Hey, what’s up?
Today, I wanted to share my experience with Linux Mint Debian Edition (it’s good, don’t worry) and why I’m switching to Pop_OS.
Overall, I’ve had a great experience on Linux Mint, but there are so many Linux distributions that I also feel like I have to try other ones.
If you’re new with Linux or if you’re simply interested in Linux distributions, then this could be for you.
Let’s go right in!
1- LINUX DESKTOP PC
I’ve been using LMDE for 2 months every day as my daily driver. During these 2 months, I haven’t used Windows because I fully switched to Linux except friends that needed help with their computers. Some people warned me to keep Windows close, run dual boot, or that Linux isn’t ready for a full desktop experience.
To be completely honest, I never felt the need to go back on Windows except for the very first days because I wasn’t so sure if I made the right decision. Over time, I realized that I was able to do everything that I was doing on Windows on Linux. That being said, everyone is in a different situation. Some people might need to use certain softwares or games only available on Windows or that are poorly compatible on Linux.
From my experience, I think Linux to be quite ready for daily driver for desktop PC.
2- WHAT I LIKED
I liked the fact that I had all the tool, softwares and tutorials out-of-the-box. When you install Linux Mint Debian Edition, you will have all the most important softwares to start being productive right away.
In my case, I needed productivity and creative softwares like Thunderbird, GIMP, Inkscape, OBS, Web Browsers, Steam, etc.
If the tools that you need aren’t installed by default, you can use the software manager, which is quite similar to the Windows Store on Windows or the Apple Store on MacBook.
Then, if the tools aren’t still there, you can check if you can download them directly from the website. For example, I still have to download manually Davinci Resolve, the video editing software that I use.
To be completely honest, I think that what people really need is a web browser. Obviously, Linux has web browsers.
Overall, I think Linux Mint is a solid choice if you’re starting with Linux, and you’ll have a strong community to support you.
3- WHAT I DISLIKED
It might not apply for everyone but in my case, I am a PC gamer and I edit my own videos. That means that I have to use and work with my GPU. My computer has an Nvidia GPU, and the free and open source graphic driver that was installed by default wasn’t enough. On LMDE, it doesn’t have the driver manager like the Linux Mint normal edition or Ubuntu, so it is a bit more complicated to install the Nvidia driver. I think that, ideally, to make it convenient for new or inexperienced users, we should make it easier to install that particular driver, and we should not need to use the terminal to install it. Another solution would be to improve the open source graphic driver so that we no longer need the Nvidia driver.
Another related to the terminal, if you have more advanced needs or need more advanced softwares from your computer, you might need to use the terminal and/or download software from source like Github, which might not be attractive for everybody.
Another thing that I disliked is that from time to time, my computer would literally freeze, and I had to wait 2 to 5 minutes for the operating system to start responding again. I’m not sure if this is related to misconfigurations from my part or driver’s problem. But it happened a few times, mostly when using the Brave Browser, and I wasn’t able to find the problem.
In the same optic, when I was gaming, from time to time, I would lose the sound for a few seconds. Not long, maybe like 10 seconds. The game wasn’t freezing or anything. I was still able to play, but the sound would just sometimes stop during that time. I’m not exactly sure about the nature of that issue, but that’s something that I experienced.
4- CLEAN PROPRIETARY
Since I was coming from Windows, I was used to using proprietary softwares and during these last months, I was still using some. Switching operating system gives me the opportunity to start over from scratch, clean proprietary softwares and switch to free and open source alternatives.
For example, Davinci Resolve is available on Linux, and I’ve been using it these last months. Now, I truly think Davinci Resolve to be a great software, but I think I’m going to try a free and open source alternative like Kdenlive or Olive and see how that goes. To be honest, Davinci Resolve is great software, but I don’t need something that powerful to edit my videos. GPU rending is a feature that I’d appreciate, though.
That being said, there are some things like the Nvidia graphic driver that I don’t see myself without. In my case, I have an Nvidia GPU and I also play video games. I think the Nvidia driver is still my best option if I want to play video games and use Steam Proton. Maybe I’ll be able to replace it for a free and open source alternative in the future, but for now, I think it is my best option.
5- WHY POP_OS?
Pop_OS in another Linux distribution for beginners and that is easy to use. It is based on Ubuntu and everything is available out-of-the-box. They also have encryption by default for more privacy. That’s important for me because I don’t want to fight with my operating system. Maybe that’ll change in the future as I get more comfortable with Linux.
It is targeted especially for creative professional and gamers. Which is exactly me. I am a creative professional and also a gamer.
One of the thing that I really like about it is that you can choose a version that comes with the Nvidia driver pre-installed. Now, we could into the debate of proprietary versus open source but as of right now, I own an Nvidia GPU and I don’t think the free and open source alternative is ready to work great for my needs with gaming, Steam Proton and Davinci Resolve. One day, maybe I’ll be using a free and open source alternative to Nvidia, but right now, using the Nvidia driver seems the right choice for me.
One of the attractive thing about Pop_OS is that they are developing their very own desktop environment called COSMIC. I’ve heard good things about it, so I’m quite excited to test it out.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I think Linux is ready for daily desktop use. I’ve been entirely using Linux Mint Debian Edition for about 2 months now, and I had a great experience.
If you are completely new to Linux, I would recommend that you get the Linux Mint normal Ubuntu edition because it has a driver manager that allows you to easily install the Nvidia driver so that you don’t have to install it using the terminal. That being said, if you’re seriously considering Linux, it is probably a good idea to learn how the terminal works.
I’ve also had other minors issues, but it was completely tolerable.
For now, I’m switching to Pop_OS, which is another easy to use Linux distribution targeted for gamers and creative professional. We’ll see how that goes.
So that’s pretty much it, I hope this was helpful to you. If this blog was valuable to you, you could consider following me on social media and if you have any thoughts or comments, you can leave them below.
I hope this helps, peace!
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