Mint Edge version: bad idea to install a different desktop? [SOLVED]

[fatso]

Hi folks, hope you're all staying safe & keeping healthy!
I recently installed Edge on my son's shiny new gaming laptop, and he's having some issues that I wonder if could be helped by using a desktop other than cinnamon. I have nothing against cinnamon, but have read several complaints regarding stability (calling it "buggy"). I have no idea if these complaints are valid or not.
He has to use MS Teams for his school work, and often finds that it freezes up if he has firefox tabs open (which he needs). It's not just the browser that freezes, it's also the system, and he has to hard reboot to exit. Nothing else works to accomplish that. Plus, it isn't just teams he's been having trouble with, there are few others things that don't play nicely either.
He never had any issues at all with Mint 20.1 Mate on his previous laptop, but Edge was the only version that would actually install on this new one. All others halted part way though. I would have installed 20.1 Mate again, and updated the kernel to 5.8.x, but as I said, it won't complete the install. Please note, this is a new laptop with a 4ghz octa-core processor, 16gb of RAM, and 6gb Nvidia graphics.

SO: Is it possible a different desktop could help, and is that even a good idea to try?

[Flemur]

He never had any issues at all with Mint 20.1 Mate on his previous laptop, but Edge was the only version that would actually install on this new one.

I can't tell what you're trying to do and what the problems are; MS Teams freezes up, and...? Is Edge the MS browser?

"Edge was the only version..." = ??

"Microsoft Edge is available on supported versions of Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android."
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge

[fatso]

He never had any issues at all with Mint 20.1 Mate on his previous laptop, but Edge was the only version that would actually install on this new one.

I can't tell what you're trying to do and what the problems are; MS Teams freezes up, and...? Is Edge the MS browser?

"Edge was the only version..." = ??

"Microsoft Edge is available on supported versions of Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android."
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge

Sorry. No, I meant Edge as in Mint - Edge version (comes with Cinnamon as default desktop). See link below:
https://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=287
I edited to original post title to better reflect this.

[Flemur]

Sorry. No, I meant Edge as in Mint - Edge version (comes with Cinnamon as default desktop). See link below:
https://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=287
I edited to original post title to better reflect this.

Oh, sorry, I'd never heard of it!

Let's see if I understand it now.

-- Linux Mint 20.1 "Ulyssa" - Cinnamon (Edge, 64-bit) is only Mint version that'll install on a new computer; non-Edge versions won't install.

-- Mint Edge only comes with Cinnamon.

-- Cinnamon is a problem and you want to install a different desktop, like Xfce?

Edit: adding a new DE is generally frowned upon, but I always do it, replacing xfce desktop with a window manger + lxde stuff.

[Moem]

adding a new DE is generally frowned upon

Not by everyone, and not as much as it used to be. When we had KDE, it was notorious for not playing well with others. Nowadays, there's no KDE so the risk is a lot smaller.

[fatso]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I have installed additional desktops on other systems before without issue, but seeing as Edge is somewhat of a different animal, I don't want to risk buggering things up. As the laptop is being used for online schooling 5 days a week, any downtime would be unacceptable. Hence the request for advice before doing something potentially hazardous.

[Flemur]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I have installed additional desktops on other systems before without issue, but seeing as Edge is somewhat of a different animal, I don't want to risk buggering things up. As the laptop is being used for online schooling 5 days a week, any downtime would be unacceptable. Hence the request for advice before doing something potentially hazardous.

Backup the OS first.

If you want Xfce, install package xfce: "Meta-package for the Xfce Lightweight Desktop Environment"...I think...it seems pretty basic , doesn't include xfce4-terminal, thunar or goodies for the xfce panel.

If you want mate, install mate-desktop-environment "MATE desktop environment - full desktop with extra components".

In synaptic, you can select, say xfce -> rt-click -> Mark for installation and it'll show a list of all the files it wants to install; hit cancel if you just want to look...

[fatso]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I have installed additional desktops on other systems before without issue, but seeing as Edge is somewhat of a different animal, I don't want to risk buggering things up. As the laptop is being used for online schooling 5 days a week, any downtime would be unacceptable. Hence the request for advice before doing something potentially hazardous.

Backup the OS first.

If you want Xfce, install package xfce: "Meta-package for the Xfce Lightweight Desktop Environment"...I think...it seems pretty basic , doesn't include xfce4-terminal, thunar or goodies for the xfce panel.

If you want mate, install mate-desktop-environment "MATE desktop environment - full desktop with extra components".

In synaptic, you can select, say xfce -> rt-click -> Mark for installation and it'll show a list of all the files it wants to install; hit cancel if you just want to look...

Great! Thanks for the info. I already knew how to install another desktop, I just needed to know if it was inadvisable with Edge. Backups solve that issue, so thanks for the reminder!

[Flemur]

In synaptic, you can select, say xfce -> rt-click -> Mark for installation and it'll show a list of all the files it wants to install; hit cancel if you just want to look...

Great! Thanks for the info. I already knew how to install another desktop, I just needed to know if it was inadvisable with Edge. Backups solve that issue, so thanks for the reminder!

To get the entire Mint setup for xfce you should install package mint-meta-xfce, as zcot pointed out in another thread.

[fatso]

In synaptic, you can select, say xfce -> rt-click -> Mark for installation and it'll show a list of all the files it wants to install; hit cancel if you just want to look...

Great! Thanks for the info. I already knew how to install another desktop, I just needed to know if it was inadvisable with Edge. Backups solve that issue, so thanks for the reminder!

To get the entire Mint setup for xfce you should install package mint-meta-xfce, as zcot pointed out in another thread.

Thanks. I'm actually going to try Mate, as that is what my son was using before installing Edge.