My mint desktop What is Linux Mint: Linux Mint is a modern,
elegant, and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use. It is based on Debian
and Ubuntu and its Cinnamon desktop environment makes it very intuitive for Windows users. In short, it
is what I was looking for when I decided I had enough of Windows shenanigans.
Why Linux Mint:
Linux usually sounds like something nerdy programmers use and too complex for normal folks but Mint (or
Linux in general) is anything but that. If you only use your laptop for web browsing, and saving your
family photos then there is nothing simpler than Mint. It looks and behaves like Microsoft Windows but
unlike Windows, it doesn’t steal your data and hide important settings. Bad things like viruses and
spyware won’t get on your laptop even without an antivirus (magical isn’t it) and it works on even
decade-old machines. My reason for switching to (dual booting with Windows actually) was very simple, I
wanted my malfunctioning inbuilt keyboard to stop working. I tried everything deleting drivers,
uninstalling the device, changing group policy but windows would always go ahead and add it back
regardless. So after wrestling with windows for few weeks I just gave up and dual-booted with Linux Mint
and I am have lived happily ever after!
My experience:
I shifted to Mint nearly 3 months ago and I am absolutely loving it. The journey had its ups and downs
and breakdown but it was worth it. Everything was working right out of the box and the software manager
had almost everything I wanted. Finding the right tools on Linux could be a bit challenging depending on
how flexible you are but it’s never impossible. It is especially easy on Mint as almost everything you
need comes prepackaged with the ISO image. Here (resources) is a link to common programs I had to
install on my Mint. The search for programs was a really interesting one and made me appreciate the
beauty of FOSS (free and open-source software). It is really a shame that we don’t have enough of them.
Installation:
Mint install is very is easy and there are tons of youtube videos to guide you through it. Once
you have it installed it’s done. You forget that you have an OS and keep using that PC for decades
without anything breaking.
Beautification:
If I didn't like one thing about the Mint it has to be the looks. Though it has all the modern features
the desktop looks straight out of the 90s. But there is a lot you can do. From making it look like
Windows 10, XP, 97, 95 to making it look like MacOS is all possible and easy. For me copying other OS
was not very appealing so I just started customizing everything and anything I could find.
Here are most of the things I did:
