random stuff
1) make clear what your purpose is: what exactly do you want and why?
2) You cannot run Mint as root, simply because of all the people who switch to that from Windows. People like that don't realise that all system files are basically text files. If you run as root (and I don't mean as superuser using your user account (with su or sudo)) and you get hacked, your entire system can be ripped apart pretty easily. Hence the fact that you can run progs as superuser, but can't login into the root account in Mint.
Re-Format ... solved
it's not like windows when it means throwing a lot of work and time away.
I already reinstalled LMDE like more than 5 times in 2 weeks. And not even using full two week time.
distros like mint (based on ubuntu, based on debian) have specific dependencies for software. much more stringent that something more open like centos. so if you want to install additional software onto mint you will need to make sure every dependency is met. since you are new, stick to stuff in the official repository. apt-get install will download and install all of the required libraries for you.
login via normal user
su -
enter root password
problem solved
the root account is not designed to be used for "normal" system usage
Well thank you, I was desperate at first, i have since found out more how stuff works, but i now do chmod -R 777 /etc ... and maybe other stuff too where some app cries about access errors.
hate to sound elitist, but he would have figured that out in the first 5 minutes of running linux if he had read the basic documentation.
found only webshit for days ... and google doesn't link documentation stuff a lot - plus , so much stuff about this UBUNTU which is incompatible with LMDE
And why the heck is LMDE for TESTING what testing , found issues with inability to properly use WINE , oh "WINE was removed from testing" So WHAT , that means i can't even run the stable ones WTF. Well i FORCEFULLY installed unsable versions .. but i have no idea what to do next , install game , install DX , VCredist ... ?
Also why the heck is so many distros - just makes it harder to choose ... like one guy says "im going to make my own distro" ... well im not against it, but then you have these distros which focus on some niches ... and im not saying that's bad, i like performance but some ommisions are just ridicolous for whatever normal or not operation.
Who the heck decides what will be where and what not. Why not make the best distro which has EVERYTHING , super performance, rooot , UI , Wine , ... every update, every upgrade, every program , and i don't care if it's 10 GB large or more, just this constant fiddling around is kind of a weird mindset "oh if you don't need that program you should not have installed" - , Win7 takes 15-25 GB in it's final stage btw.
I thought this was all community, but it feels more like very regulated. LMDE was said to be faster and more responsive in performance, but what the heck does this help if half of stuff doesn't work, testing testing testing something all the time testing testing, and the sheer number of things
Just imagine if they got rid all of these distros and make one huge linux OS, and just make these features and "WAYS" choosable as an option. All of em! Like a huge configuration before the installation for customization.
And what's the point of a 1 GB iso , and then i have to spend hours downloading additional stuff from slow repository servers.
Well ... All those distros should go to analyze which approach is better, the best approach be used for ultimate linux OS, this can be the way distros and updating works , or whatever. Just best of best. Why would i be choosing distros like that. Ah for performance choose LMDE (but 50% doesn't work) , for UI choose UBUNTU (but hey you can't do this/that) ...etc
Mint is a different color and includes many non-free components that Ubuntu makes you install afterwards.
This is also a reason many people choose Ubuntu over Mint.
Hmmm ... interesting to see if Mint stays with Gnome or not.
See ... weird.
What the heck is "different color"
Why do you have to have a whole different distro for trivial stuff like that could be just 2 options in same OS ?
So Mint has pre-installed components than Ubuntu, so that's the main reason people use Ubuntu - that's the biggest joke i heard on the entire web (in this category).
So you sacrifice, all other difference, just becuase "it doesn't have stuff pre-installed" - what a stupid reason.
Whatever maybe's all justifiable.
But the bottom line is:
The features are sometimes scattered accross distros, "you want that but you want that also, no you only can choose one or the other!"
Many programs are not available in good version for many other distros.
I think this whole idea of distros is somewhat splitting the community ... the total developers working on linux are not connected, disorganized, and effectiveness is obviously not ideal what could have been, some of them work here, a little there , little here, meh , it's just again how i call it , FIDDLING AROUND. Imagine 100.000 of those developers joining to make ultimate distro, 1 month we focus on kernel , 2 month we focus on wine, 3 month we focus on some drivers, 4 month we focus on audio ... , you'll have more stable releases, more people immediately testing dev build, if end of mothn (or set perios of time of focus) each update will not release until it's stable enough, testing would be easier because of the massive focus ... (no reliance on random web people) and you obviously won't have to test your new changes to 10 different distros.
This kind of approach would destroy all competition.
And a funny thing, we only see distros ... where's the standard vanilla that these distros are actual distribution/edition from .... WHAT ?