649
The new user experience (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/linuxmemes@lemmy.world
191 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 7 points 7 months ago (21 children)

I do not understand why lemmy is obsessed with this distro

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 21 child comments
    •
  • [–] 18 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    It was easy to move relatives to from windows without much effort, have done it multiple times and it ran fine for years with the only issue I had to support was cleaning up a boot partition that filled up after several years of automated updates.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    I'm not seeing anything unique to mint. That reads like, "I tried it and it worked"

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    The answer is: It's basic, Windows/Android-looking, and it's not Ubuntu with snap and shit

    And for me it was right. I left it after some time with it, when it served as a comfortable middleground for a Windows escapee. I needed it to feel security in my pretty extreme choice, not to bounce back in the first weeks. Only then I felt like I'm staying there and can explore different things and actually know what I'm looking for.

    At first, Mint gave a relief in having a simple visual software manager (~app store) that had both regular versions and flatpacks, where I first encountered the critical difference between the ways you can install the same app and underlying mechanics of dependancies etc. Then I got to know app images, that are less android-like and more windows-like in a sense you download executable files and fire them up. Having some problems and needs I started to google around, saw frequent mentions of archwiki, AUR, pacman, etc, and it just went on.

    But for a little while I feared it'd be a neverending challenge, it was comforting to know, that it would just work on the basic level, for browsing, surfing web, playing games. And that I can then pick my challenges to serve my needs. Like a safe zone where most MMOs put their newbie players at first to learn the basics.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago (10 children)

    Me either. I have tried it multiple times over the years and I did not have great luck with things "just working" as everyone claims. Plus I hate the windows style DE UIs so it seems like a weird choice that so many people will recommend it and tout it without even asking follow up questions.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 10 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    I have tried it multiple times over the years and I did not have great luck with things "just working" as everyone claims.

    This is why I don't like recommending LTS distros for anything other than servers. The Linux kernel and desktop software moves fast these days, and running 2 year old kernel and DE means missing out on the fixes and improvements that the "it just works" people are talking about.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago

    Yup. People need to understand that "stable" is not a synonym for bug-free.

    As you said, DEs in particularly move so fast that the rare bug that makes it through and is subsequently quickly fixed is much less problematic than sometimes years of missing features and longstanding bugs that don't get backported.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 11 points 7 months ago (7 children)

    Plus I hate the windows style DE UIs so it seems like a weird choice

    The average user hates the changes involved in switching away from the windows distro. The thing you hate about it is an objectively good reason for recommending it to a new user.

    I have tried it multiple times over the years and I did not have great luck with things "just working" as everyone claims.

    I have used it for several years now (with multiple sets of hardware) with no issues. Every single Linux version is going to have something it can't handle. Linux mint is stable and handles most stuff just fine. A bad experience is possible anywhere, so this isn't really a good reason to not recommend it for new users.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    Every single Linux version is going to have something it can’t handle. Linux mint is stable and handles most stuff just fine.

    If you'd like to know that Mint can't handle...

    *raises hand*

    6 monitors connected to 2 GPUs -- one old Radeon and one 3090. I tried Mint and it could not handle that setup, no matter what I tried doing to it. Currently on Ubuntu, which worked with that setup right out of the box, no tweaking necessary.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 0 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah I'm not saying it's the worst distro, I just don't think my multiple experiences with it remotely align with the reputation.

    Regarding the UI, I think people want familiarity and even think they want something with a design like that. But in practice the similarities are only skin deep and to me if they're already going to need to learn all the ways it differs from windows, why not put the same effort into learning something that also varies superficially from windows (just in a different way than mint)?

    I think the real reason people recommend mint is, while deep down they know users will have a better time on Ubuntu, they cannot stand the idea of recommending that company's product directly.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 0 points 7 months ago

    I think the real reason people recommend mint is, while deep down they know users will have a better time on Ubuntu, they cannot stand the idea of recommending that company's product directly.

    I have no guilt when I say Ubuntu, and their managing company, have pulled enough shit over the years that it's not a good first choice for a new user.

    But in practice the similarities are only skin deep and to me if they're already going to need to learn all the ways it differs from windows, why not put the same effort into learning something that also varies

    The average user never leaves the web browser. The average gamer never leaves the web browser and steam. Skin deep is as far as most people ever go.

    This not a condemnation, but it's important to be aware of the differences between the average user, the average gamer, and the average Linux user. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago*

    because it works perfectly on all my hardware, it's fast, and has keyboard shortcuts I already know.

    I've tried popOS (lots of graphics issues, terrible shortcuts, REALLY BAD software manager (runs on 1 core only in 2026. wtf??? it's slow as hell), and cachyOS (lots of hardware issues, no sound, keyboard shortcuts must be some weird alternate language because none of the ones I know worked).

    Mint is awesome. Anyone hating on a Linux distro is a chud. Well, we can hate ubuntu for their canonical reason i suppose.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (1 child)

    Its a good beginners distro. The default desktop environment is very windows 7-y. It has a great out of box experience with everything having a GUI. It's built on Debian (um ackchyually Linux mint is based on Ubuntu unless you're using mint Debian edition. Ignore the fact that Ubuntu is a Debian distro itself) which is incredibly stable with most updates being small bug fixes or security patches with the biggest updates being infrequent.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •