Linux Mint Has Three Flavors. Which Is Right For You?
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- Опубліковано 10 лип 2021
- Are you new to Linux or thinking about switching to Linux? If so, then you probably know that Linux Mint is one of the best distros for new users. But Linux Mint has three main desktop editions: Cinnamon, MATE and Xfce. Not sure which desktop environment to choose? I'll give you my thoughts.
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Don't let the "Perfect for Beginners" description fool you.
You can be on this OS forever.
Go with Cinnamon.
Until you try something arch based and realize you now cant live without AUR.
@@twireonenix5719 And without headaches!
@@vitorazevedo4472 if yoou set up correctly, you can mostly avoid headaches
@@twireonenix5719 I can live without Arch and the AUR. I can't live without Gentoo, Portage and Overlays. But we are still "brothers in rolling distro arms", I have no issue with Arch - except for the fact that they dropped 32-bit support.
@@ps5hasnogames55 Thanks for the lecture, sonny, and I didn't read beyond the first sentence because you opened on an entirely incorrect premise - namely the Linux 32-bit kernel is AS MAINTAINED as the 64-bit one. It's as simple as that.
And if your first statement was wrong, the rest of your comment was built on a fallacy anyway - so no point reading it.
If that's your picture as your avatar, I was using UNIX when you were a twinkle in your dad's eye and started with Linux in 1998 - I work full time in Linux cyber-security now and have done for 14 years.
Run along, sonny, go check your facts and come back in 10 years with a bit of experience under your belt, then you can think about talking at my level of knowledge and experience.
Discussion closed.
I like your attempt to catch the windows users in the transitioning phase between windows 10 and 11 and try to get them to at least try Linux. This is the way good sir!
@AdamiXx Try manjaro with KDE
@AdamiXx depends on the distro and DE, really. you can't really generalize linux like that sense there's so many different types of package managers and desktop environments
@AdamiXx dont be mad you have no idea how to use a computer that holds your hand the entire time mac boy lmao
I'm going whit this for 2-3 weeks bombarding my friends that are still using windows
@AdamiXx you didn't, and it doesn't.
Linux Mint was the distro that got me using Linux almost ten years ago. I've been using it ever since.
I installed mint 2 months ago
Checked almost 10 distro in virtual box ...
But non is better than mint.
My first and last favourite distro😊😊😊 and will be forever
I fell in love with Cinnamon when switching from Windows to Linux!
It is everything I wanted a User Interface to be, it is simple and functional!
The performance improvement I got from a 10 years laptop is unbelivable, it works as well as a new laptop!
I've got it on a laptop from about 2009. It was a beast for it's time and it is still running well, now with Cinnamon on it. It's an 64 bit, i5 with 8 gigs of ram and amd radeon graphics. I'm even able to run Blender on it :-) I can't tell much of a difference in everyday use, between that and a windows 10 laptop for everyday tasks. Why throw away a perfectly functioning laptop just because Windows could have issues with it. It used to run 7, but when we did a factory reset, it couldn't get anything from Microsoft as they had removed the packages for 7. I was not going to even attempt to put 10 on it. Had a year of hell of 10 on my desktop, before ditching windows. So no thank you. Put Mint on and I'm as happy as a lark.
Most people never come close to using the full function of thier pc's. Most write a document, store some photos, watch a movie or surf the web. So a laptop or desktop could last them a very long time, way longer than windows seems to be willing to support it.
Weird that cinnamon feels slugish on my 2016 Asus computer with nvidia graphic compared to XFCE. I guess it's a placebo after having cinnamon on my harddrive for so long.
Mint would be the perfect distro if it had the AUR.
@@dappermuis5002 Can vouch for it. Swap the HDD with SSD and install Linux on my laptop (I was using Manjaro with XFCE because I haven't learned how to setup Arch quickly, even with archinstall script) and it is literally going back to the better days when Intel i7 4600HQ chips meant something.
I really wish Pop! OS would use gtk 2 also...Mate & Cinnamon are both based on this. Dump Gnome not Guh-Nome.
„You can’t even buy computers with less than 8GB anymore.“
Clearly, you‘ve never looked at Microsoft Surface products…
Surface Pro 7: i3, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 900$ without a Keyboard…
Yes he doesnt looked at microsoft products because its shit, and nobody cares about overpriced products. Buy a thinkpad if you want real bussiness experience....
The Surface Pro comes with i3 installed?? :P
or in developing countries, in fact, 4gb ram is the default configuration here in my country. i would say 60% of new laptops are 4gb ram here and 30% are 8gb and the remaining 10% are over 8gb. Refurb laptops regularly have 2gb laptops with Win 7
Whats weird is that the i3 tablet doesn't hold up well with 4 gigs of ram in Windows. Tasks always seem laggy and moving screens feels off..
Anyone with an actual good computer, try a windows 10 virtual session with vmware or virtbox; 2 cores and 4 gigs of ram. That is the experience you'll get.
Yes, It is comparable. The virtual box version actually works better than the product.
4 gig versions should have died out 5 years ago.
its “premium”
Cinnamon is the best one for me. All I did is I changed the theme from green to dark blue.
Same here. That awful green resembles army mess food - pea soup. Yuck.
Oh Linux, you have a place in my heart. Prior to graduating, I was stuck at home with a very slow Pentium IV (It was even slower than the Pentium IIIs we used to code in school with). Being the poor dude that I was and having experienced how fast Ubuntu 3 on a live cd was, I looked at Linux for hope. Learned about Puppy Linux, and managed to work on a beat up Pentium III machine that didn't even have a hard drive when the department I worked for didn't even have the budget for a working machine.
I'd say it's not so noob friendly to anyone without an IT background. Not to mention that the UI of Puppy Linux 2.15 didn't give it too many fans (thank goodness for the Puplets), but from then on I've moved on to other Linux versions that are heavier, like Ubuntu and Fedora. But making ancient machines run fast? I still have mad respect for Puppy Linux (and the other small ones out there). Bravo!
I couldn't agree with you more! Puppy Linux is superb for older PCs ;-)
No matter how much I distrohop I always come back to Linux Mint with Cinnamon. It's basically Ubuntu with some of the rough edges sanded off but it just works for me. It's flawlessly installed on every machine I've run it on. I even use the Debian Edition on a 32-bit Core Solo laptop from 2004 with 4GB of RAM and the Cinnamon desktop is still surprisingly snappy.
The Debian edition is just *chef's kiss*
Same
Definitely like this over Ubuntu
LMDE can be xfce and mate too if you install mate or xfce when you start it get the default of Linux mint
Oh, really do you've a SSD or HDD?
Cinnamon for me. I left KDE a few years back when it started having too many issues to get any work done. I found Cinnamon and fell in love with it. It does things exactly the way I like.
What issues did you encounter using KDE?
@@theplaymakerno1 KDE was my go to for a few years but around 2016 it was starting to have trouble. It was taking longer to load, and in the end, some of the window elements went missing - no buttons to work with, and the entire screen chopped into fragments and started flickering wildly. Nothing worked; the cursor didn't move; clicking did nothing. I would have to do a hard shutdown as I could not use the mouse. There was probably more but this was about 7 years ago. I have been using Cinnamon for the last 5 years and I have not had any "lost time" issues.
@@friartux6946 those issues are no longer extant. I've been using KDE for 2 years now and never got any issue with it.
@@doigt6590 Sorry, I have to disagree. I tried KDE as recently as a couple of months ago and after installing and rebooting - about two minutes in - the screen looked like a patch-work quilt. I believe it's called screen tearing. (The three I tried were Kubutntu, Neon and PCLinuxOS. All three behaved the same way so I suspect it's KDE causing the problem as any other DE I tried (Mate, XFCE, or Cinnamon) don't seem to have this issue out-of-box.) I'm using a stock HP Pavilion, by the way. I keep copious notes of all I test all the way back to Nov. 201. Around 2016 I started having issues with KDE and it seems they have not yet been fixed.
@@friartux6946 weird I have the hp pavillion too and neither pclinuxos nor kubuntu produced problems. I know kde neon is unstable though and it's known as a problem distro, but pclinuxos and kubuntu? That's weird. That's very very weird.
I'm sorry you had such a bad experience because frankly cinnamon , xfce and mate are garbage compared to kde. It does sound like your pc doesn't like KDE, but man, not only have I tried hp pavilion, but as someone who has access to many old pcs for free due to my father's job, I've been able to test them on my different hardware and I'm sorry to say that the problem is isolated to your case.
I think however that it's pretty cool that you found such a rare bug and you should definetely have made a report so that they can fix it. Really can't understand people who complain and do nothing to improve linux. The most easy thing you can do is report the bug.
One of the things I like about the Linux Mint is the commonality the project team tries to keep across the various versions. For example, each version has a different file manager (Cinnamon - Nemo, Mate - Caja, XFCE - Thunar) but Linux Mint has added the ability to Bookmark files in each of the file managers to increase the commonality between the versions.
Different DE's across the entire Linux spectrum default to DE specific file managers, as this gets baked in. If you use a non-standard fm, it can break your system.
When I started distro hopping it was like being a kid in a candy store. More than 12 years later I am still on Linux. Great presentation for Noobs DT!
Only the brain dead don't distro hop. The smart ones always wind back on a Debian. Gparted is your friend. OObuUnTwo aint Debian
@@dougtilaran3496 Uwubuntu*
Same. SAM Linux and PCLinuxOS for compiz to make DE snow, then discovered Linux Mint 15. Currently LM 20.2 on my fanless laptop and Ubuntu on my powerful laptop, I like Mint more, but just had to keep Ubuntu around. (I miss Unity, my Mint setup has the panel on the Left side--I had this setup before Unity even came out, my old video shows Chakra 2012 KDE with the panel on the right side).
@@dougtilaran3496 I've used Gentoo as my main desktop OS since 2003. I'm lucky enough to also work with Linux and get paid for it - despite the dead brain.
If distro hopping works for you, who am I to say otherwise? But don't speak for everyone else. Some of us have found an OS that works perfectly enough for their needs that they are more than happy sticking with it. And that's as conscious and intelligent a decision as deciding which distro to try next.
Tried the 3 of them. First was MATE 10 years ago which I loved and stayed withit for many years. When I buy a new box I thought I would try this XFCE that I knew nothing about, but was impressed so much I stayed with it for a year or so. No bugs, lightening fast, and almost zero on resourses. Then a friend tells me how great Cinnamon is so I try it (20.3) and yes, I liked it but found just too many bugs of which the worst was taking about a minute to initialize my internal storrage drive which was a brand new 2TB SSD. Once initialized it was ok untill I reboot and its the same old thing again. After installing a few more apps I notice its using 63GB of space... wow, I felt I was back on win10 againg with space hogging and fans running due to too much CPU. So a month was all I could stand of this and now I switch back to XFCE. After I install all my apps needed, it still only uses 16gb space and like being in a racing car after getting off a push bike lol. Before I just THOUGHT XFCE was the best... now I KNOW it is?
Mint doesn't receives as much credit as it should; it really does wonders! I'm with Cinnamon, but Xfce is the best.
Linux Mint improves laptop battery by at least 3x than Windows; mine could go, only browsing, 10+ h! Windows 10, 3 or maybe 4h... the team did say they've done a new algorithm for this...
Clem-mint is brilliant. Al Gore aint got no rhythm
Don't say xfce is the best- I'm pro choice, not politically though only with Linux de's and distros
weird mine dies kind of quick
Sounds like you are missing your laptop powermangement drivers on Windows.
@@deth3021 was talking about linux. Definitely kills battery quicker.
Thanks DistroTube, finally i can recommend this video to watch who wants to come to GNU/Linux. Please keep making these videos. ❤
I love Linux Mint...thought I'd post a list of the comparisons mentioned on the video:
Much lighter than Mac or Windows.
Cinnamon:
CPU: uses the most, a little bit more.
Development:
Addition: main addition of Linux Mint.
History: GTK based desktop.
Team: Linux Mint team probably spends most time on Cinnamon.
Drive: benefits most from an SSD rather than a spinning drive.
Features: cool.
Feel: similar.
Flagship.
Htop data:
CPU usage: ~4-5%.
RAM usage: 736 MB.
Innovative.
Looks: sleek and similar.
Modern.
Polished.
Ram: uses the most, a little bit more.
Speed:
vs Mate: slower.
vs Windows: blazing fast.
vs Xfce: slower.
Suite of programs: a little different.
Alternatives available to all software on Linux.
Browser: Mozilla Firefox.
File Manager: Nemo. Looks very slick.
Software Manager: app store, safe and non malicious software.
System resources: requires a little bit more. Heaviest of the 3.
Usage:
1st choice with a modern machine >4 GB RAM.
Feel right at home if coming from a Windows.
Workflow: similar.
Mate:
Development:
Addition: main addition of Linux Mint.
History: old fork of Gnome version 2. GTK based desktop.
Team: Linux Mint team behind much of the development of Mate.
Feel: similar.
Htop data:
CPU usage: ~1-2%
RAM usage: 559 MB.
Looks: similar and good.
Speed:
vs Cinnamon: faster.
vs Xfce: slower.
vs Windows: blazing fast.
Suite of programs: a little different.
Alternatives available to all software on Linux.
File Manager: Caja.
Software Manager: app store, safe and non malicious software.
Workflow: similar.
Usage:
2nd choice, using an older machine.
CPU and RAM usage is a little easier.
Fast and peppy.
Machines that are older, no chance of running Windows 10 and 11, brought back to life.
Xfce:
Development:
Addition: not a main addition of Linux Mint.
History: Xforms tool kit, now using GTK based desktop. Been around for a while.
Team: Linux Mint team not behind much of the development of Xfce. Still sees updates, people still working on it.
Feel: similar.
Htop data:
CPU usage: ~0%
RAM usage: 516 MB.
Looks: similar, good, older, retro and vintage.
Speed:
vs Cinnamon: faster.
vs Mate: faster.
vs Windows: blazing fast.
Suite of programs: a little different.
Alternatives available to all software on Linux.
File Manager: Thunar.
Software Manager: app store, safe and non malicious software.
Workflow: similar.
Usage:
Fastest and lightest.
Resource usage has the most bang for your buck.
Speed freaks.
Great video, I'm 64 and switched to linuxmint 2 yrs ago, never going back to windows.
You live in the wrong place young man. I always go to Windows.... to see if the neighbors wife is sunbathing topless
@@dougtilaran3496 Ha ha ha... He's not that young though.
- Doesn't have multiple CPU cores
- 4 GB ram
- hard drive
That's not a old PC, that's a brand new laptop you can buy for 500 USD in Brazil, believe it or not.
😱
absolutely. Including now in 2024
It was videos like these that got me to commit to my first Linux distro over a year ago. It was amazing and I haven't looked back since.
Out of the three 'Start' menus, XFCE actually looks the best for me. Simple and small, much like the XP Classic menu aesthetic.
Just a note, in Cinnamon, if you go to Settings>Themes>Add/Remove, scroll down the list that pops up and you'll find an actual theme copy of XP to use on Cinnamon. (The blue one.)
Careful, I use XFCE and there is a lot of video tearing. I'm considering switching to one of the other desktops.
@@JackOfAllRAIDs ive found that using picom as the compositor fixes the screen tearing in xfce for me
@@friartux6946 oh thats so cool!! What are the other ones? Is there one for Windows 95 or 98?
@@itsbea3859 You can download themes and icon packs to make it look, so close to any Windows that most people won't see the difference. I wouldn't want to do that though since Linux Mint looks better than Windows.
Cinnamon runs great on even 4 gb of ram, I have my laptop which has 4 gb of ram, everything is fine
I have a desktop with 4gig. Tolerable. sda4 has antiX. Rocket fuel stuff
@@dougtilaran3496 What is antix ?
Same for me, the latest windows10 updates slowed my 6 years old laptop below the speed of tar so i dumped windows and now run Linux Mint 20.2 instead, bye bye windows.. 😂😂
@@deottiveyoutube4919 Another distro.
I ditched my old PC with 4GB with Cinnamon, open FF, more than 4 tabs maybe 3 and the whole shebang froze. New one with 16GB it is fine.
"Can't buy machines anymore with less than 8 GBs of RAM..."
I guess someone forgot to tell DT about Wal-Mart...
I see plenty of low-end junk on WalMart's website with 4GB Ram some with it even soldered onto the board(The Gateway laptops comes to mind) with no way to upgrade it, same for many of the generic laptops on AliExpress.
What's walmart ? I shop at computacion Murillo de Canas. He loans me a headlight magnifier so I can put it all together. We call them MYOC.
@Miyo Linux, there are laptops with more than 4gb ram? (Puffs chest out toward Captain Dan while on Openbox...)
@@leviticus8930
I'll never forget the joy of f...i...n...a...l...l...y getting a laptop with 4 GBs!
(Salutes with a twinkle in the eye while writing from 'said laptop' running MiyoLinux Rolling Openbox)
;)
Latinamerica here. Yes, you can, and are expensive as hell (compares with our wallets/wages).
If you are wishing to switch to linux, My only say is " You are going to Enjoy it"
As someone who just moved to Linux i can say that I feel like 20 years of my life with Windows have been wasted
@SnappyJon MX and Sparky will give you similar results
No im a gamer i like my games to ALL work out of the box without any tinkering or issues
@@lovro_ribic Why coming here to watch the video and bother commenting
@@lovro_ribic That's because you ARE a gamer. 1800-help-for -gameboys ext666.Long distance charges may apply
Even on a Core 2 Duo Chromebook, cinnamon still works very well. Has never lagged for me.
As ChroneOS itself is just Gentoo Linux with a Google spin.
Mate is my favourite. Great balance between lightweight and attractive. It can look old school and pretty modern with proper theming and icon pack. Ubuntu Mate and Solus Mate are also very nice. I like Ubuntu Mate's style switcher that can make it look & feel like Windows, MacOS, Gnome2 (dual panel) and all in between. Also there are two complete theme/icon packs to make it modern old old-school looking. I made my Mint Mate to look like MacOS/Windows/Linux mixture of all the best stuff from all three.
I used Linux mint for a good while before I started experimenting and trying other distros. I really enjoyed it and it keeper me happy for a really long time. Extremely stable, user friendly Ubuntu base, and a clean DE. Amazing for both new users and long time Linux lovers who just want to buckle down and get work done :3
I've used Gentoo since 2003 and don't plan on changing. But I've built Mint systems for lots of friends and family to use, they all seem to get on fine with it after a period of adjustment, and I'd recommend it to any new users. Ubuntu also, but that would be second to Mint.
Well said. As a long time Linux user (decade+) I don't like compiz (kde these days) style bells and whistles, xfce style configurabilty (kde these days too), I just want a stable machine with an up to date browser, the ability to play some steam games from time to time, and the ability to compile code if I'm working or doing a project. "It just works" perfectly describes mint. I do like Manjaro and arch but I just keep coming back to Mint. Windows 2000 and OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard were the most stable desktop OS' in my life time and my favorite. Mint is a good contender but unlike those two it is timeless. I've been using Mint since the near beginning. Win2k and Snow Leopard I used until patch support and program support ended, a handful of years later.
It's like Ubuntu, but with a much less clunky and more organized interface
Thanks to you and all other Linux users who try to help people in transition phase. I can't run windows 11 but found just the look and feel I wanted in Linux , well better than what I would've gotten if I had installed Windows 11 in a shady way. My laptop is just faster now. 😊😊
I am running Mint MATE/XMonad, and Manjaro with MATE. I installed XMonad using your excellent tutorial.
Great lesson. I’ve been using Cinnamon since I left windows 10 years ago. Love it. Love the info on MATE and Xfce never knew what the difference was
This was a big help, mate, thanks a bunch. I have suffered under the tyrannical bootheel of windows too long and windows 11 was the final straw. You have eased my mind to some degree about making the transition to Linux and I thank you for that. Keep up the good work.
You are really making a hard effort to teach! thanks a lot! I use Linux since February and I don't wanna change. In part, thanks to you.
Dudeeee, just the speed
You do an excellent job of explaining these concepts. I've been using linux for years, but I appreciate that this video speaks in plain language. You don't use a lot of jargon, and when you do, you explain what it means. Very good content and VERY good presentation. Well done.
I'm about to switch to Linux and this was one of the best videos I've seen on the topic. Many (not all) Linux users tend to have this superiority complex and use a lot of jargon that can be intimidating for us windows normies and noobs. I really appreciate it.
No comments on the T-shirt? Old school def jam FTW! Cheers Derek!
I love your channel, your very instructive videos and your mesmerizing voice. I’ve been using macOS and Windows for 25 years now and looking for a partial transition to Linux now. I wish we had something like a minimal Arch distribution with the Pop_OS! desktop environment. That you be perfect for me, I love that tiling windows manager in Pop.
That was very helpful, although I wish you'd said a little about the programs that come with each version. For example, what type of Office software do they come with?
One question, please, for someone who knows nothing about Linux, but is interested in trying it: is it wise, or even necessary to install Antivirus software with Linux? And what about a VPN? Is that desirable or necessary?
Dereck Taylor, Thank you very much for the wonderful overview and history of the Linux Mint Editions and their Desktop environments, and to boot I learned I new overviews of Linux Mint. Subscribed
good comparison and bench marks. Love the approach you used for the information.
Of all the full DEs Cinnamon is my favorite, but for a lightweight DE it's really hard to beat Xfce. The Mint team does a great job with both.
MX does XFCE better. Mint is great. BUT.
Sparky has a most excellent XFCE.
Hefftors is excellent as well.
One more thing to keep in mind is that if you have Nvidia card and want to use G-Sync in games, Cinnamon has a decade old bug where Cinnamon enforces its out v-sync config upon some fullscreen applications, blocking out g-sync. Wine is definitely affected.
Thanks for this. I'm running Linux Mint again. I have a question, can I centre the task bar icons, don't like them on the right side, thanks.
I opted for MATE. In Cinnamon, the screen darkens in my ASUS ROG laptop. I dug up everywhere but can't find a way to adjust the screen. The MATE GUI is excellent by itself anyway.
Been using Linux since 1997 (Slack, the joys of compiling your own stuff), basically seen them all, but Mint Cinnamon is by far my favorite flavour for the desktop as its UI is well thought out, slick and easy on the eyes. I have a 32 bit version Mint Cinnamon 14 running on a 14 year old 1.5 GB RAM IBM x41 T with a 64GB SSD. That doesn't do UA-cam too well these days due to RAM constraints, but it works nice for the DOSBOX games on the low res screen. I also like them to be a bit more conservative with the releases and will gladly have the Arch community weed out bugs and spasms. Devuan for servers for sure.
Why is mint pitched at 'begin' level Linux users? I'm not a Linux guru, but I've been using Linux Mint as my daily driver for about 5 years now (Cinnamon). I find it perfect. I've never had to change anything in literally years. It just works, is really fast, doesn't spy on you, and has no nag ware. I would recommend it even to seasoned Linux users.
Mint is good for beginners, because it is well configured out of the box, has a lot applications preinstalled and is stable. Seasoned user might (but don't have to) consider something more minimal, or with rolling release, so they have to put more work to set up system, but in exchange they receive better tailored experience.
It is targeted towards more new users , but that doesn't mean that Advanced users can't use it. I personally use Arch, but I like Mint too
This made me subscribe! very informative great content 👍
First time i watch this video on your channel and it is very informative, polished and easy to understand. thank you m8
Thank you so much, I I swapped my Cinnamon HD into an older (Core Duo, instead of i5) laptop and with 4gb RAM, I thought I'd be fine, wrong, I couldn't find out why it was slow, until I compared with my i5 and was told to try XFCE. I just peeked in here and you confirmed that immediately. BTW, what command, or icon tells you which DE you have?
Thank you! Very detailed.
I'll be going with Cinnamon on my old rig.
Mint Cinnamon was my first linux for long time and finaly when i became full time linux user went with Manjaro KDE..i jump around alot before then to find which one i like.
Mint is the distro for new users and it is stable. I'm sure one of these days I'll go back to it. I'm on Manjaro now but Mint is much more stable and less work to keep running well. In fact it takes almost no effort at all.
Before switching from MSWindows to Linux I had tested two or three dozen Linux distros and Mint was the ONLY one that consistently worked out of box. Consistently. I had a second laptop that I used for testing and would Install a distro to test, then re-install any distro I found favourable. Mint would re-install perfectly ever single time. And everything would work right out of box. All the other distros required post install fiddling to get them to work to what I needed.
Oh the Linux curse! A longtime Windows user is migrating and I already dread how many distros she'd have to try, my approach is to simulate as best as possible her use case scenario and show just a couple (probably Manjaro, Mint/Ubuntu) so as not to frighten her away. Baby steps, Sparks, baby steps...
@@Ometecuhtli I would highly recommend not putting a brand new user on a rolling release distro. Go with Mint
@@Ometecuhtli Manjaro is someone else's Arch build. With vanilla Arch its up to you to fix things. With manjaro you have to wait for someone else to get to it because you have no clue how to do it. Rolling releases take maintenance and it's like giving a modified car to a non car guy and it will break eventually. Stick with Mint or Ubuntu. I have no problem with spins on cycle releases but I think it's kind of irresponsible trying to package a hardcore system geared towards developers and power users and give it to the new guy. You aren't doing them any favors. If they take a shine to Linux and like to tinker, they will discover Arch Alpine and Void on their own.
Also how big of a deal is the HHD vs SSD for mint? My HDD is 2tb anyways but just wondering if the type itself matters or the capacity is the issue.
I've always primarily used Mint, specifically MATE as my primary go-to choice for any system. I always felt it captured classic windows better than XFCE. It's just simply stable, it works and I don't have to fuss with it all that much if at all. It has the best compatibility, most straight forward installation and doesn't try to reinvent the wheel at all, has a good bit of pre-installed software that the vast majority of users will be comfortable using and comes with gaming libraries pre-installed. I've only had to do quirky NVIDIA installations but that's NVIDIA on linux for you.
I wouldn't say it's just "good for beginners" because that doesn't do it justice, it's just good for like 80% of desktop use-cases, i mean it's Ubuntu after all, it's pretty much everywhere.
they also don't ship snaps and snapd by default, that is a win in my book
This is the comment I was looking for before I decide to try MATE.
Early into this video you've already answered a question I had that was throwing me for a loop. I recently installed Linux Mint Victoria on 2 old laptops. In order to learn more about it, I would watch videos on my main computer, a Windows 11 based desktop machine, and would try out various things that I would see them doing on my laptop, but all too often, I would run into scenarios where things on my laptops looked different from what I was seeing in their videos, and I couldn't figure out why that was. I had no idea that there are 3 different versions of this particular distro. I have the MATE version, so that said, I'll be looking for UA-cam videos that are tailored to what I'm running on the 2 laptops. There are 4 reasons that I decided to try Linux: first off, I like to learn new things when it comes to computers, and this is something I hadn't tried yet; second was that the previous owner had forgotten, the password for one, and never knew it for the other, (which was his dad's machine). The third reason was that I didn't want to pay for Windows 10 licenses on computers that I wouldn't use on a regular basis. The 4th, (and biggest reason) was that they both ran Windows 8, 'nuff said. I tried Lubuntu, Debian, and Mint, and decided that I liked Mint the best.
I have some hardware left from the time that I was mining. Intel Gold G6400, 8gb ram DDR4 3200mhz and an NVME Disk. What is recommended for that hardware? The machine will be used mostly for browsing and some light photo editing.
I’m seriously thinking about switching to Linux as my daily driver, especially with all the efforts being put forth for it to be a decent gaming system too. My biggest concern is that my mass storage drive in my pc (haven’t set up a NAS yet) has been with windows until I decided to upgrade my boot drive. Would I be able to use that same hard drive with everything on it without losing everything?
I’m dual booted with mint and have no issues. I can access all of my windows files from the linux partition.
It updates the version of the OS automaticly? or i need to install manually?
I don't use Mint, I use EndeavourOS but I do use the XFCE/XFWM4 DE/WM. I am very happy with them so far. Super light and easy to use. It lets me set my desktop up how I want it, allows me to set my own keybindings for tiling. If you want to use tiling, you can. If you don't, you don't have to. You can make it whatever you want which I appreciate.
Installed it but used the OEM option and didn't verify the ISO as it was tooooo complicated. Please advise and shall I reinstall like you say?
Debian or SuSE with Plasma, Ubuntu or Fedora with Gnome, Arch Linux with Xfce, Mx Linux, Artix or Manjaro with Mate and Linux Mint with Cinnamon. This is the right thing i mind.
Mate is very good on Mint. (MATE is a Mint creation, after all)
I've ran Linux Mint for years. Yet I just went through and tried quite a few different distros in the last month and to be honest I keep coming back to Linux Mint. Why? Because everything works and has been rock solid stable. I've had frustrating issues with other distributions with getting browser video hardware acceleration working with Nvidia graphics driver, network printer and scanner working, Bluetooth issues and extended monitor issues. With Linux mint based on Ubuntu there is a robust support forums where to get help and step by step guides.
This doesn't mean you can't get things working in other distributions, just that at least for me it was more difficult and time consuming. Yet after all my struggles for one lingering issue or another I just was not satisfied.
Loved this bro, thanks 👍
Good video DT - well thought out and presented which is refreshing to see.
FWIW, I run LM Cinnamon on a 8 year old I7 with 8Gb of RAM and it flies. Never had the need to use MATE or Xfce.
Which one? 3770? 4770?
@@christopherf8160 3770
I got 2010 year notebook. 2 cores, 4Gb RAM, SSD. And it runs Cinnamon just fine. UA-cam, browsing, movies etc. All works great.
I am rocking the LM XFCE and its the best XFCE desktop out there.
LM 19.2 with XFCE desktop has random video tearing. Annoying when it happens.
LM 20.2 with XFCE has a glitch where at times an icon's right-click menu won't show its text.
I have an old HP Pavilion Laptop with a Q2Duo T9600, 8GB RAM, and and 120GB SSD. Im having truoble trouble making vanilla WOW run through WIne with Mint XFCE. I could run it on the same laptop on W10, and running through wine is not a problem on Mint on my Ryzen 3600X desktop. Would Cinnamon run OK on my Laptop?
Xfce is a way of life!
Do you have something comparing LMDE? Or what would debian do for me verses this?
Hey distrotube I need help when I install Linux mint on my desktop it’s running really slow how can I speed it up ? I have. Cinnamon
Personally, I love the way Kali Linux configures Xfce and KDE Plasma (with a few minor adjustments - like putting Xfce's horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen). Sadly, my only gripe with KDE Plasma there is a bit of graphical flickering in my experiences. I need to get around to researching that at some point. To me, KDE Plasma looks the best.
Thank you. Do we need to use security software such as anti virus?
Linux is generally safer than Windows or Mac, but generally the firewall activation is recommended - Mint has GUFW and it's working usually fine
Thank you very much for such a good video. Keep up the good work!
As a long time Windows user i have a couple of questions, i've been trying various distros and DEs in a VM for a while and i've mostly narrowed down my choice to :
- Debian/Ubuntu based
- Xfce DE
So i'm currently looking at Xubuntu, Mint Xfce and Linux Light but i can't quite decide on one of them. As a Linux newbie on the surface they all look the same to me.
I was wondering, what are the deeper differences that set those distros apart ?
Does any of them actually matter for new users ?
As an extra question, i know that you can install applications like powertop if you're a laptop user but i was wondering if there are any Linux distros that are well optimized for laptop use out of the box.
@gilkesisking Thank you! Right, i should've mentioned that i'm using a Thinkpad T430 (Intel Ivy Bridge CPU with Intel HD 4000 Graphics), as far as i know Linux compatibility should be pretty good with it.
I went through the same thing like you.
And I came to the same conclusion, debian based system with xfce.
I decided on linux mint xfce for the following reasons:
Linux lite is good but it is based on the efforts of a one person if I am not mistaken, so it can get abandoned in any moment like what happened with peppermint.
Xubuntu is great supported by canonical as an official flavor, but for only 3 years, the look and the aesthetics are very basic.
Linux mint xfce is supported for 5 years, the look is very interesting and very customizable, with many good apps.
Can I install and run Microsoft 365 for Business on Mint? Libre doesn't work for me.
I wish this video was made before I install cinnamon on my laptop. I installed cinnamon on my desktop which is a 5-6 year old gaming Desktop. So it runs beyond greatness. My laptop was purchased in 2009. Core 2 Duo, but kinda slow when swapping tabs in Brave and web browsing. I will try Xfce to see if I can save myself money buying an SSD.
If you need something really light, antiX is a great choice, but no matter what distro you go for, an SSD will make a great increase in speed, and with a lightweight distro, you don't need a very large one at all. I run my main arch install on a 120GB SSD, and I have used very little of it.
Myself opensuse user, fed up with its slow servers.
Please help me choose.
Mint ubuntu or mint debian should i go for?
I've got a HP laptop with touchscreen and 2gb of mem. Its on Windows 10 and its storage is only 32gb, which means I haven't been able to update it since forever, and I can't use it due to Win10 taking up all its storage. I can't even install anything on it any longer. All I want to do is use a word processer for writing. Would MATE or Xfce work for it? Which one I use? I've never used any other OP other than Windows, so I'm branching out for the first time in my life. Would a Windows program work on it? Like Scrivener and would Dropbox work on it? Those are the only two programs I need to use for it.
2008-2009 laptop with 2GB of RAM. Xfce version works fine.
I really enjoy Linux Mint. I am currently typing this from a Linux Mint XFCE VM, my host machine runs Arch with DWM these days, but I will always have a soft spot for Linux Mint. Almost makes me want to buy another computer just to have Mint available again. I could always re install it, but I really like Arch, and Arch is a bit of a time sink, so I don't want to lose all my work, or be limited to older packages like I was in Mint.
Thanks for breaking that all down in a very simple and coherent manner.
Hi there, was wondering if you had an opinion on Linux Lite. I have an old Dell Optiplex 390.
I just looked up the specification of the Optiplex 390, it looks like minimum specification is a Core-i3 CPU with 4GB RAM.
I think the first recommendation I would make is to buy an SATA SSD drive and put that into the system - you can pick up a 128GB one for about $25 or equivalent, even better a 256GB one for maybe $35-$40.
I assume you have a normal hard disk in the machine already, so you could just take that out and keep what's on it if you want to revert back - or keep it as a backup drive. Just plug the SSD in it's place, boot from a Linux install CD or USB and should be reasonably straightforward from there.
I think with an SSD, you will even get good performance with Linux Mint or Ubuntu - but there's nothing wrong with Linux Lite and it will probably feel a bit "snappier" than Mint or Ubuntu might.
I've currently got Mint cinnamon on a Thinkpad R61 from 2007 with 3gig of ram, actually works quite well, not super snappy though.
If you've got a laptop from 2010 or newer i find that Cinnamon will work very well.
@@GottaBeNoah Not really, uses a little more than other Linux desktops but way less than windows 10.
I have an ASUS Vivo notebook with an N4000 pentium, 4GB ram, and 64GB eMMc and Cinnamon still runs great. I have a really old Core Duo notebook (don't remember what it is) and Xfce is smooth as butter.
What happens if I install, say, MATE over the Cinnamon? How to switch them on my daily driving machine? I don't like reinstalling OS for that task and I don't have to -- right?
But maybe it's worth explaining how to reinstall linux too -- saving my personal files like documents.
I absolutely love the Cinnamon desktop environment, but after watching your video, I am wondering what you consider a potato of a machine. I put Cinnamon (version 20.2, 64-bit now) on a 14-year-old laptop running a Core 2 Duo with dual processors running at 1.83 Ghz, and my machine hardware will only recognize 3.2 gigs of the 4 gigs of RAM I have on it, yet this machine flies. It definitely runs better than it did with Vista installed!
hm... maybe those 800MB are reserved for the GPU?
Some older Core 2 Duo laptops doesn't recognize more than 3.2 gigs because of limitations to the chipset unfortunately (was designed for 32 bit processors).
Just a hint - put a link to this video on your "Linux Ad" video from last week. I think its a perfect follow-up.
hey
i'm currently using Mate but it slows down laptop when i do browsing on brave browser
even SSD & 6gm ram is installed
should i go for XFCE ?
with an SSD and 6gb ram the problem is probably stemming from somewhere else, mate is already plenty light
@bhavyakukkar how do I rectify that ?
@@usamamalik6001 I can't really help without further information. does it happen with other browsers? run htop, what are the processes consuming the most space while brave browser is running?
I started out with Xfce but had problems with the audio on my built-in WebCam. Also, much of the advice I got online assumed that I was using Cinnamon even when I indicated otherwise. In the end I switched to Cinnamon and I’ve had no problems even though my machine is a 14-year-old laptop with Nvidia graphics.
People don’t remove applications from Windows once installed ?? That makes no sense.
Hey distro just found your channel on my adventure getting interested in Linux. I would very much like to get into Linux my only issue is that the online school I go to requires Microsoft. Do you have any advice on how to get around this?
depends on what they require to use.
if it's just Teams, the app is native on Linux and you can find it fairly easily.
if it's the whole MS Office suite, i've got some bad news - there are no MS Office native apps for Linux, but you can try Office Online - especially that you can use it as the Web App on Mint.
Does Ubuntu or Mint cinnemon Need more CPU Ressources,? I have enough RAM and an SSD but an Pentium 6200 :)
Very helpful sir !
Worth the price of admission just to hear MATE pronounced correctly! Thanks for the video!
xfce can connect to cloud like google/microsoft? mate can? (cinnamon can)
I suggest Linux Mint to new or curious users too. I'm currently running Linux Mint 20.1 Cinnamon on my old Thinkpad E540 and it runs great. Does everything I need it to and more. Thanks for sharing.
I love the Xfce version to revive my old 8 year old laptop. Normally this thing takes 20-25 minutes to boot on an bloated windows 7. Now it only takes about one minute!
Cinnamon should run fine too.
I am new to Linux. If you want to get another desktop like KDE can you choose it rather than those three?
Thank you kind sir! Right now I'm in the process of making security copies of everything and switch to Linux. I've been considering leaving Windows 10 for over a year, but I was afraid to do so. However, since Windows 11 was announced, the future for this OS started to look less and less appealing, so that's actually what I needed to finally try Linux. I'm not as interested in super fast performance, just as long as it is marginally faster than Windows 10 and without all the spyware, I'm happy. I can't wait to try Cinnamon! Maybe I'll convince my dad to finally switch to Linux too.
I'll always like XFCE not only because it is not a resource hog but it is the first DE I used when I switched to Linux on Manjaro.
also many good theme
When I switched to Linux, I can only use xfce DE ( coz my laptop can't ) and with 4G ram.
And then I have a laptop with 16G ram, still using the same DE before :'((
i still generally choose XFCE from the git go. It flat out works with some tweaking available to those willing to "learn it"
Mint 20.1 XFCE for gaming is good for me!
Currently running Mint 20.2 with KDE. I've been using KDE with various Linux distributions including RHEL for around 20 years.