Just made the switch to Linux as a lifetime Windows user.
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It just works.
I'm kind of shocked how easy it was to set up. I used ventoy to make a bootable iso of Linux Mint Cinnamon on my Mini PC (Ser5 Pro), and I had zero issues with anything. Ventoy even plays nice with secure boot.
Where's the setup?
There really wasn't any. I booted into Mint, synced my keyboard/trackpad combo and my earbuds then was off to the races. It detected all my hardware including my Elgato HD60 X without any steps. The only thing I had to work around was downloading the deb build of Discord Canary to enable audio output in Discord streams since it was only recently added to Discord's dev/beta build (Canary).
Speaking of which Elgato's capture software doesn't support Linux (shocker), so I simply installed OBS, pointed the audio/video to the capture card, and it worked. Easy.
My Use Case
I have the aforementioned mini PC mainly to be jockied by a capture card for streaming Nintendo Switch to Discord. Aside from that I use it as a productivity machine in my living room for internet browsing (omg webtv!) and Kodi. The Ser5 uses an AMD Ryzen 7 5850u with integrated graphics, 16GB DDR4, and a 500gb M.2. All of the ports, HDMI audio out, etc were automatically detected by Mint.
Conclusion
Linux Mint feels premium compared to Windows 11. It's snappier, more modular, and offers a Linux GUI that's familiar/easy to use. Plus now I have the benefit of no preinstalled spyware or bloatware. Feels good to actually own my computer.
Thanks for reading!
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L [email protected] shared this topic on
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It just works
Sometimes, and until it does not work.
I have Linux on a Lenovo laptop, when I connect it to my hdmi matrix there is no resolution that works for it to correctly display. There is no way to keep the display from turning off despite setting it to never turn off.
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Same can be said about Windows though... it is supposed to just work, but then why do I get a call from my parents every month cause something is broken on their computer?
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Yes, this is Linux. If your hardware is supported, it's outstanding. If not, you will need to figure it out yourself. Vetting purchases for compatibility is the most important part. As a bonus, it also makes you vote with your wallet for the manufacturers that don't do a bunch of proprietary bullshit.
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This is why Mint is what I always recommend to people who are switching over for the first time. Congrats and welcome.
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Linux works great generally. My wife and I have been using for 20 years since we dumped windows.
The deal is that Linux is great for FOSS but limited for commercial apps. One generally needs to deside based on apps they run. Hardware is similar.
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Cinnamon is a dope desktop manager, too, good choices all around.
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Laptops often have issues with Linux because they have a lot of proprietary garbage- web cams being the most infamous.
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Windows is a disaster. Linux Mint was easier to install than Windows 11 and it's not even close.
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Linux Mint is terrific, also recommend it to new Linux users. I just want things easy, clean, and fast. Also, fuck Microsoft.
Debian + KDE
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Congrats! I'm excited to see your upcoming posts on distro hopping.
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I bounced around to all sorts of systems and DEs and came to this same conclusion. Debian + KDE is where it all ended up after try easily over 20 different systems throughout the years.
It’s the most “we trust you, but also respect your time” combo I’ve found.
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Welcome! Be sure if to reach out to the community if you have any issues or questions. We love to help!
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Related to the Discord Canary comment, Vesktop is a third-party Discord client that's properly supported Wayland for quite some time now. I've been using it ever since swapping to Linux full-time to make sure streaming works correctly.
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A friend just had her Windows 11 PC hijacked and used to drain money from her bank account. Not too much of a worry with Linux of any flavor.
It took 5x as long to wipe the disk and reload Windows as it would have to load Linux, plus another hour to change the settings to turn off as much of of Window's advertising and spyware as possible. Microsoft will no doubt change the settings back when Windows update runs or maybe just pile on more ads.
I'd much rather deal with some hardware incompatibilities than Microsoft's bullshit.
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Audio support for streaming was still unavailable when I tried this. Maybe because Mint Cinnamon is still X11?
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The sense of ownership and control the Linux experience offers is something I've never felt with Windows.
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My comment was not meant to steer anyone away from Linux, just pointing out something.
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Congrats! There’s probably a few things not perfect that you haven’t noticed yet-but ya, despite what the trolls say, Linux pretty much just works these days. Oftentimes better than windows.
Sometimes you’ll run into a program that is windows only and that’s a pain. The first thing I do is try to find a linux alternative-sometimes you can sometimes you can’t (stuff designed to interface with your hardware can be a pain sometimes - controllers, rgb lights, fan speeds, motherboard stuff). Bottles works great for running windows programs. And if all else fails a windows vm.
