 By far the video on my channel that has the most dislikes is the video where I created a thumbnail that said Linux is useless and This video was created Just a few months into my YouTubeing career like I had no clue what I was doing. I was still honestly quite learning Linux at the time I mean, yeah, I've been using it for three years but for the most part that three years had been on ArchBase distros and I hadn't spend an anordinate amount of time with other distros quite honestly now that video had some issues with it, but For the most part the argument that I had I believed in honestly for quite a long time and the argument was this Linux Mint should not have two different versions They should have either the Linux Mint Debian Edition or they should do the Ubuntu thing They shouldn't do both they're dividing their attention and the developers are therefore Dividing their time on two different paths basically to have a backup solution in case Ubuntu decides to Do something that they really can't fix or get away from and I even made a follow-up video about a year after that first Video basically doubling down on that argument that Linux Mint Debian Edition was the thing that Linux Mint should focus on and They should just abandon Ubuntu now the level of animosity that I received About that first video was so bad I actually had to turn off the comments on that video because I was actually getting threats Because of the arguments that I was making or more likely that I was getting threats because of the thumbnail that I made Most people probably didn't even watch the video. I the retention rate on that one is not very high So they didn't even listen to the whole article before they started to make Horrendous comments in the comments section. I've now been doing this youtuber thing for a year and a half or so I started in September of 2020 and over that time. I've Spent a lot more time with other distributions including Linux Mint and Linux Mint Debian Edition and One of the things that has kind of evolved over that time is my argument about what Linux Mint should do when it comes to Deciding one path over the other my initial argument was based solely on the idea that having two different diverging paths Diverts their attention and time and resources and in some ways I still believe that because it definitely does when you have two different Ways you're trying to go and you're trying to develop both ways equally some things are probably going to fall by the wayside That being said, I no longer think or at least I'm no longer sure of the idea that limit Linux Mint Debian Edition is the way to go now I put a poll up a couple days ago Asking this exact question should Linux Mint abandon Ubuntu and the vast majority of people said yes Like something like 60 some percent or something like that said yes They should abandon Ubuntu. No, I think a lot of that is less Linux Mint users thinking that and more people who hate Ubuntu thinking that so I don't think that that could be considered a Scientific poll, but it does kind of get the sentiment down that people don't really care for Linux Mint being based on Ubuntu however, some of the comments got me thinking and It really got me thinking about my experience with Debian based distros now. I'm a big proponent of MX Linux I like MX Linux a lot. I like Sparky Linux, which is also based on Debian but Debian has a problem and it's not really a problem it's more just the nature of Debian and that the packages that they have even if you are on the testing version are Significantly outdated when it comes to the packages that are in the Ubuntu repos and even more so based on the packages They're based in something like Arch or Fedora or Gentoo or something like that so if you use something that is based on Debian the packages that you have are going to be significantly older and While for the most part nobody cares what version of LibreOffice they use they don't care if they have 7.1 or 7.2 or 7.3 Or whatever what does matter in that situation is the kernel because the advanced kernel that Ubuntu ships allows for more hardware support something that you can't really say with the older version of the Kernel that Debian ships, which is always usually the one of the LTS versions so if you use a Debian based distro the amount of hardware that you can Conceivably install it on is actually quite limited unless you'd pull some trickery and use a different ISO Or you've done something like MX has done and just put a different kernel in there so that you can have an advanced hardware version You know there are options for you if you use Debian to Make that a hardware available to your user base But it's an extra step. You know what I mean? So my argument that they should just focus on Linux Mint Debian edition I don't know that I truly believe that anymore simply because Linux Mint is focused on a very general usually new user base and most new users Well at least some new users have hardware that is not going to be supported by a kernel that is You know two or three years old at this point So they're gonna be trying to run things like the new Ryzen chips the new Intel chips whatever so while I still do think that splitting their attention between two different paths is Potentially hazardous. I no longer think that Debian edition is Necessarily the way to go. I'm no longer so against them using Ubuntu For one of their bases the other thing that I've kind of come around to and I mentioned this in the follow-up video that I made for Linux Mint probably at this point a year ago is That I actually do see a purpose for Linux Mint and that purpose is for people who are Interested in using the cinnamon desktop people who are new users to Linux and Linux Mint is actually very good at serving those Audiences like the cinnamon desktop is actually very very good And if you want the freshest version of it the most purest version of that you use Linux Mint Also, they're very good at creating tools similar to what MX does That do cool things their most recent one is one that is going to help people update from one version to the next That's really cool. It's not something that really exists anywhere else and it should exist like if you're using a like an Ubuntu base distro or a Debian based distro something some kind of gooey tool to help you go from one version others Really interesting and something that I think should have been around long ago so in some ways I was a little bit too naive when I was making my arguments about Linux Mint because some of the things that I praise about like MX Linux the tools the MX Linux has Linux Mint does kind of the same thing and that is something that should be Acknowledged something that they should receive praise for so bottom line is that I was wrong about Linux Mint in Almost every fashion for the most part. I'm not saying that I'm gonna go use it now as my daily driver I'm Way to attached to the AUR quite honestly But I'm no longer as against it as I once was and I'm much more confused now as to what they should do I was much more opinionated before about Go use LMDE. That's there. That's where they should be and they should abandon Ubuntu. I'm no longer there I'm not sure now what they should do I still do believe that splitting their effort could be possibly hazardous but I'm not sure if they should just choose Ubuntu and Kind of risk being a little bit too reliant on canonical or if they should do LMDE in which case they'd have a whole bunch of older packages But there is actually a third option now that I think about it They could do something similar to what Papa West has been doing and Papa West has been distancing themselves a little bit from Ubuntu in the last year or so where they're actually using it or at least They're planning and using I don't know if there's they've done it yet But from what I've heard they're planning on doing their own Kernel where they're basically using the mainline kernel instead of relying on the one that comes from Ubuntu and Actually MX does something similar in that they provide a lot of their own Repositories and access to other repositories. So you can actually get access to the Ubuntu repositories in MX Linux Which is based on Debian So it's possible Linux Mint could do something like that where they pick LMDE But still offer access to the Ubuntu repositories Instead of having the you know, the crusty old Debian kernel, they would use the mainline You know freshest kernel if they wanted to now, obviously that would require a lot of work. So That's something that they would have to decide. So I'm not sure because I'm not sure which of those three ways that they should go But I'm less Hardline on them for not just choosing LMD in the big you're the first place So that is it for this video if you have comments on this you can leave those in the comment section below Hold off on your Linux Mint threads guys, and I understand you love Linux Mint. It's okay You can follow me on Twitter at the Linux cast you can support me on patreon at patreon.com slash Linux cast I'd like to thank my current patrons Robert Sid, Devon Patrick, Fred Kramer, Megwin, Jack, Simon, Tool, Stevie, Sebrega, Linux, Derek, Samuel, KB, TGB, Keith, Andy, Mitchell, J-Dog, Carbon Data, Jeremy, Sean, Odin, Marni, Ross, Eduardo, Arch, Senator Merrick, Cam, Joshua, Lee, Peter, A, Crucible, Derek, Bennett, Six Primes, and PM. Thanks everybody for watching. I'll see you next time