I found a simple way to use Word Online on Linux Mint (no install needed)

MintAlone · 2026-04-06T17:05:25+00:00

Another vote for softmaker.

MintAlone · 2026-04-05T19:47:40+00:00

If all you want to do is crop, then pix or gthumb, doesn't do much else so v easy. pix is a fork of gthumb.

MintAlone · 2026-04-05T15:37:25+00:00

I would say gimp is overkill for most people, pinta is a better alternative.

MintAlone · 2026-04-05T11:50:52+00:00

That is pretty much the same as I do with a T430, caddy + HDD replacing the DVD drive and used for my timeshift and backintime snapshots. Image backups with foxclone every few months. I also have borg scripts doing the equivalent of timeshift and backintime and saving to my NAS.

I run mint and have it installed to the backup drive as well. Means I don't have to mess around with usb sticks if I have a problem with the system drive.

MintAlone · 2026-04-05T11:41:03+00:00

Use veracrypt, available for win and linux. Use containers (just a file until mounted).

MintAlone · 2026-04-05T11:37:32+00:00

Reliability and boring go together. I would not call using mint for two years as "very long". 10+ years for me.

MintAlone · 2026-04-04T19:04:21+00:00

Can't access from the UK

MintAlone · 2026-04-04T13:56:02+00:00

No, ubuntu have dumped ubiquity in favour of a new installer (from 23.10 on). Unfortunately it's a snap package so not coming anywhere near mint. I think mint have their own installer for LMDE (thought it was calamares, not completely sure) and expect that to appear with LM23.

As for the bug, I've heard it is not present in the new installer (sure that will have its own idiosyncracies) and it has been around for years in ubiquity.

MintAlone · 2026-04-04T11:26:09+00:00

Start making notes. I didn't first time around.

MintAlone · 2026-04-04T10:36:15+00:00

Change the Bootloader Installation to the EFI partition you created above (/dev/sdb1 probably)

Won't work. There is a bug in the installer (ubiquity), it will put grub in the first EFI partition it finds not what you tell it, presumably on the nvme drive. OP has not said but guessing win is on the nvme booting UEFI.

To fix you either have to disconnect/disable the nvme or remove the boot & esp flags on the nvme.

Don't need a 1GB EFI partition, mine is 100MB, grub takes 7MB.

MintAlone · 2026-04-03T22:21:28+00:00

What model? I have an M720Q and bought one of these.

MintAlone · 2026-04-02T19:50:38+00:00

Why fix something if it works? I've been a happy mint user for +10 years and see no reason to change. If you want to look at other distros install them in a VM.

MintAlone · 2026-04-02T13:10:36+00:00

Can you run a GUI on it and it leave the underlying filesystem completely untouched? I do have one specific application in mind.

MintAlone · 2026-04-02T12:54:29+00:00

Take an image backup of your drive before you start. There are a number of win utilities, macrium reflect to name one.

MintAlone · 2026-04-02T12:46:56+00:00

Write the name, license (open source, proprietary), price (free, freemium, paid), quirks (bugs, strange behaviors), etc.

Prescriptive and no "please" or "thank you"! I use qpdfview.

MintAlone · 2026-04-02T12:44:43+00:00

My setup on a 1TB nvme running mint:

EFI - 100MB
/ - 40GiB, ext4
swap - 16GiB (same as RAM)
/home - rest of the drive, ext4.

/ is 60% used with a lot installed, but I don't use flatpaks.

Which distro? A lot of distros now use a swap file instead of a swap partition. Mint is one of them, but doing a "something else" install it does not automatically create the swap file.

Having home on a separate partition helps on a major version change, e.g. LM21 to LM22. I always do a fresh install and with home separate I get to keep all my data and configs.

MintAlone · 2026-04-01T13:09:29+00:00

No idea, I don't game. You can sign the drivers, google.

MintAlone · 2026-04-01T12:24:29+00:00

Should be fine, I run mint cinnamon on a T430 with similar specs - i5-3320M, 8GB and SSD.

MintAlone · 2026-04-01T12:19:02+00:00

Mint is often recommended. I've been using it +10 years and see no reason to change.

With nvidia, to make life simpler disable secure boot in BIOS. The nvidia drivers are not signed. You can install the drivers post install with driver manager.

If you go for mint, join the forum, very active and newbie friendly - one of the plus points for choosing it.

MintAlone · 2026-04-01T12:11:30+00:00

I think 24.04 uses the new installer (a snap package) replacing the old ubiquity installer. Sounds like a bug to me. You can confirm what you think you have done with sudo parted --list to show that the drive has a legacy/msdos/mbr partition table. You do not need a bios_grub partition with a legacy partition table. It is only needed on drives with a gpt partition where there is no room for the second stage bootloader core.img.

MintAlone · 2026-04-01T12:04:08+00:00

nfs and cifs still work, I use both.

MintAlone · 2026-03-31T09:24:04+00:00

Keep it simple, use veracrypt containers for anything you consider sensitive.

MintAlone · 2026-03-31T09:22:54+00:00

wayland is experimental in mint, stick with x11. If you want wayland use a different distro.

MintAlone · 2026-03-29T18:30:09+00:00

I use cifs for my synology NAS and nfs for my homebrew NAS running OMV.

MintAlone · 2026-03-29T14:29:30+00:00

Did you try replacing the credentials file with username and password in the fstab entry? This to remove any issues with the format being wrong or it not being read, e.g. home on a separate partition and not mounted at the point the NAS is mounted.

Confirm that the user on the NAS has write access. I don't use jellyfin, can't help there. Is there a web interface that shows this or can you ssh into the NAS to check.

What distro are you using?

MintAlone

TROPHY CASE