After installing the new internal SSD, I decided to nuke my install of Pop!_OS before really giving it much chance, despite the fact that it actually ran PowerWash Simulator in Steam without any issues, something I could never get to work in Mint.
Instead, I re-installed Mint and so far it’s been working fine. I feel like Mint offers more customization, or at least makes it more obvious and visible than Pop!_OS and I likes me some customization. There were a few things I’d apparently forgotten from last time, though. A few observations on Linux Mint 22:
- Signal has to be installed by running three separate terminal commands. I’m surprised there is no flatpack or AppImage for it. Maybe a security thing? UPDATE: I misremembered from my earlier Mint installation. There was an unofficial flatpack, but in Mint 22 only authorized flatpacks will show in the software manager by default.
- I still don’t like the look of the app icons. It gives me Windows 8 vibes. These are not good vibes.
- I really like desklets. I always put one up that shows the time.
- I suspect gaming will still be iffy, as the Nvidia drivers feel a bit weird. I also had an issue with a phantom third display and I’ve already forgotten how it went away. I think I just chose an older Nvidia driver.
- The biggest knock–which is a positive for some–is probably how closely Mint hews to Windows. You have the Start menu, the taskbar, the system tray, all of them renamed slightly, but working fundamentally the same way.
- I installed the Grub Customizer, which allows you to set Windows (for example) as the primary boot option in the menu when you restart the PC (after 10 seconds it defaults to the default and starts loading). Unfortunately, this isn’t made specifically for Linux Mint, so it shows a bunch of Ubuntu options and I didn’t like it, so I got rid of it. At least it still has a boot launcher, unlike Pop!_OS.
- The biggest issues remains apps:
- No TickTick, though the web version works
- No Diarium (I have toyed with both Joplin and RedNotebook to see if they can substitute)
- Graphics software is interesting, possibly doable?
I’ll keep puttering around. In fact, I’m typing this in Mint! I may experiment by putting together my next birding gallery in Mint. We’ll see.
I might also go back to Pop!_OS because I didn’t give it much of a chance and the Cosmic GUI is coming.
Come back soon for more Linux tragedy and farce!
Now to reboot the system and see what happens, ho ho.
