[deanhills]

Today I spent some time with checking out YouTube tutorials on Linux Mint.  Linux Mint looks like a promising alternative for someone used to Windows, how good it is I'm not sure, but looks like it is one of the Windows alternatives that is being used.

I was wondering whether there is any one here who has been using Linux for a Windows alternative.  What distribution are you using, and what has your experience been compared with Windows?

If you have some experience with Linux Mint, would be great if you could share it here.  I've noticed that Linux Mint was upgraded to Version 20 in July of this year and Linux Mint fans didn't like the new version that much.  Something to do with the way that Ubuntu, on which Linux Mint is built has changed how it deals with apps.  Would it be OK to stick with Linux Mint 19, or would Linux Mint 20 be better.  The negative of course being Linux Mint 19 would have many more updates, but maybe be more user friendly for a first time user?

[tbelldesignco]

I have used Linux Mint once before and it was a solid distro and as a first timer I don’t think that Mint 20 would be a bad place to start seeing as it is built on the most recent version of Ubuntu. Elementary OS is another distro, but it took thinks in an apple like direction and I played with their most recent version and everything seemed on the up and up. The change in application handling I believe was to move more towards a macOS like architecture where things are a little more locked down with the system apps to prevent tampering from malware. I’d say try it! It’s a light weight system and for an older machine that you’re trying to breath life back into it would be a good starting place to see if something like this would be an option.

[tryp4vps]

...... What distribution are you using, and what has your experience been compared with Windows? .....

The Linux distribution I am using is Ubuntu. My experience with Ubuntu has been very good in terms of performance and stability, and thus I think I will continue to keep using it.

Linux Mint seems to be a promising distribution though. I did try it before I decided to use Ubuntu. But it was a long timea ago, so I believe Linux Mint should have changed a lot since then.

[TrK]

I have been using linux for a while now(ofcourse dual booting as windows is still my daily driver for games and such) i have ubuntu and it's various flavours including lubuntu and kubuntu but so far i didn't liked ubuntu that much, so i started using manjaro with XFCE and honestly liked to interface and user experience but as for my work i decided to remove manjaro and go with a debian based Parrot OS from parrotsec so far it's working fine without any issues ofcourse whenever i try to run games on it with the help of proton most of them crash without any standard error but as for work it's working quite fine for me. While parrot os is good i won't recommend it to end users who are only looking for an alternate "Windows" i mostly recommend them to use either manjaro or my long time favorite centOS ofcourse with XFCE well there are times they didn't like XFCE and decided to go with KDE or GNOME instead(i honestly have no idea why though?).

[deanhills]

I have been using linux for a while now(ofcourse dual booting as windows is still my daily driver for games and such) i have ubuntu and it's various flavours including lubuntu and kubuntu but so far i didn't liked ubuntu that much, so i started using manjaro with XFCE and honestly liked to interface and user experience but as for my work i decided to remove manjaro and go with a debian based Parrot OS from parrotsec so far it's working fine without any issues ofcourse whenever i try to run games on it with the help of proton most of them crash without any standard error but as for work it's working quite fine for me. While parrot os is good i won't recommend it to end users who are only looking for an alternate "Windows" i mostly recommend them to use either manjaro or my long time favorite centOS ofcourse with XFCE well there are times they didn't like XFCE and decided to go with KDE or GNOME instead(i honestly have no idea why though?).

Thx for the feedback @TrK Exactly what I was looking for. I've never heard of XFCE before and as a regular CentOS user I should definitely have a look at it. On the other hand I've never used Ubuntu before, but get the feeling Linux Mint is more of a Gui than ever really getting under the dashboard to work direct with Ubuntu. Knowing and having experience with Ubuntu obviously will help to understand it better and be able to be on top of fixing thngs.

OK here it is:
https://www.xfce.org/

Hmmmm not that attractive, but who knows when one starts to get to know it better it may have better functionality and ease of use. Can already see it looking at device drivers and updates, so that must be a good sign for sure.

[fitkoh]

I like Ubuntu with the LX DE desktop. It's less resource hungry than gnome (the default ubuntu desktop) and the window manager reminds me a lot of windows xp. My favorite part of LX DE is the start menu launcher, which organizes everything very much like the windows start button did in the days of yore. I've pictured it below.

   

I've heard a lot of good things about Mint, but last time I looked at it, it seemed a bit too flashy for me - too focused on making a desktop with all the bells and whistles. I prefer a more minimal setup where I have the opportunity of adding what I like rather than removing what's obnoxious.

CentOS is just as good as Ubuntu, I'm sure. One could debate their preference but they're both solid, well supported OS. The biggest difference in my opinion is the package manager; of course you can install whatever package you want in  a different distribution.
 
Generally LX DE plays nice with the ubuntu repositories. The only recent problem I've had was in setting up a local samba network: the LX DE default file explorer didn't have support for the current version of samba so I was forced to find a workaround - but not a big deal.

In the process of fixing the samba networking issue, I followed some esoteric instructions in APT as instructed, and was told by the terminal: "This Apt has Super Cow Powers!" which was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I don't think windows ever gets Super Cow Powers. I don't know what it means, but I'll be laughing about it for years to come.

[TrK]

Hmmmm not that attractive, but who knows when one starts to get to know it better it may have better functionality and ease of use. Can already see it looking at device drivers and updates, so that must be a good sign for sure.

XFCE is just an environment the theming capabilities it shows on majaro is amazing without any compromise of resources. Manjaro is based on arch linux unlike it's rival here ubuntu which is based on debian(although ubuntu have commercial license for some parts unlike manjaro or any other "open source" linux distro). If you are wondering what good is arch linux when compare to debian? well arch linux actually don't have any major release or simply known as LTS version they follow a rolling release pattern means no matter what version of arch linux you have upgrading it would be much easier and you will get all the updates without any hassle, one more thing arch uses his own package manager called pacman(yeah i know but the thing is this pacman doesn't actually eat those package but instead install them) so just typing pacman -Syu apache will do the trick just fine. XFCE and KDE both been developed as an alternative windows shell making them user friendly for those who just started their journey of linux. When using XFCE you will feel a familiarity with lots of things as the native UI is much like windows 7 or vista shells while on KDE the UI and UX is much like windows 10(atleast their new version is) i have been thinking to make KDE as my daily driver ofcourse with either manjaro or centOS/ParrotOS there are many things i like about XFCE but KDE has it's own charm you can definitely try these.

EDIT: there are other things to be consider as well like if you really want an windows alternative where you can feel like you are still on the windows KDE is way to go for windows 10 users while XFCE is the right thing for windows 7/vista lovers. Budgie(originally created by solus linux for their inhouse linux distro) gives you a feeling of using a MacOS while MATE and GNOME are now standard ubuntu desktop environments. LE/LXQT are basic desktop environment one can find they use lesser resources comapre to other desktop environment but with basic features there are no advance customization(atleat none i could have find). If we compare all these deskto environments here are my thoughts about them.

Windows XP/98 -> LXQT/LE
Windows 7/vista -> XFCE
Windows 10 -> KDE(Officially known as KDE Plasma)
MacOS -> Solus Budgie
Win7 shell + Mac -> GNOME/Mate

Linux is like a vast ocean when comes to user preference some like GNOME while some hate it to their bones some prefer LXQT/LE as it's basic and they only need to work on console anyway while some don't want to see it on their machines just because it's "Basic". Some guys promote Budgie as they say you will get a MacOS feel while some says use KDE you will feel like using "Windows" but everything depends on the end user what he actually need and required, i mean suppose if he have a low end machine i will recommend him either XFCE or LXQT but if he have good enough pc i will just link several desktop environemnt and throw them at him and simply walk out saying "You can choose whatever you like it doesn't matter as long as you are familiar with it's UI and UX".

[fChk]

In the process of fixing the samba networking issue, I followed some esoteric instructions in APT as instructed, and was told by the terminal: "This Apt has Super Cow Powers!" which was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I don't think windows ever gets Super Cow Powers. I don't know what it means, but I'll be laughing about it for years to come.

Not as much as the well know M$ Windows' "Out of Body Experience" thingy though.... you know the OOBE screens.

The current OOBE screens were unofficially referred to as "Out of Body Experience" -Back in the days- instead of the current more stern/official "Out of Box Experience"

As for the thread's topic, my advice is Fedora with the GNOME Display Manager using wayland as display server protocol (instead of the X display manager.)

PS:
To me there are 3/4 kinds of Linux distros, the RedHat-based, the Debian-based, the Gentoo-based and another one that I'm not recalling right now... Thus if you're using Ubuntu or Mint or any other Debian forks, then you're essentially a Debian-guy; if you're using RHEL, CentOS, Fedora, SUSE, Mandriva etc.. then you're a RH-guy and so on and so forth... The flavour changes slightly but the fundamentals remain the same within those classes. But as long as you're using a Linux distribution -ANY distribution- then the philosophy IS the same; i.e. DON'T ASK YOUR DISTRIBUTION TO BE A M$'S WINDOWS LOOK-ALIKE.. although many desktop distros have fallen in that trap (because they are craving for novice users adoption; its a popularity contest in a saturated market.)

To me, Ubuntu was the first sinner in that regard... the other late comers to the Linux Desktop arena are working hard to dethrone it popularity-wise among novices...

My 2 cents!

Edited:
The missing class that I was looking for was Slackware-based distros, forks of the Slackware original distro. It didn't stick in my memory because I never used it.

[deanhills]

Linux is like a vast ocean when comes to user preference some like GNOME while some hate it to their bones some prefer LXQT/LE as it's basic and they only need to work on console anyway while some don't want to see it on their machines just because it's "Basic". Some guys promote Budgie as they say you will get a MacOS feel while some says use KDE you will feel like using "Windows" but everything depends on the end user what he actually need and required, i mean suppose if he have a low end machine i will recommend him either XFCE or LXQT but if he have good enough pc i will just link several desktop environemnt and throw them at him and simply walk out saying "You can choose whatever you like it doesn't matter as long as you are familiar with it's UI and UX".

Not to forget that very ironically Windows is also based on Linux, except Gates made people pay for it. And then employed thousands of programmers and license marketers to shroud it in a romantic mystery and cover up the holes in it with updates that have grown into Microsoft's very own contribution to Trojan malware.

Thx for an awesome post @TrK. I read every word of it, and as soon as I have more time will be Googling more next week. I've heard a lot about Arch Linux, but now have the big picture view. Am looking forward to trying these out for sure.

[Mashiro]

@deanhills

How did you come to the conclusion that Windows is also based on Linux?

Initially Windows was a graphical addon for MS-DOS. Later on with Windows 95 it has become its own kernel and OS. With Windows XP Microsoft introduced another major Windows kernel version called "NT" for new technology.

And even MS-DOS wasn't based on Linux or Unix. It is its own thing based on PC DOS which in return bases on other earlier forms of DOS. Again no relation to Unix or Linux.

What nonsense to say that Windows is/was based on Linux or Unix.

---

On the topic:

I would recommend Debian or Linux Mint as great alternatives. You could say Ubuntu but remember that Ubuntu is basically the Microsoft of Linux (telemetry, unwanted apps *cough Amazon*). Linux Mint is free of all that crap but is very similar to Ubuntu and Debian. In fact it uses Ubuntu software sources. So you get to use the good things of Ubuntu without the trash that Ubuntu has in it.

I use Linux Mint with Cinnamon on my Acer Swift One and it works great. The UI of Cinnamon is bascially like Windows in terms of taskbar and menu. So you easily get used to it in that regards. Unlike the Ubuntu GNOME variant.