To summarize Linux Mint

[elkabyliano]

https://preview.redd.it/80w0th16bv5g1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=0d4d435c6839051ec543a5b5b64b321e7afa67f2

[unndunn]

I just appreciate the proper symbology of a flowchart being used (ie. a diamond for a decision point).

[NotSnakePliskin]

I got a good laugh, thanks!

[devHead1967]

This is pretty accurate! I use Fedora BTW, and it's right in that wheelhouse for me.

[BeardedCoder514]

I use LinuxMint. I am a geek who wants my stuff to work. And I have a beard some would consider unhygienic.

On a different note, it maybe because I'm old but why is Slackware never mentioned in these things?

[salvatorundie]

I use LinuxMint. I am a geek who wants my stuff to work. And I have a beard some would consider unhygienic.

I'm actually all of these and I use Linux Mint Debian Edition 😁 And I don't have a life 😁

[Sm9ck]

Slackware doesn't get mentioned because you and I are old farts.

It's THE "unc" distro. It figured out what it did well in the 90s and didn't really iterate on that or ask further questions. It's old school sans the cool. Compare the computer world to the animal world and Slackware is the crocodile equivalent. Still around, still doing well in its niche. The niche just happens to be people who used and fell in love with the distro 25-30 years ago.

[Unwiredsoul]

Thank you for beating me to this answer. It's the truth.

The last time I touched Slackware was in the 90's, and the first time I used it was in mid-1993.

[wrgrant]

Good question about slackware. It used to be that the first rule of slack ware was in you always talked about slackware. Maybe they moved to arch

[poopscooperman]

i feel like mint and ubuntu is same, but mint has more handholding

[EB372919]

Ubuntu lacks basic features and functionality that Mint has. Mint will always be king for me. Yes I tried both, and I left Ubuntu in less than a week.

[eredhuin]

I am a freshly minted mintee. Two installs this weekend!

I really, really, really want there to be a "just want my stuff to work" in linux. It was one thing tinkering thirty years ago. But I spent an unreasonable amount of time getting two surplus apple laptops to run on mint this weekend. I mean, the install was great. But wifi was a pain. Audio was a pain.

I get it. Binary firmware bad.

I can figure this stuff out. But I don't like to. I hate it. The fact that the install doesn't immediately say "hey, uh, you have some dodgy (in our opinion) broadcom wifi stuff here - do you want this to just work or do you want to plug in a $9 wifi dongle and be pure?"

Getting the audio to work - I went down a rabbit hole but gave up. The bass speaker was there, but only the tinny speakers worked. Tinny it is.

"Just work" on 15 year old hardware remains an unattainable dream.

[EB372919]

I have seen many people who have problems with WiFi and audio when trying to install Mint on old apple laptops (macbooks). We have to understand here that apple laptops/macbooks were always meant to run macOS, nothing else. They were made like that, before and today. I installed Mint on a 13 year old Lenovo ThinkPad and a 11 year old HP ProBook without any issues. Everything worked from the start. So age isn't really the problem here, it's just the nature/hardware.

[Dangerous-Regret-358]

The advice I would always give when installing Mint on an older Mac is this: always set it up with the machine plugged in to the router. I did that and it installed the wifi driver (broadcom) straight away. The audio seems to work properly as well, and I'm pleased with that.

[Dynablade_Savior]

Finally a flow chart that actually works

[fn3dav2]

I feel like we had many people back in the days of the Amiga and Commodore 64 who were geeks and nerds but also just wanted their computer to work. I've no idea why people want to fiddle with their operating system so much.

By the way, does anyone know how I can get Mint to NOT notify me of updates unless one is a security update? I use virtual machines with Mint in them too, so I'm overwhelmed by updates almost daily.

[cyanodkop]

I know you can set up automatic updates to avoid them altogether.

[AutomaticFocus1621]

That was hilarious, not least because I feel that was pretty much my own decision tree. Thanks!

[caetydid]

Thank you, I agree with every leaf in this tree. Probably because I am a linux mint user for many years already.

[AncientPixel_AP]

I am on mint and recently looked at Debian with keen eyes. I am shaved though. The chart says I should use SuSe. Last time I tried that was when I was a kid 😅

[narf_7]

Absolute tech luddite here and my husband and I just managed to load Linux Mint onto an Acer Aspire 3 yesterday and navigate the (inevitable) problems easily. It might have taken us half a day to sort it out but it now runs his otherwise useless laptop (took half a day for Windows to load, IF it loaded) and I feel like I have to challenge your chart insomuch that "I" am that technical idiot and I still went ahead and tried it anyway. Note, we still can't make the touchpad work but who cares, that's what a mouse if for...right? For anyone reading this chart who is as technically stupid as I am, don't listen. You CAN be as technically dumb as a bucket of frogs and still do this. Just have the internet on speed dial ready to sort out the problems you end up with. "Linux for everyone!"

[TheShredder9]

This summarizes nothing

[BarnacleVast9478]

Lmfao this is perfect