*Kubuntu
Ever since we got the OK to dual boot our machines at work, I’ve been daily driving Mint Cinnamon unapologetically and with no plans to change.
I’m looking to close tickets rather than tinker with my install. It’s nice to start with something fully featured working great out of the box. But it’s still Linux, and based on Debian/Ubuntu at that, so I can run/install/change whatever I want. I don’t feel restricted just because somebody else did a ton of configuration for me before I installed it.
If this were 20 years ago, I’d totally be an Arch/Gentoo user, constantly breaking things and troubleshooting, distro hopping, and all that. But the busy middle aged parent version of me currently speaking is extra grateful for all the effort volunteers (and some companies) have put into making new installs so freaking easy.
Honestly, I’d be a Mint user if it weren’t for me being almost entirely spoiled rotten by the the ease of using pacman
. I’ve literally never had an easier time with a package manager.
If I had to choose a more ready-made distro to replace my current Arch install, I’d probably look into EndeavorOS.
Mint was the distro that converted me. After 8-10 years, I’m still using the cinnamon DE, but just on top of Arch. Next hope is the devs port it over wayland so I can also ditch xorg. (There is a demo/alpha available)
Can somebody explain why everyone is trying to ditch xorg? I’ve never had an issue with xorg, but I’m always hearing about major issues with Wayland.
Xorg(and the x server protocol) is very old and like most long lived software has quite a few warts and quirks.
Wayland has been “the future” for like 10 years (though it’s quite a bit older). It’s only now starting to reach a critical mass where things are starting to change so it might feel a bit of a mess at the moment.
I’ve liked Linux Mint for a long time, but it’s quickly becoming my goto distro for everything.
LMDE for my business laptop, Ubuntu-based Linux Mint boxes deployed at my workplace, Linux Mint VMs in my home lab.
Workhorse distro 100%
If you’ve recently installed Linux, you’re probably going to be making a lot of changes and installing a lot of stuff over the next couple of weeks. I recommend using TimeShift (comes pre-installed on Linux Mint) to make a snapshot of your system. (It works like System Restore on Windows). The first snapshot takes up the most space but later snapshots only contain the changes you make to your system.
It’s a good idea to take a snapshot before you update things like graphics card drivers or additional desktops. Then, you can always go back to where you were if something gets messed up. You can even rescue a system that won’t boot by booting from your Live Linux USB and running Time shift. It will find your hard drive backups and restore them for you.