Linux Mint

State of Linux (for me): April 2025 edition

Linux Mint is getting closer to being a replacement OS for me over Windows 11 and macOS whatever (the yearly updates are kind of meaningless now, it’s just a yearly dribble of new features no different from what MS does with Windows 11, just with a cute name like Sequoia attached).

But it’s still not there quite yet, which I’ll elaborate on below.

First, I’ll say this: Linux Mint (the distro I have been running for some months now as a third OS) is pleasant to use. It stays out of the way, it doesn’t constantly ask me to grant permission to everything (Macs are trending toward becoming the UAC nightmare that was the initial release of Windows Vista, sinking the user experience in favour of “security”). There are frequent updates, but they are handled with a few clicks whenever you decide to apply them. Most don’t require a system restart.

It has built in software bits like applets, extensions and desklets hat are easy to add (or remove) that help customize the experience in small, but nice ways. The look and feel of the entire OS is highly customizable. It loads fast, everything feels snappy.

At this point, the only things holding it back for me are the same as before:

  • Photo editing
  • Gaming
  • Journaling

Photo editing has improved and I’m experimenting with a few new programs there, such as Prima.

Gaming is also getting better, though having an Nvidia card complicates things a bit. Native gaming, when available, works great, and emulated gaming is also pretty good now. It’s not quite there, but it’s close.

Diarium (the unfortunately named journal app I use) I am running in a Windows 10 VM. The VM is a tiny bit laggy, but since I only use the app briefly in the morning and evening, it’s not a big deal. A native solution would be preferable, but seems unlikely, unless I switch to a different piece of software.

Still, I feel Linux Mint is closer than it’s ever been in terms of replacing the other OSes. If and when I get a new PC, I will likely turn this one into a dedicated Linux box and see how it goes on a rig that is 100% penguin-based.

Is this finally the Year of Linux on the Desktop?

To quote Ian Betteridge, no.

But 2025 is the first time I’ll be spending a decent amount of time using Linux and not just tinkering or experimenting with it.

Its primary weaknesses remain the same for me:

  • Gaming is good, but not entirely there yet.
  • Graphics programs are still significantly weaker than on macOS or Windows. Some programs are reasonably powerful, like GIMP, but come hobbled with genuinely awful UIs that don’t work like any other modern program out there.
  • For myself, there are a few things I miss from Windows, mostly in the functionality enabled by PowerToys, like a multi-item clipboard.

But in terms of stability, speed and general use, Linux Mint 22.1, the distro I’m using, is providing a very smooth experience and I generally prefer it to Windows 11 now.

Fake edit: I found CopyQ on Linux, described thusly:

CopyQ monitors system clipboard and saves its content in customized tabs. Saved clipboard can be later copied and pasted directly into any application.

So far, it seems to be working fine.

Here’s to the Year of Linux Frequently on the Desktop.

The Year of Linux on the Desktop (2025!)

Well, probably not.

But I’m typing this in Linux Mint 22, awaiting the eventual 22.1 release and curious to see if the upgrade blows up my Linux install, and what I’ll do if that happens.

Until that possible outcome, I have to admit, there’s a certain kind of (I hate to use the word) vibe to using Mint. It seems a bit retro, echoing the design of Windows 7, but it also just feels…quieter, somehow. I don’t have to disable notifications, because the system isn’t constantly throwing them at me. Updates are presented quietly in the System Tray and let me choose when to install them. It never tries to sell me anything, there’s no extra clutter, cruft or unwanted apps. The file manager is fast and just works, a feat Windows 11’s File Explorer struggles with lately.

It’s just a nice experience. Game support is much improved, too, good enough that I can get by a lot on Linux alone. The real deficiency is a lack of good graphics programs. There are some decent options, especially if your needs are relatively basic, but nothing to compare to, for example, Affinity Photo. Yes, GIMP exists, but every time I try it, I scream at the interface (in my mind) because it is bad, and it should feel very bad. I won’t put up with that level of jank in this year of the future, 2025.

I also haven’t quite figured out how to make Diarium work on Linux, and the requests for a web or Linux version of the app haven’t moved the developer yet in promising something. It is the only major OS that remains unsupported. Alas.

Overall, though, Linux is looking a lot more viable as a real replacement for Windows. I am looking forward to seeing what 2025 brings. In the meantime, here is an image I made for one of my online pals who is not a fan:

Why is Windows suddenly kind of slow?

I don’t know. It seems to have started in the past week and everything feels just sluggish enough to notice and, thus, be irritating.

I am typing this in Linux Mint, using Firefox, which remains snappy and responsive here in neckbeard land.

The slowness is probably some obscure bug in the major patch that came out this fall, or one of the billion processes always running in the background going wonky. You know, the kind of thing that is all but impossible to troubleshoot these days. We may be back to the days when you just reformat and start all over again.

Linux is getting closer to all I need for an operating system. Just a few more things and I can leave Windows behind after using it for the past hundred thousand years.

I just need to figure out how to play Diablo 3 in Mint. I mean, choose a good writing app. Yeah, that’s it.

I like Linux more than Windows*

*In some ways.

Here they are (a not exhaustive list):

  • Better font rendering. This surprised me, but fonts look fuller and sharper.
  • Faster. Everything feels snappier, especially ordinary OS things like opening/moving windows.
  • The file manager does not regularly crash. Or crash at all.
  • So much more customization for the UI.
  • The panel (taskbar) can go anywhere, like in Windows’ olden days.
  • App and OS updates are handled by a single manager, making it simpler and quicker than Windows. Also, I choose when to install them.
  • A better bunch of built-in apps.
  • A better Mastodon app (Tuba) than anything on Windows (though not quite as good as some available on Mac).
  • Desklets, applets and extensions add a ton of optional convenience features.

There are aspects that aren’t as polished as Windows, I haven’t replaced all equivalent apps yet, and gaming is still not quite there, but at this point, the downsides of running Linux (I am still using Mint) are considerably less than when I first started tinkering with it. This pleases me.

A Linux thought and a Linux complication

UPDATE, August 26, 2024: The solution to the drive issue was to run a scan on the C: drive, which fixed errors and allowed Linux Mint (and presumably Ubuntu) to once again access the drives.

The complication: In both Linux Mint and Ubuntu, my two main Windows drives (both NTFS) are producing errors and can’t be mounted (accessed). Digging around, there are a number of possible reasons. The easiest to test was that Windows was hibernating and preventing the Linux systems from accessing them (I am simplifying here because I’m the guy buying Linux for Dummies in 1999). I shut down (rather than restart) the PC and rebooted into Mint.

This brought back the secondary Windows SSD, but the primary (C:) drive still produced the same error. My research revealed a few other things to try, which I will do the next time I boot into Windows (I’m typing in Ubuntu at the moment).

But this weird inconvenience (it hadn’t happened until just the other day and I have no idea what triggered it) made me realize the best way to run Linux is (in order from best to least, uh best):

  1. On a completely separate machine
  2. In a virtual machine (VM) — if you’re just noodling around
  3. On separate drives
  4. On a partitioned drive

I am using option #3, which, until this glitch, has worked reasonably well. I’ll still tinker with things as they are, but I am now convinced the best way is to just run Linux on a completely separate PC, which I currently don’t have. I have parts, and could cobble together something, but it would not be great. The better solution would be to convert the current PC 100% to Linux after getting a new PC for Windows 12 Ad Edition or whatever. There is no timeline for such a thing, however (my PC dates back to 2019 and still runs everything I need without issue).

But for now, I continue to tinker and hammer down the lumps that keep popping up in the Linux carpet.

Linux Mint, Part 7: Do not touch the Mint

I’m not sure if this is really Part 7, but it feels close enough.

The other night I thought1, “Wouldn’t it be fun to replace the Cinnamon desktop of Linux Mint with the GNOME desktop used by Ubuntu?” It worked, but was a little glitchy. I decided to uninstall it. Instead, I made Mint unbootable.

After some valiant attempts at repair, I ended up fixing the issue by completely re-installing Mint. I am very good at this now. And it actually went pretty fast. I did have a backup made, but it did not work, for reasons. Probably because I made it unbootable, too.

Anyway, lesson learned! If I want to play around with GNOME, I will do so in Ubuntu, which is still installed in another partition and which I have yet to make unbootable.

Here is a picture of a mint. Or a box of mints, which is close enough.

Photo by Erik Mclean
  1. Yes, this is a weird thing to think. ↩︎

Linux shenanigans: Run all the distros (and desktop environments)

Today, after a few hiccups, I installed Ubuntu, splitting the drive that has Linux Mint installed roughly equally between the two. The GRUB1GRand Unified Bootloader bootloader was automatically recognized by Ubuntu, and it simply added the Ubuntu-related options to it. And, of course, made Ubuntu the default option.

As I’d just re-installed Mint, I didn’t spend too much time puttering around, but I puttered a bit. My initial impression is that I think I prefer the GNOME desktop to Cinnamon, but prefer the overall greater customization of Mint. Also, I think I will limit myself to four operating systems for now, because this is all quite silly (they are Windows 11, macOS 14 Sonoma, Linux Mint and Ubuntu).

Cinnamon is fine as a desktop environment. In fact, if you’re coming from Windows, it will feel extremely comfortable, but that familiarity made me realize that a Start menu with a bunch of pop-out menus of apps is maybe not the best way to present options (Cinnamon emulates the Windows XP/7 era of the Start menu, which is probably not as good as you might remember).

Anyway, I am now thinking of installing GNOME on Mint, which will likely be a bad idea, but I love a challenge, or something.

And I’m in a puttering mindset these days. I think it’s helping me to unwind. Or unravel. We’ll find out.

Also, unrelated, I love cinnamon toast and now I want some.

Linux misadventures, Part Whatever: Back to Mint (temporarily?)

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.

Uh oh, Linux (Part 5 or something)

I got in a silly mood again and decided to mess around again with Linux. That can only lead to trouble!

This time I decided to swap out of Linux Mint and try Pop_OS, a distro made by System76, a company that sells PC hardware with the OS pre-installed, so you know they’re committed!

I made a boo boo when removing Mint. The proper order is:

  • Remove the GRUB bootloader that gives you a menu to choose Mint or Windows when restarting the PC
  • Remove or format the Linux partition (in this case, a separate SSD)

I did this in the reverse order, which meant I had to do a bunch of other stuff to fix things. Thank you, internet, for still being at least useful enough to provide the steps to take!

Once I had Linux Mint gone, I booted from the Pop_OS USB stick and the installation went fine-ish. I would keep getting “Pop_OS has stopped working” pop-ups during the process and would have to wait before I could click them away. They would often come back multiple times, but in the end it was annoying and didn’t kill the process or anything.

I’m typing on Pop_OS now!

Why did I switch? A few reasons, but mostly to try something different as a point of comparison, and also because Pop_OS is different. Mint follows a lot of Windows conventions, for better or for worse, where Pop_OS does things a little differently with its UI. It’s maybe a bit more Mac-like, but not really Mac-like. It’s more its own thing, and I like that they are trying something a little different.

Now, the scary part: I haven’t rebooted to see what happens. In theory, I should get a menu and be able to choose Windows or Pop_OS. If that doesn’t happen, I may need to do the old bootrec.exe /fixmbr again, or other trickery to get Windows to load, because as nice as Pop_OS might be (I perhaps have a few more reservations than initially), it ain’t gonna replace Windows. Not yet, anyway.

In my next Linux update, I’ll talk a bit about new apps I’m testing to replace some of the Windows and Mac apps I regularly use. Fun! Sort of!

Once more into the Linux

Microsoft caught a lot of flack over its upcoming Recall “feature”, and the inevitable “Switch to Linux!” chorus started up again. Even though Microsoft is changing Recall in response to the immense backlash, a lot of people have decided they simply can’t trust Microsoft anymore.

I am somewhat on the fence, but it’s prompted me to update my Linux Mint install and maybe even get really nutty and try other distros. For the moment, I’m going to spend some more time in Mint and see how successfully I can work out some of the remaining kinks that have thwarted my previous efforts to embrace the penguin.

As they say, stay tuned.

OS wars and the joy of never debating on the internet

At least in OS wars, the only casualties are your time and probably some of your brain cells.

Ruben Schade made a post on Mastodon that blew up in a predictable way, with a lot of “Well, actually…” replies. He documents what he posted with an update that collectively addresses some of the responses here. He has a longer post expanding on it here.

I generally love discussions of operating systems, because they are such an important part of our lives, yet also something we don’t usually think much about–until they do something that annoys us (or don’t do something, which also annoys us).

This made me think again how I am running three OSes across two machines:

  • Windows 11 on my PC
  • Linux Mint 21.3, also on my PC
  • macOS 14 (Sonoma) on my Mac Studio

I spend most of my time in Windows, a smaller chunk in macOS, and a sliver in Linux Mint. I do this not because of a company mandate or other official requirement, but because of the choices I’ve made in the software I use for the things I do.

There are things I dislike a lot in each OS, and also things I quite like. In the end, it comes down to the software, because that’s all it really is.

They all look fine. They all run relatively well. A lot of software is available on all three platforms, but the gaps are biggest on Linux, and I spend the least amount of time there. I still don’t have a replacement for Ulysses, where I write my fiction, and I prefer editing photos in Pixelmator Photo. Both of those are Mac-only apps.

I may have a replacement for Ulysses sometime this year, and I am continually exploring other options to replace Pixelmator Pro. With the latter, the UI is a big part of why I stick with it. Good UI is important to me, because it reduces friction in using software, it lets it just blend into the background.

While my quest for the perfect OS continues, I am glad that I made a rule to never debate on the internet some years back. I don’t blame Ruben for starting the thread he did–in fact, I think it was almost charmingly naive. But the responses are so utterly predictable. There is always someone waiting to tell you that you’re doing it wrong, then argue with you about it to the point of exhaustion.

People are weird.