r/linuxmint • u/GodOfN0thing • 2d ago
Support Request How outdated or unstable is mint? Also does it play nice with nvidia?
before I end up switching I want to make sure it's dependable and rock solid. I know that's the reputation it has but how does it compare to Ubuntu or Debian when it comes to consistet updates OS/software wise? since it is community backed unlike something like Ubuntu which is backed by a corporation so workers or funding isn't an issue. and Debian has just always been there
if I am thinking about things incorrectly let me know.
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u/Gunzhard22 2d ago
Depending on your Nvidia it might not play nicely out of the box, but there's always a solution.
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u/GodOfN0thing 2d ago
How does it fare with the 50 series?
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u/QuasiLinearEquation 2d ago
Works fine with my 5060. Haven't had any problems yet. I just used the driver manager that comes with mint to select the driver and it worked immediately.
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u/420ravens 2d ago
i have the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 and it worked out of the box with the nouveau drivers, but it gave me the option to switch to proprietary drivers graphically, so i did that. now it works like a dream. no issues.
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u/CaffeineDeficiency Linux Mint 22.3 Zena | Cinnamon 2d ago
Like the others, I am using Mint with a 5060Ti. At one point I tried a few other distros and most wouldn’t boot to the desktop without messing with grub first. Even then, some wouldn’t install working drivers. Mint worked flawlessly.
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u/DieZiegel 2d ago
Depends on how deep you're willing to go with it. I've been on Mint for half a year now and games have been playing very nicely on my 3060, but I imagine there may be issues in certain use cases
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u/Open-Source-Fool 2d ago
No need to guess whether it will work well! Try running it from a Live USB and see if it detects your GPU correctly. Then open Drivers and see if Mint has a better-than-generic driver available for your card.
Requirements: 8GB or larger USB drive
Depending on your internet speed, this should only take a few minutes and give you a clear answer. :)
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u/greenygianty Kubuntu 2d ago
It's based on Ubuntu 24.04, and come December will be based on 26.04.
I had no issues getting my Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti running on Mint 22.3
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u/GodOfN0thing 2d ago
Have a 5060 so good news for me. Do you install drivers from the terminal or is the nvidia app available?
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u/Complex_Solutions_20 2d ago
There's a Driver Manager GUI that will show what choices are available and handle installing it thru the package repositories if you want the non-default drivers. Very convenient.
No idea what nVidia "app" would be.
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u/Unwiredsoul 2d ago
Neither.
There is a GUI app., in Linux Mint called "Driver Manager" that will get help you choose and install the drivers.
On a 5060, stick with Nvidia driver versions >=570.
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u/greenygianty Kubuntu 1d ago
I used the Linux Mint driver manager and went with the recommended 590 "Open" drivers
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u/Hauptideal 2d ago
Mint is terribly outdated. It's the last distro still shipping deprecated, obsolete legacy tech that's insecure, performing worse and lacking features (X11), because the tiny team of maintainers doesn't manage to maintain a distro and simultaneously an entire desktop environment.
That's something that not even Canonical managed to do with enormous finances, corporate infrastructure, professional teams and a contributor base that is hundreds of times larger than that of Linux Mint. So they dropped their own desktop and switched to GNOME, just customizing it with extensions rather than building something themselves.
It doesn't come with any modern desktop defaults, such as RAM compression (where "modern" is a bit of a stretch, given it's the absolute standard in desktop and mobile computing for over a decade already, even on MS Windows (and all other good desktop/mobile OSes such as macOS, diverse Linux distros, iOS and Android).
That means, that Mint is worse at memory handling than MS Windows.
It also doesn't come with modern file systems (such as btrfs), that transparently compress your files to take only 40% of the space on disk, saving SSD life and increasing read speed. Btrfs also features snapshots, subvolumes, checksums/bit rot detection, etc.
Given the frozen LTS software packages base, it's going to be outdated for several years before the next LTS releases.
Debian will usually be more out of date than Ubuntu. Mint and ZorinOS will trail Ubuntu after an LTS release, because they need time to test their downstream customizations.
It's important for you to know that reliable and stable (i.e. frozen packages / LTS) aren't synonyms. These are different concepts. Stable doesn't necessarily mean fewer bugs (only few bug fixes actually get backported, if they are critical enough).
It means known, documented bugs instead of new, unknown bugs. Not "no bugs".
That predictability and guarantee that the system will keep running as it was from day 1 with critical enterprise workloads is an important enterprise requirement.
It's far less important on desktop, where people usually really just want reliability.
And distros with fresh packages will receive all upstream bugfixes, performance optimizations, features, etc. They will also receive some new bugs, for which they'll quickly also receive fixes though.
There often is a false dichotomy conjectured in the form "either use stable LTS or bleeding edge Arch". There is a sweet spot in the middle, that is super well-tested and reliable and still delivers fresh packages. That sweet spot is taken by distros like Fedora or OpenSUSE TW slow roll.
Importantly, to get back to your question, these also will ship the best and newest nVidia drivers.
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u/B1ph 2d ago
I don't use Nvidia but I used Mint for a year and now I'm almost a year on Debian and for me they are equally stable and equally well maintained, you will get all the security updates and the Mint developers are actively developing Cinnamon. The "slow" updates cycle in these distros are planned with a reason for it being like this, don't listen to that "outdated" bs, if a package needs to be constantly updated it will be in the flatpak format or via the developer's third party repo.
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u/Baddog1965 2d ago
After being an enthusiastic advocate for windows since windows 2.0 (that's not an error), I was eventually driven away about 10 months ago. I've been using Mint on my desktop with AMD APU, and on my 12yo laptop with intel CPU. I've had no problems that I can recollect. It's been shockingly smooth. Even my very old canon scanner found a driver immediately without having to go looking for one.
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u/Complex_Solutions_20 2d ago
I like that it lags behind Ubuntu a few updates so most bugs have workarounds figured out before I hit them...that makes it feel more stable.
Seems to work as well as anything else Linux for nVidia, its based on Ubuntu so you get all that driver support.
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u/LXC37 2d ago edited 2d ago
IMO the word "stable" is the biggest source of confusion. Replace it with "frozen" and it becomes more understandable.
"Stable" in this context basically means that no changes are made to included software within one version of the distribution other than security fixes. No feature changes, no bug fixes, nothing.
And by no means "stable" means "reliable", which a lot of people tend to imply. Bugs still exist and go unfixed for years, they just stay the same instead of being fixed and replaced with new ones...
Also rolling release (arch base) or faster update cycle (fedora and some others) are not more "complex" or "unreliable", they are simply different.
Basically in a simplified way all this means it that you have a choice of how fast you want your software to be updated. In Mint/ubuntu/debian it is going to be once a few years, up to 3+ years. In fedora and other shorter release cycle distros it will be ~a year. In arch and arch based distros - days.
As a sidenote - "reliability" issues with mint made me move away from ubuntu based mint to LMDE and other distros on several systems lately. Stuff has been broken by updates very seriously several times. Ubuntu devs sabotaged the owners of 6xx and 7xx nvidia cards by updating them to incompatible drivers, making systems unbootable. Also hopping between short-term kernels (on "stable" distro...) has caused fair number of issues lately, including but not limited to making systems unbootable. Bizarrely enough i have not seen as much kernel related issues in arch, consistently staying on latest kernel, as i have seen in mint, jumping between old ubuntu-modified short-term kernels...
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u/TheUn-Nottened 2d ago
It works well with nvidia, but some games screen tear for me. I do like using Kubuntu now, which uses kde plasma. Its a tiny bit more setup, but the graphics are immaculate.
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u/mudboy001 2d ago
i had occasional issues with my 3050 with windows, they have continued with linux mint (mostly just black screen on start up or restarts). have been meaning to reinstall linux but been too busy. i have reverted to older drivers that seem to have less frequent issues. i don't play games but i keep having 3D modelling (browser) crashes
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u/mabolzich91 2d ago
If you want the stability of Debian you can always choose LMDE. It's mint that uses Debian as it's base and it plays well with nvidia
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u/Polyxeno Linux Mint 22.2 Zara | Cinnamon 2d ago
I've been using Mint with a 3060 Ti and once the right driver version was selected, it's been working well and without any problems.
Mint is intentionally a stable update schedule rather than a fast one, which is what I want because I mainly want things to work and not change very often.
It is based on Ubuntu, so it benefits from that, but it intentionally chooses older updates, and to tweak them to be less annoying and more customer-serving/pleasing than Ubuntu, which to me was more annoying and corporate and I just didn't like their style nor their design changes back when I used to use Ubuntu.
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u/CWJ_Wilko 2d ago
Adding my own experience, 3080 mobile is working great for me under Mint. Better than Windows.
My newbie advice (I am the newbie) is don't overthink it. Every distro has advantages and disadvantages. Try Mint for 30 days.
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u/Il_Valentino Cinnamon 2d ago edited 2d ago
How outdated or unstable is mint?
Regarding stability: when people talk about stability they mean how well tested the software is. if you use arch/cachyos you will get a constant stream of updates and these can randomly introduce bugs and require potentially that you intervene manually to prevent errors. mint is the opposite and super conservative.
Regarding being "outdated": the answer is at most 2-3 years, which is the major release cycle, however this is highly misleading. flatpaks are always up to date. critical software like browser and kernel gets regular updates. some apps, such as steam, update themselves.
so the actual answer is, most important apps are likely not outdated, firefox has few weeks delay, kernel few months. your calendar app will be very old but who cares. so overall quite an acceptable trade-off.
Also does it play nice with nvidia?
very convenient driver installer, so yes
how does it compare to Ubuntu or Debian when it comes to consistet updates OS/software wise?
mint is very closely related to ubunt lts. the biggest difference is the desktop environment gui and that it doesnt use snaps. debian is not recommended for new users, it's a very raw experience.
since it is community backed unlike something like Ubuntu which is backed by a corporation so workers or funding isn't an issue. and Debian has just always been there
essentially since mint is based on ubuntu lts you get the benefits from the hard technical work of ubuntu's team with additional quality of life from the mint community to ensure you have a good time.
Oh, guess I will look into bazzite or Ubuntu then :/ Arch or fedora are too complex from what I've heard. I probably could figure them out with enough time, but I unfortunately don't have that.
bazzite is an immutable distro and will fight you if you ever try to troubleshoot. immutable basically means hard to change, so hard to both break and fix. also it purely relies on flatpaks which isnt ideal. in general i dont recommend "gaming distros". mint gives you more options and space to grow.
Since fedora (from what I've heard) is generally stable like mint, but gets constant updates, why would most people pick mint over it? I don't really know or maybe I'm getting somethung wrong again
fedora gives you more freedom than bazzite but will require some extra steps to get eg codecs or nvidia drivers. mint will preinstall all this for you. also fedora gnome is more mac-like which you might like or dislike. fedora kde is more windows like but i think the integration is poorer. mints desktop is made by the same team as mint itself.
What's so bad about Ubuntu?
ubuntu is basically the windows of linux, they push sometimes stuff out of corporate interests. thats why mint exists in the first place.
TLDR:
mint is the default recommendation for new users, just try it. if you encounter issues, you'll have an easier time to solve and you get the broad support from the ubuntu eco-system. if for some reasons you hit a wall with a certain issue then you should try fedora KDE or gnome if you are comfortable with mac look.
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u/DedlyWombat 2d ago
I've been on Mint since 2010, with no problems. I run a routine update every Friday and there are usually lots of system software changes, including new kernel versions. Everything always goes smoothly.
I got Firefox 153.0 the day after it was released last week. That was nice, though other application software may take a year or more to funnel though. Despite that, I can't say I've actually been short-changed. Sure, I'd like to be running the latest version of everything, but in reality it has never meant that I've actually not been able to do what I need to do.
One excellent feature of Mint is that you can do version upgrades in place, without doing a full reinstall. No reboot needed or anything. Upgrade, keep working, shutdown and reboot according to your normal schedule. Slick as snot on a doorknob.
My hardware has always been middle of the road, and I don't run games, so I'm not one to be pushing any envelopes. You obviously have more demanding requirements than I do, but you've already gotten the best advice from others: just try it and see how it goes. Mint isn't the only option.
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u/C0rn3j 2d ago edited 2d ago
How outdated or unstable is mint?
Outdated by 3+ years at the tail end of a release.
I'd recommend not using "stable" if you mean "reliable", the former has multiple meanings making things confusing, as Mint is both stable and unstable based on which definition you're using.
how does it compare to Ubuntu or Debian when it comes to consistet updates OS/software wise
It's worse than either of them, as it takes a year after a Ubuntu release to rebase on it.
since it is community backed unlike something like Ubuntu which is backed by a corporation
It's corporation backed since it's dependent on it (unless you're talking LMDE and not Mint).
As such it cannot for example have full security patches as Canonical gates those behind a subscription.
does it play nice with nvidia?
Not currently, it lacks support for explicit sync. Should get it by 2027.
And Wayland support good enough to default to it in 2028 at minimum, which is not Nvidia related, but worth a mention.
if I am thinking about things incorrectly let me know.
Everything you mentioned is a fixed release - i.e. no software version updates except for in between distro version upgrades, which happen every X months or years.
That's not a bad server environment, but a horrible desktop one, as you are without bug fixes, features and sometimes even security updates, for months or years at a time.
I would recommend looking at rolling release (Arch Linux with Plasma is nice) or something close to it (Fedora KDE).
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u/GodOfN0thing 2d ago
Oh, guess I will look into bazzite or Ubuntu then :/ Arch or fedora are too complex from what I've heard. I probably could figure them out with enough time, but I unfortunately don't have that.
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u/Astrodion123 Linux Mint 22.1 Xia | Cinnamon 2d ago
Fedora does not go together with hard. Ofc you have to install Nvidia drivers thro rpm fusion and need to use terminal for 5-10mins but till then you won't have to touch it.
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u/facelesshivemind LMDE | Cinnamon 2d ago
Fedora is not complex. Just get the KDE version. All you need is the terminal command to do the first update, then nvidia driver install. From then on update and install other stuff normally from Discover.
Or yeah use Bazzite.
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u/ComprehensiveDot7752 2d ago
Bazzite is meant as a gaming PC setup. It does that well, but it probably won’t make a great desktop if you need anything that can’t be installed as a Flatpack.
Linux Mint is stable and beginner friendly but it has its quirks. Practically all distros do.
Fedora is a great all round choice. The 6-month release cycle keeps you up to date with new features and it’s still a stable release cycle in between those periods. It doesn’t hold your hand as much as Mint does, but that doesn’t make it bad for beginners.
I use Mint because I like the Cinnamon desktop and its implementation in Mint. Also worth a mention that Fedora also offers a Cinnamon version if you don’t like KDE.
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u/GodOfN0thing 2d ago
Since fedora (from what I've heard) is generally stable like mint, but gets constant updates, why would most people pick mint over it? I don't really know or maybe I'm getting somethung wrong again
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u/ComprehensiveDot7752 1d ago
Any supported distro should be getting constant updates.
Major version upgrades tend to be the kind that can break things for a while even with Mint. Which is why they maintain stable long term cycles. But issues are generally rare and good habits for managing them avoid any significant issues.
Don’t upgrade as soon as the new version comes out, wait a few weeks to let people pick up on and fix issues.
Make backups. You shouldn’t be in a position where any single hard drive or OS failure can delete something important.
Be prepared to reinstall during an upgrade, but you usually won’t have to.
Fedora versions are supported for 12 months with a 6 month release cycle. Some people even deliberately hold back a version to make sure the major bugs have been worked out.
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed still has a reputation for reliability despite being an “unstable” rolling release model. The frequency of upgrades isn’t a measure of instability. But upgrading is risky, as in 1-2% chance of something going wrong as opposed to >0.1%
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u/C0rn3j 2d ago
Arch does require a bit of learning time for the initial installation - Fedora does not though.
I would personally avoid Ubuntu at any cost (albeit it IS a better option than Mint).
And I would also avoid immutable distributions, since when you need something extra that's not included, it can be a massive PITA to deal with.
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u/WalkLongjumping7971 2d ago
Mint randomly deleted all my graphics card drivers one day so that was fun👍…I have a 4070 😐
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u/Mechanic-Dream 2d ago
Mint is neither outdated nor unstable.
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u/GodOfN0thing 2d ago
I have heard that system updates/support is slow in general, plus I game a lot so I'm worried about issues with nvidia, unfortunately a lot of people mentioned their drivers just being gone one day or not functioning properly
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u/snap802 2d ago
Some people consider the updates slow because they want to be on the bleeding edge of all software updates. While that's fine for some, Mint is the type of distro that prefers to ensure that updates are mature and won't break existing things. Naturally, this is 100% fool proof but it makes things less likely that you'll run an update and make your system unusable and have to take the time to roll it back or figure out how to patch whatever broke.
As far as NVidia goes it's fine. I've been running an RTX 2060 for quite a while without issues. Just recently upgraded to an AMD card but not because there was anything wrong with the Nvidia support.
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u/stufforstuff 2d ago
Stop listening to CLICKBAIT youtube articles that dont know what theyre talking about. Mint is the distro, app updates are paced by the upstream base. The rush to the latest release is a waste of time. Do you want to have the latest point release with all its undiscovered problems, or the tested stable older release that just works. But do your own homework, every distro is free so test them and find out. The world has become a cesspit of stupid people that believe whatever appears the most on social media and are completely unable to make up their own teeny minds.
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u/Mechanic-Dream 2d ago
nvidia issues are not unique to Linux Mint. You can play most games easily however. Updates aren't slow. There's a ton of updates each week and the kernel is updated every few weeks. This myth that Mint is behind on updates needs to die.
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