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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
I’ve tried many distros. Nothing you’ve said is unique to Mint.
Just don’t use Manjaro.
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.
that’s a very weird setup that like .001% of the pc owning population probably has though.
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.
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.
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.