Welcome back! Today I’ll be breaking down some more of the lessons I’ve learned and some of the information for a switch from using Windows 11 every day to using Linux Mint on my primary gaming PC. My previous post here goes into some detail. I’m looking to breakdown further into applications, longer lessons and things I’ve found to make my life easier with Linux in hopes others are inspired to join the Open Source community!
Let’s start with the basics. What’s this new Linux thing and why are people suddenly talking about it more and more?
Linux started decades ago with a Finnish student named Linus Torvalds. Torvalds developed the first Linux kernel during his time as a student and was based upon UNIX (lots of good info on Wikipedia here!).
What started as a small project has become what we now know as Linux today in all its flavors. The goal was simple: free, open source software anyone could use and modify for free. Because of the nature of this a large community has been built who use, create and modify Linux to suit their personal needs and often business needs. Did you know that over half of the websites we use today run on Linux?
I started my journey first with a very old project called SME Server to tinker with in the early 2000’s. This project, now run by Koozali, was a way to figure out some of the features Linux brings to the table: file sharing, partitioning, RAID, etc. I wasn’t happy though with a turn key solution; I wanted to know how it worked. Enter Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is based upon Debian but with a large community making their own changes to how it functions and works. After trying out Apache on Windows (and a brief mail server that got immediately hacked), I decided Ubuntu would be a good fit. I quickly stood up an old PC and installed the LAMP stack on Ubuntu: Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP. A few file edits later and I had my first website running. I’ve run Ubuntu now since version 6.06 for as many of my servers as possible and have built an appreciation for its ease of use, documentation and general stability. These are some of my factors when choosing any software, and this is where Linux Mint comes into the game.
A little history of Mint: “Linux Mint began in 2006 with a beta release, 1.0, code-named ‘Ada’,[13] based on Kubuntu and using its KDE interface.” (Wikipedia, here). From its Ubuntu roots, Mint eventually started using their own repositories (think software stores for apps and programs) for various items but still relied heavily on Ubuntu, making them almost completely compatible and helping to spur more users already familiar with an Ubuntu environment to make the switch. One important thing to note: Ubuntu desktop is what Mint is based upon, NOT Ubuntu Server which does not have a GUI and instead relies completely on command line terminal sessions or SSH for maintenance.
Why Linux Mint as a daily driver then? Well, it’s neat! Seriously though, let’s break it down:
- Popular with lots of support from the community both for software and forums for troubleshooting. Most answers to your problems can be found in a few minutes of Google/Reddit hunting.
- Window management feels like a Windows 10/11 system so was easy to make the switch. Things like Windows snapping to edges and multiple panels make this easy to manage, even with multiple monitors
- Easy to manage but still super user friendly. Fire it up, install, run updates and install any extra software and you’re at a running system in less than 30 minutes.
- Based on Debian/Ubuntu which I’m very familiar with
- I don’t like Gnome and had trouble getting Ubuntu with additional GUIs (XFCE, Cinnamon, KDE) to work properly; more my own issues and grievances but something that pushed me towards Mint
One of the hardest parts of switching from Windows to Linux is the application side of things. Life has gotten a lot better though in a couple decades since Linux really started to gain popularity and many programs offer complete Linux installations. For those that don’t, the open source community often has their own programs to match with the added benefit of being free and community driven.
A couple of the stand outs I missed from Windows along with their respective alternatives:
- I love Notepad++ on Windows and the alternative Notepadqq crashes constantly on both my Ubuntu and Mint machines. Instead, I’m using Sublime which is an application I learned about from my Mac days. Check it out, it will also run on Mac and Windows
- Adobe CS6 was a tough one to replace but I’ve found a lot can be done within GIMP. Again, a zero cost alternative to Adobe’s now monthly/yearly subscriptions
- Nextcloud via AppImage (set to autolaunch). This one was a little more tricky as I had to get Nextcloud to start on boot using Cron. I’ll add the cron details at the end of the write up (see NOTE 1)
Others like Firefox, Spotify, Discord, Remote Desktop Manager and more all support Linux natively and have their own installers making things a breeze.
Some of my other thoughts:
- Frequent updates without reboots. No constant nagging or rebooting when you’re in the middle of something. You choose your updates.
- TONS of customization available, everything from Icon sets, colors and taskbar customization (including things like system monitors and CPU/GPU) temps can all be easily done and content packs are available online for more fun
- OpenSource drivers can be buggy for NVidia, using version 520 for my RTX 3070 as the opensource and newer versions would cause monitors to flicker/go blank. Friendly reminder: This is still Linux and it has its quirks
- Support for peripherals is lacking/buggy. I have a Corsair Keyboard and a wired controller both of which are not currently working to their full extent (or at all in the case of the controller)
- Gaming is still very limited. Some games work but without my controller
- Things just run smoother, often loading faster versus Windows without the extra overhead (and telemetry)
- No annoying pop ups or ads in your OS, no recommended features popping up trying to get you to install more software you don’t usually need
- Microsoft Office suite is not available on Linux (only Edge is available). LibreOffice, a free alternative, does a good job but it’s hard to modify documents between the ecosystems and not have weird formatting problems. Please keep this in mind if you use Office a lot
In conclusion: Linux is a world of wonder, free software and sometimes frustration. But the frustration can often lead to you learning more about how a system works and builds your skills further. I love to learn, and Linux has taught me a lot.
Linux Mint has been a great experience and I look forward to continuing to use it further. Give it a shot, you just might like what you find. I did.
Cheers, and thanks for reading!
NOTE 1:
Cronjob to launch Nextcloud (or any executable AppImage) from boot:
File: /etc/cron.d/asullivan_nextcloud
Contents:
@reboot asullivan sleep 10 && /home/asullivan/Desktop/Nextcloud-3.16.4-x86_64.AppImage
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.