Why Linux Mint is the gold standard for Desktop Linux

This is why Linux Mint is the gold standard when it comes to desktop Linux.

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[piked]

I became an expert at installing windows in the 90's as a kid. It was a necessity.

[siljrath]

How many clicks can gentoo be installed in?
Zero? ;-) ... Clicks may be a weak metric. ;-)

But yeah. Mint's a superb start.

[TheLudde]

00:00 - intro
00:32 - Installation
03:55 - First boot/Configuration
05:45 - Updating the system
08:22 - Default programs
10:40 - Gaming
11:40 - Misc/Final thoughts
12:50 - Patreon supporters

[hygri]

Yep! Spot on Immolo. Linux Mint. They have nailed it so hard. Pretty much *everyone* I know who's come over from Windows that's non-technical uses Mint, and if they're over 50 it really is every user. Banging defaults, great installer, slick system administration, no shell needed... bloody amazeballs.

Good to see you back. Cheers gksudo and GO LADYBIRD!!!

[TheLudde]

I think you summarized it well at the end: It's a good starting point in your Linux journey, probably won't be your last distro, but it sure is a good first.

[Pago]

I'm a Mint user, but I default to Mint Debian edition. It just works 💪

[dingokidneys]

I agree entirely. Mint is a great introduction to Linux as it is familiar enough to Windows users, it is pretty in it's default theme, and it imposes no limits on those who want to take things further.
As you say, it may not be the last distro you ever use but that comes down to an individuals curiosity and willingness to explore rather than inherent limitations in Mint.

[soluna]

I'm not a complete moron with computers but i've always used Windows machines. Other than Pop maybe i can't imagine successfully and almost effortlessly having transformed away from W10 if it wasn't for Mint. Now to de-Google my life as much as possible will be the next challenge, it's everywhere and woven and entangled in a lot more things than most people realize.

[quantumangel]

It's definitely very well built, but the other reason I like it is because of the support and documentation.

Solving problems and finding solutions is, generally, easier than windows, osx and other distributions.

[XenHat]

I've been recommending Mint for years after I stopped using it (mostly because I am not wired to get along with APT) and I'm glad to see they're still excellent for people not used to the command line yet.

[Ink]

I just hopped onto nobara and honestly it's great . The snap store is something that I really don't miss at all .

[twenty-fifth]

Sephiroth is like:
"The Lifestream is Mint flavored, not raspberry or ububerry or deberry flavored."



Edit: Also I have been a hopper for a while. If they asked me for a gaming flavored distro, I would probably say Pop OS, but if they are more general (and maybe even using an older card where vulkan is not a thing), then Mint is great. Mint is also lightweight in the 'I am not trying to cause your computer to heat up and explode." whereas Pop OS is definitely not lightweight, but more "I can see you opened a workspace, LET ME TAKE UP YOUR RAM/VRAM!"

[arkemiffo]

I started with Linux back in the very late 90's, I believe Red Hat was my first distro. I had fun with it, but I didn't "get" it. Then a few years later I tried Ubuntu, I had fun with it, but there was too much I was missing, specifically gaming. Then over the years I've gone back to Linux (mostly Ubuntu) a few times. I've always liked it, but there was always too much missing.
About a month ago I installed Mint, and for the first time I feel I'm a step beyond Windows. I can't think of a reason to go back now. Everything has fallen into place. Everything I want to do is here, and it just works.
Well, almost. I still think the rights-management is going too far, and becoming a hindrance instead, but it's something I can live with because I know why it's there.

Otherwise, I think Mint can make the installation simpler. Not that they need to, but they can make the first page in the wizard show the default settings, and you can click them to change to your settings instead. If not, click continue to enter your account-details, then continue to install. With default settings, it's a 2-click install.

[tato-chip]

I agree that mint is peak however i do have some issues in the way the installation of the system is done that tends to have cascading effects down the line. For example the fact that they don't use btrfs to begin with creates issues when the user has to set up timeshift in order to do an operating system upgrade. It makes it much harder.

[SuperFx]

As long as you can install fuse-emulator-sdl via the package manager ...

[Bareego]

First issue I had from updates on Mint 21.3 was the new 6.8 kernel, which borked the 545 nvidia driver and returned me to 1028-768 resolution and square apples as my wallpaper. It would work with older 535 driver and nouveau, ended up rolling back to 6.5 kernel. The thing is, the computer was still kindof usable, but for a noob it might have been difficult to know what happened. That said, noob would prolly still have been on the 535 driver :D

[rexthewild]

I did start with mint as well, ran away from it as soon as I could, but I'm a more comfortable with computers than many so I get why ppl are recomanding it. Endeavour OS was my first OS that I actually used for more than a week. Tried Vanilla Arch but I am to lazy to do the whole post install customization and KDE was quite buggy when I installed it :((. Then moved recently to CachyOS with the gnome DE. I'd rather strip and replace than go from scratch as it is much easier for me to see how things are breaking and troubleshooting is just easier for me like this.. Mint strikes me as the distro which every one "hates" just because everyone wants to run away from windows related stuff when they switch and mint being the definition of ease of tranfer with all the familiarities.. Well guess who is gonna have some lingering hate from windows

[MrPirfree]

I use Mint and Windows.. As a IT guy that does primarily WIndows at work, I have little choice.. But I'm also planning for the eventual day where I won't be an IT guy by profession any more.. And hopefully at that point, I may still keep a Windows box around, but for the most part, I'll be using something else. While I am certainly capable of using a more difficult OS, personally, I just want the systems to work; and so far, with Linux Mint, it's just worked. I tried different flavors of linux about a decade or so ago; it was less than satisfying to say the least.

[Nurse_Xochitl]

Many Linux Distros have reached the point where for most basic users... "it just works".

A lot of things are even easier than Windows, thanks to things like the "software center" in Linux which act a lot like the app stores people use one their phone.

It's a shame too many people are scared of Linux because they think everything is done in a terminal.

[Eevee]

The community keeps arguing about best yet No linux distribution is best, it depends on the needs, for average user mint is solid choice though, although pop os with kde de is good too