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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Sumber Daya Manusia menjadi tantangan pengembangan e-Gov Indonesia


SDM Menjadi Tantangan Pengembangan e-Gov di Indonesia

4 December 2012 | 11:30 | Penulis: Eri Kartiadi

Perkembangan e-government di Indonesia masih sebatas institusi memiliki website dan beberapa diantaranya memberikan dokumen pdf untuk di download masyarakat pengguna. Level yang tidak pernah beranjak sejak disuarakannya e-gov di Indonesia diduga karena keterbatasan kemampuan sumber daya manusia (SDM) untuk mengelola sumber teknologi informasi yang ada.
Tony Seno Hartono, National Technology Officer, Microsoft Indonesia, melihat kecenderungan tersebut. Padahal menurutnya pemerintah di Indonesia sangat senang membeli perlengkapan canggih. “Sayangnya SDM yang ada tidak mendukung sehingga tidak tahu bagaimana memanfaatkan teknologi tersebut,” ujarnya saat ditemui pada seminar Menyongsong Indonesia 2025: E-Government Digital Service, di Jakarta.
Oleh karena itu, Menurut Tony, Microsoft sebagai mitra yang mendukung transformasi pemerintah menuju era e-gov telah melakukan pendampingan terhadap teknologi yang dimilikinya. “Terbukti bahwa sesungguhnya SDM Indonesia itu sangat berpotensi tinggi maju dengan teknologi, namun mereka butuh pendampingan. Sekali mereka mengerti maka akan terjadi efek bola salju karena banyak inovasi lahir setelah itu,” tambahnya.
Penerapan Teknologi Informasi dan Komunikasi (TIK) di Indonesia merupakan salah satu cara bagaimana Indonesia mencapai visi Indonesia 2025, yaitu mewujudkan masyarakat Indonesia yang mandiri, maju, adil dan makmur. Penerapan TIK yang baik juga menjadi cara monitoring yang efektif dan handal untuk pencapaian tersebut.
Tony Seno melihat bahwa penerapan TIK yang baik adalah dengan penerapan keamanan informasi yang baik, terpercaya dan akurasi, baik di dalam institusi maupun antar institusi. “Data yang ada antar institusi pemerintahan sebenarnya dapat saling terhubung tanpa harus ada rasa takut data rahasia terbuka,” ujarnya.
Donny BU, Executive Director ICT Watch di Indonesia memaparkan bahwa pemerintah Indonesia seharusnya mampu membuat blue-print yang menyambung akan kebutuhan data antar institusi pemerintahan. Sehingga kelak data-data tersebut bisa dianalisa, dikoordinasi dengan fasilitas TIK yang terpadu.
Dengan mengedepankan unsur keamanan, terutama area vital, Microsoft mengusulkan penerapan e-gov di Indonesia adalah dengan arsitektur Private Cloud. Tony Seno menilai pemanfaatan teknologi cloud cocok dengan luasnya geografis negeri ini, meski ia tidak memungkiri adanya kesenjangan infrastruktur jaringan antara kota dan daerah dan hal tersebut menjadi tantangan ke depan.
“TIK dengan arsitektur Private Cloud sangat tepat digunakan untuk pemerintahan, karena memenuhi ketentuan Peraturan Pemerintah No 82 Tahun 2012 tentang Penyelenggaraan Sistem dan Transaksi Elektronik dan Undang-undang No 14 Tahun 2008 tentang Keterbukaan Informasi Publik,” jelasnya.
Sementara itu Eko Indrajit, selaku Ketua Asosiasi Perguruan Tinggi Informatika dan Komputer (Aptikom), mengakui adanya kurangnya kuantitas dan kualitas SDM TI di Indonesia. Ia menilai bahwa pemerintah dan khususnya 850 kampus yang menjadi anggota Aptikom, memiliki tanggung jawab untuk melakukan percepatan peningkatan kualitas SDM TI demi menyukseskan visi Indonesia 2025.
“Kalau ada inisiatif proyek TI di daerah yang tidak jalan, maka kampus TI di sekitar lokasi proyek tersebut juga punya andil salah,” pungkasnya.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Koruptor Asli

Inilah Negeriku....Bangun tidur anda minum apa? Aqua (74% sahamnya milik Danone persh Perancis) atau Teh Sariwangi (100% saham milik Unilever Inggris). Minum susu SGM (milik Sari Husada yang 82% sahamnya dikuasai Numico Belanda). Lalu mandi pakai Lux dan pepsodent (Unilever Inggris). Sarapannya? Berasnya beras impor dari Thailand (BULOG pun impor), gulanya juga impor (Gulaku). Mau santai habis makan, rokoknya Sampoerna (97% saham milik Philip Morris Amerika). Keluar rumah naik motor / mobil buatan Jepang, China, India, Eropa tinggal pilih, Sampai kantor nyalain AC buatan Jepang, Korea, China. 
Pakai komputer, hp (operator Indosat, XL, Telkomsel semuanya milik asing; Qatar, Singapura, Malaysia). Mau belanja? ke Carefour, punya Perancis. Kalau gitu ke Alfamart (75% sahamnya Carefour). Bagaimana dengan Giant? Ini punya Dairy Farm International, Malysia yang juga Hero. Malam2 iseng nongkrong ke Circle dari Amerika. Ambil uang di ATM BCA, Danamin, BII, Bank Niaga aahh....... semuanya milik asing walau pun namanya masih Indonesia. Bangun rumah pake semen Tiga Roda Indocement sekarang milik Heidelberg (Jerman, 61,07%). 
Semen Gresik milik Cemex Meksiko, Semen Cibinong milik Holcim (Swiss). Masih banyak lagi kalo mau diterusin. 
 
By the way, BB atau HP anda pun buatan China, beda tipis saya punya buatan Canada. Sadarkah Indonesia saat ini sedang terjajah? Bahkan untuk hidup di negeri ini pun sulit.
 
Tapi tenang......... minimal kita masih punya koruptor Asli Indonesia !!! 
 
Mantap kan!
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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Embedded pun mengarah ke Parralel




Embedded Goes ParallelBe the first to comment!


Embedded designers have traditionally made scant use of “extra” cores of Atom and other chips. The exception: offloading easily parallelized, compute-intensive tasks, such as background data compression of large files before storage.
But strong consumer demand for smarter devices and wider proliferation of parallel processing techniques is changing all that.
Embedded designers are increasingly making use of sophisticated parallel programming methods and tools previously reserved for high-performance computing (HPC).
Software toolkits for embedded and mobile systems including Intel’s System Studio can take advantage of multicore processors at all levels of system design, from the on-chip registers to the operating system to the applications and services. Source: Intel
“Even on the smaller embedded processors today, multi-cores are becoming common,” noted Herb Hinstorff, Intel’s director of marketing for developer products at the recent Global Press eSummit 2013 (April 15-17, Santa Cruz, Calif.)
As a result, he said, programmers need the same parallel compilers, debuggers, libraries, performance analyzers and thread checkers traditionally used for HPC. “In this new ‘Internet of Things’ age, even simple mobile devices today are getting more intelligent, driving the need for the security, connectivity and other capabilities that can make good use of parallel processing,” Hinstroff said.
Intelligent embedded systems in consumer, medical, automotive, retail and other diverse areas are being linked together wirelessly by cloud resources. Source: Intel
To meet those needs, Intel’s developer efforts — spearheaded by more than 14,000 software group employees –have started integrating many of the same parallel processing capabilities in Intel Parallel Studio and Intel Cluster Studio into its embedded development suite called Intel System Studio. To date the company claims more than 12,000 embedded design wins.
“What we have done is taken the parts of Parallel Studio and Cluster Studio relevant to embedded systems and built them into System Studio, “ Hinstroff explained, “integrated with all the other tools that embedded designers need, such as longer support lifetime, dedicated channels for embedded, system trace, JTAG  [Joint Test Action Group] and other capabilities embedded designers need to get their products to market quickly.” 
Intel’s System Studio for embedded devices, from smartphones and tablets to the wider range of Internet of Things, have had the appropriate parallel-processing capabilities of Parallel- and Cluster-Studio built-in. Source: Intel
Intel System Studio includes parallel compilers, debuggers, libraries plus special tools to analyze an entire embedded system-on-chip (SoC). This aids performance, power consumption and reliability important for mobile consumer devices.
For instance, Intel System Studio debuggers not only identify memory and threading errors, but provide a system-wide view of every register on an SoC Doing so lets designers identify, for example, synchronization problems that could cause an SoC to fail in the field if not detected during development.
Intel System Studio compilers take advantage of multicores to boost  performance. Likewise, its libraries are designed to scale well from single- to multi-thread solutions. Intel System Studio supports all conventional operating systems such as Linux and Windows, along with real-time-operating systems (RTOS) popular for the smallest embedded systems, including Wind River‘s (an Intel subsidiary).
Posted on  by R. Colin Johnson, Slashdot Contributing Editor

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Microsoft saja menggunakan OpenFlow

Microsoft uses OpenFlow SDN for network monitoring and analysis

Shamus McGillicuddy

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Microsoft is using an OpenFlow software-defined network to capture and analyze traffic for network security and monitoring tools in its Internet-facing and cloud services data centers.

The OpenFlow-based tap aggregation system, called Distributed Ethernet Monitoring (DEMON) Appliance, is an alternative to expensive network packet brokers -- the specialized appliances that aggregate network taps and SPAN ports. Microsoft Principal Network Architect Rich Groves presented DEMON at the Open Networking Summit Tuesday.

Groves did not reveal which commercial software-defined networking (SDN) products Microsoft is using to enable DEMON, but he described the use of merchant silicon-based switches and an SDN control system to build the solution. Only a small number of vendors have announced products and features that enable SDN-based tap aggregation. For instance, Arista Networks announced DANZ, a feature set on the firmware of its merchant silicon-based 7050 switches that provides the ability to aggregate, replicate and capture traffic for networking monitoring applications with advanced features like precision timestamping. Big Switch Networks sells Big Tap, a network monitoring application that runs on top of its controller and that can turn an OpenFlow network into a continuous monitoring network.

Groves explained that using a traditional network packet broker to do tap and SPAN port aggregation wasn't feasible with the scale of the network he needed to instrument. He was looking for a system that could monitor thousands of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) links per data center. Given that his network has top-of-rack switches with as many as 32x10 GbE uplinks, the sheer number of monitoring ports needed made monitoring with a packet broker unfeasible from a scale and cost perspective.

DEMON enables data center-scale packet capture and analysis by turning merchant silicon-based switches into virtual appliances. "We have a layer of switches that do nothing but terminate monitoring ports," Groves said.

OpenFlow also allows Microsoft to create so-called service chains in DEMON. Network engineers can create policies that send the same traffic stream through multiple points of analysis and inspection.

More on SDN use cases

How OpenFlow FlowVisor paves a path toward open network virtualization

SDN could make Network as a Service a reality

Microsoft has also started programming application programming interfaces (APIs) on the system to do more advanced and proactive traffic analysis. "We can set up 24-by-seven monitoring of TCP events for critical systems," he said. "We are building triggers based on changes to add or modify policies. Applications can start to troubleshoot themselves. We have the ability to have a network management system that receives syslog traffic from network devices. If it sees an uptick of syslog entries, it can program the APIs to capture more interesting data [relevant to the surge in syslog traffic]."

Could SDN have an impact on unified communications?

SDN plays a role in network security

"There was no way we could have done this without the [OpenFlow] system we partnered on," Groves said. "To use OpenFlow here helps us scale this method, and with a controller we were able to scale as large as we needed."

The only limitation Groves has run into is the number of flow entries he can program into his merchant silicon-based switches. He said he's generally limited to about 750 SDN flows per switch, which is fine for DEMON's purposes, "but more is always better."

Let us know what you think about the story; email: Shamus McGillicuddy, news director.

Follow @ShamusTT
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Membangun Report dari database



Building Custom Reports from your Database
If your data is stored in MySQL, SQL Server, SQLite, Oracle or PostgreSQL database and you need a tool to help you build custom reports and turn data into useful information then Navicat Report Builder is the best choice for you.

With Navicat Report Builder data in your databases can be transformed into various reports such as Invoices, Sales Statistics, Order Reports, Point of Sales, Form Letters, Mailing Labels, etc.

Navicat Report Builder

Navicat Report Builder is included in the Navicat Windows Enterprise Edition and helps to deliver data in your MySQL, SQL Server, SQLite, Oracle or PostgreSQL database in a presentable manner, turning it into valuable information. Various kinds of Reports can be built easily without any additional efforts. Schedulers can also be set to deliver Reports automatically. Bundled with Report Viewer, it allows multiple users to access your report anytime and at any location.

Existing data can be imported and used for building Reports from various data sources such as MS Excel, MS Access, Text File, XML, Paradox, Dbase, Lotus 123, and ODBC.

Familiarize yourself with Navicat Report Builder:

The Report Designer, pictured below contains three workspaces: Data, Design, and Preview. When first displayed, the Report Designer defaults to the design workspace where you will spend the majority of your report building time.

To build a Report, Basically, there are 3 basic steps:

1) Link your Report to your data
2) Design the Layout for your Report
3) Preview and Export your Report


Linking your Data to the Report

The Data tab allows you to create dataviews which are used to supply data to your report. Dataviews can be created via the Query Wizard or Query Designer. Both of these visual tools allow you to select necessary tables and fields, create search criteria, sort orders, etc for dataviews.

Query Wizard provides a step-by-step guide that helps you to create the basic dataview. Afterwards, you can use the Query Designer to modify the dataview.

You can enter more calculations and criteria in the Query Designer to build complex reports (e.g. search reports). The SQL tab shows the SQL statement for retrieving the data from the database.


Designing the Layout of your Report

The Design tab is the main session for designing and organizing the report layout. It contains a Report Wizard and some sample reports that allow you to quickly create an entire report layout. This is great for generating a simple report.

If you want to design your own layout, you can simply drag and drop the data from the data tree and use the toolbar to add different components.


Preview and Exporting your Report

The Preview tab enables you to preview and navigate the report output. You can also perform a search to filter the data.

After confirming the report output, you can print/export the report to PDF, MS Excel, etc file formats. Together with the Navicat Schedule feature, you can set a schedule to print the report and send the exported file to your email automatically.


Sharing of Reports among users

Navicat Report Viewer allows you to view reports designed by Navicat Report Builder. You can share reports with someone who does not have Navicat running on their computer but has Navicat Report Viewer installed. It highly increases the flexibility and convenience for viewing reports.
Simply create a connection to your server and place the report files (.rtm) within the database subfolder under the Report Location.

Licensing

Navicat Report Builder is a feature in Navicat Enterprise Edition on Windows platform. For every license of Navicat Enterprise Edition, a license of Report Viewer is bundled to allow sharing of reports between users.

Navicat provides database administration solutions to individuals and organizations worldwide. Over 50,000 users have become our happy customers.Geared for individual web developers, small businesses and enterprises, Navicat provides users with everything they need for today’s database administration and report generation demands.

Fitur baru di Linux Mint 14



New features in Linux Mint 14

Linux Mint 14 is the result of 6 months of incremental development on top of stable and reliable technologies such as MATE, Cinnamon and MDM. This new release comes with updated software and brings refinements and new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use.

MATE 1.4

MATE is working hard at providing a rock-solid environment in the continuation of GNOME 2. In 2011, GNOME 2 was renamed "MATE" and MATE 1.x made it possible for GNOME users to continue to use their favorite desktop. There were a few hickups along the way and a few regressions. 6 months later, MATE 1.2 brought many bug fixes and a much more solid experience. This time around MATE 1.4 not only strengthens the quality and stability of the desktop but it goes beyond GNOME 2 by fixing bugs which were in GNOME 2 for years and by providing new features which were previously missing.

Linux Mint 14 "Nadia" MATE Edition
MATE 1.4 comes with numerous bug fixes, bluetooth and mate-keyring are now functional and caja features support for Dropbox.

Choose your favorite notification style in MATE 1.4
MATE now includes its own character map, fast alt-tabbing with Marco compositing, a selection of notification styles (although this was included in Linux Mint 13, it wasn't part of MATE 1.2), and Caja improvements such as a toggle button to show and edit the path and a new button to compare files in the file conflict dialog.

The toggle button is back in Caja

Cinnamon 1.6

Cinnamon is full of new features and among the most active projects in the Linux community. Within this release cycle, Cinnamon developed at an amazing pace and its development was frozen in preparation for Linux Mint 14. The result is impressive and despite all these new features, Cinnamon 1.6 is more stable than its predecessor.

Linux Mint 14 "Nadia" Cinnamon Edition

Workspace OSD

Workspaces are “persistent” in Cinnamon. This means you can create a workspace whenever you want by clicking the “+” button and it will remain there until you decide to delete it. You can log off or even reboot, your workspaces will remain the way you defined them.
In Cinnamon 1.6 you can give them a name.

You can name your workspaces
This allows you to define distinct and memorable environments and to separate and gather your windows according to your activities.

The name appears when you switch workspace
When you switch workspaces, the workspace name appears on the screen. So you always know where you are.
The Workspace OSD (On-Screen-Display) is also configurable. You can set its duration, its position on the screen and whether you want it to show up or not.

Window Quick-List

The Window Quick-List is a new applet which lists all your windows across all workspaces.

The Window Quick-List is great to access windows across multiple workspaces
Scale also received improved keyboard navigation, so whether you prefer to find your windows by name or by looking at them, you can do so quickly and easily in Cinnamon 1.6.
Finally, both Scale and Expo are now also available as applets (as opposed to hot corners). This means they can be added wherever you want in the panels, in complement or replacement of the window quick-list.

Notifications Applet

When you add the notifications applet to your panel it keeps track of any notification you didn’t dismiss.

The notification applet keeps track of what happened when you weren't looking
Cinnamon notifications are ephemeral; Either you click them and they disappear immediately or they disappear by themselves after a few seconds.
The notifications applet acts like a tray which collects the notifications you didn’t click on. This is particularly handy when you’re busy doing something else and you just happened to see a notification in the corner of your screen but didn’t have time to read it, or when you’re away and you want to catch up with what happened during your absence.

Alt-Tab Thumbnails and Window Previews

The Alt-Tab window switcher is now configurable. Cinnamon 1.6 features the following switchers:
  • Icons (default, similar to Cinnamon 1.4)
  • Icons + Thumbnails
  • Icons + Window Previews
  • Window Previews

Alt-Tab with Icons and Thumbnails
“Window Previews” shows a preview of the selected window while switching with an effect similar to the Compiz Fusion switcher. The window in question comes to the front of the screen and is displayed prominently. If the theme defines it, the window can also be highlighted with an outline border/color.

Improved Sound Applet

Music lovers will enjoy some of the improvements in the Sound Applet.

More prominent cover art and improved layout in the sound applet
The layout was reworked to give the cover artwork more space. The volume slider now features a visible percentage and no longer controls amplification past 100% (although this was handy in Cinnamon 1.4, it was confusing and led to people experiencing sound saturation). The applet now also comes with tooltips and mute buttons for the sound and the microphone (accessible via the right-click menu).

Nemo

Cinnamon now features its own file browser: Nemo.

Nemo, the Cinnamon file browser
Cinnamon will eventually handle all visible layers of the Gnome desktop and provide an integrated experience, not only in terms of window and workspace management, but also in terms of file browsing, configuration and desktop presentation. Cinnamon 1.6 comes with tight integration for Nemo and a brand new backgrounds selection screen.
Nemo improves on Nautilus in many areas and offers a lot of new features.

And that’s not all…

Cinnamon 1.6 is huge. There’s more than 800 changes in it and its commit changelog is 2.3 times the size of the 1.4 release! It would be hard to describe all the new features and to list all the bug fixes… and if we did, you probably wouldn’t have the patience to read through it all :)
So here’s a quick overview of the most notable new features and bug fixes which come with this new release.
For an exhaustive list of changes, please visit the following page: https://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamon/commits/master
Other new features:
  • Edge Flip
  • Grid View in Expo
  • Configurable panel heights
  • Panel auto-hide delay options
  • Expo and Scale applets
  • Brightness applet
  • Mouse scroll to switch windows in window list applet
  • “Close all” and “Close other” in window list applet
  • Cinnamon 2D (A new session which uses software rendering, to help people troubleshoot compatibility problems with Cinnamon)
  • Workspaces and Menu pages in Cinnamon Settings
  • Faster menu filtering
  • Menu activation on hover
  • Settings applet is now part of the panel context menu
  • New widgets (for Applet developers): radio buttons and checkboxes
Most notable bug fixes:
  • Improved keyboard navigation in Scale and Expo
  • Fixed panel labels getting shrunk
  • Panel zones alignment
  • Improved stability (fixed many bugs which made Cinnamon 1.4 crash)
  • Fixed many memory leaks present in Cinnamon 1.4
  • Improved dual-monitor handling
  • Fixed context menus appearing behind the panel, flickering or appearing behind other windows.
  • Faster workspace switching (and no more reordering of the windows)
  • Fixed skype chat window stealing the focus
  • Fixed attached dialogs leaving window borders on the screen when closing too fast
  • Fixed panel autohiding when lookingGlass is open
  • Fixed showDesktop applet not always showing the desktop
  • Fixed showDesktop applet missing Gimp utility windows
  • Fixed places not appearing in menu
  • Applets are now aligned in the center when placed in the central zone of the panel

MDM

MDM was given a lot of attention and comes with exciting new features.
MDM now supports legacy GDM 2 themes. About 30 of them are installed by default in Linux Mint 14 and you can find 2,000 more in gnome-look.org.

There are thousands of themes available for MDM
This makes MDM the display manager with the most themes available (GDM isn't themeable) and the theme format is so trivial you can make your own very easily and make your login screen look exactly the way you want.
MDM now also features improved support for user lists and "faces", so instead of typing usernames you can select a theme with a userlist and simply select the user you want to log in as. If the user has a ~/.face picture, his/her face will appear to represent him/her in the list.

User lists and faces support in MDM
User-switching is now improved. You can still select Menu->System tools->New Login (or Menu->System tools->New Login in a Window if you have xnest installed) but you can now also simply lock the screen and click the "Switch user..." button.

You can now switch user from the lock screen
After 6 months of development, the new MDM also features numerous bug and security fixes.

Software Manager

The Software Manager received a lot of "under the hood" improvements. It no longer uses aptdaemon (which was responsible for crashing or freezing the application under certain conditions) but its very own apt client. It now also come with full debconf support so you no longer need to use Synaptic for debconf enabled packages (such as the Microsoft Fonts, or Wine).

Debconf support, apt client, and improved navigation in the new Software Manager
It's also more convenient than before. It runs as root so you no longer need to type your password everytime you click "install" and the application page is now reloaded following the installation or removal of the application.
Also, "Search while typing" is now configurable and can be disabled.

System improvements

MintStick replaces USB-ImageWriter, for a better UI and better progress reporting.
Gedit 2.30 replaced Gedit 3. It's a more mature/stable alternative, which provides more features and a much better search functionality than the latter version.
MintSystem now provides two additional commands:
  • dns-fix sets your DNS resolution to OpenDNS
  • xchat-systray makes your Xchat systray icon re-appear after restarting the desktop (this is particulary useful to Cinnamon developers)

Artwork improvements

Linux Mint features a collection of beautiful background photographs from Al ButlerNicolas Goulet and Steve Allen.

A beautiful collection of backgrounds
Special attention was given to Mint-X and its support for GTK3.6 to make GTK3 applications look native and integrate well with the rest of the desktop.
The icon theme was also greatly improved. It caught up with most of the enhancements from upstream Faenza and some of its derivatives and received better quality as well as a wider collection of icons.

Upstream components

Linux Mint 14 features the following upstream components: Ubuntu 12.10, Linux 3.5, MATE 1.4, Cinnamon 1.6.

Distro Linux mana yang paling mudah untuk pemula ? Ubuntu vs Mint





PRODUCTIVITY

Ubuntu Versus Mint: Which Linux Distro Is Better For Beginners?

There’s nothing like digging into your first Linux distribution, whether you’re a tech-savvy user looking to branch out or whether you’re installing it on a friend’s computer. But which distribution is actually better for beginners? Here, we’ll delve into the differences between Ubuntu and Mint, the two most popular beginner distros, and perform a little experiment to see what new users prefer.
Mint was originally built off the Ubuntu code base, but the two have grown apart quite a bit. However, they’re both designed to be an easy, usable experience for beginners — they just take different approaches to it. In this article, we’ll talk about who these “beginners” are, discuss where each distribution’s strengths and weaknesses lie, and then put them in front of some beginners to see what they think.

Who Are Linux Beginners?

When people are looking for the “best beginner distro”, they usually fall into one of two camps: The first is a group of tech savvy tweakers that want to explore Linux for the first time, because they like the idea of a free operating system that gives them lots of power. The second camp consists of people that know nothing about Linux. Perhaps you’re trying to install Linux on a relative’s old computer to speed it up, or to solve their constant virus problems. They don’t know what Linux is and probably don’t really care; they just want a better computing experience.
Mint and Ubuntu are often heralded as the best distro for both types of beginner. So, we’ll talk about both sets of users when applicable. What’s better for one isn’t always better for the other, which means you may want to choose a different distro depending on the type of beginner you’re trying to help.

How Ubuntu And Mint Differ

Again, Mint is based off Ubuntu, but they’ve become quite different over the years. Each exists in multiple releases, but today we’ll be comparing the main versions of each: Ubuntu’s Unity interface for desktops, and Linux Mint’s Cinnamon interface for desktops. Here’s how the two differ.

The Basic Interface

While Ubuntu and Mint both share certain interface elements, they have each developed their own desktop shell that makes them very different. The best way to think of it is like this: Ubuntu seems to take its cues from Mac OS X, while Mint shares more in common with Windows.
Ubuntu’s Unity interface puts a dock on the right-hand side of the screen, with big icons for all your favourite programs. Along the top, it has a menu bar that shows the current app’s File, Edit and other menus, as well as your Wi-Fi, bluetooth, and other quick settings. You can access other applications, settings and features from Ubuntu’s “Dash” menu by clicking on the Dash icon at the top of the dock. From there, you can type in the name of an app or other item and the Dash will find it for you. You can navigate the Dash with your mouse, but it’s incredibly complicated for beginners, hiding a lot of your apps under expandable menus and small icons. That means browsing for apps is a pretty bad experience.
Mint’s Cinnamon interface sticks a taskbar at the bottom of the window. The taskbar has a small popup menu that lists most of the applications and settings on your computer. It’s very similar to Windows’ Start menu, letting you browse your installed applications by hovering over different categories. When you open up an app, you’ll see a button appear on the taskbar, just like in Windows Vista and its predecessors. You can even add a few shortcuts to the side of your taskbar like Windows’ old quick launch.
When it comes to ease of use, they both have their advantages and quirks. Ubuntu’s dock is pretty easy to use right away, but when you open the Dash, things get a little more complicated. Mint’s menu, on the other hand, is much easier to browse, since it lists all your apps by category in a familiar way. It may have a smaller taskbar with harder-to-see shortcuts, but beginners should be able to find anything they’re looking for just by opening Mint’s main menu. Both menus are searchable, however, which can make things easier if you know what you’re looking for.

Performance

Linux Mint definitely has an edge when it comes to speed. Ubuntu’ has become faster over the past few versions, but Mint always feels pretty snappy, even on older or lower-powered hardware (at least compared to Ubuntu). If you’re installing Linux to speed up an old computer, Mint may offer you a better experience.

Using And Installing Apps

Both Ubuntu and Mint come with a set of preinstalled apps that cover most of your needs: an office suite, a web browser, a music player, a video player, and so on. We think Mint’s selection is better than Ubuntu’s, since it includes Pidgin instead of the less mature Empathy, the easy-to use VLC, and the feature-filled Banshee, for example. However, this isn’t crucial since you can always install new apps.
Both Ubuntu and Mint also have their own app stores that make it easy for beginners to find, research, and download new apps. Ubuntu’s Software Center is a bit easier to find, since it’s in the dock by default, has a descriptive “shopping bag” icon, and a name that suggests “this is where you get new software”. When you open it up, it’s laid out a bit more like a professional app store, with featured apps, screenshots, star ratings and categories. It’s not perfect, but at least it’s trying.
Mint’s “Software Manager,” on the other hand, has a slightly more generic name and brown package icon, which makes it a bit harder to find. It almost looks like a system tool rather than an app store, which is more intimidating to beginners. Its layout is also very basic, showing you just a few general categories on the main screen. Both stores are easier than trying to teach new users about repositories and packages, so they’re both beginner-friendly compared to the alternatives.

Customisation

Linux is great for tweakers: it allows you to customise every inch of your computer, from shortcuts to the size of your menus to the way windows work. Ubuntu, however, has done away with a lot of those options. It does still offer some preferences, but it’s much more “what you see is what you get” than Mint, which has settings for tweaking everything down to the minute details of your interface. Many beginners may not care about this, but if you’re a tech savvy user looking to learn about Linux, you’ll probably find more things to “play with” in Mint.

The Experiment: Which Do Beginners Like Better?

We can sit here and compare the two distros all day long, but with beginners — particularly ones that are less tech-savvy — the best way to find out what they like is to have them try it!
So, I took a few friends and family members, sat them in front of two laptops with Mint and Ubuntu installed, and had them perform some simple tasks on each. The tasks were simple, but gauged how “intuitive” the OS was for a new user: I had them do things such as open up a web browser, find their Documents folder, navigate to an app they’ve never heard of, and change some settings. It isn’t an enormous sample size or a perfectly scientific study, but each person had a different level of savviness, and we had a good mix of Windows and Mac users to even things out. All in all, the experiment gave some good insight on what new users find easy (and not so easy).
At first, the majority of my “test subjects” found Mint much easier to use. Finding their home folder was easy because it was right there on the desktop, while Ubuntu’s dock made it a bit more difficult to figure out where their file manager was. Mint’s menus were easy to use, so they could browse by category and find apps they had never heard of before (and guess their purpose). They found Ubuntu’s Dash very confusing, since using the search bar wasn’t their first instinct (and since they didn’t always know what they were looking for). Ubuntu won when it came to installing new apps, though: everyone found the Software Center very easy to find and use, while most couldn’t even figure out where to go in Mint.
However, while they found everything in Mint much quicker, about half of them said that they liked Ubuntu better when the experiment was over. Some of it was less intuitive, but once they realised how easy it was to search the Dash or add new items to their dock, they said they’d be more likely to install Ubuntu than Mint. This didn’t apply to everyone, but it did surprise me that many liked Ubuntu’s Dash once they learned how it was supposed to work.
Of those polled, the savvier users liked Mint better, while the less tech savvy users were more split, leaning toward Ubuntu once they learned the tricks of the trade.

Tech-Savvy Beginners: Go With Mint

If you’re a tech head looking to try out Linux for the first time, I highly recommend Mint. It has a lot more room for customisation than Ubuntu, so even if there are things you don’t love about the interface, you can change them. Mint has also become very popular, so it has a forum full of users to help you take your first steps in learning all about Linux.

True Beginners: It’s A Draw

After giving both distributions to a few beginners, it’s hard to pick one as the “best”. I’ll admit that I’m not a big fan of Unity, and I originally thought Mint was going to beat Ubuntu hands down, but the Ubuntu team has put together something pretty good. We Linux users may not like it, but beginners are a different story.
So, if you’re looking to help a friend out and install Linux on their system, give them an opportunity to try both! My whole experiment took less than 10 minutes per person, and all you need is a few free live CDs to give them a quick glance at each OS. Even though my experiment was pretty basic, every person had a good idea of which one they’d rather have installed on their computer, so you can solve this debate by letting them decide.
Ubuntu and Mint aren’t the only Linux distributions out there, and perhaps there’s something even better for beginners out there. However, both Ubuntu and Mint are very popular, have thriving communities, and are designed specifically for non-Linux veterans, so they’re a great place to start.