Perhaps a light version of Mageia can be issued. Easy to load on USB. Then the full version can either be upgraded. Or Maybe a free choice choose your package program. Look forward to packages like tuxguitar. I guess the RPM command is like: yum install tuxguitar.rpm? Sudo apt-get not used?
Where can we find packages? there is a Ubuntu place called app.ubuntu.com, one can see all the apps. How much space should I allocate between mint an Mageia. I think 35% Mint? Mint has bee reported unstable, so I may like to get rid of it all together.