FAQ

What is Linux Mint?

Linux Mint is a free Linux-based operating system designed for use on desktop computers. 

Is Linux Mint suitable for companies?

Yes. Although Linux Mint release new versions every 6 months, each release is supported for a year and a half. We also make periodic Long-Term Support (LTS) releases which are supported for a duration of 3 years and which are guaranteed to provide enough overlap to allow you to upgrade from one LTS release to the next.

Is Linux Mint suitable for individuals?

Yes, definitely. We believe Linux is the best operating system on the market. There are more than 300 active Linux distributions and we're working hard at becoming the best solution for your desktop. The competition is tough, as there are other great desktop operating systems and distributions out there. We have faith in the quality of our desktop and a lot of great ideas. If your computer is a PC and you have more than 512MB RAM you owe it to yourself to try Linux Mint and see what you think about it. We like hearing about your experience and listen very carefully to your suggestions, so please give us your feedback.

Why are there so many editions of Linux Mint?

We provide a variety of versions of Linux Mint that are designed to fill different roles:

  • The Main Edition is our flagship release. It provides full multimedia support out of the box, meaning that you can listen to MP3's watch DVD's and view web pages that require Flash technology right after install.
  • The USA-Japan Edition is designed to be freely distributed in countries which allow software patents. It comes without multimedia support.
  • The KDE Community Edition is a version of Linux Mint built on the popular KDE desktop.
  • The XFCE Community Edition is built on the lightweight and modular XFCE desktop.

Why does Linux Mint include proprietary drivers?

It doesn't. If it did, it would be legally wrong (because it would violate the GPL) or ethically wrong (if some dirty trick was used for the user to link the code to the kernel for instance).

What about proprietary software?

We believe in the open-source philosophy and release the source code for all of our work. We owe a lot to the Free Software movement and to the GPL but we also owe a lot to all developers who have had good ideas and created great tools and who have been working to make software better. Some of them have released their source code as well and have thus granted us more freedom and more flexibility. Others released their software with proprietary licenses and no source code, and although this doesn't give us the freedom we would like, it still contributes to make software better. We like Software in general, Free Software even more, but we do not believe in boycotting Proprietary Software.