5 ms·

I’d recommend trying Linux Mint with Steam.

by ta9000 8mo ago

dismalaf 8mo ago
Mint needs to die. It's the most ancient, archaic distro ever. Replacing something that's SOTA with something that still uses X11 and years old software isn't it (it makes Debian Stable look modern).
- morshu9001 8mo ago
  I tried Linux desktop for the first time in like a decade. Didn't know Xorg was deprecated for real, as in most distros moved to Wayland. Was surprised that the one hold out was Mint. And learned the hard way that Mint didn't work on my fairly normal PC, due to an Xorg issue. This is the thing so many people recommend?! No wonder Linux is unpopular. Also there like 20 competing ways to install packages now. Used to just be apt.
  - esseph 8mo ago
    > Also there like 20 competing ways to install packages now. Used to just be apt This is very incorrect. There's been far more for 35+ years * apt/.deb * yum(dnf)/.rpm * Tarballs * Ports trees * Flatpak * Snap * Etc, etc, etc
    - morshu9001 8mo ago
      Flatpak and Snap are new to me, and that's the annoyance. Like I get if there's some technical advantage to a snap, but apt can install snaps too. Also idk what .appimage is. rpm was a thing that existed but wasn't a Mint way of installing. Tar, yes. I can see why you'd consider a tar a package, but I was thinking of things actually designed for packages, and tar isn't really an extra thing to learn and deal with. Port tree, idk never heard of that.
      - esseph 8mo ago
        > Flatpak and Snap are new to me and that's the annoyance. These were designed to solve different problems. PS - Just avoid snap. Fuck snap. All my homies hate snap. Flatpak otoh is software basically delivered in a container with some security restrictions. It works great, but you may want a GUI problem called "flatseal" to enable access to certain parts of the host filesystem, device access, etc depending on specifics of what the particular application is supposed to do. That's a bit of a security boundary (good). Flatpak does solve several big issues with the minor and only occasional need to use flatseal to enable access to say something in /proc /dev etc Snap happened in 2014 Flatpak in 2015 So you've got about 10 years of catch-up ;)
        morshu9001 8mo ago
        I'm not really obligated to catch up on that. I'll try Linux again if they ever sort these things out, until then Mac is a fine dev/personal machine.
        esseph 8mo ago
        > I'll try Linux again if they ever sort these things out You don't understand. This won't be "sorted out", this is a feature. Maybe it's just not for you, and that's ok.
        morshu9001 8mo ago
        You said it yourself, "fuck snap." But Snap is the default for a bunch of things. There's probably someone else saying "fuck flatpak." The user doesn't win this way, it's not a feature.
        eikenberry 8mo ago
        Snaps are a Canonical thing and is only used by default on Ubuntu and distro's based on Ubuntu. No other distro uses or recommends them.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
- yjftsjthsd-h 8mo ago
  (Even if they're all true) Do any of those things matter to a user? If the goal is to ditch Windows and have something else that can run Steam and a web browser and maybe some other applications, being "ancient" sounds just as likely to mean "stable and actually works"
  - dismalaf 8mo ago
    One immediately noticeable thing is the lack of gestures on X11. Touchpad and touchscreen gestures just work in Wayland, most DEs implement them OOTB, even Hyprland has them. Imagine going from a modern OS to one that doesn't have touchpad gestures in 2026. Yeah there's workarounds but having to config that isn't a good user experience.
    - queenkjuul 8mo ago
      I don't use a touchpad on my workstations, my gaming desktop, my servers...
  - ta9000 8mo ago
    The stability is why I prefer Linux Mint for gaming. Everything just works, even on my modern hardware. dismalaf: I definitely don’t care about gestures on my desktop computer.
- tomth 8mo ago
  I've had issues with Wayland, even in 2025, but never with X11. X11 may be old, but it's stable. Mint is for normal people, not us. I do have it on my travel laptop though, because well, it never has any issues.
  - ta9000 8mo ago
    Yeah, sorry, I’m a normal person I guess.
- ta9000 8mo ago
  The latest version (with support through 2029) was released last month. It installed and runs flawlessly. https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_zena_whatsnew.php https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_zena_whatsnew.php
  - dismalaf 8mo ago
    It's literally based on a 2 year old Ubuntu LTS... This is what I mean. It's very outdated.
    - ta9000 8mo ago
      So what’s your alternative?
      - tapoxi 8mo ago
        Bazzite or Cachy Mint won't even boot for me because it doesn't support my year old GPU (9070 XT). That's a huge miss when someone is looking at an OS primarily for gaming.
        ta9000 8mo ago
        I’ll look into Cachy. Bazzite I’m not going to touch because it seems politically toxic.
      - dismalaf 8mo ago
        Fedora Workstation, Fedora Silverblue, regular (non-LTS) Ubuntu are in my experience best for newbs. After that Debian. After that Arch. For gaming specifically, I've heard good things about Nobara (dev is a RedHatter, though it's his personal project) and CachyOS.
      - queenkjuul 8mo ago
        just use ubuntu

I’d recommend trying Linux Mint with Steam.

by ta9000 8mo ago

I’d recommend trying Linux Mint with Steam.

Mint needs to die. It's the most ancient, archaic distro ever. Replacing something that's SOTA with something that still uses X11 and years old software isn't it (it makes Debian Stable look modern).

morshu9001 8mo ago
I tried Linux desktop for the first time in like a decade. Didn't know Xorg was deprecated for real, as in most distros moved to Wayland. Was surprised that the one hold out was Mint. And learned the hard way that Mint didn't work on my fairly normal PC, due to an Xorg issue. This is the thing so many people recommend?! No wonder Linux is unpopular. Also there like 20 competing ways to install packages now. Used to just be apt.
- esseph 8mo ago
  > Also there like 20 competing ways to install packages now. Used to just be apt This is very incorrect. There's been far more for 35+ years * apt/.deb * yum(dnf)/.rpm * Tarballs * Ports trees * Flatpak * Snap * Etc, etc, etc
  - morshu9001 8mo ago
    Flatpak and Snap are new to me, and that's the annoyance. Like I get if there's some technical advantage to a snap, but apt can install snaps too. Also idk what .appimage is. rpm was a thing that existed but wasn't a Mint way of installing. Tar, yes. I can see why you'd consider a tar a package, but I was thinking of things actually designed for packages, and tar isn't really an extra thing to learn and deal with. Port tree, idk never heard of that.
    - esseph 8mo ago
      > Flatpak and Snap are new to me and that's the annoyance. These were designed to solve different problems. PS - Just avoid snap. Fuck snap. All my homies hate snap. Flatpak otoh is software basically delivered in a container with some security restrictions. It works great, but you may want a GUI problem called "flatseal" to enable access to certain parts of the host filesystem, device access, etc depending on specifics of what the particular application is supposed to do. That's a bit of a security boundary (good). Flatpak does solve several big issues with the minor and only occasional need to use flatseal to enable access to say something in /proc /dev etc Snap happened in 2014 Flatpak in 2015 So you've got about 10 years of catch-up ;)
      - morshu9001 8mo ago
        I'm not really obligated to catch up on that. I'll try Linux again if they ever sort these things out, until then Mac is a fine dev/personal machine.
        esseph 8mo ago
        > I'll try Linux again if they ever sort these things out You don't understand. This won't be "sorted out", this is a feature. Maybe it's just not for you, and that's ok.
        morshu9001 8mo ago
        You said it yourself, "fuck snap." But Snap is the default for a bunch of things. There's probably someone else saying "fuck flatpak." The user doesn't win this way, it's not a feature.
        eikenberry 8mo ago
        Snaps are a Canonical thing and is only used by default on Ubuntu and distro's based on Ubuntu. No other distro uses or recommends them.
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
yjftsjthsd-h 8mo ago
(Even if they're all true) Do any of those things matter to a user? If the goal is to ditch Windows and have something else that can run Steam and a web browser and maybe some other applications, being "ancient" sounds just as likely to mean "stable and actually works"
- dismalaf 8mo ago
  One immediately noticeable thing is the lack of gestures on X11. Touchpad and touchscreen gestures just work in Wayland, most DEs implement them OOTB, even Hyprland has them. Imagine going from a modern OS to one that doesn't have touchpad gestures in 2026. Yeah there's workarounds but having to config that isn't a good user experience.
  - queenkjuul 8mo ago
    I don't use a touchpad on my workstations, my gaming desktop, my servers...
- ta9000 8mo ago
  The stability is why I prefer Linux Mint for gaming. Everything just works, even on my modern hardware. dismalaf: I definitely don’t care about gestures on my desktop computer.
tomth 8mo ago
I've had issues with Wayland, even in 2025, but never with X11. X11 may be old, but it's stable. Mint is for normal people, not us. I do have it on my travel laptop though, because well, it never has any issues.
- ta9000 8mo ago
  Yeah, sorry, I’m a normal person I guess.
ta9000 8mo ago
The latest version (with support through 2029) was released last month. It installed and runs flawlessly. https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_zena_whatsnew.php https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_zena_whatsnew.php
- dismalaf 8mo ago
  It's literally based on a 2 year old Ubuntu LTS... This is what I mean. It's very outdated.
  - ta9000 8mo ago
    So what’s your alternative?
    - tapoxi 8mo ago
      Bazzite or Cachy Mint won't even boot for me because it doesn't support my year old GPU (9070 XT). That's a huge miss when someone is looking at an OS primarily for gaming.
      - ta9000 8mo ago
        I’ll look into Cachy. Bazzite I’m not going to touch because it seems politically toxic.
    - dismalaf 8mo ago
      Fedora Workstation, Fedora Silverblue, regular (non-LTS) Ubuntu are in my experience best for newbs. After that Debian. After that Arch. For gaming specifically, I've heard good things about Nobara (dev is a RedHatter, though it's his personal project) and CachyOS.
    - queenkjuul 8mo ago
      just use ubuntu