I started using Linux in 2011 with Ubuntu 10.10 and then quickly up to 11.04 and have used an uncountable number of distributions since then and yet my main computer now runs Linux Mint Debian and I don’t have to worry about it. It just works.
Edit: I’m definitely not your standard computer user, but I also would not consider myself a highly advanced user either. I feel like I fall somewhere in the middle as I do use the command line quite frequently and am comfortable in it. But I do like things to be easy when possible.
I am always confused that such a stale distro is so highly recommended
For people who don’t care about being at the cutting edge and just want something that works reliably (which is most users), that’s fine. I’ve used Mint for years and while it’s not the fanciest distro I rarely run into problems and almost everything just works.
Hard disagree on that being “most people”.
I fully agree that Mint has the right UX for mass adoption, but I also agree with the OP that this comes at the cost of being specced for hardware made ten years ago.
I think it’s a useful reference point. If you are on a semi-modern display that does VRR and HDR with a newer Nvidia card, want to do some gaming on it, maybe have a secondary display with a different resolution that requires different scaling… you know, that type of thing, then what you need is at least the level of compatibility and functionality you get on Mint, but with official support out of the box. And you need it like four or five years ago.
Mint existing shows why Linux isn’t a mainstream daily driver.
Ok Wayland shill.
Hah. I guess. I mean, I can tell you that on my last run of “is Linux viable now” I stepped through Mint, was frustrated about how it interacted with my hardware and did end up on a Manjaro KDE install that did pick up most of my newer hardware better.
It still was far enough from perfect and definitely way more finicky, so I still would say not a mainstream daily driver (and I’m back to defaulting to Windows anyway). I genuinely don’t care how Linux gets there, but it needs to get there to be viable.
I think it’s because more cutting-edge options are not anywhere near as easy to set up and use.
Also visit flatpak.org for more information about how stable distros get around the old packages issue.
What would be some examples of less stale distros?
Pretty much people that don’t game with hardware from the previous 5 years or so, which is a ton of people.
My hardware just hit 5 years old and I think mint 22 was the only one with a recent enough kernel not to have breaking bugs for Navi 1 on AMD. It is not easy, straightforward, or often well compatible to upgrade the kernel and mesa on mint.
Plus ppas are terrible. I had more things break due to ppas or bad updatws in 3 years of mint (granted it was 2014-2017) vs 7 years on arch and 6 months on Bazzite.
Other than that it is great, and definitely familiar for beginners! Plus the forum is great!
After finally committing to Linux, Mint has been exactly what I wanted. It’s clean, sharp, intuitive, and works right out of the box, no fuckery required. I’m not a programmer or admin, just an elder Millennial who grew up on PCs, so I always kinda shied away from making it my only OS until recently. I’m very happy with Mint so far, it’s turning out to be a fantastic entry point.
It feels polished, refined, and out of the way. It inspires confidence in the daily driver by doing the basics right without over complicating the system.
I’m enjoying Mint, and I think it’s just about ready to install for my folks and kids. I do still encounter hard lock conditions every once in a while, and sometimes those necessitate some shell fuckery to repair the system after a hard boot. I’ve managed to recover every time, but I don’t want to support a half-dozen people because they sure wouldn’t be able to manage on their own.
Best thing I did was separate my /home partition from /. I’ve reinstalled or switched OSes a few times and never lost anything important.
I haven’t experimented with that many different distros. Everyone seems to have a favorite, but honestly if it’s stable, simple, and runs my software that’s all I need. Mint is that for me right now.
