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And so it begins (lemmy.world)
submitted 5 days ago by python@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I installed Linux Mint for the first time on my personal Laptop just a few months ago, and it ran so well that I didn't want to mess with it to try out different distros.

But today, my company's IT department announced that they have some spare old Laptops to give away (technically because they didn't meet the specs for Windows 11, didn't stop the IT department from giving them out with Windows 11 pre installed though)

So now I got a few devices to play around with!! They're a Precision 7530 and a Latitude 7390 2-in-1!

I already got ZorinOS running on the little guy because apparently Zorin is nice for Touchscreen support. For the big guy I was initially thinking that I could try Bazzite, but the installer was like "Intel UHD Graphics aren't really recommended" so I might try something else first. Any recommendations? I mainly just want to try as many different flavors of Linux as I can haha

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[-] varjen@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

You should try Fedora. It's the one used by Linus.

[-] EpicFailGuy@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

dont forget your programming socks

[-] python@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Man I wish I could participate in the programmer socks joke, but I feel like it just doesn't really hit the same when an afab person does it :(

[-] blinfabian@feddit.nl 1 points 3 days ago

funny that thr most feminine socks are asociated with boys now :3

[-] EpicFailGuy@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

well, we can't let you out of this, we're all in this together. Let's make programming "tidy whites" a thing! XD

https://cdn.cliqueinc.com/posts/302806/kylie-jenner-tighty-whities-paris-fashion-week-302806-1664826983479-image.700x0c.jpg

[-] lemmyreader@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 days ago

Did you try CachyOS ? https://cachyos.org/ I'm impressed by how snappy it is on older computers.

[-] python@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Not yet, but I have seen that it is very popular on Distrowatch! :D It's definitely in my backlog

[-] HouseWolf@pawb.social 44 points 5 days ago

Image

[-] loweffortname@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 4 days ago

I don't understand... It wasn't even an Arch-based distro!

[-] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

Void linux xfce. Just uses so little ram I love it.

[-] python@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Very reasonable in this economy!

[-] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 22 points 5 days ago

I always wonder why mint is the one people try. It seems so out of date.

Fedora these days works really well and is really up to date.

[-] LeFantome@programming.dev 13 points 4 days ago

Mint is very boring and middle of the road, exactly as a default recommendation should be. They are also very protective of the user experience. They are unlikely to embarrass me.

Mint has a familiar UX if you are new to Linux. It is not nearly as foreign or locked down as GNOME. It is not as configurable and complex as KDE. There are good GUI tools for most common tasks.

Mint does not change too rapidly or have too many updates but the desktop and tools are kept up-to-date.

They are being very conservative with the Wayland transition. But nobody on Mint is moaning that Wayland is not ready. They are very protective about the user experience.

And there is really no desktop use case that Mint is not suitable for.

I do not use Mint but it is a very solid recommendation for “normal” users.

I think Pop!OS is back to being that too and COSMIC is Wayland only (so no future transition to manage).

[-] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 days ago

Mint has a familiar UX if you are new to Linux.

See this one is confusing to me. It is very different.

You are greeted after install to configure mirrors. What is a mirror? The dialog offers no help, there is no apply, or maybe this one. so you click "restore to the default". What does that do? And then down the side what is a PPA? Should I have a PPA (answer is NO, you should not). Additional Repositories, auth keys, maintenance.....Fix merge lists.....

Where is the clipboard? Oh there isnt one. And typing clipboard doesnt offer one. Typing clipboard into software sources offers too many (25 of them!).

Mint is alright I don't want to come across as bashing them. I just am surprised it is so highly recommended that is all.

I always broke it before long, but that is the Ubuntu curse: super fragile and always breaking.

[-] demonsword@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I always broke it before long, but that is the Ubuntu curse

There is a Mint based on pure Debian if you think the Ubuntu-based one is "too fragile" as you put it. You actually made me curious in how you keep breaking Mint, I've been using it for several years, incrementally upgrading it since 2021 with little to no breakage at all.

[-] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

So trying it again recently on a VM, seems like they changed their upgrades? Used to be a series of priority ranks. I think that confused the users. I think the ppas confused the users.

And making poor choices there broke it.

Ubuntu is just broken out of the box on the other hand. Every damn time since version 4 something stupid happens.

[-] demonsword@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Yeah, PPAs usually complicate things. IIRC the advice is disabling them before upgrading major versions, but this can be a pain if you use many repositories simultaneously

[-] winkerjadams@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 5 days ago

Is there something wrong with mint?

[-] Interstellar_1@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 5 days ago

Personally the ui looks a bit outdated and there's less customization than most other distros

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

a bit is an understatement. reminds me of windows 7 era ux design. iirc their wayland support isn't that great either.

not that it doesn't work, but there are alternatives that much better represents what linux can be right now.

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[-] Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 8 points 4 days ago

have you actually tried it? trying mint after using arch for a year (btw), it's actually really well made and the consistency is crazy good. The UI looks and feels better in person than in screenshots

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[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 9 points 4 days ago

"Intel UHD Graphics aren't really recommended"

Because Bazzite is gaming oriented and Intel UHD is barely good enough to render a display?

[-] JamesBoeing737MAX@sopuli.xyz 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Well, it works for MC, older games, even stray runs somewhat (from my experience). It's decent for a 300€ laptop with a quad core like the ones in the post.

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 days ago

Ah, the newer UHD?

[-] python@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I actually have tried it on the bigger laptop by now and somehow Bazzite runs Sekiro more smoothly than my "Gaming" Lenovo Legion Y530 that has an actual GPU and is from around the same time ever did. 🫣 It was completely unplayable on my other Laptop... which makes me think that maybe I misconfigured it to not actually use the GPU back in the day??? I'll have to experiment with that a bit more haha

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 7 points 4 days ago

I have a Dell with UHD+Nvidia, took me a while to get Prime working to switch video cards. Even on UHD, it could do basic Steam games and Minecraft if you didn't have high expectations.

[-] The_v@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago

Umm... With 2 free computers and nothing on them.

Run down the list and install all the different distros. Test them out for a few weeks then onto the next. Pretty soon you'll one that you prefer.

[-] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Advanced distro hopping form, distro rotation.

[-] python@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Installing one distro on one laptop and then only using that laptop to figure out how to install the next distro on the other laptop! That would give me an actual goal in each distro I install too, since I'd have to get the wifi and browser working and figure out how to run that program that burns iso files onto a usb stick :0
... that would be such an entertaining youtube video concept too, I wish I was into video making haha

[-] Cyber@feddit.uk 4 points 4 days ago

This is the way.

The only way to find the right distro is to try them out, on the end device, with the end user.

[-] erebion@news.erebion.eu 15 points 5 days ago

Try out Debian. Stable, base of many other distros, loads of documentation, huge helpful community, just runs and barely ever breaks (I can't even remember the last time I had issues).

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[-] st3ph3n@midwest.social 17 points 5 days ago

I've become quite the fan of Fedora with KDE. Running Fedora 43 on both my couch Thinkpad and my gaming desktop. Only issue I'm having with it is sleep functionality on the desktop, which just sucks (it likes to not wake up from sleep) so I have that set to not go to sleep, just turn the screen off when idle.

[-] zmrl@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago

I had the same problem until I installed the nvidia drivers. KDE will install some that gets things to work but I had that sleeping problem you mention. I can't remember the exact package name but I can try and figure it out if you need help finding it.

[-] st3ph3n@midwest.social 1 points 2 days ago

AMD GPU over here.

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[-] Twakyr@feddit.org 4 points 4 days ago

You can, if you have far to much time in your hands, install arch, gentoo, vor any other distro with a non graphical installer. I believe its a great experience, especially because you learn a bit more about the internels, and a few cool bash commands.

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 10 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

welcome to the penguin. distro hop a bit, see what you like.

initially though, you should focus on what DE you are choosing rather than the distro itself, as it is the focal point of the OS, especially for beginners.

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[-] hobata@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 days ago

Well, Microsoft do the most of all for Linux.

[-] fin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago

Nice! If you like tweaking stuff you should try Arch or Endeavour OS. Another weird but cool choice is Void Linux.

[-] jaypatelani@lemmy.ml 6 points 4 days ago

OpenSUSE is very less recommended but I would suggest it

https://media.ccc.de/v/5012-the-first-encrypted-steam-deck-runs-opensuse#t=0

Also check out their AEON it is still in RC but worth looking out for. Meanwhile Fedora immutable can be used with Intel.

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 4 points 4 days ago

Suse has such a corporate feel to her.

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[-] silt_haddock@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

I just got a new laptop for my work (which I also use for personal stuff, it’s a family business).

It came with Windows 11 but I’d got a bigger SSD which I’d installed before I’d even turned it on so Windows never even got a chance to boot.

I installed one of the Fedora atomic distros and it seems to be pretty good, though I’m trying to figure out how to tune battery life. I’ve setup TLP but haven’t noticed any improvement, though, it’s still much better than when I first tried Linux on a laptop.

I’d never used Fedora before, but the first distro I ever used was Ubuntu Dapper Drake and I’ve dipped my toes occasionally since then, but never fully committed until now

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this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2025
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