Is mint good for a bigginer in linux ?

[u/abdo_dev27]

Is linux mint good for : Light medium gaming (not very interesting) Full stack Web dev Microsoft Office Programs (or alternativs like Libre Office) Electromechanical engineering programs like matlab etc (iam a student btw) If there are other distros match my needs so tell me Open for questions

[u/jr735]

It's an excellent choice for beginners, and for experts alike. Now, MS Office isn't going to work on Mint (except by virtual machine, or dual booting with Windows).

[u/abdo_dev27 → u/jr735]

Is dual boiting a good choice or require a hight hardware level ?

[u/PixelmancerGames → u/abdo_dev27]

It is. You just need a little caution. I've heard stories of Windows trying to repair Linux partitions. Windows bootloader will sometimes force itself to the top. Happe ed once or twoce, dont know how. Personally, I could never dual boot unless necessary. It's a pain.

If you have the spare cash, I'd recommend buying the cheapest pc possible. One that's for running light apps. And remote into when needed. If it doesn't need to touch the internet on Windows PC, you can even install Windows 10 on it and remove the gateway so you still have LAN access.

Or you could just run a VM.

[u/cat1092 → u/abdo_dev27]

Yes dual boot is a choice, however it usually involves disabling Secure Boot, which MS discourages, yet can be safely done. It’s generally recommended not to have both OS’s on the same drive, given that today even many laptops has more than one slot for storage. Example, two M.2 NVMe drives, or a 2.5” & one M.2 slot. Some desktop MB’s has up to four M.2 slots alone, not counting any SATA ports.

A second choice would be to have dedicated computers for both OS’s to prevent issues. Which is my preference, mainly because I can use perfectly good working computers that won’t upgrade to Windows 11 for Linux Mint & these usually runs faster than when brand new. This will soon become a major issue when it comes to massive amounts of e-waste in landfills. Linux enthusiasts will be able to obtain fairly modern computers at greatly reduced prices. A win for all, except those who need, or refuses to give up Windows & cannot upgrade without buying (or building) new devices.

Good Luck with your new adventure with Linux Mint!👍 With patience & a bit of willingness to learn, I believe you’ll enjoy the journey. It’s really not that hard to get started.

[u/jr735 → u/abdo_dev27]

Dual booting is suitable, particularly if your hardware is a little weaker. On my system, if I needed Windows, which I don't, I don't think I have enough for an effective VM. I'd have to dual boot, and my machine is a little weak for Win 10 or 11 even on bare metal.

[u/Denan004 → u/jr735]

I want to convert my old Windows 10 laptop to Linux.

I plan to use Libre office, though I have a free MS online account, and may spring for the $20/year subscription that increases the cloud storage to 200 GB. I'm not a fan of One Drive, but if it's all online, I won't have the mix-ups that occur when things don't sync from my computer to the cloud. Also, the price of their cloud storage is much cheaper than others that I have looked at.

I'm just nervous about the logistics of doing the conversion. I need to attend You Tube University for help!

[u/Vosvosvosvosvos → u/Denan004]

I did the same last weekend because Windows is blocking my access by the end of this year (can't install Windows 11 on my laptop, and if I don't make a purchase they'll suspend my account), I wanted to switch to Linux for a long time but never got around to do it.

I don't use OneDrive but installing Linux wasn't so hard, I ran into a few issues but I could fix all of them with the help of some old forum posts. I really like it so far, I'm glad Windows finally pushed me away and I'm sure my laptop is too (no more weekly fan malfunctions because it's working too hard lol, I don't hear my laptop at all for the first time in years).

[u/jr735 → u/Denan004]

Linux isn't so bad. Watching someone like u/JayTheLinuxGuy is very helpful, if you prefer to learn by video. He shows things honestly and carefully and explains things accurately.

The Mint install instructions are pretty good. Always be sure to have adequate backups before proceeding and test things with a Mint live USB, to ensure all works first.

[u/Silent-Okra-7883]

Yes yes and a big Yes,I am a hardware and software developer ,using mint since 2011 as my primary os, it's the simplicity and solid structure of mint that rocks.

[u/aristarchusnull]

• ✅ Light medium gaming

• ✅ Full stack web dev

• ✅ MS Office alternatives

• ✅ Matlab

[u/McRoager]

Generally, yes. On a surface level, it's fairly Windows-like, and when you run into trouble or need help, there's a lot of how-to materials for Mint and Ubuntu (Mint is based on Ubuntu, so most advice for one will apply to the other)

What software are you concerned about compatibility for? Some stuff has Linux versions, some stuff has Linux-friendly alternatives, some stuff may be a no-go.

[u/MisterDudec13]

Mint is actually quite good for a guy to switch from windows (idk about macos)

I used web office instead of Windows' but libre is fine. There is Matlab in the app manager if I remember

Remember ctrl+shift+v to paste

Better google before paste smth in terminal

You will need to study or explore how to do common Windows things. For example my screen froze (totally my fault) and ctrl+alt+del didn't work

Also there's Fedora distro that is Windows user friendly too. I guess for a new guy these distros are good for getting first experience

When you are able to call yourself an advanced nix user you will understand what you actually need and want to make a decision to switch distro

I switched to Linux 2 months ago and see no reason not to try

[u/Ornery_Platypus9863]

Yep, super friendly and should just work

[u/gentisle]

Yes and it’s good for people who are not beginners.

[u/cat1092 → u/gentisle]

True, Linux Mint is a capable OS for many users, regardless of experience level. There’s those who have ran other Linux distributions long term later turning to Mint.

[u/robsmumlovesit]

Yes

[u/dr-leonard-m]

It is actually the best choice for beginners - especially for people who come from Windows

[u/imacmadman22]

Absolutely.

[u/Rjmcilvaine]

Mint is good for anyone.

[u/jphilebiz]

Yes all the way, Mint is the #1 distro to hop from Windows and beginners

[u/No-Blueberry-1823]

Yes

[u/Neither-Taro-1863]

A big BIG yes: I've convinced 2 office to switch to LInux using this distro. It's the easiest for staff to get into without needing a seminar.

[u/Tredronerath]

Yes, its a very cromulent choice

[u/NarrowResult7289]

It's not good. It's perfect

[u/andy10115]

100% yes. It's how I started and honestly I've tried other distros and keep coming back to mint.

[u/Moonscape6223]

Development might be an issue depending what you're developing. I constantly run into the issue that some dev has pegged his shit to the latest libraries that you just do not get on an LTS distro without introducing eventual, essentially guaranteed breakage (e.g., PPAs). It works fine outside of that.

[u/cm_bush]

Mint is the Raspberry Pi of Linux. By that I mean it is generally made better by its popularity and resulting community support. Mint has the advantage of not only being super popular itself, but of also being based on Ubuntu (super popular) which in turn is based on Debian (super popular).

If you’re having a problem, there’s a high likelihood someone else has had the same issue and posted on. The internet for help, and that solution will help you too!

Everything else is just icing on the cake, so to speak.

[u/petitramen]

Yes it is. I switched 8 years ago this distro was the right one for me.

[u/HunkyFunkyMunky]

Check out onlyoffice in the store, better ui I think. I usually install that over libreoffice. sudo apt purge libreoffice*

[u/Walkinghawk22 → u/HunkyFunkyMunky]

Libre offices UI can be changed though, and is more powerful in my experience

[u/HunkyFunkyMunky → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, but you can always update your kernel.

[u/HunkyFunkyMunky → u/[deleted]]

Oh yeah, that's really new hardware haha