this post was submitted on 13 May 2024

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1 month of Linux Mint and some thoughts. (kbin.social)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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About a month ago I switched to Linux mint from windows 11.

The first thing I noticed was mint being faster and less bloated than windows 11.

I also liked having actual control over my settings without a corporation being able to undo them at will.

Another thing I noticed was not having to add extensions to text files to run as a program instead having the option in properties.

For certain windows programs and games I was able to use wine which was great because I like to use gamemaker 8.1 which was made before they added linux support.

I tried different wine environments starting with bottles then trying Steam proton and Lutris. With Lutris being the one I ended up using due to it being the only one that I could get to run every program I needed.

The ms paint alternative called drawing took some use to due to it automatically cropping out parts of the image outside of the line when pasting in a screenshot from the clipboard.

Although I do still miss ms paint but that is mostly nostalgia.

Fortunately there is an option to save the screenshot after taking it.

Migrating from windows I appreciate the SUPER key bringing up a menu on the bottom left which brings up some apps and the search bar. Which always searches on the OS unlike windows 11 which sometimes searches the internet instead.

Another detail I noticed is if you type paint or notepad in the search it brings up drawing and the text editor which is nice for people transitioning to Linux.

Being able to move the panel or add new ones was also a breath of fresh air from windows 11 making the task bar more restrictive.

Having the option of deb packages and flatpacks is really useful as well.

I also no longer have to worry about telemetry or microsoft trying to show me ads or pop ups.

TL:DR Mint is a way better experience than windows 11.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 months ago

There's a great ms paint alternative from KDE called Kolour Paint, which you can grab from the software center.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Now list all the bad things.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago (31 children)

Need to launch DaVinci Resolve Studio from the CLI to figure out why it won’t launch from the GUI, and then launch it again with a list of libraries to exclude in order to get it working.

Really weird errors if you try to use a USB stick formatted with FAT after applying a kernel update but before rebooting.

Multiple password prompts when attempting to update Flatpak applications over ssh in its default configuration.

Basic applications included with commercial operating systems often missing (e.g. paint application missing from Pop!_OS).

Good luck figuring out emergency mode if you don’t know what fstab is. And changing kernel parameters on Rocky 9 must be handled via grubby, not by editing configs like in Debian, Arch, or Pop.

Can’t emulate SSD on VM qcow2 files on Debian unless you use the version in backports; can emulate SSD but can’t use anything involving spice in RHEL9+clones unless you add a copr repo because it’s been removed. This makes desktop virtualization annoying.

Can’t participate in Microsoft Teams calls if the input and output audio devices are the same device or the call disconnects/reconnects every few seconds. Microphone and speaker must be separate devices for optimal experience.

Can’t use OBS Virtual Camera in Teams on Firefox.

That’s the stuff I’ve dealt with in the past 3 weeks.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

I’ll add a few more

Lightroom doesn’t work at all, needing either a reboot to launch windows or a VM that struggles with performance. OSS alternatives won’t really handle the size of libraries im working with from limited experience with them.

Multiple displays of different resolutions and refresh rates wouldn’t work properly (though I hear this one is becoming less of an issue with the new DE software)

Nvidia drivers

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I love the fact that at least 3 of these issues are still Microsoft's fault.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

Scaling is inconsistent, so if it's your media PC, you may end up standing in front of the TV to configure things.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Not OP but about the same amount of time:

Mint refused to put sound out through my sound card. It saw my card, knew the exact brand and card and driver version, could see when I plugged and unplugged things from each of the jacks, but would not output any audio. I eventually solved this by just using the DAC on my new speakers and tossing the sound card lol.

Text scaling with an nVidia card is broken and looks god awful. 1440p monitor scrolling the Mint website and the text is gray/yellow jaggy mess. Installing an experimental driver and scaling up a bit fixes it for the most part but is a sub-ideal solution as I don't like scaling.

There's no perfect replacement for the Snip tool. I want to just spr+shift+s, click/drag a box, and done. So far the closest I've gotten is shift+prntscrn, click/drag, enter, which is more annoying by far.

There's no dark theme for mint-Y. I love the look of the XP/7ish theme it's got going on but it's light mode only. Travesty.

Too many password prompts when updating flatpaks. I should have used a way shorter password for this OS.

Plugging in 2 monitors of different screen resolutions can cause some serious issues if I alt/tab. Fixed by unplugging and plugging in one of the monitors but it's fucking annoying.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

There's no perfect replacement for the Snip tool. I want to just spr+shift+s, click/drag a box, and done. So far the closest I've gotten is shift+prntscrn, click/drag, enter, which is more annoying by far.

You can surely rebind that to just PRTSCR? That's the default for me. I much prefer being able to adjust the rectangle after an initial selection, not to mention that it remembers what it last was, so that you can to multiple grabs that are perfectly positioned to evaluate or illustrate some difference.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I could, but then whole-screen Printscreen is gone and I use that about as often

It's nice that these programs have all kinds of extraneous features, I'm sure people out there find use for them. I just want a quick and simple snip tool that doesn't take extra button presses to confirm that no, really, I don't want to use extra features

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

There's no perfect replacement for the Snip tool. I want to just spr+shift+s, click/drag a box, and done. So far the closest I've gotten is shift+prntscrn, click/drag, enter, which is more annoying by far.

It's the same number of keypresses (or in my case, one less), and you have additional functionality that doesn't get in the way. I'm curious how "more annoying by far" to click-drag-enter vs click-drag.

You can readjust the selection, you can record video instead... Etc. Only difference is one keypress.

Fascinating.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It's the same number of keypresses

And

Only difference is one keypress

Are conflicting statements within your own comment.

and you have additional functionality that doesn't get in the way

I couldn't care less about the additional functionality, that's not what I use snip for. And it does get in the way, that's my whole point. Needing to press enter to confirm that I'm "done editing" is an extra keypress that isn't needed and gets in the way.

I'm curious how "more annoying by far" to click-drag-enter vs click-drag.

As I stated I regularly snip at work on a Windows machine and pretty regularly at home which was until recently also windows. I'm very used to tapping a 3-key shortcut as 1keypress, click/dragging, and moving on with my life. That one extra keypress adds a second or two of confusion and annoyance every time I use it, and I can't even easily retrain myself as I still use it on Windows regularly.

You can readjust the selection

I would rather re-snip the 1/500 times this matters to me than press enter the other 499 times. I get others might like it, but why is it not an option for people like me?

you can record video instead

I have software for that already that does even more than the snip replacers, though I can't think of any time I've used a video when 3 screenshots would have worked too.

Basically it boils down to over design without option boxes for those who don't want to do things exactly as the software designers intended.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (3 children)

What's the spr - key?

You mention:

spr + shift + s, click and drag, release

And say its annoying compared to

Shift + PRTSCR, click and drag, release, Enter

Which seem to me like the same number of keypresses. In my case, it's one less. The only main difference is the order of that one enter-key being afterwards. And, by using that key as a confirmation-step, you get a whole bunch of extra functionality that you say you don't use. Which, if you don't use it, will still give you the exact same functionality, and doesn't affect you.

Consider if you ever need to repeat the screen grab 10x times, the difference is:

Your preferred approach: 10 x (3 key press + click drag release). In total 30 keys, 10 mouse selections.
On my system: 1 key + click drag release + 1 key, 9 x 2 keypress. In total 20 keys, 1 mouse selection.

I find it fascinating to care so strongly for something that is objectively a worse approach in every single way, with the only difference being the ordering of one keypress. And to care so strongly about that one keypress, that the optional versatility that gives (toggle video recording, adjust rectangle, reuse rectangle, move rectangle with same dimensions) is all in all considered a worse alternative. To each their own, and UX design is arguably not yours.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago

Sometimes i like to thinker, but when i need a Computer to just work/rely on (to play bills and stuff) i use Linux Mint

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

This is pretty similar to my experience. I don't have time or inclination to muck about with my operating system more than strictly necessary. Mint just works out of the box and does everything it needs to do without getting in the way.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I'll mostly share tips regarding what you said, OK?

Quite a few programs still rely on files in ~/.config/. So if you feel like the options in a program are "missing", give its config file a check. (To see hidden directories: Ctrl+H)

There's another MS Paint alternative called Kolourpaint. I personally prefer it over Drawing; once you install it you'll need to install quite a bit of stuff from the KDE environment, but I think that it's worth.

The super key can be configured to your taste. For example mine brings up composing, so if I type Super+e+1 I get ɛ, Super+a+1 I get ɐ, so goes on. (I open the menu with Alt+F1, by the way.) As implied, as a further tip - if you need certain characters you can create custom keystrokes through a file called .XCompose.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

To expand on this some if you're more of a visual person:

If you open the keyboard application, (just called "keyboard" when you do a search in your applications.) the second tab is "Shortcuts". From there you can see an interface that shows and helps you change all the shortcuts on the system.

You can use the search feature to narrow things down quickly. The multiple "screenshot" shortcuts were nice to find for some common use cases I do.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Check out Pinta for a decent paint replacement

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Also KolourPaint

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Pinta would be great if it didn't crash. I've only noticed it getting worse over time.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Seconded - most notably the ability to tell it to resize when you’re pasting an image larger than the canvas. It strikes me as a mix between Paint and Paint.NET.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

LazPaint is also a decent alternative, very lightweight, though it does take a while to get used to it, several shortcuts are unlike other programs

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

My personal experience with Linux over the past few years has drastically changed from before being limited by how few games work on Linux when many tools do a decent job, to almost all games running thanks to proton and being limited to some windows specific tools not existing/working on Linux (mostly adobe suite). I'm really in awe how much the Linux ecosystem has improved over the last few years. I'm daily driving it with so few roadblocks for day-to-day use that unless there is a specific program required for work, there's no hurdles for the majority of my tasks.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

Welcome aboard! Have a look at krita, Albert, and flameshot for some alternatives to the things you talked about. I like em, maybe you will too :D

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

There's always going to be that game... For me it's home world. The best space game without drama. If they made it for console... No issues. But I hate computers. I didn't know there was a home world 2. I'm now going to have to buy a computer and it's going to have to run home world 3. I'm sure there isn't going to be a linux port of it. Not yet. When there is. It will be amazing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

Homeworld 3 is looking well received on Linux via proton: https://www.protondb.com/app/1840080?device=pc

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

I'm not a gamer, but I've tried all types of distros, and have gradually always come back to LM. Like you said stuff works as expected, and you're usually pleasantly surprised at how easy things are to do, setup, change and config. It's still a breath of fresh air if you have to use Windows for your day job. 😀

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

Mint was my first distro after migrating from Windows and I loved it! It was exactly what I wanted from my computer without any bs. I've discovered that I can change a lot by editing dconf files (or actually using a program for it).

Later I've tried KDE Neon and never looked back.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Congratulations. My experience is pretty close to yours. Besides some software and shortcuts I miss from windows, it just works, and in these little moments I need help, there probably a dozen of threads with suggested solutions.

Be aware of Time Shift though. A part of new users report it taking all free space on the drive and crippling system, if used on ext3-4 file system + saving back ups to the system drive + having things like flatpack or TS's own folders not excluded. It happened to me and a lot of others, as I've encountered this question multiple times on the web, so keep an eye on it. You can actually open any save point as a folder from TS's interface and see if it saves what it shouldn't.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Another detail I noticed is if you type paint or notepad in the search it brings up drawing and the text editor which is nice for people transitioning to Linux.

That feature is actually implemented on a per-application basis. Each application has a .desktop file in /usr/share/applications/ or possibly in ~/.local/share/applications/ which includes a lot of the stuff you see in the Menu, including the application's name, the comment it displays when you hover over it, etc.

Check this out: In the Nemo file manager, go to /usr/share/applications/, then scroll down until you see Text Editor. If you double click this, it will launch Xed, Cinnamon's text editor. But if you right click, Open With...and choose Text Editor, you'll see a text file named xed.desktop with a bunch of stuff like Name{en_GB]=Text Editor so that it displays the name correctly in a bunch of languages. Scroll down near the bottom and you'll see an entry that says "Keywords=text;editor;tabs;highlighting;code;multiple;files;pluggable;notepad;" or something similar. If you type any of those words in the Menu's search bar, it'll come up with Text Editor. You'll need root permissions, but you can even add your own here if you want.

On the same note, if you type "letter" or "document" it will find LibreOffice Writer.

I never did like the idea of trying to make the search bar in the Start menu an omnifunctional thing, because all it does is make it useless. The Menu's search bar should be for finding and launching applications. Searching a couple directories full of .desktop files for names and keywords is very fast and responsive, which is what I want for launching programs. Recursive file searches through the entire file system take longer, as do web searches. Those functions should be separate.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

run text files as a program?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

No .exe, just run scripts that you don't need to make .bat or anything like that. That's what I assume they mean.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Change permissions and it will try to execute. If you have a valid script then you are good to go

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I have been meaning to create a mspaint for Linux. I typically try to copy the layout and features almost exactly so people can enjoy free and open source versions of software they may miss.

I'll get right on to it as soon as I can, but I have been having trouble with drawing programs in Godot.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Another detail I noticed is if you type paint or notepad in the search it brings up drawing and the text editor which is nice for people transitioning to Linux.

These are the sort of details that make me happy. Similar thing with the Spotlight menu on MacOS.

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