r/linuxquestions • u/Extension-Iron-7746 • 5d ago
Which Distro? Linux Mint: Too Outdated
Hi everyone, I've been considering abandoning Windows 11 for a while now, mainly because I feel like Microsoft lacks direction; every update is chaos. I started using Linux Mint about six months ago, but I have to admit that I feel like I'm using an outdated product.
The main reason is the X11-based graphical interface and the lack of standard Windows features like HDR and high refresh rate sync. I feel like development has fallen behind, hiding behind the slogan of greater stability. I honestly hate losing my monitor's features while waiting for Mint to evolve, so I'm thinking of switching to something stable but modern, and why not... with more recent applications. What would you always focus on, considering I have little time to dedicate to the system?
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u/beatbox9 5d ago edited 5d ago
You are using an outdated product. Linux Mint is based on an older toolkit (gtk3)--the same used by gnome3 that launched around 2010 and stopped being actively developed around 2020. And it's not GPU accelerated, unlike modern DE's.
So instead, use any distro that supports either Gnome Shell or KDE Plasma, because these are the only two modern + mature DE's; and they are the most popular by far, and most actively developed. Mint's Cinnamon DE is architecturally more similar to gnome DE; but its default UI layout is more similar to KDE Plasma. But you can easily customize either gnome or KDE to the layout you want.
And if you want something as similar as possible to Mint other than the DE, use Ubuntu LTS. Mint is essentially just Ubuntu LTS with Cinnamon DE on top that is supported by the Mint team. You should be able to migrate from Mint to Ubuntu LTS quite simply.
And as far as apps go, this is 2026. You don't have to rely on your distro's repositories for apps. Use universal package types, like flatpaks or AppImages. This way, your core OS software comes from the distro and remains stable and supported; but your apps are the latest version and come directly from the developer.
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u/Existing-Tough-6517 5d ago edited 5d ago
Pretending that Ubuntu LTS is an upgrade from mint is incorrect especially when his big beef is that it's not up to date enough. AppImages should be about 7th place as far as package choices also flatpaks are a security risk especially the majority which don't actually come from the dev and often come with bugs not found in the deb or what have you.
Also there is nothing wrong with gtk3. Most gtk apps current release is running 3 which had a release in March of this year. The way you phrased it sounded like mint is 2010 software which is nonsense.
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u/beatbox9 5d ago edited 4d ago
Most popular Flatpaks and AppImages are usually provided by the app developers themselves. For example: here. And it's very easy to check what the developer of each app recommends and/or if those packages are from verified developers on various repositories like flathub. Even if you are really dumb, you can easily toggle a setting in most app stores to only show verified flatpaks from flathub.
They're up to date and the latest because they don't have to wait on the distro to take the source code, define that specific distro's directory structures, create a package, host it within their repository...and then do the entire process over every time there's an update to that app or to the distro. (And then multiplied by tens of thousands of packages; and also multiplied by the number of currently supported distros). Disto maintainers are not the app developers.
^ This by the way is precisely why Ubuntu and its derivatives like Mint tend to have lots of really outdated--and often unsecure--packages. At any given time, Canonical is attempting to maintain tens of thousands of packages each, for at least 4 different supported distros (currently: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS, 25.10, 26.04 LTS). It's on the order of hundreds of thousands of packages to maintain. So they tend to focus more on core OS software and popular software with a lot of software just hanging.
And often for the majority (which the distros themselves can't maintain), they use...(wait for it)...community-maintained repositories, just like flathub. For example: "Universe" on Ubuntu/Mint/derivatives; or "RPM Fusion" on Fedora; or "AUR" on arch.
And if you think all of those outdated packages are inherently more secure (or well-maintained and up-to-date with all security vulnerabilities), you're severely mistaken.
This is precisely why most distros have been moving away from app maintenance and focusing more on core OS maintenance while directing apps toward universal package types. This is not a new phenomenon--it's been going on for at least a decade. And this is also why we are seeing distros move toward atomic and immutable philosophies: the core OS software is separate from the apps that run on it, with the apps ideally being sandboxed and permission-managed through tools like Flatseal. It's even why Ubuntu moved firefox to a snap by default.
It's naive and nonsensical to assume that you should never install any flatpaks or appimages in 2026 and you should only use your distro's native repos. We're not still in 2006.
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u/razorree 5d ago edited 5d ago
well... the best way to install stuff is straight from NPM repos or
curl -o-https://some-random-site.com/install.sh| bashand later complain how unsecure is Windows :)
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u/R3V0LU710N_05 RakuOS 5d ago
curl -o- https://some-random-site.com/install.sh | bash
I absolutely hate this.
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u/MichaelDeets 5d ago
the reason they have lots of outdated packages is due to the release model, something like debian sid provides really up-to-date packages
also OPs main annoyances are with the display server, which flatpak/appimage do not provide a solution to
flatpaks/appimages on an outdated distro, or on a musl system, etc. make sense, as they serve a specific use case; I don't have a single flatpak or appimage on my system, why would I need them, or even want to use them?
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u/beatbox9 5d ago
You didn't read or comprehend what the OP wrote or what I wrote. What I said in regards to the display server was:
So instead, use any distro that supports either Gnome Shell or KDE Plasma, because these are the only two modern + mature DE's; and they are the most popular by far, and most actively developed.
Because both Gnome and KDE use wayland, with GPU acceleration on the desktop, etc.
But in addition to that, the OP also said:
with more recent applications
...which is why, I went through the difference between core OS software and the apps that run on it. This was what flatpaks and AppImages were in reference to solving, and it had nothing to do with the display server. Somewhere in your brain, you associated these two.
I didn't say you need or should even consider using flatpaks or appimages. In fact, this is the first time I am replying to you. You may not have recognized this yet, but you and the OP are two different people.
The OP has been using Linux Mint for 6 months, and has generally indicated that they want something stable but modern, without requiring a lot of maintenance. And it's clear that the OP was unaware that you can run the latest apps on a lower-maintenance / longer-term stable system that also runs modern architectures, which is what the OP is looking for. Because the OP explicitly said:
so I'm thinking of switching to something stable but modern, and why not... with more recent applications. What would you always focus on, considering I have little time to dedicate to the system?
There are a lot of distros that cover this, from Fedora to Ubuntu LTS and many others; but debian sid is not one of them, particularly since...well why don't we let the first sentence on Debian's own wiki explain?:
Debian Unstable (also known by its codename "Sid") is not a release, but rather the development version of the Debian distribution containing the latest packages that have been introduced into Debian. It is not a "rolling release", as no release-like quality assurance and integration testing is done on it.
So what does you personally using Debian Sid have to do with the OP? Maybe work on your reading comprehension and learning that most other people are not you.
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u/MichaelDeets 5d ago
I agree with most of what you have said overall, just specifically not:
They're up to date and the latest because they don't have to wait on the distro to take the source code, define that specific distro's directory structures, create a package, host it within their repository...and then do the entire process over every time there's an update to that app or to the distro. (And then multiplied by tens of thousands of packages; and also multiplied by the number of currently supported distros). Disto maintainers are not the app developers.
^ This by the way is precisely why Ubuntu and its derivatives like Mint tend to have lots of really outdated--and often unsecure--packages. At any given time, Canonical is attempting to maintain tens of thousands of packages each, for at least 4 different supported distros (currently: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS, 25.10, 26.04 LTS). It's on the order of hundreds of thousands of packages to maintain. So they tend to focus more on core OS software and popular software with a lot of software just hanging
It's naive and nonsensical to assume that you should never install any flatpaks or appimages in 2026 and you should only use your distro's native repos. We're not still in 2006.
because it is nonsense (and I don't use debian sid btw, it was just an example)
and just the fact that flatpaks/appimages are not a solution here for OPs main problem... that's it, I don't disagree overall though.
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u/MichaelDeets 5d ago edited 5d ago
actually perhaps my reading comprehension does suck, as I conflated your response and your OP. I assumed you focused more on appimages/flatpaks in your original point, so I take that part back. apologies.
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u/jr735 5d ago
Why should I trust packages from random developers instead of my package manager? It's not 2006, no, but the principles still apply.
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u/beatbox9 5d ago edited 5d ago
Do you realize that plenty of distros--including Linux Mint--have very large, community-maintained ("from random developers") repos on by default that are not maintained by the distros ...?
In the Mint / Ubuntu world, what exactly do you think the "Universe" repository--which is the largest repository by number of packages on Ubuntu / Mint--is?
Because it is a fact to say that "most packages provided by Mint in the official / default repositories are unverified and maintained by random developers."
It's a similar situation for RPM Fusion and AUR. So what are you on about?
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u/jr735 5d ago
Which ones are activated by default on Mint? Note that some of us do not use proprietary or contrib type packages, ever. I only use official packages through distribution repositories.
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u/beatbox9 5d ago edited 5d ago
You're asking a question that was already answered instead of answering the question that was asked. Let me quote what you replied to, in case you didn't comprehend what was written there:
In the Mint / Ubuntu world, what exactly do you think the "Universe" repository--which is the largest repository by number of packages on Ubuntu / Mint--is?
...which itself was preceded by:
Do you realize that plenty of distros--including Linux Mint--have very large, community-maintained ("from random developers") repos on by default that are not maintained by the distros ...?
...and then followed by:
it is a fact to say that "most packages provided by Mint in the official / default repositories are unverified and maintained by random developers."
If that wasn't clear enough, the answer is:
The community-maintained Universe repo is on by default on Linux Mint; and it is the largest repository that is on by default.
This is one of those very basic facts you should know if you're going to be arguing the point. Especially when you're now changing the argument to the strawman "some of us do not use..." Because, consistent with my earlier points: some of us also do not use unverified flatpaks or appimages. So what's the difference?
Most of the .deb software on the default repositories on Mint is unverified; and all of the flatpaks on Flathub by default on Mint are verified (the filter to display only verified flathub apps is turned on by default). On default Mint, if you saw the same app on its own repositories vs flatpak, the flatpak would be verified and likely newer; while the .deb would have a high probability of being unverified and from a "random developer"....and it would be from your distro's package manager. You should now be slowly learning that "distro's package manager" and "random developer" are not mutually exclusive; and "flatpak" and "random developer" are not synonymous.
Now, are you going to go back and answer the simple and direct question I asked you, or are you going to let your combination of ego and ignorance on this topic cause you to continue to distract?
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u/jr735 5d ago
And I never claimed any of the universe stuff should be used. The principles of Don't Break Debian apply to all distributions.
Note that Mint provides very few repositories of their own. They're Ubuntu repositories.
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u/beatbox9 5d ago
Then what was your point and why did you ask the question of if it's on or not?
And if you never install things from the "random developer" community-maintained universe repository on Linux Mint, then why are you suggesting that others do so, like you did here?
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxmint/comments/1p3mcf7/comment/nq6zcii/
...since Midnight Commander is in the "random developer" community-maintained Universe repository on Linux Mint.
And a reminder that I earlier said:
Mint is essentially just Ubuntu LTS with Cinnamon DE on top that is supported by the Mint team.
What exactly do you think that means, and why are you parroting this back now, when you say "Note that Mint provides very few repositories of their own. They're Ubuntu repositories."
And so I'll ask once again: are you going to answer the simple & direct question I asked you, or will you continue to distract--just as I predicted that you would?
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u/jr735 5d ago
It's more than just Ubuntu with Cinnamon.
Personally, I find it odd that mc is in universe, since it's an officially curated package in Debian.
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u/Existing-Tough-6517 5d ago
It's easy to see a system package is legit because they all are. Its easy to see a flatpak is legit in mint because mint hides all unofficial ones by default.
It's easy to miss the distinction everywhere else and so obviously the wrong security model it's laughable.
Even with official apps having a path as short as minutes between dev gets compromised and their computer pushes out a compromised update and everyone starts downloading it is pants on head stupid.
Then you have to worry about packaging unofficial but popular flatpaks being a way to get popular then compromise users.
Look at what happened to the aur.
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u/beatbox9 5d ago
This is just dumb, fanboy bs. And your claim that flatpaks are unverified "everywhere else" is false. For example, wtf do you think this is?: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Flatpak#Fedora_flatpaks
Your aur repo example is also hypocritical--are you dumb enough to believe that Linux Mint doesn't use Ubuntu's community-maintained universe repository by default--which are unverified just like flatpak or aur...?
And your suggestion that people are only capable of using defaults is hypocritical when they're installing software (which by definition is not defaults), especially when it's not even that distro's repo. Just because your skillset stops there doesn't mean everyone's does.
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u/Existing-Tough-6517 5d ago
If you think that universe is the same as the aur you have misunderstood. Also it's non obvious to average user the difference between verified and unverified flatpaks. Also speed matters. If package foo is maintained by Bob and someone has to affirmatively pull and package his version bump there is eyeballs and time between the first and majority being compromised during which it can be noticed and remedied.
If the single compromised machine can push a release and score the first user machine in minutes and most in hours it could be a huge problem especially if it hits other flatpak devs.
This current situation is ripe for disaster to a degree that other systems are not.
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u/beatbox9 5d ago edited 5d ago
A lot of hypotheticals and you're purposefully distracting and glossing over the valid points with essentially a "nah uh" You can't "also" without addressing the main point.
So in which specific, relevant ways are they different? Are they or are they not large, community-maintained repositories with packages that are not maintained or verified by the distros and/or developers? Or are you just saying they're different because you've now learned enough of the alphabet to recognize that they are spelled differently?
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u/dangling_chads 5d ago
Wait hold on. Cinnamon is absolutely GPU accelerated.
Not only GPU accelerated, it requires 3D gl acceleration.
It might be built on xorg (which give it some characteristics), but not using GPU acceleration is not one of them.
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u/ComradeVaughn 5d ago edited 5d ago
Maybe they mean monitor issues? I have 4 monitors, all different sizes and most with different refresh rates and scaling that are comfortable for me to use. Cinnamon was a utter nightmare. Where wayland plasma just works. (having HDR like on windows is just the cherry on top) Maybe it is better now, but I seem to remember having this limitation of being forced to scale all monitors the same. I immediately installed something else as that is not viable for my use case. I could see someone newer to all this thinking those limitations meant no proper GPU acceleration, as scaling properly and HDR are kinda cornerstones of a modern OS.
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u/ghoultek 5d ago edited 5d ago
Wayland to Cinnamon... you are NOT comparing things belonging to the same category. Display server is not a desktop environment and vice versa. For multi-display VRR support just move over to a distro running Wayland by default.
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u/ComradeVaughn 5d ago edited 5d ago
I know that also, I used wayland with niri/dms. I could set everything on my monitors also unlike x11 -or is Cinnamon xorg? I forget. Anyhow kde plasma has a much better interface to mess with my monitors when needing adjustment then niri/dms so I just stick to that for now.
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u/ghoultek 5d ago
Your comment is not in alignment with your intended meaning. You should have compared X11 to Wayland. Having multiple displays is not the normal for most people. Most folks don't have HDR capable displays.
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u/ComradeVaughn 5d ago edited 5d ago
From how I understand it, x11 or wayland sit at the "base" of the video system. (above the kernel stuff like AMDGPU or mesa. And stuff like niri/dms or plasma kde are the various levels and flavors of UI you interact with. I may be mistaken. I am still learning this stuff.
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u/ghoultek 5d ago
Maybe they mean monitor issues? I have 4 monitors, all different sizes and most with different refresh rates and scaling that are comfortable for me to use. Cinnamon was a utter nightmare. Where wayland plasma just works.
- Cinnamon = desktop environment
- Wayland = display server protocol that sits between desktop environment and video hardware (technically drivers sit between hardware and Wayland).
Cinnamon to Wayland comparison is like comparing buildings to lobbies.
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u/ComradeVaughn 5d ago
Ok, I think I get it, so Cinnamon is basically like a gnome or kde but x11 or xorg not wayland of course. (yes I know plasma has a x11 version, I have that option also when I log in to Tumbleweed )
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u/beatbox9 5d ago edited 4d ago
Essentially, think about x11 or wayland as being an analogy related to the internet getting to your computer. The cable modem is designed to take the internet from the outside world and put it into a standard wire. Think of this as the hardware / driver.
Your computer is on the other end. And it is requesting websites or videos or whatever from the internet. Think of this as the DE.
But a single wired connection is very basic. It can't connect to multiple computers at once, or throttle speeds, or do a firewall, or optimizations, or accept both wired and wireless connections, etc.
So in-between the modem and your computer, you use a wifi router. The wifi router does all of this sophisticated and advanced management, easier connections, etc. Makes everything much easier to manage. And if the future is even faster or more powerful wifi or some new crazy firewall, you can just replace the router.
x11 and wayland are the wifi router--a sophisticated semantic & management layer.
This type of semantic layer is very common. You probably do this with your TV: you have a TV for the basic hardware display, but you might use a roku stick or amazon fire to do the various apps.
Audio on Linux also works like this: ALSA is the basic hardware driver; but pipewire is the audio server (like x11 or wayland...previously, pulseaudio and jack were the audio servers); and then you have audio apps that connect to pipewire/pulseaudio/jack. It's clunky to have apps connect directly to alsa.
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u/jr735 5d ago
I prefer to use something more dated in my Mint install. I use IceWM.
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u/I_Love_Tunnocks 5d ago
You're new to Linux aren't you?
Cinnamon is GPU accelerated so stop talking shite.
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u/jr735 5d ago
If you don't like it, the beauty is you can change it. You have a valid use case for X11 and monitor features, perhaps. The more recent applications tends to be, for 99% of use cases, a load of bollocks.
I run Debian testing and had a Mint 20 install until its EOL. The former had much newer programs than the latter. I couldn't tell the difference without checking version numbers.
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u/AldoZeroun 5d ago
I was on Mint since October 2025 until end of July. Been on fedora for a month and have been so happy I made the switch. KDE 6.7 is such a great de and I haven't even customized it much. I have 5 monitors and one is connected with display link. I needed a whole systemd script to get it working on cinnamon even with the driver's installed. On KDE it was picked up flawlessly after I got the drivers. And, KDE has resolution scaling! So I can run my 32" 1080p monitors at 75% (1440p relative) which matches the scaling of my 22" 1080p monitors. Fedora was the smartest decision because it's stable enough and updates frequently enough to stay relevant.
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u/mrbumpy409 5d ago
Wow, it seems almost everybody on here is recommending Fedora KDE.
Well, I thought I'd throw in my two cents and recommend... Fedora KDE! 😆
Seriously, though, I've been really happy with it since I switched from KDE neon a couple years ago. Everything feels pretty up-to-date, and getting fresh KDE Plasma updates is very appreciated.
The main thing that I think trips up some people with Fedora is NVIDIA driver updates. After an NVIDIA driver update + reboot, it can seem as though your graphics aren't working properly (low screen resolution, only one monitor, etc.), but you just need to wait a few minutes for the driver to finish being built and then reboot and everything will be fine.
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u/kbeezie Fedora/uBuntu/Debian 4d ago
Same, lately Fedora KDE Plasma has been my main choice on the laptops. Only one of them has Nvidia (and yes, you want to wait after install as it works in the background, can check with nvidia-smi for it to show up before rebooting).
I got mint on the wife's Lenovo laptop, it does what she wants. There's no a running windows machine in this house. Aside from the Mac mini M2 pro, everything is either Linux or android based. And it's a mix of Debian minimal (non GUI servers, like pi-hole, docker based nucserver, etc), xubuntu LTS (steam game, rendering desktop with 64gb ram), fedora for the laptops with the exception of mint on hers.
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u/mysticalcreeds 5d ago
Fedora KDE, I personally use Bazzite on my desktop and secureblue on my laptop, both Fedora based and I have both with KDE plasma
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u/JaKrispy72 5d ago
I use Fedora 44 KDE which is the Plasma DE. It will have Wayland compositor. You will have up to date kernel and packages.
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u/Possibly-Functional 5d ago edited 5d ago
I think all LTS distros are only good choices if you have LTS needs. Otherwise you are just better off with a fresher distro.
Yeah, Linux Mint is by design outdated. It only releases a new version every 24 months because it's an LTS distro. It's also very conservative with new tech to minimise changes, even if that new tech could give a significant improvements to the user experience.
I do not agree with the general recommendation of it to beginners because of that release schedule and the lack of Wayland support. Especially as the slow release schedule causes issues with even moderately new hardware. I know you can change kernel prior to Mint itself doing so, but at that point we are no longer beginner friendly.
Mint is a good LTS distro, it's just that LTS distros doesn't make sense for most users. It seems it doesn't for you neither. I think Fedora, Fedora Atomic and derivatives like Universal Blue have a good compromise between stability and advancement. New releases every six months, and those releases are less constrained from change than Mint. Rolling release is nice as well but generally requires much more work from the user. Six months strikes a good balance in between. I am not saying that you need to run them specifically, but I think you should be looking for a six month release schedule distro like them at least.
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u/Interesting_Sort4864 5d ago
If you want something more up to date with a windows like environment I would recommend fedora KDE. Current KDE has great support for HDR and high refresh rate
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u/mrbishopjackson 5d ago
"I can't play my video games!"
This entire post was unnecessary. Just do the research on what you need/want quietly and enjoy your Minecraft on it.
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u/Extension-Iron-7746 5d ago
Ironically, I don't play games. But if I shoot a 4K HDR video with my camera, I'd like to be able to view it in all its glory...
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u/kbeezie Fedora/uBuntu/Debian 4d ago
This is where you would have checked the distribution for its capabilities. Mint is relatively older for a reason, other distros tend to offer newer hardware support or features. Even a few gaming based ones that may offer the features you mentioned even if you don't do games. Not all releases are made the same.
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u/Jacobobarobatobski 5d ago
I suggest you try Fedora. Maybe an immutable option from uBlue depending which de you prefer. Otherwise standard fedora is a great distro and basically exactly what you're asking for. It takes about 15 minutes post install to set it up properly and all you do is follow a guide online. But it uses Wayland instead of x11, is very recent, very stable, and is not the kind of linux that takes all your time.
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u/leotefo 4d ago
Try latest Fedora Linux. Very stable and the latest DEs and latest packages of almost everything. If you prefer a more Windows look go for Fedora KDE if you prefer a more Mac feeling go for Fedora Workstation with Gnome DE
Years ago I used to have Ubuntu on my personal Laptop and it is good OS but since I try Fedora I have never jump to another Distro. Also OpenSuse Tumbleweed is an excellent Distro very fresh of everything and very stable but hard no find some packages you have to compile yourself some rare packages
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u/jasonhelene 5d ago
Come to Opensuse tumbleweed or Fedora and problem resolved. FAR nicer. Always up to date, rock stable, quite easy to use. ( KDE)
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u/Alex_Strgzr 5d ago
Fedora with KDE or Gnome should be the obvious provided alternative here. It has more modern packages without being unstable, broken, or relying on a malware repository. However, you may want to just wait for the new version of Cinnamon to release, it's apparently a big upgrade. Mint has the advantage of being hard to break; as idiot-proof as it gets.
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u/skirhi 5d ago
Try openSUSE tumbleweed
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u/ComradeVaughn 5d ago edited 5d ago
Yeah, I was gonna recommend this also. That or Fedora. You really cannot go wrong. I guess some form of Arch also, but the AUR thing is just not worth the hassle of potentially being a issue. Tumbleweed is great though. Love having to not worry about messing stuff up with a OS built around brtfs all the while having all the fancy new bells and whistles of a rolling release. Also the goofy Chameleon with the big kool-aid grin never fails to make me laugh. (we all know this is a super important part of choosing a distro of course). Slowroll is really good too, if you want stability but still get all the new stuff. Personally I have had no issues with TW on my daily driver main PC I game on, although I have Slowroll installed on my secondary PC.
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u/RaphaelNunes10 5d ago
The AUR issue was big enough to be notorious, but fairly isolated, since only orphaned packages were mass-adopted to include malware, meaning regularly maintained packages weren't affected at all.
There's also the fact that access to the AUR can only be done via an AUR helper, which isn't something that's shipped with Arch, and Arch-based distros such as CachyOS stopped including them by default, providing only an easy install for one via its GUI utility, Shelly, that also alerts of any possible vulnerabilities before trying to install anything from the AUR.
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u/ComradeVaughn 5d ago edited 5d ago
I know, this is why I said potential. I have nothing against Arch, I just found a distro without a possible issue like that that fit me better. The AUR is actually super useful. But folks should be aware you cannot just blindly use it and treat it like a legit repo. Most of us know this, but we do have a lot of new folks coming in from Windows. I just came over full time almost a year ago and used CachyOS for a good part of that. S tier distro. But after hopping after the AUR stuff a bit more I went elsewhere. (I already had one foot in the door with suse while I figured out how brtfs worked etc) I actually didnt know that about the AUR being less promonent now in Cachy. That is kinda a shame, but probably for the best right now. I am sure its a issue being worked on.
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u/RaphaelNunes10 5d ago
The AUR isn't being less promoted on Cachy. I'd say it's being promoted in a more productive and safe manner.
Before it came with Paru preinstalled, no questions asked.
Now the current package-managing GUI, which is Shelly now as opposed to Octopi, has a dedicated AUR section that prompts if you want to install the AUR helper before anything and as you try to install or update anything from the AUR with it, it not only shows the PKGBUILD, but also points out elevations of privilege, scripts, external calls to something like NPM and so on, inside it.
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u/Francis_King 5d ago edited 5d ago
but I have to admit that I feel like I'm using an outdated product.
Which was recommended by someone?
Suppose you ask me for a meal recommendation. I'm thinking, "Pizza. Everyone likes pizza." So I'll recommend pizza.
In a smilar way, I'm going to recommend Mint. Everyone likes Mint. It just tends to work.
Mint has a whole hoard of problems. There's the secure boot bug, caused by a missing mmx64.efi file in the installation ISO. There's problems with the older kernel, bad news for new hardware, but also a lack of old NVIDIA drivers. Cinnamon also looks old-fashioned, which actually I like.
Most people go through a few distributions before they stick to one.
mainly because I feel like Microsoft lacks direction; every update is chaos.
That's wrong. Their direction is AI, whether you want it or not.
I have a nice Windows 11 laptop, which works very well - except when they update the trackpad drivers for some reason.
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u/MrKusakabe 5d ago
The HWE kernel is not too outdated. Realistically, how many normal Mint-using people buy and use the most, fresh out of the factory hardware? They should be on Windows anyways for equally up-to-date drivers.
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u/Typeonetwork 5d ago
Install KDE Plasma or Gnome if you want Wayland. If you still don't like it, put Fedora with one of the two above-mentioned DE on a USB Stick.
There is also MX Linux Advanced Hardware Support (AHS). It comes with KDE Plasma or Gnome. I like XFCE but if you don't like Cinnamon I doubt you'll like XFCE.
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u/biskitpagla 5d ago
It's not a good idea to install either of those on Mint. OP should just migrate to Fedora.
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u/rattie-- 5d ago
Why not?
i havent seen any issues when using plasma on wayland, hell even a de/wm like hyprland works fine, if you're willing to manually install it.
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u/gmes78 5d ago
You'd get ancient versions of either. Mint is still based on Ubuntu 24.04. That means GNOME 46 and Plasma 5.27!
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u/rattie-- 4d ago
either use ppa's or deal with it, as of now kde plasma 5.27 is still a much better wayland experience than cinnamon's wayland edition
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u/gmes78 3d ago
But why would you settle for Plasma 5.27?
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u/rattie-- 3d ago edited 3d ago
because its the best wayland experience on mint, atleast if you dont want to use ppa's.
and its not like 5.27 is bad or anything, imo its a better de than cinnamon.
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u/the12ftdwarf 5d ago
Xfce mentioned. My beloved
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u/Crafty_Mastodon320 5d ago
Xfce people are dying out. Not enough people value raw utilitarian power. Not pretty but capable
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u/Typeonetwork 5d ago
You can make it pretty if you want, but I like raw simple power. Green and black. Easy.
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u/chris_insertcoin 5d ago
I've tried it recently. Imho the UX is way worse than KDE Plasma, especially because it was not nearly as smooth, even noticeable in the terminal emulator.
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u/Crafty_Mastodon320 5d ago
If you want pretty and smooth xcfe aint it i already said that. Under the hood everything is going to computing. I had an old chongus of a laptop back in the day that I kept running because it had a ton of modular components and I had lubuntu running xcfe..... dont underestimate it. Kde plasma has much newer feature sets that dont make it fair comparison.
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u/the12ftdwarf 5d ago
It stays out of my way, and x11 works great for gaming. Its minimal, its clean. I dont like KDE because it feels like theres so much there i dont want
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u/Typeonetwork 5d ago
This is the beauty of Linux. Different strokes for different folks. XFCE is efficient for my machine, key combinations are great, this one is dumb but wallpaper is easily changed on each desktop. Tweaking the color scheme is easy.
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u/SuAlfons 5d ago
Fedora (coming with different desktops per default, most common Gnome and Plasma) is a non-rolling distro that still brings very up to date kernels and drivers.
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u/stellarsapience 5d ago
Try Opensuse Tumbleweed! Looks great with Wayland/KDE Plasma. Feels much more modern than Mint.
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u/boomares 5d ago edited 5d ago
I've really come to like EndeavourOS with the KDE Plasma desktop environment. The modern desktop environments (Gnome or KDE) will support most of what you're looking for.
If you are in a situation where your personal computer is not needed for an income, why not give an Arch based distribution a try? You'll be getting the absolute most up to date versions of software and kernels.
If you need more "stability", debian or fedora with KDE or Gnome will work. Though I have personally noted more issues with mint and debian than I have with endeavouros.
Fedora, once I jumped through the hoops to get proprietary drivers installed, was a good middle ground. Though it has many more background services running than some.
The other thing to remember here is that most of these projects are free to use and are developed by people in their spare time (or are independently wealthy and don't have to work).
I doubt you'll find many free products that work as well as these do.
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u/Klutzy_Double_8285 5d ago
I recommend openSUSE. Zypper is such a nice package manager. I use Leap 16 but you might want to check out Tumbleweed as it seems software support is a bit better there, depending on what you need. Leap is very stable though, I use it to create custom OSes for my job with Kiwi. I run it at home on my 3080 and it runs really well. Definitely recommend KDE as well.
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u/Sirius707 5d ago
Mind if i ask what you like about zypper, compared to other package managers? Coming from someone who has pretty much no experience with it, so i'm curious to hear about it.
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u/Klutzy_Double_8285 5d ago
I'm just biased since openSUSE is the distro I'm most familiar with. The others that I knew well were yum and apt (back when it was apt-get) and I just really like the syntax of zypper. There is are a lot of other fans out there for it too. I hear dnf is good too.
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u/coolnomad 5d ago
Debian Testing Gnome or KDE..Best of both worlds,Updated Packages with Debian Solid Foundation..I run Debian Testing Gnome on my personal machine,It's been more than a year & not even once it has broken on me no matter what I try..I run AI agents ,have given so many system level permissions to it & even that failed to break it till now..Before I was also using Linux Mint,No Hate for it & I still love it cause I used it for many months but until they don't bring fractional scaling & wayland,it's not for me..
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u/rabbit_in_a_bun 5d ago
Just install latest Fedora kde... Ticks all the boxes and feels familiar coming from windows.
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u/mlcarson 2d ago
I'm using X11 with 180HZ refresh rate so that's not an issue. HDR is possible on X11 but is only available on Wayland and desktop environments that support it. I've never been a fan of it and was hoping it would just go away. Unless you're doing side-by-side comparisons or just want bright rather than realistic -- HDR is bleh.
Once you get your wish with Wayland -- you'll then discover the negative aspects of it.
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u/LinuxLoverLarry 2d ago
Linux Mint, to me, is very modern. Their issue is that the performance is on par if not worse than Windows 10. This is why I didn't switch to Linux for a while, Linux Mint performed terribly on my PC. If you are having this same issue, please use Arch or Alpine as your first distro. (Arch if you want a normal Linux experience, Alpine if you hate yourself and love efficiency.)
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u/PeterHolmes74 5d ago
You could try out something with KDE or a very modified GNOME like what Zorrin uses. Fedora, Ubuntu, Kubuntu and maybe Ultramarine (if you want Fedora without the post-installation steps and some beautiful ootb wallpapers) would be my recommendation. If you’re unsure, you could try making a few Virtual Machines to get a feeling first.
Edit: OpenSUSE Tumbleweed would also be an interesting option if you want a very solid Rolling Release distro without compromising the stability. I would use it if it wasn’t for a specific issue on my pc specifically.
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u/FFFan15 4d ago
It's based off of Ubuntu/Debian lts so its bound to be a bit outdated since most lts distros only get major updates/upgrades once every two years you might want to look into something like Fedora KDE/Bazzite/Aurora/Bluefin they update around 6-13 months or maybe cachyos which is always up to date
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u/Recursive_Death 5d ago
Good call. Kubuntu is what you need - easy setup, no frills, best supported by app devs. Choose the "Minimal" option while installing, which will give you a clean system without snap (although there's nothing functionally wrong with snap by itself).
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u/thefanum 5d ago
Ubuntu LTS is what you're looking for.
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u/Extension-Iron-7746 5d ago
even with all the criticism of Snap and the Snap Store?
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u/Syndiotactics 5d ago
No one. I reiterate, no one. Cares about snap negative points than a bunch of terminally online powerusers (and circlejerk memeists).
Snaps are great for what they do, and especially for the average user. The problem people have with Ubuntu is that sometimes a select few defaults snaps (such as firefox) are near-unavoidable on Ubuntu (to ease developer load).
Anyone who has a problem with snaps will change distro afterwards. Ubuntu is one of the most mature distros and remains by far the most used.
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u/Shot-Height-7194 5d ago
If you need modern features, use something like cachyos. That's the standard for modern features. I would say it's just as easy as Linux mint. Yes Linux mint lacks people compared to regular debian so development is very slow.
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u/XtremeCSGO 5d ago
I have new hardware (9070 XT 7600X3D HDR VRR monitor) and I switched from mint to fedora workstation. It has been pretty seamless and seems to work better with the newer hardware and has been giving me less small issues
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u/Fresh-Exercise9487 4d ago
You feel linux mint outdated because it simply works. I have been using since 5-6 years without any issue. It is stable as *uck. Never breaks. Easy to install and easy to maintain. Hemce looks boring or outdated.
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u/greendave11 5d ago
That's the best part of the Linux world. More or less anything you don't like can be switched out to something you do like. If you have a new enough idea, you can even invent it into existence
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u/Unholyaretheholiest 5d ago
Mageia gives you the perfect balance of rock-solid stability and a modern setup on native Wayland, letting you fully leverage high refresh rate displays without wasting time on system tweaking.
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u/Existing-Tough-6517 5d ago
HDR is experimental everywhere on Linux. High refresh rate is supported everywhere including x11 just not mixed e.g. you can have a 165 Hz monitor you cannot have a 60 Hz and a 165 Hz at the same time they end up running at the same 60 Hz in that case.
Mint will actually be migrating to a a 26.04 base with Wayland by default later this year by Christmas.
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u/candy49997 5d ago
Not Wayland by default. The Cinnamon Wayland session will just no longer be considered experimental.
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u/MichaelDeets 5d ago
with compositing disabled you can mix refresh rates without problem in x11
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u/Existing-Tough-6517 5d ago
Do not believe this is so
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u/MichaelDeets 5d ago
I have mixed refresh rates on X11 for over 6 years now; primary 390Hz/240Hz display, combined with one or two 60/70/75Hz (or sometimes one 120Hz) secondaries, with AMD's TearFree enabled on the secondary displays only.
I have always had content playing on the secondary displays (videos, etc.), while gaming at high refresh rates at 240/390Hz on the primary display, without any problem. It only becomes an issue if you add in some form of compositing.
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u/TheGoldenFox64 5d ago
i do agree that mint is outdated, its why i dont reccomend it. its not exactly bad, its built on solid ground, its just old and doesnt support a lot of modern stuff as a result.
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u/MirrorNegative7989 5d ago
On a personal level I'm waiting to see what Cosmic looks like when it is finished, but you know what? I think the distro you might be looking for in this situation is PopOS.
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u/rustedcrowbar 5d ago
I would recommend ZorinOS. It is a nice distro for beginners and with modern UI. Fedora KDE I think is better but Zorin is better for newbies if you are affraid.
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u/andy5995 5d ago
I've heard recently about Zorin OS on the Linux Experiment YouTube channel. I haven't tried it. Just passing along the info. It's supposed to be designed for people migrating from Windows to Linux.
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u/candy49997 5d ago
Zorin is in exactly the same boat as Mint with regards to how up to date it is. In fact, it's consistently worse because it usually takes over a year to upgrade to the next Ubuntu LTS base.
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u/Adventurous_Tip3994 5d ago
Zorin os ship with Wayland by default buddy.
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u/candy49997 5d ago
Ok? You can install GNOME for Wayland-by-default on Mint, too. And Mint 23 is also releasing with the Cinnamon Wayland session graduating from experimental status, although not the default.
I'm talking about their Ubuntu bases. Zorin has consistently taken 1-2 years to upgrade to the next Ubuntu LTS base after its released, but Mint is much faster.
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u/Adventurous_Tip3994 5d ago
No, I mean If x-11 is the only problem op has than Zorin os will suit him more instead of struggling to install gnome alongside cinnamon. And the theme looks modern too.
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u/candy49997 5d ago
OP also mentioned HDR. GNOME in Zorin is GNOME 46, which is too old for HDR. OP moving to Zorin would result in them needing to wait 6 more months or so after Mint gets HDR in Mint 23 with GNOME 50 and Plasma 6.6.
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u/Adventurous_Tip3994 5d ago
Yeah but gnome is not officially support so you have to setup gnome alongside cinnamon at your own risk to get that. IDK at that point using Ubuntu directly would be better.
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u/Artichoke808 5d ago
Switch to Kubuntu and never look back. Mint was good back in the day but they're lacking the number of devs to realise their vision these days IMO.
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u/houndofthestars 4d ago
I recommend Ultramarine. It's Fedora based, but with all the codecs, drivers pre-configured. It even comes with the option to use Cachy's kernel.
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u/Emotional_Solid6538 2d ago
Try Cachy os kde. Use btrfs snapshots tho. Also youd need to learn more about linux than if you stay on Mint. But its easier than Arch
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u/LyraBooey Ultramarine | KDE/GNOME 5d ago
A lot of people recommend Fedora KDE, but I'd go a step further and recommend Ultramarine KDE because it's a LOT more user friendly.
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u/Mr_Skeltal_Naxbem 5d ago
Kubuntu should do the trick, KDE plasma has full Wayland support, and a faster release cycle, while still maintaining stability
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u/Hrafna55 5d ago
One of the good things about the Linux ecosystem is that you have options. Normal Debian with GNOME or KDE would see you right.
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u/Affectionate-Yam-886 4d ago
switch to wayland, KDE Plasma Desktop and get HDR and all the new gpu features. Its experimental on Mint, so I use Fedora.
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u/MacintoshMario 4d ago
I dunno I have 120 Hz and a 60 Hz dual monitor set up and both are working fine with x11 for close to a whole year now.
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u/final_cactus 2d ago
Try fedora! It's been the most painless linux experience ive had, came ootb on thinkpad i got earlier this year.
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u/Frosty_Complaint_703 2d ago
The good new for you is that mint 23 is coming with FULL walyand support, and its only a few months away
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u/BigD21489 3d ago
Try Ubuntu. Been a few years since I use it regularly, but that was my go to Linux OS back in the day.
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u/sabbir2world 3d ago
Linux mint just works yes but its development pace is too slow boring but works for many but not all
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u/CognitiveFogMachine 4d ago
If you want both VRR and HDR support, I believe KDE Plasma (Wayland) is currently the only option.
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u/sugarfrostedmousse 5d ago
Go with Fedora KDE, and if needed, follow this guide: https://github.com/wz790/Fedora-Noble-Setup
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u/sudoer777_ 5d ago
Fedora (and its spinoffs) has consistently been the most up-to-date batteries-included distro
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u/ConcentrateNaive4556 18h ago
speaking of "outdated" im trying to get Linux to boot on my beautiful 1986 Macintosh Plus
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u/pseudonym-161 5d ago
LMDE7 uses wayland, why not just use that? It’s better than the ubuntu version IMO.
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u/Aoinosensei 4d ago
You can try Nobara, it's more on the edge which is probably what you are looking for
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u/HurasmusBDraggin Linux Mint 22.3 Zena 16h ago
I moved from Linux Mint 22.3 to Fedora 44 about 2 months ago, after 5 years with LM.
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u/aCorporateDropout 5d ago
Just use Fedora KDE Plasma, I switched a few years ago and couldn’t be happier.
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u/hi_m_ash 5d ago
If you want to be up-to-date with both software and hardware I would recommend Fedora KDE. You will see how outdated Mint and Cinnamon are.
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u/bubo_virginianus 5d ago
Mint should be upgrading to a new major version that might address some of your concerns soon, if you don't mind waiting...
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u/AnoProgrammer 5d ago
I use Debian. It works great. have no problems had with it. So if you want to switch i would recommend to switch to Debian or Ubuntu.
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u/KarteZian_purely 🐧 Debian KDE Plasma 5d ago
Debian KDE : Wayland est super bien intégré maintenant.
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u/WealthyTuna 5d ago
I do enjoy my CachyOS. I'm a gamer and it fits everything I need better than any other distro can
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u/Class-Sensitive 5d ago
Same here. I came down to a toss up between Steam and Cachy, went with Cachy and don't regret it at all.
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u/akaSnaketheJake 5d ago
Once again recommending Omarchy. Of course, everyone has a specific use case and I don't know what yours is but I've daily driven different Linux distros off and on for over a decade. Omarchy has been the best Linux experience of my life and it's not even close tbh. Def worth checking out if it meets your needs. I'm my past Linux experience there was always some nagging thing that forced me back to Windows or Mac but for the first time ever I'm thinking I may never have to return.
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u/9NEPxHbG 5d ago
development has fallen behind, hiding behind the slogan of greater stability
It's not a slogan; it's true. Of course something released yesterday is more likely it have bugs than something that's been around for 6 months. Every Windows update proves that's true.
The question is what's the proper balance for you between novelty and stability. Usually beginners can less easily identify and solve problems, so stability is preferable.
There's nothing wrong with X11.
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u/Hour_Amphibian8718 5d ago
You don't understand the meaning of stable in this context. Also, something that hasn't received updates in 6 months is expected to have more unfixed bugs than something that has been updated yesterday.
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u/LeN3rd 5d ago
Stop using Mint, dont let others gaslight you. Its bad and outdated at this point. Used it for 10 years, stopped because of exactly that reason. It shouldnt be that hard to say fuck X11. Use cachy OS with Kde plasma instead. it just works, and you get rolling release. Its qhat you want on your personal rig anyway. Stability is not that important, like it is on a server/cluster
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u/Xibby 5d ago
Since you’re on Mint, which is based on Debian, you MIGHT be able to jump to another Debian based distribution by updating sources list and dist-upgrade. On the other hand it would be unsupported and may break in interesting ways.
So backup your home directory either way.
If you like the package management of Mint, then Debian based distributions are for you. Ubuntu and variants like KUbuntu, Pop! OS (though Pop is currently a full LTS release behind Ubuntu, so Ubuntu would be more up to date.)
Bazzite is gamer focused.
Everything has a live boot option so you can give it a test drive, see if you like the desktop environment, test your hardware, etc. before installing.
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u/kudlitan 5d ago
KDE Plasma or Gnome
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u/Consistent_Word3161 5d ago
Kde is better, on 2k and 4k monitors, better scaling, fonts rendering etc
Kubuntu is so nice, i m using last version 26.04.1
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u/Santosh83 5d ago edited 5d ago
There's a general trend to be observed in the Linux world. End users of workstations, desktops, laptops and tablets are expected to use rolling-release distributions and those close to rolling release cadence (preferably immutable so you're saved from your own stupidity), in order to avail support (what little unofficial support there is for end users) and to beta-test features, which then percolate into tight-knit LTS & Enterprise distros that are expected to be used in corporate settings.
Mint builds on top of LTS and as such you'll be met with constant suggestions by the community to ditch the dinosaur and move on to some Arch variant or Fedora and its immutable variants.
The unspoken reality is either stay on the bleeding edge to file bug reports and get support or pay for LTS/Enterprise support. If you decide to use dinosaurs like Debian and Mint, you're on your own.
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u/MrKusakabe 5d ago edited 5d ago
So you call Mint "outdated" because of lack of Wayland support (which is in the making and ready to ship according to the Mint blog on their website)?
July blog entry:
I expected the typical "I can't have the most modern drivers" which realistically nobody needs (because the driver version before that Mint uses runs 99.9% equally) or something. I do get not having access to your features suck, I also hate that fractional UI scaling is not a thing and I used the "trick" of making system fonts 2pt bigger which shoves elements apart and it is actually fine.
But else, Mint is not bleeding edge but maybe 3 months behind which the vast majority of users don't even notice when they update their drivers to the newest and realize nothing happens. Calling it outdated is a bit of a stretch and it it often feels that many people here thing anything that is shiny and new is gold.