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Switching to Linux Mint from Windows 10

2023/06/29

I was sick of Windows.

My recently viewed files disappeared off the face of the earth, my laptop was overheating from 2 browser tabs, and Visual Studio was running hot as can be. I wanted something new, and Linux caught my eye.

I got a taste of Ubuntu from running a VM for lensfun's lens calibration scripts. I liked its clean design and its settings menus. I also became interested in APT, and the other applications that a *nix system entailed. Although I returned to using Windows 10 on my desktop, I kept thinking about switching to some Linux distro someday.

A few months later, I began research on finding a suitable Linux distro. I was overwhelmed by the number of choices. Arch Linux? Fedora? Ubuntu? Manjaro? But after reading some articles and blogs, I found myself coming to a conclusion:

  • I didn't want Ubuntu because of the Snap nonsense that was going on.
  • I didn't want Fedora because it seemed that Ubuntu was more well supported with the 3rd party software that I might use.
  • I didn't want to tangle with Arch Linux.

A distro that caught my eye? Linux Mint. Not only did it claim to be easy to use "out of the box", but it was based on Ubuntu without that GNOME or Snap nonsense. Score?

I installed Linux Mint onto a flash drive, and tested it out on my laptop, and eventually installed it.

My Thoughts

After using Linux Mint on my laptop for the past few months, I've developed some opinions on it:

  • Using tlp to cut down my processor usage and reduce my laptop's blaring fans and to improve my battery life is amazing.
  • I love the design and layout of Cinnamon.
  • I'm not missing any features from Windows.
  • I can fix most problems I have by looking through stackexchange or stackoverflow.
  • I like how there's a centralized source for downloading common software (it's a shame about not being able to access the newest versions of software, but that's the price you pay for being on a stable branch I suppose).
  • Simply downloading common software development libraries from APT is so refreshing compared to fiddling with proprietary build systems & vcpkg.
  • It's a shame how flatpak is broken as-is.