Hello World, 

This is the first post of the year 2024.  So, it will be an easy one and will be related to Linux Mint Distribution !  

In this post, we will quickly go through the installation steps for latest LMDE 6 (Linux Mint Debian Edition).  The LMDE version 6 has been released a few months ago and it’s time for us to have a look into this.  The installation process is quite straight forward as we will demonstrate hereafter. 

So, let’s do this quickly…. 

Overview

Linux Mint is really a well established distribution and  well known for its cinnamon desktop interface. The Linux Mint is often mentioned as the best choice for users moving from windows to Linux distribution.  Linux Mint tends to “mimic” the Windows Start menu and windows users would feel more comfortable to use Cinnamon interface.   Mainstream Linux Mint distribution is based on Ubuntu distribution.  

So, what’s this LMDE Distribution ?  LMDE is basically a Linux Mint distribution which is using Debian distribution and not the Ubuntu Distribution.  The goal of the LMDE project is to ensure that a Linux Mint Distribution will still be available in case Ubuntu would disappear or decide to change some licensing rules.  Not a lot of people knows about the LMDE and this is why we wanted to give it a try and publish a quick and dirty post about how to install this “Debian” Linux Mint version… 

We think that this is actually a smart approach from Linux Mint.  Indeed, Linux Mint is not always in line with Ubuntu maintainer vision (i.e. snap technology). Working on a different distribution as base offers them the possibility to remove any Ubuntu dependencies that might affect their own OS.    

We never used or installed LMDE before.  So, in this post, we want to perform an installation and see how good or different this distribution look like…. 

Step by Step Installation Guide

Assumptions 

In order to successfully perform the installation, we have assumed the following 

• your machine is connected to internet 
• LMDE will be installed on a virtual machine.  If you are installing on a physical machine, create a bootable device from the download iso file and ensure that your machine is configured to boot from the created device (DVD, USB, PXE…) 
• Please review the release pages as they might contains important information to perform your installation (see https://linuxmint.com/rel_faye.php)

Download LMDE ISO file 

You will first need to obtain the LMDE Source Files.  You will have  to download the latest stable version of Debian from this location  and simply click the download button.  

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Installation Process 

We have attached the LMDE iso file to our virtual machine. We have ensured that the machine will boot from cd/dvd and we have started our virtual machine.  If everything is configured accordingly, you will be prompted with the LMDE Installer menu (Text or Graphical) .  Select your option and press enter to proceed with installation  

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or 

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The Installer will load the live LMDE environment and from there…You can click on the install LMDE icon on the desktop if the installer is not starting automatically

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The installation wizard will start… wait for completion

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In the Language page,  look for your specific language and region and Press Next. Since we are located in Belgium, we have selected the Belgian Settings

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In the Time Zone Page, select yours accordingly.  In my case, I would select Belgium and Press Continue

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In the Keyboard Layout page, select your option and Press Continue. 

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In the User Account page,  provide the requested information and Press Continue

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In the Installation Type page, select your option.  We have selected the automated option since we are only performing a basic install here 

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In the Installation type page, based on your selection, you might see an additional popup about data deletion.. Proceed accordingly.  In our case, we have clicked yes…this is a brand new installtion

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In the  Installation type page, you might be prompted again with another popup.  Press Yes to continue the installation 

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In the Advanced Options Page, Accept Default and proceed with the installation 

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In Summary Page, you can review your settings.  If you are happy with that.. press the Install button

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Wait for the installer to complete the installation 

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When the installation is complete, you will see a popup asking you to reboot the system. Press yes to proceed

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The system will reboot and you might see a black screen asking you to remove the iso and to Press enter.  Do this and proceed with the installation

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When you computer has rebooted, you will see the login page for your freshly installed LMDE  Linux Machine.  

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After providing your credentials,  and passing the first time login wizard, you will be able to access your newly installed Linux Mint OS based on Debian Distribution.  As you can see, it looks a lot like the mainstream Linux Mint look’n feel 

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Final Notes

This is it for this post ! 

LMDE 6 installation process is quite straight forward .  Compared to a standard Debian installation,  the LMDE is more pleasant and comes with a easy to use Installer Wizard.  This wizard is probably not the most fancy one (i.e. Ubuntu Flutter installer) but it works really fine.  The wizard is not too long and perform what’s needs to be done.   LMDE 6 is fully functional and the Cinnamon desktop is there and will ensure that users will not be lost when using the LMDE edition instead of the mainstream Linux Mint Ubuntu based edition.

To be honest, Linux Mint is not really our day to day operating system but the first impression is quite good.   Since some people complained that our famous xrdp-installer script was not working against LMDE, we might release a new version of the script and include LMDE as a “supported” Operating system… 

Stay Tuned 

Till next time 

See ya