioned, best to try them yourself by downloading each then just boot the live disk and try them out. If your bandwidth limited and can't do that, my vote is Xfce though.

 

Just a report back:

No crashes since... touch wood.

Still can't find a connection - last crash was with Chrome...so not Firefox specific.

Yup, John, I've always been on kernel 4.10 (any further crashes I'm going to try 4.12) and also thought of the Intel drivers being the culprit (it may well have as all's well with their microcode driver) - but I did see some Nvidia's installs experiencing the same...so we can't be sure... Hmmmm.

 

Mint 18.2 with Nvidia 381.22 using kernel 4.10 and I never had a single Cinnamon crash, hmmm.

 

Well... figured it's not browser related after all - been getting it now with Vivaldi as well .. no extensions apart from adblock...and not related to intense downloads, video rendering or anything..

OK, so to Plan C then...

.. try latest generic kernel (a long shot, but WTH...this thing is so random, it's unreal!)

 

After updating the kernel


I got a bunch of cinnamon.org notifications with set back to default - all applets configurations (including menu icon etc) were set to their defaults configs.
Looks promising... (just a thought .. but I think the Mint kernel modification may be the issue... we shall see)

 

If Mint has been modifying their kernels, may I suggest you use the mainline kernels offered by Ubuntu?
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/debian-9-1-released.74768/#post-1359904

Mint, after all, is made from Ubuntu, which would mean their mostly untouched kernels should pose you no issue. They work for me in Debian Sid too, which is what Ubuntu is originally made from.

 

Yup, that's what I'm using

 

@Superfly : Hope you've resolved the issue with Cinnamon crashing. In the mean time, we now have Kernel 4.11.0.x officially supported in Linux Mint:



I've just updated through the Update Manager, so it's too early to tell, but my system seems and feels a bit snappier now... I guess this kernel version is also modified by the Linux Mint team, but it doesn't matter, as I see you're on the generic mainline kernel 4.12.x now! Let us know if you've managed to resolve the issue.

 

I've already posted this information, but, just in case you've missed it, we now have Linux kernel 4.11.0.x officially supported in Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya:


As always, be careful with new kernel versions introduced in Linux Mint. I, on the other hand, am always impatient, so I've upgraded immediately and, so far, I've had no issues with this Linux kernel, but that may not be the case with everyone... What's more, my system now feels a bit snappier...

 

Given how Mint likes to tweak their kernel to a point where it can prove unstable, I just recommend folks use the mainline kernels. You'll not only have newer builds such as 4.12.4, but you'll likely gain stability too. I use this tool to help automate the process. https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/debian-9-1-released.74768/#post-1359904

 

Hello @Superfly - Just to keep everyone up to date, I haven't had a single Cinnamon crash since I uninstalled the CPU temperature applet from the taskbar. Fingers crossed . . .

 

I installed kernel 4.11 from the Mint Update Manager, but I got some errors. I am not really into kernel stuff at all, can I just ignore these errors? The system seems to run just fine.

Code:

DKMS make.log for ndiswrapper-1.60 for kernel 4.11.0-13-generic (x86_64)
Di 8. Aug 01:22:38 CEST 2017
make: Verzeichnis „/usr/src/linux-headers-4.11.0-13-generic“ wird betreten
  LD      /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/built-in.o
  MKEXPORT /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/crt_exports.h
  MKEXPORT /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/hal_exports.h
  MKEXPORT /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/ndis_exports.h
  MKEXPORT /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/ntoskernel_exports.h
  MKEXPORT /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/ntoskernel_io_exports.h
  MKEXPORT /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/rtl_exports.h
  MKEXPORT /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/usb_exports.h
  MKSTUBS /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/win2lin_stubs.h
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/crt.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/hal.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/iw_ndis.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/loader.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/ndis.o
/var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/ndis.c: In function ‘NdisMIndicateReceivePacket’:
/var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/ndis.c:2261:15: error: ‘struct net_device’ has no member named ‘last_rx’
   wnd->net_dev->last_rx = jiffies;
               ^
/var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/ndis.c: In function ‘EthRxIndicateHandler’:
/var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/ndis.c:2349:14: error: ‘struct net_device’ has no member named ‘last_rx’
  wnd->net_dev->last_rx = jiffies;
              ^
/var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/ndis.c: In function ‘NdisMTransferDataComplete’:
/var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/ndis.c:2464:14: error: ‘struct net_device’ has no member named ‘last_rx’
  wnd->net_dev->last_rx = jiffies;
              ^
scripts/Makefile.build:294: die Regel für Ziel „/var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/ndis.o“ scheiterte
make[1]: *** [/var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build/ndis.o] Fehler 1
Makefile:1526: die Regel für Ziel „_module_/var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build“ scheiterte
make: *** [_module_/var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/build] Fehler 2
make: Verzeichnis „/usr/src/linux-headers-4.11.0-13-generic“ wird verlassen

die Regel für Ziel = the rule for the target
scheiterte = failed
Fehler = error

 

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Thanks @TinMan! I am not using wireless beside with my phone, so I just ignore the errors until they get maybe fixed.

 

I'm glad I was of help, @thorin0815 ! The same thing happened with first few versions of kernel 4.8, then of kernel 4.10 (all on my wife's laptop), which were officially supported by Linux Mint, but it was resolved in later versions of the respective kernels.

 

From another site "current ndiswrapper driver will not build on a 4.11 kernel.... also tried ndiswrapper 1.6.1, but up to now, no luck."

I have the install files listed but do not have it installed in Synaptic - no errors on mainline kernel.

It seems to be using old Windows drivers anyway, so uninstalling should not have an effect on newer hardware... IMHO.

 

So it should be safe to delete the three ndiswrapper packages within Synaptic as I never use wireless with Linux at all. Thanks for the hint @Superfly.

 

Yup.. deleted mine and no issues ... it's backward compatibility stuff that they build into the kernel

 

Alert! Alert! This morning I downloaded and installed Cinnamon 3.4.6+sonya from the repositories. Hopefully this brings an end to these random and mysterious crashes. Fingers crossed . . .