What happens when you take one part Irish Spring soap, a tin of Altoids and the latest Ubuntu distro? You get Mint Linux – and yummy it is indeed!

No doubt the Linux landscape is full of options – this is perhaps one of the reasons that Linux adoption on the desktop has stalled – So I’m not quick to endorse new comers to the party. With the ease of use, solid performance and growing traction of Ubuntu; I’ve not needed to look to others for most of my needs.

But having said this, I do want to shine the spotlight on Linux Mint. This great distro coming out of the Emerald Isle features an earthy green theme, pleasant for sure and in some ways superior to its parent distro, Ubuntu. With Mint you get the best of many worlds, innovate design and artwork, bundled closed source drivers/apps and the same great repositories that power Ubuntu revs.

One of the best features of Mint, that really sets it apart form its parent Ubuntu, is the inclusion of many must haves like Codecs, Adobe Flash, and proprietary wireless/Nvidia/ATI drivers just to cite a few. Some purists object to the presence of these closed-source packages, but most users find it a great time saver when installing.

So if you what to try something a little spicy and fresh give Mint a try.