Mint Newcomers!--what fries you the most?

[Oraticus]

<abridged>
One slap on the forehead later...

<abridged>
Everything is difficult before it gets easy.

Words of wisdom all41, words of wisdo ....

[ivar]

Excellent--this reply is helpful.
I know--hard to erase 30 years--especially in 3 to 4 weeks. You are genius
What was your most difficult adjustment?

I work in IT so I have to handle different OS'es regularly. Some are quite easy , others are harder to adjust to. So more training than genius I think

Cant recall exactly what I found most irksome. Maybe just that "the windows way" was kinda hardcoded into my fingers so required some effort to break out of the old habits

[Oraticus]

That I had not discovered Linux Mint Cinnamon 20.3 sooner

[thenerdyguy]

I've been using Mint for 12 years, but still feel as a beginner, as there are some basic stuff that I still don't understand, like installing software or extensions when there is no DEB package available.

When I go on the website of the software I want to install and when they say: click here for Windows, click here for Mac, but for Linux, there are 30 lines of commands to enter in the terminal OR they make you download an archive full of files with no instructions whatsoever on how to install it. It totally fries me up.

I've never mastered the terminal either, every time I need to do a task and the instructions I find on Google involve the terminal, I feel the headache coming. The commands given just NEVER work for me, it ALWAYS ends up with error messages.

And GIMP.... OMG most counterintuitive piece of software ever. I'm still trying to find the perfect equivalent to Paint where I can crop, resize, rotate, add text, move a little bit of stuff around in an easy, simple and basic way.

In the past, I've had plenty of issues with dependencies, permissions, read/write on USB, but this seems to have been solved in the past years, as I don't remember seeing recently one of those daunting error messages.

Over the years, I had trouble also finding software for some specific tasks, software that would exist on other OS, but for which there was either no alternative on Linux or a poor alternative.

When I was an absolute beginner, it was the same issues - mainly installing software and using the terminal. Also, I had trouble following the instructions that people where giving me on the board.They would say: "Get into root, then do this and that". I would have no idea what that would mean. Or when they would say: "enter this command, enter this command, then go into the folder." My head would go ka-boum as I would have no idea how do get into the folder they were talking about with the terminal. This got better too with the years, as more and more beginners came to Linux and the community adjusted.

As an absolute beginner, I was baffled too to discover that I couldn't stream Netflix on Linux, but that got fixed not too long after.

[AndyMH]

And GIMP.... OMG most counterintuitive piece of software ever. I'm still trying to find the perfect equivalent to Paint where I can crop, resize, rotate, add text, move a little bit of stuff around in an easy, simple and basic way.

For really simple stuff like crop, rotation, contrast - gthumb, it doesn't do much else so easy to use. Slightly more - pinta and if I can't do it in pinta, then krita, but whatever I want to do in krita I have to google. From your hit list, pinta will do it for you.

[Petermint]

Misused Timeshift for backup before discovering Backintime. There was no equivalent in the previous Linuxes I used. Could be one of those first time usage popups for TImeshift mentioning the difference.

One of the things I like are all the little admin programs. They were in short supply in the previous Linuxes and when I first used LM. Almost everything covered now. Would like them for Apache/Nginx, MariaDB, SMB, Firejail.

System Monitor does not have options for CPU temp, disk temp, disk activity, or USB activity, the most common areas for problems when installing new hardware or after prolonged use when the machine fills/heats up. I notice it now because my new notebook has a fast processor heating element, a monster Nvidia heating element, and a big SSD bar radiator squashed into a heat retaining plastic case.

[AZgl1800]

Misused Timeshift for backup before discovering Backintime. There was no equivalent in the previous Linuxes I used. Could be one of those first time usage popups for TImeshift mentioning the difference.

One of the things I like are all the little admin programs. They were in short supply in the previous Linuxes and when I first used LM. Almost everything covered now. Would like them for Apache/Nginx, MariaDB, SMB, Firejail.

System Monitor does not have options for CPU temp, disk temp, disk activity, or USB activity, the most common areas for problems when installing new hardware or after prolonged use when the machine fills/heats up. I notice it now because my new notebook has a fast processor heating element, a monster Nvidia heating element, and a big SSD bar radiator squashed into a heat retaining plastic case.

install pSensor from the Software Manager

[Petermint]

psensor is good. Better than the command line stuff. Would be nice to merge into System Monitor to show temps against workloads. Thank you AZgl1800.

[Oraticus]

I don't know what I'd describe this as ...
If you look at the attached image my initial reaction is always: "Aha - so the Save As option is the active option as soon as I press Enter".

But ... it is my naive folly. The selected option is actually "Close without Saving" option as you can clearly tell by the almost invisible border around the apprpriate UI button.

Rephrased to: in a GUI the selected option should be clear and unambiguous and conform consistently across the operating system?

close without saving, cancel, save options in a GUI

[all41]

in a GUI the selected option should be clear and unambiguous
save02.png

This is a good gui talking point--it should be theme innocuous if properly implemented

[postmodernist1488]

Been using Mint for a few weeks now. Fixed pretty much all the problems and switched to Linux entirely, but I did have a load of problems. First, Mint does not provide wi-fi drivers preinstalled for my wi-fi card, so I have to use Ethernet (and I really like to reinstall my system regularly and I have my router in a not-very-convenient place) and then I had problems with wi-fi and also my resolution is apparently too big (in windows, it just set the UI scale to 125% which can't be done here, but it seems like most apps either work with my resolution or can be configured to). Eventually I fixed everything. And I guess the biggest problem with Linux on a laptop is power usage. It drained my entire battery in an hour, lol. I think I have a really bad battery in my model, but, anyway, with auto-cpufreq utility I got it to, like, 2 hours which is almost what I had in Windows in powersaving mode. I've heard of TLP, but I think it cuts down the performance even on AC, so didn't try it. There is probably a good fix for this, too (like everything in Linux, basically), but I haven't found it yet.

[majpooper]

Been using Mint for a few weeks now. Fixed pretty much all the problems and switched to Linux entirely, but I did have a load of problems. First, Mint does not provide wi-fi drivers preinstalled for my wi-fi card, so I have to use Ethernet (and I really like to reinstall my system regularly and I have my router in a not-very-convenient place) and then I had problems with wi-fi and also my resolution is apparently too big (in windows, it just set the UI scale to 125% which can't be done here, but it seems like most apps either work with my resolution or can be configured to). Eventually I fixed everything. And I guess the biggest problem with Linux on a laptop is power usage. It drained my entire battery in an hour, lol. I think I have a really bad battery in my model, but, anyway, with auto-cpufreq utility I got it to, like, 2 hours which is almost what I had in Windows in powersaving mode. I've heard of TLP, but I think it cuts down the performance even on AC, so didn't try it. There is probably a good fix for this, too (like everything in Linux, basically), but I haven't found it yet.

If I was just starting out with linux that stuff would probably be enough to drive me away as well. Because I have installed linux for others typically on older laptops I would be interested in knowing what laptop you installed linux on and how old it is. The resolution and battery drainage stuff concern me the most. I have always been able to deal with the wi-fi issues with all the laptops I have installed linux on - it really has come down to installing the right driver in my case. I have never had the resolution problem and a few times folks have mentioned that the battery drains faster but nothing they couldn't live with. So far no one that I installed linux for had these problems so I've been lucky so far but would like to know what laptops to look out for.

BTW, if you are interested. Refurbished Corporate Lenovo Thinkpads are very popular with many on this forum - they are inexpensive and tanks and run linux mint with no issues.

[postmodernist1488]

If I was just starting out with linux that stuff would probably be enough to drive me away as well. Because I have installed linux for others typically on older laptops I would be interested in knowing what laptop you installed linux on and how old it is. The resolution and battery drainage stuff concern me the most. I have always been able to deal with the wi-fi issues with all the laptops I have installed linux on - it really has come down to installing the right driver in my case. I have never had the resolution problem and a few times folks have mentioned that the battery drains faster but nothing they couldn't live with. So far no one that I installed linux for had these problems so I've been lucky so far but would like to know what laptops to look out for.

BTW, if you are interested. Refurbished Corporate Lenovo Thinkpads are very popular with many on this forum - they are inexpensive and tanks and run linux mint with no issues.

My laptop is ASUS TUF Gaming FX505DT, so not very old. The wi-fi problems were gone after installing the drivers from the driver manager and disabling power management. After I figured everything out I actually really love Linux. It just took some effort, but I wasn't afraid to spend a few days fixing everything, because I saw the potential (especially for a beginner programmer like me). The performance is much better and even the Internet speed is 2-3 times faster than my windows 10 installation. I can't think of anything that is worse on Linux. Currently studying bash scripting to automate Mint installation (the installation speed is a very big advantage against Windows, too. I can get mint running in less than half an hour while downloading and configuring everything on Windows generally takes a couple of hours)

[AZgl1800]

I have 3 ASUS laptops and only one of them required a "special WiFi driver" as it was a Broadcom WiFi board, but that was several years ago. I

And that problem was resolved very quickly with the help of forum members here.
found an Intel WiFi board that plugged right into that laptop, and LM 18 found it right away and I never had to do anything special with it, it just works.

Two of my ASUS laptops are the TUF gaming models, which I chose because of the faster specifications and more RAM in them.

my current one is the FX705GM which is now 30 months old.

I use LM 20.3 Cinnamon and it worked flawlessly from the start, no extra outside drivers needed at all.

[majpooper]

Currently studying bash scripting to automate Mint installation (the installation speed is a very big advantage against Windows, too. I can get mint running in less than half an hour while downloading and configuring everything on Windows generally takes a couple of hours)

Here is a great site for tweaking Linux mint - it is maintained by Pjtor who is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable members of this forum.
I am a hack really with no real formal computer education or experience (I took a linux coures at the local CC about 10 years ago). I am also working on an installation script - a post installation script really. It is a series of scripts that I have put into one larger script to automate a bunch of post installation tweaks and changes. After the fresh install I have to do some "prep" like downloading the themes and icons I want to use and a few other things before I run the script. It is designed to configure the Cinnamon DE, and to automate configuring some of the performance tweaks for Pjtor's website, eliminate the suspend and hibernate buttons (just my preference) and so on. It makes the post install much less tedious for me but does not do everything that I want to get done but most of it. It is still a work in progress, as some of it is "glitchy" and pretty primitive since I really have no programming experience. I will PM it to you if you are interested but keep in mind it is pretty specific to how I set up linux and still has a few bugs I am working out.

[Mint Lounger]

I love Linux Mint, been using it for my main OS for years. Of course there are ALWAYS some things about it that annoy me. Most recently, associating files via its default file manager (Nemo) does not work. But I found that using the Caja file manager to associate files, works as it should...the associations stick.

[Moem]

Here is a great site for tweaking Linux mint - it is maintained by Pjtor

His name is Pjotr, and it seems like you did accidentally the link.

[majpooper]

Here is a great site for tweaking Linux mint - it is maintained by Pjtor

His name is Pjotr, and it seems like you did accidentally the link.

I keep doing that - Sorry - he is a friend so I should know better - I will try harder.

[majpooper]

Currently studying bash scripting to automate Mint installation (the installation speed is a very big advantage against Windows, too. I can get mint running in less than half an hour while downloading and configuring everything on Windows generally takes a couple of hours)

Here is a great site for tweaking Linux mint - it is maintained by Pjtor who is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable members of this forum.
I am a hack really with no real formal computer education or experience (I took a linux coures at the local CC about 10 years ago). I am also working on an installation script - a post installation script really. It is a series of scripts that I have put into one larger script to automate a bunch of post installation tweaks and changes. After the fresh install I have to do some "prep" like downloading the themes and icons I want to use and a few other things before I run the script. It is designed to configure the Cinnamon DE, and to automate configuring some of the performance tweaks for Pjtor's website, eliminate the suspend and hibernate buttons (just my preference) and so on. It makes the post install much less tedious for me but does not do everything that I want to get done but most of it. It is still a work in progress, as some of it is "glitchy" and pretty primitive since I really have no programming experience. I will PM it to you if you are interested but keep in mind it is pretty specific to how I set up linux and still has a few bugs I am working out.

EDIT: forgot to post the link to Pjotr's website
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/2.html

[postmodernist1488]

Wow, is that his website? A great project, actually. I have already found a few neat things there and it's great for beginners