Linux Mint??

I have always been a MS user; however am now fed up with their cr_ap that costs people money just so they can make more of it.  As such, I have been considering switching to Linux but no nothing about it or what it is compatible with etc - eg: can you run microsuck games on it such as Flight Sims for example?

 

I have also seen a variety ofdifferent "types (?)" of Linux including something called "Mint" whichquite a few people claim is the best one and easiest one to use.  In short, I need good honest advice regarding ther following:

 

1.   How good, reliable, stable is Linux?

2.   Is there MS equivilent software available for it?

3.   Is it as intrusive and invasive as microsucks?

4.   Which version should I get?

5.   How hard (or easy) is it to get used to?

6.   Any other info or advice applicable

How do you use your computer?

How do you use your computer?

Primarily for entertainment (80%) - games such as MS Flight Siming, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Farm Sim - communication via emails as well as for purchases that can't be bought by walking into a brick and mortar shop locally.

 

Pretty basic stuff really together with some photographical and design work.

Flight Sims for Linux - Google Search

 

What programs you use on Windows that you can't do without?

Your games maybe Problematic I'd get another hard drive to install Linux to keeping your current install intact allowing you to try it.

Flight Sims for Linux - Google Search

 

What programs you use on Windows that you can't do without?

Put it this way - probably the only one/s I use on windows that I have spent a great deal of money on (software and hardware) is Flight Sim.  I will probably sort out my Windows 7 computer and keep that solely for FS 2004 and FSX.

 

All the rest are irrelevant really. 

Your games maybe Problematic I'd get another hard drive to install Linux to keeping your current install intact allowing you to try it.

At the moment I run two SSD drives, a small one for the OS and that stuff and a larger one for my non OS programs.  I'll be honest here - if I could install windows 7 on a second SSD or together with bluddy windows 11 I'd be cpontent with doing that rather than having to learn a new OS.

Sorry but just to confuse things a bit more - I already have a Windows 7 computer.  In other words, a hard drive (SSD I think) with Windows 7 Proffessional and all of my software installed on it ............ is there any reason I can't just install that hard drive (complete) into my newer windows 11 computer and, perhaps, ride myself of windows 11 altogether?  Or even run 7 in conjunction with 11 but on it's own drive?

 

Any of that make sense?

I have been using Linux Mint since March. I am no computer expert but my own experience with Mint has been very good. One really good thing about Mint is you can download it and burn it as a bootable ISO on a flash drive, then run it independently on your Windows computer, to try it out and see if you like it. The trial does not give the complete effect of having Mint installed on your computer but it is a good way to get an idea of how Mint works. There are a lot of good tutorials online and on Youtube that tell exactly how to create and use the flash drive and it is pretty easy to do.

 

I started with Mint 21.1 but it was recently updated to 21.2, which has some improvements in how it works. For me, Mint has been very reliable. I have not had any trouble with it at all. It is a very solid OS that just works great and stays out of the way. Mint is more like Windows than most other Linux versions. I tried Pop! OS, Kubuntu and Zorin but Mint was by far the most user friendly and easy to learn. To answer your question, Mint is not invasive or intrusive. That is one of the best things about it, Mint is not trying to sell you anything, they are not trying to make any money off of you, they don't collect or sell your data/preferences and best of all Linux Mint is 100% free to use. 

 

If you have an older computer running Windows 7, Mint is a great choice, it does not need a lot of processing power, memory or hard drive space to run. When I first got started with Mint I ran it on a 10 year old Toshiba Satellite laptop with only 4 GB of ram and a dead battery and it ran perfectly, I just had to keep the charger plugged in because the laptop would not run on battery at all. 

 

You can run some Windows apps and games in Mint with a program called Wine. I have not tried that, have not needed to venture out of the Linux software repositories. Chances are that there is a vetted Linux equivalent for pretty much any Windows app or program but my use has been pretty basic, just web surfing and email and using the LibreOffice suite for spreadsheets and documents. I also use the Strawberry music player in Mint, which looks a lot like Itunes did back in the day but it is easy to  use and sounds pretty good too. I have not had the need to use Wine and have read on some Linux forums it is not such a good idea because Wine itself can cause problems with Mint. I also read some people use Wine and another Windows Linux tool called Bottles with no problems but I have no experience with that.

 

One thing I noticed with Mint in the beginning was when I dual booted it along with Windows 11 on a newer laptop. It worked ok until a Windows update came along and removed the Linux grub menu and I could not access my Mint partition. I had to start over with Mint after that and later found out a lot of people recommend against dual booting. Dual boot was not the best way for me either. I think one OS on one dedicated drive is the best way to go.

 

I have been very satisfied with Mint. It did take me some time to learn and get used to how it operates but Mint works much more like Windows than any other Linux distro. I am no expert but Mint was not hard to learn. There is a lot of good help out there online too if you have a problem. I still have my Windows 11 laptop but am very likely going to erase Windows from it and just run Mint on it full time. I don't want to say anything bad about MS but I will say I am tired of all the things MS has been up to lately.

 

Jimmy 

Thanks mate - you have certainly given me something to think about - cheers!

I've been using Linux since 2001. I know quite a bit.

Would suggest this site as very useful for downloading everything you may want : https://alternativeto.net/platform/linux/

@ Wombat457 :-

 

Hallo.....and to the Linux & Unix sub-forum here at BC.

 

I'll second the recommendation for Mint. While it's not one I use myself - I'm something of a rebel, and have been using a featherweight distro called "Puppy" Linux for the best part of a decade - many Windows 'refugees' find Mint easy to get on with, because it's not THAT different to Windows in terms of looks and operation. It's also very popular, and has massive community support.

 

Re : Flight Simulators. While I can't help with regard to your existing  installations, I would suggest taking a look at this:-

 

Flightgear Flight Simulator

 

I've played around with it a bit myself, and I'm quite impressed with what I've seen. I've not got serious with it; my forte is packaging/re-packaging for the Puppy community, but it's very easy to get up-and-running, so should be fine in the bigger, more mainstream distros (of which Mint is one).

 

Just a suggestion. As an "alternative", it IS very good.

 

Your biggest hurdle will be realising that you can't just simply 'install'/run Windows programs under Linux without a fair bit of effort.......but the Linux community has very impressive, and highly usable equivalents to anything you can do in Windows. You'll find a lot of strange names, but don't let that put you off; every Linux distro has big repositories of 1000s of curated, maintained & security-checked apps/programs built just FOR that distro. There's no need to go searching around the web to find software; this is one of Linux's biggest strengths, and the sheer amount of stuff available for free is quite staggering to those not "in the know".

 

Don't hesitate to ask questions.....even those that may appear "stupid". The only "stupid" question, at the end of the day, is the one you DON'T ask!

 

 

Mike.

Edited by Mike_Walsh, 25 October 2023 - 05:04 AM.

Old article but a good read.

https://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

 

Here's a good start.

 

Linux Lite

 

https://www.linuxliteos.com/index.html

 

https://www.linuxliteos.com/manual/

 

https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/

 

https://www.linuxliteos.com/download.php

 

 

 

Linux Mint

 

https://linuxmint.com/

 

https://linuxmint.com/documentation.php

 

https://linuxmint.com/download_all.php

 

https://forums.linuxmint.com/

1) Mint particularly is very stable and reliable, set it up right for yourself and then there's almost nothing you NEED to do on a regular basis to maintain it. 2) There's a the tricky part. Wine and PlayOnLinux may be able to help get Windows software you require to run on Linux, for some Windows software it works perfectly, forother's there is no hope. Where thereis no hope for Wine/PlayOnLinux one can consider a Windows install living inside a VirtualBox Virtual machine which your Linux system acts as the host for. 3) Not at all, Mint, and almost every other mainstream Linux dustro respects your privacy and repects your absolute right as the owner of your computer to run exactly what you want and not run what you don't want. Also, on Linux you can select to ignore any update which would be a problem for you, although unlike on Windows badly made updates are extremely rare (never encountered one myself in 7 years of Linux usage) 4) That is personal preference, but Mint 21 (install the latest version, so you have longest beofe any upgrading needed) MATE works well. You will almost certainly want the 64 bit version for anything but the oldest of PC hardware. 5) Easier than Windows, so long as you have a few clear tutorials to work from initially, and so long as you've got internet access to check what do type if you ever need to use command line for anything (unless you really want to you only have to use command line (terminal) interfaces for a very small number of infrequently done things).