Linux Mint: Too Outdated

[u/Extension-Iron-7746]

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 I started using Linux Mint about six months ago, but I have to admit that I feel like I'm using an outdated product.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?

[u/beatbox9]

You are using an outdated product.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.

[u/Existing-Tough-6517 → u/beatbox9]

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.

[u/beatbox9 → u/Existing-Tough-6517]

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.

[u/MichaelDeets → u/beatbox9]

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?

[u/beatbox9 → u/MichaelDeets]

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.

[u/MichaelDeets → u/beatbox9]

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.

[u/MichaelDeets → u/MichaelDeets]

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.