So are we all ok with Microsoft now being in charge of systemd? The same company made famous by Blue Screens of Death?

When I consider this, it makes me think Linux has lost. Do you think Microsoft would let the Linux community be on charge of The Registry? Or any other part of the OS?

Mac may be the only decent option left…?

Linux Mint

Wait for the distro to officially release an upgrade path. Only do a fresh install if it doesn’t work.

On Windows however whenever I would get a new pc in which I was prepping for staff(I worked in IT) the first thing I’d do after unboxing it is a wipe of the factory Windows install and do a clean install with the latest ISO from Microsoft.

No bloatware, network managers, anti virus etc nonsense. We had all of our own stuff for that which applied via Group Policy anyway.

Implement a wireless file transfer protocol that works with Apple’s Airdrop and Android’s Quick Share.

In other words Airdrop for Linux that works with both iOS and Android.

2. Create a software tool with UI that allows syncing of a phone with Linux to copy over photos, documents, music etc.

Must work with ios and android

Nope. In Linux the typical action is to immediately get a fix out ASAP and be done with it.

Plus it’s unlikely that AntiVirus would actually make any difference. Even in Windows many things go undetected. All it does is bog down your system

Mint ran fine in my 2015 MacBook pro and I’m running Linux Mint Debian Edition on my Mac Mini 2014.

It does use X11 not Wayland but everything worked fine, except the webcam and possibly the SD card reader, which is normal on Mac’s running anything other than macos

If you think you’ll be doing zoom calls etc, leave it running macos and just run Linux in a VM.

I agree. I did a lot of distro hopping when new to Linux to try all the desktops and have the latest apps etc. But after years of that I just wanted something stable that will be reliable and I don’t have to maintain.

I installed Linux Mint Debian Edition 6 as soon as it was released and it’s fantastic. Stable Debian base with Cinnamon on top. I couldn’t be happier.

I’ve always been confused by pacman/arch in general and always preferred apt which I find straightforward.

As one who worked in IT for years, I’m tired of micro managing systems and unnecessary complications. Linux Mint Debian Edition/Debian + apt just keeps it simple.

Timeshift is a must. Creates a system restore point in the event that an upgrade goes wrong and it really works well. I highly recommend that to all Linux users.

I also like Warpinator which is Linux Mint’s version of airdrop. Works between my android and my pc perfectly.

And there is tons of help online for Debian, unlike other distros.

The laptop that doesn’t exist… For they money you might find something with an Intel Atom or Pentium inside. Which is about as far as having a mouse on a wheel as your CPU…🤣

I totally agree. I am an IT Profe and it’s still very irritating to have to jump through these hoops. Plus each manufacturer has a different key you need to press to access the bios. Sometimes the same OEM will have different keys on different models.

So you try the normal ones which don’t work and then have to Google the model number to try find out which key to hold.

Frustrating and time consuming. And definitely makes it very difficult for the average user to install Linux.

I sometimes think Microsoft did it on purpose to hinder Linux installs and then disguised it as “security”.

It’s not really “security” if you can turn it off is it?

As an IT Technician/Sysadmin who is responsible for ordering the laptop, my recommendation is DEFINITELY ASK because this is info the IT guy needs to know!

Damn autocorrect…

They seem to be doing more on that side than Canonical is. But I agree, it should be MANDATORY that the developer is thoroughly vetted and approved and the code run and checked Brexit before publishing.

I hope this is a wake up call for Snaps and Flatpaks.

Apps from the repo have the security, which is why I always default to the distribution repo

That’s is the genuine one. There is a genuine company called Exodus for Crypto. The problem is that a scammer made their own clone and nobody verified whether they really are from the Exodus company.

If you check the manifest on Flathub you’ll see they verified it belongs to the real Exodus

It’s HUGE. That’s the biggest downside for me. I’m always use a deb/native package first because they are way smaller.

I’d say avoid Wayland for now. There’s no real benefit to it at the moment and at least your card works with X11. If the Linux Mint team are happy to wait and just test it out at the moment, that tells me that is the way to go.

Not sure what bloat people mentioned but Linux doesn’t have bloat. The distro chooses their preferred apps which they hope everyone will like but it’s easy to remove them if you don’t and use the app you want. If it’s a system app (.deb, rpm etc) it will barely take up any space anyway. Only flatpaks and snaps take up huge amount of space. I wouldn’t recommend using alot of those as you’ll be pressed for disk space

Linux doesn’t require maintenance. It typically just works. It’s not like Windows where you run a cleaner every so often. Just just use it normally and don’t work about it.

What I wish I knew at the start: Linux Mint is the best distro. I wasted a lot of time distro hopping only to realise I just want a stable distro that gets out of the way but is thoughtfully put together with nice touches. Mint is that. I use Linux Mint Debian Edition because I don’t like canonical.

It’s been rock solid except for when the kernel broke my WiFi, but I had a time shift backup so in 5 minutes I had my pre-update system back and working.

Nothing. Linus doesn’t personally do coding on the kernel, he has a team who do that and he oversees it and makes the hard decisions.

There are others who will take his place and the work will continue.

If somehow the entire kernel team shut down, Google, Samsung or some other large corporation would take it over and continue development because at this point many, many, many servers, phones, smart devices, iot, and other appliances rely on the Linux kernel to function.

It simply cannot be left to die.

I recommend Mint as it’s overall a fantastic distro. Better than the majority. And it’s not just for beginners. It’s full blown Linux so it can do anything.

They have an XFCE version so try that too, as well as the MATE version. All 3 desktops are quite light.

I wouldn’t recommend Ubuntu and it’s flavours simply because they have Snaps so deeply embedded now it will spoil your experience.

MX-Linux is also a great distro and quite light. Antix is even lighter and maintained by the same team as MX.

Opensuse is always a great choice, and their KDE implementation is quite good. So if you want KDE try opensuse Leap. (Don’t use tumbleweed on a Mac because the proprietary drivers for Mac tend to break with frequent updates).

I’m running Mint on my 2012 Mini and it works great. Tried a few others but I find Mint the best.