Been trying the newest Linux Mint Operating system

[DougGuy]

I have 2 desktop PCs with quad core processors, gobs of memory, multiple drives, they are the equivalent of gaming machines, or souped up for power users, these are not just go to walmart and buy a PC, they've been tweaked and tuned for speed and performance, and they deliver.

One is my everyday user, the other serves as a backup storage unit for music and other large stashes I keep around, but I found a great use for it being it is offline and idled most of the time. I use a stack of cheap 60 and 120gb Solid State Drives, SSD's and when a new distro or flavor of linux comes out, I go download the iso and burn it onto a bootable usb stick using Etcher, and I install it onto one of the SSDs I have around and I run it. I have loaded probably 2 or 3 DOZEN flavors of Linux in the last 3 years, it is interesting to see the differences in the major forks, some are really neat, and some are just a PITA.

By attrition, Linux Mint has beaten all of the others in ease of use, stability, robust performance, and I run it on two desktops and two laptops now, it is my go to OS of choice, haven't booted into windows in ages.

Occasionally you WILL NEED windows to do maintenance to the BIOS, like flash it with an updated BIOS file from the manufacturer, and I find a bootable iso of WinPE which will boot and run windows in memory from a USB stick, and I can run the BIOS updaters from this, without having windows loaded onto a hard drive. Occasionally you will have a filename corrupted to the point that neither Linux nor windows can open it or delete it, and you can use the bootable WinPE to get into the file system and nuke it. Windows will never be totally wiped off the planet, even at a hardcore *nix user's house, but it's a seldom needed tool that I keep around for times when the updater won't run in anything but windows..

[Tatume]

You may have to manually edit your fstab to make sure the partition containing the windows files is mounted. Ubuntu will read NTFS and FAT32 file systems, but if it doesn't mount the partition, it won't show up in Ubuntu.

Thanks all for the information, sincerely. However, I interpret this to read "I'm in over my head."

[KenH]

"I found one BIG THING that I can't do in Linux Mint that I did all the time in Win10... CURSE IT!! "

That is one funny line!!! and so much truth in it also..... but there are a few times when I curse at Linux. Especially when dealing with trying mount other drives, dealing with COM ports (mostly because I'm so accustomed to Windoz)..... and of course when there are programs that are windoz only. Some run just fine under Wine, but others require a VM with Windoz installed..... and just try doing your taxes with Linux. I don't think there are any of the popular tax programs that are ported to Linux. If there are, please enlighten me.

Ken H>

[DougGuy]

FYI.... Once WINE is installed in Linux, (WINE is the Windows emulator and allows many Windows programs and games to be run in Linux) I found QuickLoad to run flawlessly in all flavors. Sometimes there is an error at install about QL can't find a certain font, which btw is a windows only font, you just have to pick a diffferent font and the issue is resolved.

[Dvedw]

I have a laptop that I may try Mint on. It has been years since I've looked at Linux.

[Smoke4320]

I had done the same .. Last time I tried it was not impressed. Too much would not work. Too many command line entrys to get wrong and screw everything up..
Mint 18.3 you can pretty much run graphically to look like Win 7 or Win 10 .. Its up to you

at least that's my take so far

[popper]

Win10 was designed with streaming in mind ( that linux & unix already do - except for the UI scheme, Win is a port of unix anyway with wrappers around it). Old BIOS & hardware wasn't really designed for streaming so they aren't supported and don't work that well.

[Smoke4320]

Linux Mint 19 “Tara” Cinnamon released!
This article was posted on Fri, 29 Jun 2018 14:07:40 +0000
The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 19 “Tara” Cinnamon Edition. Linux Mint 19 Tara Cinnamon Edition Linux Mint 19 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2023. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop even more comfortable […]

[Traffer]

Linux Mint 19 “Tara” Cinnamon released!
This article was posted on Fri, 29 Jun 2018 14:07:40 +0000
The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 19 “Tara” Cinnamon Edition. Linux Mint 19 Tara Cinnamon Edition Linux Mint 19 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2023. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop even more comfortable […]

Great, what a coincidence. Going to do a dual boot on my main PC and install it on an old netbook. Yay!

[Dvedw]

Will probably be installing on my spare laptop this evening.

[dragon813gt]

I have Mint 19 Tara Cinnamon running in a virtual machine on my laptop. As I thought it runs very similarly to DSM that runs on my NAS. And speaking of the NAS I tried to run it on a virtual machine there but I didn’t have enough memory. So I ordered 8GB to upgrade it.

I can’t say I’m really impressed w/ it. I know I’m going to have to use the terminal at some point. This doesn’t make it the most user friendly OS. And I honestly have no complaints about Windows. I stuck w/ 8.1 because I knew exactly what 10 was and how much info it sends to Microsoft. Having to use Wine to run Quickload and Quicken isn’t very appealing. I can run them as well as every other program I use on Windows.

For someone that just wants to surf the web and perform some basic document editing I can see the appeal. I can also see the appeal for people that are into computers. I guess I fall in the middle where I know enough to be dangerous but not enough to make switching over a breeze. I will play around w/ it for awhile to see if it grows on me. I still plan on running it on my NAS for remote access because file management through DSM is a chore.

[GhostHawk]

I have been playing with it for the last two days. Seems pretty decent.

Biggest difference, Mint put shortcuts to cd's, flash drive, etc right on the desktop.

Windows likes to hide everything in C:\windows.
Linux leaves it all right out in plain sight, but you have to know how to find the drive.
That they don't make so easy.

Biggest thing I need at this point is some 30 years of experience running it which I don't have.

I will say the install was painless.

And I think it is a good tool to have in the box. Got a virus or malware, boot to mint, grab a cleaner and watch those bugs get sucked. Protect yourself in this bug.

I won't say I am done with windows. But I see a dual boot in my near future.

[Traffer]

I have Mint 19 Tara Cinnamon running in a virtual machine on my laptop. As I thought it runs very similarly to DSM that runs on my NAS. And speaking of the NAS I tried to run it on a virtual machine there but I didn’t have enough memory. So I ordered 8GB to upgrade it.

I can’t say I’m really impressed w/ it. I know I’m going to have to use the terminal at some point. This doesn’t make it the most user friendly OS. And I honestly have no complaints about Windows. I stuck w/ 8.1 because I knew exactly what 10 was and how much info it sends to Microsoft. Having to use Wine to run Quickload and Quicken isn’t very appealing. I can run them as well as every other program I use on Windows.

For someone that just wants to surf the web and perform some basic document editing I can see the appeal. I can also see the appeal for people that are into computers. I guess I fall in the middle where I know enough to be dangerous but not enough to make switching over a breeze. I will play around w/ it for awhile to see if it grows on me. I still plan on running it on my NAS for remote access because file management through DSM is a chore.

I think it is interesting what you say about Windows 10. I am a retired PC tech and tried my best to ward off friends and family from Windows 10. They just giggled under their breath and thought me a tin foil hat weirdo. I have preferred Win7 to Win8.1 because I am not into the app generation. I see nothing wrong or cumbersome about using "applications" and "programs" instead of the bite sized apps. And I do not use touch screens except when I have to. Gimme a desktop PC any day. Anyway I just wanted to say your mention of "I knew exactly what 10 was and how much info it sends to Microsoft." has encouraged me. With the revelations about Google and Facebook spying on people and manipulating ...I tell folks "you ain't seen nothing yet. wait till Microsoft gets exposed." With Windows 10 and a not too complicated algorithm they can easily discern when you go to the bathroom and how long it takes. All this information about you is stored for future possible use. Consider if someone nasty were to use it against you ...Like perhaps Lois Learner. Anyway I am itching for a rant today but have better things to do.

[dragon813gt]

There was plenty of warnings before Win10 rolled out. If people didn’t head them, that’s on them. Unfortunately most people just want to buy a computer from a store and go about using it. And Microsoft has that market cornered.

It’s what happened to me w/ Win8. I needed a laptop and that’s what it came w/. It’s a touchscreen Ultrabook and I’ve been very pleased w/ it. I don’t use the touchscreen all the time. But there are time where it’s convenient and I’m glad I have it. I hesitate to say this because something bad usually happens. But Win8 has been the most stable OS I’ve used since XP. My work laptop is Win7 and there are all sorts of issues w/ it. Every time our IT department releases updates they invariably break something. The last one caused an endless boot loop. We had to delete five of the updates to stop it.

I’m willing to give Mint a try. In my case I don’t see it replacing Windows. I almost want to buy a cheaper laptop, w/ enough horsepower, and install Mint on it just to play around w/. That will have to wait for now. Lots of guns needs to be bought before that

[roadie]

Anyway I just wanted to say your mention of "I knew exactly what 10 was and how much info it sends to Microsoft." has encouraged me. With the revelations about Google and Facebook spying on people and manipulating ...I tell folks "you ain't seen nothing yet. wait till Microsoft gets exposed." With Windows 10 and a not too complicated algorithm they can easily discern when you go to the bathroom and how long it takes. All this information about you is stored for future possible use. Consider if someone nasty were to use it against you ...Like perhaps Lois Learner. Anyway I am itching for a rant today but have better things to do.

Oh, it will be something when Microsoft's info gathering is exposed for the theft it really is, as well as the spying. As mentioned by dragon813gt though, people were warned when Windows 10 was rolling out, made no difference, people still latched on to it like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

People sure talk the talk concerning their online privacy, the walking the walk is where they get wobbly. And Microsoft knows they can do pretty much whatever they want, people will still buy their junky product. I wonder how many people have stopped using Facebook and Google.....I suspect not a lot.

On topic, I think the best thing new users to Linux can do, is to toss out any notions that Linux is like Windows, cause it isn't. It doesn't do things the way Windows does, and to expect it to will only invite frustration and in many cases, giving up and going back to Windows as the daily driver. Linux has a learning curve, though it's light years ahead from when I started some 20 years ago. Nowadays, running Linux is like a walk in the park.

Another point I'll bring up, is that Mint is by no means the only....or best....Linux version available. There are dozens of different flavors out there. Same with Cinnamon, it's just one of a pile of different desktops available.....there's Mate, Xfce, E17, Gnome, and the old pig, KDE....which is actually not bad in the Linux I run, I just don't care for it when lighter, faster desktops are available.

[dragon813gt]

I now have it up and running on my NAS. Trying to figure out how to mount drives. This is where it really becomes inconvenient. W/ Windows you just go to my computer and map the drive. Takes all of five seconds. Not so easy w/ Mint.

Was able to get ExpressVPN working but I had to use terminal to activate and use it. Thankfully there’s a plug-in for Firefox. But you still have to connect through terminal first. Then then the plugin works and you can pick which server you want to use.

I’m sure I’m having the same frustrations as anyone that’s trying to switch over. If Mint is the most user friendly I don’t want to see any of the other ones.

[dbosman]

I've found a working solution for old, under powered, XP Centrino, notebooks. Old school wired, internet install.
From https://askubuntu.com/questions/1177...es-not-present

Workaround 3: If you have a wired internet connection, use the "net install" mini-CD
You will need a reasonably fast wired connection for this method -- all packages will be downloaded over the internet.
Download the non-PAE netboot CD image mini.iso
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...n-pae/mini.iso
and burn it to a CD or USB.
Boot from it, follow the steps, and choose linux-generic when asked to choose a kernel, and ubuntu-desktop to get the "default" Ubuntu installation the regular Desktop CD would have given you, just with a non-PAE kernel.
You can also choose one of the other desktops. You should choose a desktop otherwise you will not have a GUI to play with after installation.

[Smoke4320]

Linux 19 now has a real easy way to mount drives ..
Go to disks on the menu
click and choose drive or partition to mount ..
click on the right arrow and drive is mounted

[DougGuy]

Linux Mint 19 “Tara” Cinnamon released!
This article was posted on Fri, 29 Jun 2018 14:07:40 +0000
The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 19 “Tara” Cinnamon Edition. Linux Mint 19 Tara Cinnamon Edition Linux Mint 19 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2023. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop even more comfortable […]

I plan to check LM19 out soon enough myself but see no reason to abandon 18.3 just yet. Jesse Smith runs a website called "distrowatch" that seems to be the message board for all things linux, he posted a good review of LM19:

https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=current

[GhostHawk]

Anyone know of a good app to partition drives from inside Mint?

I have mint up, running, stable, well the wifi is blinking on and off but I have a fix for that.

I'll move it and plug it into the lan.

But I would ideally love to dual boot this.

The good news is the Windows 10 that loaded itself while the computer was "asleep" is gone never to return.

Lord what a waste that thing was. Made the laptop slow, buggy, you never knew if it would work or not.

I have a variety of older OS's that just might work on it, from 98, xp sp3 untended USB corporate to a brand new Win 8.1 with key (First OS I have paid money for in 22 years) Peg leg check, eye patch check, parrot on shoulder check, Ahoy Matey! So call me a pirate, see if I care!