Linux Mint

[Gideon300]

I'm seriously thinking of ditching Windows. I won't downgrade to Win 11. I am concerned about malware and privacy. I've heard that Linux Mint is good for those wanting a toe in the Linux water. has anyone any knowledge of it? I'm probably level 2 or 3 out of 10 when it comes to computers. I have wireless internet.

 

[Oncefallen]

I'm seriously thinking of ditching Windows. I won't downgrade to Win 11. I am concerned about malware and privacy. I've heard that Linux Mint is good for those wanting a toe in the Linux water. has anyone any knowledge of it? I'm probably level 2 or 3 out of 10 when it comes to computers. I have wireless internet.

Check in with @Lynx , I know he's a Linux aficionado.

 

[Ceph]

I've used linux mint for a couple years in the past. In my eyes it's very suitable for someone getting into linux.
However, their lead developer has made a controversial statement on israel in the past, in case that's a dealbreaker for you.
In that case, I'd reccomend you try Kubuntu.

 

[Gideon300]

I've used linux mint for a couple years in the past. In my eyes it's very suitable for someone getting into linux.
However, their lead developer has made a controversial statement on israel in the past, in case that's a dealbreaker for you.
In that case, I'd reccomend you try Kubuntu.

Thanks for the advice. If Linux Mint was costing big money, I'd be concerned about an anti Israel stance. I won't buy Ben and Jerry's for that reason. However, I'll take a look at Kubuntu. I'm not quite ready to take the plunge. I go back to the days of DOS 2.

It seems that Mint can run from a USB so I should be able to try it without overwriting my Windows 10. I'll look into Kubuntu to see if I can run it the same way.

 

[Coll2-8]

Good decision to switch to Linux!

Well, which distribution to choose depends on many factors, and there’s probably no single definitive answer, there are just a lot of different opinions on the matter. I just recently set up my mom’s laptop with Linux. I chose Zorin OS for her because, in my opinion, it comes very close to Windows 10/11 right out of the box in terms of usability. In fact, it’s actually a bit more intuitive. Sure, you can tweak any Linux distribution however you want, but that’s really more for advanced users and has to be something you enjoy doing.

Linux Mint seems to be quite popular and is often recommended for beginners. I don’t think Mint is bad per se, but I just find Zorin a bit better. It’s also supposed to have simplified routines for running Windows programs already built in. I haven’t tried that out yet, though. But if you don’t rely on any specific application that isn’t available for Linux, you don’t need that anyway.

I generally advise beginners and those less tech-savvy against KDE distributions. Not because they’re bad, on the contrary, but they are just a bit “more complicated.”

The best thing to do is to start by watching a few videos on YouTube about the topic to get a sense of what it’s all about. And it’s probably best to start by installing Linux alongside Windows; the installer usually offers this option automatically. Depending on your computer, you may also need to adjust a few settings in the BIOS first, such as enabling booting from USB or disabling SecureBoot.

As you've already seen, you can try out Linux as a live system from a USB drive. Keep in mind, though, that it doesn't perform quite as well as a fully installed system, and there are some things that won't work right away.

 

[Ceph]

Thanks for the advice. If Linux Mint was costing big money, I'd be concerned about an anti Israel stance. I won't buy Ben and Jerry's for that reason. However, I'll take a look at Kubuntu. I'm not quite ready to take the plunge. I go back to the days of DOS 2.

It seems that Mint can run from a USB so I should be able to try it without overwriting my Windows 10. I'll look into Kubuntu to see if I can run it the same way.

Pretty much most linux distrobutions out there come with live images that you can try from a USB, especially ubuntu-based ones.
There are only a few I know of that require more advanced knowledge to install.

Linux is a very diverse and customizable ecosystem, where you can have many different kinds of GUIs and ways to install software.
If you have the patience, I reccomend you do some research through youtube & search engines on the different kinds of distrobutions availible. And if you have the internet speed and disk space, you can freely try any of them out.

A program like rufus will let you easily put any .iso image on a USB to boot. You don't need multiple USB dives, just one, and you can overwrite it with a different .iso when you need to.

 

[Gideon300]

Pretty much most linux distrobutions out there come with live images that you can try from a USB, especially ubuntu-based ones.
There are only a few I know of that require more advanced knowledge to install.

Linux is a very diverse and customizable ecosystem, where you can have many different kinds of GUIs and ways to install software.
If you have the patience, I reccomend you do some research through youtube & search engines on the different kinds of distrobutions availible. And if you have the internet speed and disk space, you can freely try any of them out.

A program like rufus will let you easily put any .iso image on a USB to boot. You don't need multiple USB dives, just one, and you can overwrite it with a different .iso when you need to.

Thanks. I've thought about taking the plunge for a few years now, but the enforced move the Win 11 increases my motivation dramatically.

 

[Lynx]

I'm seriously thinking of ditching Windows. I won't downgrade to Win 11. I am concerned about malware and privacy. I've heard that Linux Mint is good for those wanting a toe in the Linux water. has anyone any knowledge of it? I'm probably level 2 or 3 out of 10 when it comes to computers. I have wireless internet.

You can try it before doing anything that messes up your current system.

You can actually install it beside your current system on the same hard drive. You don't even know need to know about resizing hard drive partitions or anything. The installer routine does everything automatically for you, and just presents you with choices to make about how much of the drive you want to give to Windows and how much to linux.

Step one: download the Linux distro you want. This will come as a .iso file. It will probably be multiple gigabytes in size.

Step two: put the iso file on a flash drive, but not just copy the file over. You need to make the flash drive a bootable image drive. rufus, ventoy, universal USB installer or similar programs are free, will run on windows, and will install the ISO file on your flash drive and make it bootable.

Step 2, part 2: if you want to try out many different Linux to find the one that fits you best, I recommend ventoy. You only have to run ventoy one time, to make the flash drive a ventoy flash drive. After that you can just chunk ISO files in the flash drive like it was a normal flash drive, and when you reboot ventoy will give you a menu of all the ISO files it has on hand. You can also switch out which systems you want to try by simply deleting and copying over new ISO files onto the drive. With most USB live system programs, you have to reformat every time you want to swap which system you want to try out.

Step 3: reboot your computer and boot from the flash drive instead of the internal hard drive. This may require googling your computer and "how to access one-time boot menu." Usually the process is, turn your computer on, dribble f12 while it is powering up, then it will give you the one-time boot menu and you select the ventoy drive to run. But some computers May vary.

If everything went well you should be now running the Linux version you want to test out. If that did not happen, you still have Windows on your computer so there is no loss. get back to me and we will figure out what went wrong.

 

[Gideon300]

You can try it before doing anything that messes up your current system.

You can actually install it beside your current system on the same hard drive. You don't even know need to know about resizing hard drive partitions or anything. The installer routine does everything automatically for you, and just presents you with choices to make about how much of the drive you want to give to Windows and how much to linux.

Step one: download the Linux distro you want. This will come as a .iso file. It will probably be multiple gigabytes in size.

Step two: put the iso file on a flash drive, but not just copy the file over. You need to make the flash drive a bootable image drive. rufus, ventoy, universal USB installer or similar programs are free, will run on windows, and will install the ISO file on your flash drive and make it bootable.

Step 2, part 2: if you want to try out many different Linux to find the one that fits you best, I recommend ventoy. You only have to run ventoy one time, to make the flash drive a ventoy flash drive. After that you can just chunk ISO files in the flash drive like it was a normal flash drive, and when you reboot ventoy will give you a menu of all the ISO files it has on hand. You can also switch out which systems you want to try by simply deleting and copying over new ISO files onto the drive. With most USB live system programs, you have to reformat every time you want to swap which system you want to try out.

Step 3: reboot your computer and boot from the flash drive instead of the internal hard drive. This may require googling your computer and "how to access one-time boot menu." Usually the process is, turn your computer on, dribble f12 while it is powering up, then it will give you the one-time boot menu and you select the ventoy drive to run. But some computers May vary.

If everything went well you should be now running the Linux version you want to test out. If that did not happen, you still have Windows on your computer so there is no loss. get back to me and we will figure out what went wrong.

Thanks for your advice. You've been most helpful. I still have some issues to sort out with software I'm currently using. I've paid for my email program and I'm very much attached to it. I understand there are a couple of ways to make it run under Linux, but one bit of advice warns that it makes the program insecure. I'll be taking the leap in about a week. I don't know anyone running Linux so you and Ceph are my IT support!

 

[Lynx]

Thanks for your advice. You've been most helpful. I still have some issues to sort out with software I'm currently using. I've paid for my email program and I'm very much attached to it. I understand there are a couple of ways to make it run under Linux, but one bit of advice warns that it makes the program insecure. I'll be taking the leap in about a week. I don't know anyone running Linux so you and Ceph are my IT support!

If you'd like I can PM you a phone number and walk you through it. Or CC live chat if you want. (Actually now that I typed that out, I'd definitely recommend CC live chat, for your security if nothing else.)

It's dead easy though. Do it once, you'll have it down. A child of four could install and run the more end-user-friendly distros. Learning how will be a snap.

If you want to try multiple, a large flash drive is recommended. If you only want to try one, anything 8 gig or more will work.

 

[Gideon300]

If you'd like I can PM you a phone number and walk you through it. Or CC live chat if you want. (Actually now that I typed that out, I'd definitely recommend CC live chat, for your security if nothing else.)

It's dead easy though. Do it once, you'll have it down. A child of four could install and run the more end-user-friendly distros. Learning how will be a snap.

If you want to try multiple, a large flash drive is recommended. If you only want to try one, anything 8 gig or more will work.

You may not want to call me in Australia......... Live chat would be better. I'm trying to verify the "Mint" image at present. I have to download stuff to do so. I don't have a four year old handy to tell me what to do. If I get stuck, I'll let you know.

 

[Gideon300]

If you'd like I can PM you a phone number and walk you through it. Or CC live chat if you want. (Actually now that I typed that out, I'd definitely recommend CC live chat, for your security if nothing else.)

It's dead easy though. Do it once, you'll have it down. A child of four could install and run the more end-user-friendly distros. Learning how will be a snap.

If you want to try multiple, a large flash drive is recommended. If you only want to try one, anything 8 gig or more will work.

Current status: I don't have Certutil on my version of Windoze. I'll try the next alternative tomorrow.

 

[Lynx]

You may not want to call me in Australia......... Live chat would be better. I'm trying to verify the "Mint" image at present. I have to download stuff to do so. I don't have a four year old handy to tell me what to do. If I get stuck, I'll let you know.

Bit torrents get a bad rep because they are used a lot for illegally downloading media, but this is one instance where they have a valid and legal use. If your connection is inconsistent you might want to try using a bit torrent instead.

 

[Lynx]

Best thing ever about Linux: it won't refuse to install the latest version just because you have a 3-year-old laptop. There are Linux versions (antix, puppy, tinycore) that you can run on a 1999 laptop.

Of course the older the computer, the more graphics you have to give up. But it will still function in the modern internet world.

With the latest windows, if you don't have the latest processor it will probably refuse to install.

 

[Gideon300]

Bit torrents get a bad rep because they are used a lot for illegally downloading media, but this is one instance where they have a valid and legal use. If your connection is inconsistent you might want to try using a bit torrent instead.

It's not the downloading. I am not able to verify the image as I don't have Certutil. There is a fix, but I have no time to try it today. I'll keep at it. As an aside, I've fixed my internet problems. It was the wireless adapter. I bought a Wavlink and the signal is more than double and rock solid.

 

[Gideon300]

Best thing ever about Linux: it won't refuse to install the latest version just because you have a 3-year-old laptop. There are Linux versions (antix, puppy, tinycore) that you can run on a 1999 laptop.

Of course the older the computer, the more graphics you have to give up. But it will still function in the modern internet world.

With the latest windows, if you don't have the latest processor it will probably refuse to install.

I'm glad to know that Linux is so easy to install. I would hate to see what a difficult OS would be like.

Certutil decided to show up on my computer, so I was able to verify the .iso. I made a mistake formatting my USB drive and Windows decided it was 5 Mb. I fixed that. Mint appears to be on my USB drive. I still get a "kernel Panic" message, "unable to mount root fs on unknown block (0,0)" I really thought I had everything in place. I'll leave it for the time being.

 

[Lynx]

I have never before seen mint do that. Arch Linux maybe, gentoo Linux all the time, but never mint.

 

[Gideon300]

I have never before seen mint do that. Arch Linux maybe, gentoo Linux all the time, but never mint.

I checked a help site. It's not unheard of. This is one explanation: "This failure can be due to several causes: Missing or corrupted initramfs image, changes in UUID or disk mapping, drivers that fail to load, bootloader (GRUB) errors or even partition and partition table configuration problems." Of course. Why did I not think of this.

 

[Lynx]

Well yeah, those are all root causes... With some Linux versions it happens all the time because you missed a config option. But the more end-user friendly versions, like mint, are designed to resolve those by themselves.

 

[Gideon300]

Well yeah, those are all root causes... With some Linux versions it happens all the time because you missed a config option. But the more end-user friendly versions, like mint, are designed to resolve those by themselves.

I'll be looking at a forum or two. The problem I find is that there is an assumption that people know a good deal about Linux already. I found a string of commands that supposedly fix the kernel problem. I assume that I put the string in the command prompt, but it's not actually stated. Since I'm retired, I have a bit of time to spend. I know something about the command prompt as I go back to the days of DOS. But I'm pretty rusty.

I will persist. I've got this far and I'd hate to give up now.