heygooberman

heygooberman, 1 year ago

A wise decision! Welcome, and I hope you continue to have fun with Linux! Linux Mint is a great starting distro. If you ever get around to installing VirtualBox, I recommend you also try Pop OS. I personally prefer that distro on laptops.

heygooberman, 1 year ago (edited 11 months ago)

I used Linux Mint for about 1.5 years before transitioning to Arch Linux. For me, the transition was to learn more about Linux and to try something new. Thus far, I’m really liking Arch. There have been a few issues that have popped up here and there, like getting Bluetooth devices to connect properly, but the Arch Wiki and forums often have the solution. You just have to spend time reading the articles or the forum responses.

As for other distros, I’ve tried Zorin, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Pop OS, and KDE Neon before settling on Linux Mint.

heygooberman, 1 year ago

It’s not my primary driver, but I would gladly choose KDE over Windows.

heygooberman, 1 year ago

Linux Mint with a secondary partition running EndeavourOS

heygooberman, 1 year ago

If you want something that looks and behaves much like the Windows desktop environment, use Linux Mint. If you want something closer to the macOS environment, use Pop OS.

heygooberman, 1 year ago (edited 1 year ago)

I made the switch to Linux about 1.5 years ago. Never looked back. I started with Linux Mint and have been happy with it ever since. Now, I’m learning about Arch Linux and trying to make that my primary driver.

FYI, you don’t have to get a Steam Deck to try out gaming. I’m sure your current distro would support that quite well. But, if you’re looking for something that is portable, then I definitely recommend the Steam Deck. Now is a good time to get one, since they released a refresh with an OLED screen. Also, the Steam Deck runs on Arch Linux, so if you’re ever interested in checking that out, then definitely get a Steam Deck.

heygooberman, 1 year ago (edited 1 year ago)

Have you considered Pop OS from System76? Pop OS has a GNOME-like DE where the dock is fully displayed. It’s very much like the macOS DE. The current stable release uses a GNOME-like DE, and the developers at System76 are working to make it into their own DE called Cosmic.

heygooberman, 1 year ago

I personally recommend LibreWolf over Firefox. It is a fork of Firefox, but it includes some additional settings for better privacy.

Flameshot is a pretty useful screenshot tool that functions similar to the Snip tool on Windows.

If you’re going to be installing apps via Flatpak, I recently learned of an app called Warehouse that allows you to view all the Flatpak apps you installed, the user data associated with each app, and their file location.

If you want another option for LibreOffice, you can try OnlyOffice, but I personally prefer LibreOffice.

If you’re looking for a text editor that’s like Notepad++, I recommend checking out NotepadQQ.

Finally, if you want a notebook app similar to Microsoft OneNote, I’d like to recommend Joplin.

heygooberman, 1 year ago

Oh yes, Flatseal is also a good tool to have! Thanks for adding that!

heygooberman, 1 year ago

I used to be in a similar position as you. I ditched Windows about 1.5 years ago, and I hopped around several distros for a while before settling on Linux Mint. About 2 months ago, i decided that I wanted to try out something new, not because Linux Mint wasn’t working for me, but just to see if there was something else that would be fun to learn about Linux. Today, I use Arch, and my DE is basically the Linux Mint Cinnamon DE.

heygooberman, 1 year ago

The Bottom Right

heygooberman, 1 year ago

I’m on Linux Mint, and I installed the default fonts used on Pop OS, which are Fira and Roboto Slab

heygooberman, 1 year ago (edited 1 year ago)

Hmmm…given the beginner friendly nature of distros like Linux Mint and Pop OS, I doubt you will find much tutorials centered around those distros (though you will definitely find a lot of commentators and reviewers talking about these distros and how “great” they are). However, if you want to learn about Linux as a whole, then there are definitely some great resources you can use to help you with that.

What is your preferred learning method? Do you like learning through reading, or do you prefer an online video tutorial where someone is simultaneously talking and demonstrating?

heygooberman, 1 year ago (edited 1 year ago)

Definitely yes! Pop OS is one of the best distros for starters, along with Linux Mint. Basic tasks like web browsing, playing games, and writing docs all work well on Pop OS. If you have familiarity with macOS, you’ll notice that Pop OS is very similar when it comes to layout and certain multi-touch gestures.

heygooberman, 1 year ago

Well, if YouTube videos haven’t been much help to you, then perhaps these books will give you what you want:

itsfoss.com/best-linux-books/

heygooberman, 1 year ago

Linux Mint

heygooberman, 1 year ago

Welcome, friend! Glad you decided to try out and stick with Mint. That’s the distro I used as my daily driver for at least 1.5 years. When you have a chance, do try out some of the other Linux distros, especially Arch!

heygooberman, 1 year ago

I’m already following The Linux Experiment. It’s great that there are other channels to consider!

heygooberman, 1 year ago

I think Pop OS might work on that model, and if it does, I would highly recommend it, as the DE is very similar to macOS. If I recall correctly, that distro also has multitouch trackpad functions that behave similar to those on the MacBook.

heygooberman, 1 year ago

I personally do not think it is conflicting, especially when you consider how hard or impractical it is to completely avoid the non-free/proprietary software. Services like Gmail, YouTube, and Facebook, to name a few, have been around for a long time, and they have become so entrenched in our daily lives and social circles that avoiding them completely and all at once may be too disruptive. I’ve been using Facebook since I was in high school, and that’s also the platform I use to communicate with my closest friends. To suddenly jump away from that and expect my closest friends to follow me to the next major platform (e.g. Mastodon) is going to take a lot of effort and convincing, especially if my friends have people they connect with on Facebook and are not likely to move to another platform.

The same can be said for YouTube, even with their ridiculous anti-adblocker stance. People have become so invested in it that completely breaking away from YouTube would be almost impossible. Thankfully, that’s where services like Piped and PeerTube come into play.

I think what really matters is that people at least make the effort to utilize FOSS whenever and wherever possible. Whether that be a Linux distribution over Windows and Mac, or a FOSS alternative to one of Google’s or Microsoft’s products, or a federated platform like Lemmy and Mastodon, there are so many ways we can demonstrate our love and support for FOSS, and utilizing a non-free/proprietary service does not make us any less committed to FOSS.

Anyways, that’s just my two cents.

heygooberman, 1 year ago

Some positive news for a lot of Linux Mint users who have been complaining about the lack of Wayland support. However, as the blog post listed, it’s only going to be experimental in the next major update of Version 21. Still, it’ll be good to experience the change.

Also, very clever on the naming schemes used by the Debian and Mint teams for their stable and unstable releases.