Why would Mint do this?

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1527 <- first Google result for "Linux Mint Debian Edition"

Simply something to do.

I think that I am tired of your condescending replies to my posts.

Everyone 'googles' before they ask questions here.

Please do not reply again.

Thank you.

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Because Linux Mint Debian Edition, unlike the standard one, is "rolling-release", which means that you can keep your system up to date by installing updates as they come and never have to reainstall your whole OS to upgrade.

Arch Linux works that way too, and it's great to never reinstall.

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Debian and Ubuntu are different in their framework and the way they update. Linux Mint is based off Ubuntu, but with this version, they base it off Debian. There some benefits which you can read on their website. But the biggest is that when you upgrade you don't need to reinstall.

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I'm sorry if you find my tone condescending. I don't remember replying to you before - you're not special to me and I barely keep track of usernames here. From my POV, I'm tired of people asking questions that could be answered by a trivial search of Google or the man page. If you did Google it first, then you would have seen that link, which explains the reasons the Debian version was created. If that was insufficient then you should have explained in your post that you read that post but didn't understand it or didn't think it was enough, and said why.

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Just for curiousity, how did AlucardZero's link not answer your question? I read through it and it seemed to answer the question pretty well. I hope the 64bit version is not too far out.

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You're right. I did not explain myself well. I did read that link.

Here, from a Linux newbie point of view, are the things that I did not understand the significance of, in their blurb:

Today is very important for Linux Mint. It’s one day to remember in the history of our project as we’re about to maintain a new distribution, a rolling one, which promises to be faster, more responsive and on which we’re less reliant on upstream components. Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) comes with a Debian base, which we transformed into a live media and on top of which we added a new installer. It’s rougher and in some aspects not as user-friendly as our other editions, it’s very young but it will improve continuously and rapidly, and it brings us one step closer to a situation where we’re fully in control of the system without being impacted by upstream decisions.

Why is relying on a Debian base better than relying on a Ubuntu base? Does this mean that Mint believes that Debian is better than Ubuntu?

BTW, I downloaded and installed LMDE. When I clicked on 'Update' it took something like 2 hours to complete and I use a High Speed internet connection - i.e., not dial-up.

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See my retraction.

Means that the heart or core of LMDE is debian.

Regular Mint is based on ubuntu which in turn is based on Debian(as I recall). So regular mint is downstream of ubuntu and Debian. Ubuntu is upstream of Mint but downstream of Debian. So after Debian makes a patch, Ubuntu has to add that patch and then regular Mint can add the patch. With LMDE there is no waiting on Ubuntu.

If ubuntu decides not to apply a patch or do something differently regular mint is pretty much SOL, whereas with LMDE they only have to worry about what Debian decides.

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It's not necessarily better, but it depends on your goals. As mentioned, Ubuntu is also based on Debian, and applies their own patches to many things. Which means Mint is dependent on what Ubuntu does and decisions Ubuntu makes. Given that Ubuntu has been making some pretty major changes of late, and Mint doesn't necessarily want to follow suit (Unity and Gnome-Shell for example), it makes sense to look to another base for their distro.

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Linux Mint = The Debian Bakery bakes some bread. Ubuntu adds peanut butter and jelly and releases a PB&J ubuntuwich. Mint takes a PB&J ubuntuwich, scrapes off the Ubuntu jelly, adds fluff, then releases it as peanut butter and fluff mintwich.

Linux Mint Debian Edition = The Debian Bakery bakes some bread. Mint adds peanut butter and fluff, then releases it as a peanut butter and fluff mintwich.

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Most epic response ever.

Very funny, great analogy!