Fuduntu or Mint 12
I have Fuduntu and Mint 12 set up as my main operating systems, and I realized that, for reasons of practicality, it'd be better to have One main operating system for work. I think I'm going with Fuduntu, and I'll try to break down why in a sort of mini-review.
This is based on my requirements and user experiences, and is, of course, entirely subjective. I like setups where basics like log-in, wi-fi work out of the box. Programs I use are pretty simple: Libreoffice, Rednotebook, Gedit, Chromium, Firefox, Xournal, GPartEd, AWN, and Multiboot. Both OSs suit me well, but I need to pick one or waste time configuring an extra OS.
Criteria:
User experience: ease of use; aesthetics.
Power: available software; convenience, configuration. -- what it can do, in short, and how easily.
Versatility: hardware support, system requirements. -- where it can do it
Support: community, documentation; security, updates.
Stability: does it crash or hang or glitch?
User Experience
Ease of use
Both OSs call themselves user-friendly and both live up to that. I think Mint takes the ease of use category, because it does almost Anything by default, without sacrificing too much performance. Also, the software center is much more transparent and easy to navigate and setup. Then again, Fuduntu shouldn't take anyone long to learn, though its more spare nature, in terms of provided features and software, might make it harder to get used to at first.
Fuduntu 8/10. Mint 10/10
Aesthetics
I like Fuduntu's custom icons and default backgrounds. They have AWN set up already, and since I always add that in Mint, that's a plus. Mint is pretty pedestrian, but clean and unoffensive. And easy to customize.
Fuduntu 8/10. Mint 7/10
Power
Software
Oodles of software, measured in assloads, Mint has. It definitely wins in terms of available software. And it's easily available, too. 3.5 assloads of software. Fuduntu has an amount that's just about right for what I need. The developers are very attentive to the community and add reasonable requests fairly quickly to the testing repositories. But it's 2 assloads to Mint's 3.5, and who knows what needs will later arise. Multiboot is also Ubuntu-family only, I believe.
Fuduntu 8/10. Mint 10/10
Convenience and Configuration
I like having stuff set up beforehand. And if it's not, then configuring it should be relatively simple. I like Fuduntu's defaults, but Mint is definitely a more mature product and has very transparent configuration options.
Fuduntu 8/10. Mint 9/10
Versatility
Hardware Compatibility
This is a big one. My traveling PC is a netbook. If an OS is great, but you can't run it, is it still great?
Fuduntu was designed for eee PCs and works remarkably well on my 1201t. It also has Jupiter built in for battery management. Mint and Ubuntu suck battery life like a vacuum cleaner inhales sea monkeys. I honestly haven't tested Fuduntu strictly on battery, but it will be hard to get less than the 25 minutes I got on Mnit 12 vanilla. (Didn't try it on LXDE, either, but I realy prefer to use the Gnome desktop).
Fuduntu isn't blazingly fast on the 1201t, and it consumes about 300/1800 MB of RAM on idle, but is noticeably faster than Mint 12.
Fuduntu 9/10 Mint 7/10
Support
Community and documentation
Mint's community is larger and just as friendly as Fuduntu's, so I think they have a considerable lead here. Also, having been around a long time, the documentation is more thorough. I haven't needed to do much browsing for OS-specific stuff, though. Mostly just reading things to shore up my basic knowledge of Linux.
I imagine a lot of Fedora documentation still applies to Fuduntu.
Fuduntu 8/10. Mint 9/10.
Security and Updates
Security and updates are where Fuduntu wins big for me. I want to set up and forget. Not only does the OS have a fast update schedule, it's rolling release. Mint 12 is supported until April 2013. Mint 13 will be supported for 5 years, which is huge, but I still need to work between now and the end of May. The only knock is, Fuduntu is a small project, and until it gains traction, it's hard to say if it will be around until, say, 2017. I guess that's why I'm throwing in with Fuduntu!
Fuduntu 10/10. Mint (12) 7/10.
Stability
Neither of these OSs have an issue with this.
I've honestly logged more hours with Mint, so I've seen it glitch more, but they've mostly been minor. Some apps will cause things to hang a little bit, using the auto-hide extension from Webupd8 will cause some icons to white out on the panel, etc. Probably the only one that irked me is a graphical glitch where Chromium started to flicker when I had more than two or three tabs open. It's gone away now since installing the NVidia drivers. I know better than the mess with Compiz, too. Fuduntu has small glitches, too. Repositories require manual tweaking, and the autohide is finicky at times for the top panel. The developers are aware of most of the problems, which is a good sign. Again, nothing major.
Fuduntu 8/10. Mint 8/10.
I intially chose both because I genuinely like using them both. Fuduntu is just a little more my style and fits my needs a little better. I also realized that using any Linux, you have to keep tabs on the community, because bugs and developments are usually not too far away. I can't devote that time to multiple OSs.
Mint 12 was the OS that turned me away from Windows for the time being, some 1.5 months ago. If someone wanted to try out Linux and had a fairly powerful computer, I would feel very safe installing Mint for them, knowing the experience would be pleasant and user-friendly. I'll probably keep a copy around for Multiboot, or in case there's other Ubuntu-specific software I need. And I am very interested to see what Mint 13 brings, though it's unlikely I'll be using it much on my eee PC until battery usage improves.