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!
You must log in or register to comment.
Forewarning, wine appears to be a bit broken on Mint at the moment. I was recently experimenting with it in a VM, and I could not seem to get it installed properly - even after adding the winehq repo. Debian, by contrast, just works. I still use winamp for my music library, and play a few games that are windows based.
Fortunately I have no need for wine.
Next stop will be your privacy journey which would completely break your chains towards Discord which gave you trouble.
A better way to word this is “Next will be your privacy journey which will send you down an inifinte rabbit hole that you consumes you”.
Lol no but seriously, it’s a fun rabbit hole, but can get out of control if you’re not careful.
If you go to deep you’ll get paranoid lol. Atleast that is my experience.
But also be proven right several times a year when data leaks & corporations are shown again to be evil.
Oh for sure. Fuck these big companies. Unfortunately some offer services that just can’t be beat yet by open source/privacy companies.
This is sometimes true, but I would rather have a slightly worse UI and/or have to use 2 applications for more specific tasks than trading off data just to have everything under one bloated umbrella.
Been there lol. I think it’s a common thing for privacy newcomers. Not focusing on threat level and instead trying to optimize every bit. It got me too.
Once Revolt gets screen sharing.
Welcome! We are happy to have you. Remember, RTFM. ;)
Hell yeah!
Same thing with Ubuntu.
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.
Congrats! I’m excited to see your upcoming posts on distro hopping.
Some truths cut too deep
I put mint on a separate drive over the weekend. My two outstanding issues are my already-niche pieces of hardware. My KVM doesn’t pass USB devices to my other device for some reason. I’m reasonably confident I can figure that one out. My other issue is my HID NFC reader for my Yubikey. No official driver for Linux so I expect that one to be more tricky, though I’d appreciate if anyone can point me in the right direction.
The sense of ownership and control the Linux experience offers is something I’ve never felt with Windows.
Welcome to a world outside of enshittification!
The secret of Linux is, if all your hardware works, it’s actually easier to use for casual users. Most people nowadays use computers for web browsing and maybe playing media and light office tasks. A Linux Mint setup will have everything you need for that either preinstalled or ready to get fun the software store. If you don’t need anything else, then it gets it of your way and just works. No viruses, little danger of malware, no crud to uninstall, no Microsoft account, no nagging apps, no ads, no attempts to upsell to paid cloud services or Pro, and no AI.
The problem arises when you want to go beyond that, and there’s no obvious path ahead,v then people not used to the Linux way of doing things may run into trouble. But 90% of users, if someone sets it up for them, will do fine.
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.
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.
Laptops often have issues with Linux because they have a lot of proprietary garbage- web cams being the most infamous.
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?
Windows is a disaster. Linux Mint was easier to install than Windows 11 and it’s not even close.
Windows 11 no longer “just working” is what made me finally take Linux seriously as an option and I am so glad I did.
I genuinely think it is ready for prime time. As I said elsewhere the concept of immutable distros is a game changer for those of us who like to customize but hate the command line
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 they’ll just pile on more ads.
I’d much rather deal with some hardware incompatibilities than Microsoft’s bullshit.
My comment was not meant to steer anyone away from Linux, just pointing out something.
Immutable distros help tremendously with the “It just works (and doesn’t stop just worksing)” aspect. Fedora Kinote is what finally allowed me to transition from Windows. Literally zero issues for over eight months now and I am not a super techie person. I hate the command line and need GUIs.
Honestly I think an immutable KDE distro is going to be the windows killer for pretty much anyone looking to switch. It’s literally better than Windows in every way.
Try Aurora which is Kinoite with some nice extras added
That was the “just works Windows killer” for me.
You can rebase directly to it to just try it out, and simply rebase back to standard Kinoite if you don’t like it.
Ohh nice thanks!
Foreign words to me. Happy for you nonetheless
This is why Mint is what I always recommend to people who are switching over for the first time. Congrats and welcome.
While I love Elgato hardware from a design/price standpoint, it’s a shame it doesn’t all work on Linux. I had my Wave XLR for a year or so, but replaced it with a Scarlett Solo so I could use it on Linux.
