Okay, initial thoughts after some days of running Linux Mint Cinnamon on my laptop.
Recently I installed Linux Mint on my laptop as a stepping stone for getting away from the clutches of MicroSoft when at all possible. I have tried using Linux before (Ubuntu, PearOS and a couple of other distros) but always returned to Windows again because of the need to sometimes play vidya games. This time around I have both a desktop (named Big Boi) and my MazzyBook laptop so it’s a better time to go deeper into the whole thing.
So far it has been a positive experience in most ways. Linux still has some issues regarding user frenliness, especially for the less tech savvy (like me) since not everything is as easy and straightforward to do as on Windows. Often you have to make use of the terminal to download and install certain programs (like my VPN) and that includes not just installing the program itself but also additional software to install a GUI (graphical user interface) and for ProtonVPN even a smol piece of software to show the program’s icon on the taskbar at the bottom right. That was default on Windows, it isn’t necessarily default on Linux. That has its upsides and downsides. It means that if you’re in the know you can run the program directly from the terminal and it’ll work every bit as well as always, but you can choose not to have a GUI if you don’t feel it’s needed. I feel it’s needed because I’m kinda ‘tarded and set in my ways.
Installing things from terminal involves a series of commands but feels more like esoteric spell casting for me since I don’t understand exactly what these incantations do so it’s very much a matter of looking things up and being told “type this, press enter and the magic box will do the rest.”
Overall, that has worked well with few issues but it is a new way of doing things. Or rather an old way of doing things since that was how everything was once done on computers, I’ve just been accustomed to the GUI part of things and “just double-click to install” way of life.
I had some issues installing Telegram Desktop on Linux, though. It installed alright but wouldn’t update which meant that I couldn’t see custom reactions and that sucked because let’s be honest, adorable animations of frogs are like 90% of the experience and I exhausted every option I could think of until in the end Mr Vivor came to my rescue, found the proper package I needed and it was fixed and life was great once more! Thank you, Mr Vivor!
Because Linux Mint is aiming to be more beginner frenly than a lot of distros (distributions, i.e. Linux-based operating systems) it comes with a host of different software preinstalled like LibreOffice for your important office work, Transmission for your more important piracy needs, Firefox as the default browser (yay!) and everything else you need to get started right away so that makes it easier. For my needs there’s not much else I require since my laptop is used for browsing the internet, writing too long texts that could’ve been an email, posting cute frogs and politically dissident thoughts on web-based platforms.
One really good thing about Linux is that it’s just a lot faster overall than Windows. File transfers are faster, menus appear instantly, folders open immediately and so on, it’s just a pleasure to use.
It’s not as shiny as Windows but that can be fixed by someone with the proper skills so not me but I can live without the flash, I opt for efficiency.
Conclusion: So far it has overall been a good experience and I’m seriously considering getting a new SSD for the laptop and drop the whole dual-boot thing altogether. Linux is fun.
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