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Centos vs Linux Mint: What are the differences?
Introduction Centos and Linux Mint are two popular Linux distributions that offer different features and target different user needs. Understanding the key differences between these two distributions can help users make an informed choice based on their requirements.
Design Philosophy: Centos is a community-driven enterprise operating system built from the same source code as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). It focuses on stability, security, and long-term support, making it a preferred choice for servers and business environments. On the other hand, Linux Mint is designed with a user-friendly approach and aims to provide a familiar desktop experience for beginners and desktop users.
Default Desktop Environment: Centos comes with the GNOME desktop environment as its default choice, offering a clean and functional user interface. Linux Mint, on the other hand, provides multiple editions with different desktop environments, including Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce. This allows users to choose the desktop environment that suits their preferences and hardware requirements.
Software Availability: Centos focuses on stability and reliability, which means it may have older software packages in its repositories. However, the availability of key enterprise software and server applications is excellent. Linux Mint, on the other hand, offers a wider range of software options, especially for desktop and multimedia applications. It tends to have more up-to-date software packages in its repositories.
Package Management: Centos uses the YUM (Yellowdog Updater, Modified) package manager for package installation and updates. It provides a reliable and secure way for managing software packages. Linux Mint uses APT (Advanced Package Tool) package manager, which is also widely used in many other Debian-based distributions. APT offers a vast selection of packages and a user-friendly interface for managing packages.
Release Cycle and Long-term Support: Centos follows a predictable release cycle, with major releases approximately every two to four years. It offers long-term support for each major version, providing updates and security patches. Linux Mint follows a more frequent release cycle with regular updates and releases every six months. It offers long-term support for specific LTS (Long Term Support) versions, which are supported for five years.
Target Users and Communities: Centos is primarily designed for enterprise users, system administrators, and server deployments. It has a strong community of developers and contributors focused on delivering stability and security. Linux Mint, on the other hand, targets desktop users, especially those transitioning from Windows. It has a strong and active user community, providing support, resources, and a friendly environment for beginners.
In Summary, Centos and Linux Mint differ in their design philosophy, default desktop environment, software availability, package management, release cycle, and target users. Understanding these differences can help users choose the distribution that aligns with their specific needs and requirements.
I have used libvirt in every Linux hypervisor deployment I do. I frequently deploy RHEL or CentOS hypervisor servers with libvirt as the VMM of choice. It's installable via the guided setup for EL-based Linux distros, it uses minimal resources and overhead, integrates seamlessly with KVM and Qemu, and provides powerful CLI for advanced users and experts looking for automated deployments, or via VirtManager in your favorite Linux desktop environment. Best used with Linux VMs, it allows KVM and QEMU direct hardware virtualization access.
Using Arch Linux for our systems and servers means getting the latest technology and fixes early, as well as early warnings for potential future breakage in other (slower) distributions. It's been easy to maintain, easy to automate, and most importantly: easy to debug.
While our software target is every recent Linux distribution, using Arch internally ensured that everyone understands the full system without any knowledge gaps.
Global familiarity, free, widely used, and as a debian distro feels more comfortable when rapidly switching between local macOS and remote command lines.
CentOS does boast quite a few security/stability improvements, however as a RHEL-based distro, differs quite significantly in the command line and suffers from slightly less frequent package updates. (Could be a good or bad thing depending on your use-case and if it is public facing)
I liked manjaro a lot, the huge support it has and the variety of tools it provides is just awesome. But due to its parent platform being Arch Linux it has bleeding-edge technology and that meaning, we get updated 'daily', and if we keep updating the system daily, due to the bugs in the recent updates the system sometimes used to crash, this made the OS really unstable. However, one can avoid such crashes using periodical and careful system/package updates. I now use LinuxMint which is based on Ubuntu, and this OS is completely stable with reliable(mostly tested) updates. And, since this OS is backed up by UBUNTU the concerns/questions one can encounter while using the OS can be easily rectified using the UBUNTU community, which is pretty good. Though this is backed up on UBUNTU it most certainly does NOT include the proprietary stuff of UBUNTU, which is on the bright side of the OS. That's it! Happy Computing.
Pros of CentOS
- Stable16
- Free to use9
- Reliable9
- Has epel packages6
- Good support6
- Great Community5
- I've moved from gentoo to centos2
Pros of Linux Mint
- Simple, Fast, Comfort and Easy to Use15
- Stable14
- Elegant12
- Good for beginners11
- Free to use10
- Out of the box3
- Reliable3
- Good software support1
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Cons of CentOS
- Yum is a horrible package manager1
Cons of Linux Mint
- Easy to mess up with a few settings (like the panel)3
- Security breaches2
- Idiots can break it because it is open source1
