Linux Mint vs Pop_OS! : tell me what is the best

[Progetto Prisma]

Hi,

on my new desktop i'm evaluating to switch from Windows to Linux, at the moment i use only open source software like LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Firefox and other.

For years i stay on Windows system only because i'm a little lazy but now i find that Linux Mint and Pop_OS! are very good but i have some question about them:

- how are reliable in the long term use and in term of support?

- between Linux Mint and PopOS what do you suggest?

Thanks very much!

 

P.S: some people tell me that ZorinOS is very good, but i admit that i prefer a distro with a good user base, because less user = more probability that the distro will disappear.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Progetto Prisma

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Reliable? Millions of people worldwide are working on Linux in general. All different distros, as Mint, PopOS, Ubuntu, Arch, Fedora etc.

As for support, there are millions of posts worldwide on different forums that can show you the result. While some are meant for different distros, they should all work the same.

As you are totally new to Linux, I'd start with Linux Mint. ZorinOS is a little advanced. IF you are big on games, PopOS might be a better option.

It all boils down to what YOU use it for. Won't even get into DE/WMs yet..

 

I personally use EndeavourOS. (fork of Arch) Because I want the latest and greatest. Baing I am well versed in Linux, I don't really need a pillow under my head.

 

If you want a better understanding of different Distros, see DistroWatch.com. While the Distro list on the right is stupid, they do write good information.

 

In my opinion, I would try these in a virtual machine before you switch Windows to Linux. Learn a little about how to use it. Theres hundred of thousands of tuts on YT.

[Progetto Prisma]

Based on what i see:

- PopOs more modern and fast.      

- Linux Mint gui older style and similar to Windows 7

 

I think that PopOs can be a good solution, thanks ti the fact that behind that distro there Is an OEM.

 

I accept suggestioni and comment

 

 

 

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

ANY distro can be fast or slow. It all depends on what you are running hardware/software.

Don't think of Linux as "looking like Windows". There are 1000 ways you can change the look of pretty much every aspect. Look at some screenshots in Linux Desktops thread above you. There are several pictures of desktops elsewhere as well.

What do you mean by OEM? All Linux distros are run off the Linux kernel. There is no OEM. They can be a company, yes, but their license isn't proprietary.

PopOS is a great distro, but not something that is popular outside System76 systems.

 

Edit: This is NOT standard KDE Plasma. I made it look pretty by changing it.

[Progetto Prisma]

OEM becaude they sell hardware and i think this can be a pro.

A vert good alternative Is Linux Mint bit It seem older in GUI aspect and in some aspect

What di you think about?

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

PopOS doesn't sell hardware. They are based off Ubuntu. AND System76 isn't making their own hardware. All they are doing is taking hardware and tweaking the hell out of it.

Actually, Mint has a lot of GUI aspects. Not sure where you got that mindset. BUT, you have to remember, even before GUI's were made, it was mostly all terminal.

It totally depends on your needs. You never mentioned that, You can't just say "XYZ is better, because it comes with ABC" We can guide you, yes, but you have to try it yourself.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

Both Pop!_OS and Mint are based on Ubuntu, which is one of the most popular Linux distros out there.

In some ways you could say Pop!_OS resembles MacOS more out the box due to having a dock and Mint resembles Windows more due to the taskbar / start menu look. You could customise the look of either though if you really wanted to.

I feel Pop!_OS is a lot more refined than Ubuntu out the box on the desktop, which is the reason I chose to use it over Ubuntu. Mint I have never used, so can't really comment much on that.

Which ever one of the two you choose should have good community support however. If you need to figure out how to do something Google how to do it on Ubuntu, you can pretty much guarantee their is a tutorial for Ubuntu which will work equally as well on Pop (and i'd presume Mint also), due to them both been based on Ubuntu.

You could also create a live usb stick of both and try without installing and see which takes your fancy.

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

And Debian, at that. All Debian questions point to Ubuntu/Mint/PopOS

 

I moved to Debian Squeeze right after Windows 8 preview came out. I didn't have the choice of Mint when I started. It was hard yes, but I had a lot of support here on the Forums. And elsewhere.

Edited January 16, 2023 by Mindovermaster

[adrynalyne]

On 15/01/2023 at 11:28, Mindovermaster said:

Reliable? Millions of people worldwide are working on Linux in general. All different distros, as Mint, PopOS, Ubuntu, Arch, Fedora etc.

As for support, there are millions of posts worldwide on different forums that can show you the result. While some are meant for different distros, they should all work the same.

As you are totally new to Linux, I'd start with Linux Mint. ZorinOS is a little advanced. IF you are big on games, PopOS might be a better option.

It all boils down to what YOU use it for. Won't even get into DE/WMs yet..

 

I personally use EndeavourOS. (fork of Arch) Because I want the latest and greatest. Baing I am well versed in Linux, I don't really need a pillow under my head.

 

If you want a better understanding of different Distros, see DistroWatch.com. While the Distro list on the right is stupid, they do write good information.

 

In my opinion, I would try these in a virtual machine before you switch Windows to Linux. Learn a little about how to use it. Theres hundred of thousands of tuts on YT.

ZorinOS is no more advanced than Mint. 

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

On 15/01/2023 at 20:45, adrynalyne said:

ZorinOS is no more advanced than Mint. 

Yes, but the transition from Windows to Mint is simpler than ZorinOS..

[cork1958]

My personal vote would be for Mint, but as already stated, it's all on you as to how you intend to use it.

[adrynalyne]

On 15/01/2023 at 20:01, Mindovermaster said:

Yes, but the transition from Windows to Mint is simpler than ZorinOS..

No it’s not. Zorin has specific layouts to help the transition specifically from Windows to Linux. 
 

You can’t really go wrong with either. 

[zikalify Editor]

Pop OS, last time I tried it, seemed a bit weird with software, I think I couldn't find everything I needed but that was a while ago so might be different now. If you're just looking at these two, then I'd go with Mint. I like Ubuntu too and have been running it since about November 2021 without a reinstall. One of the best things about Ubuntu is that upgrades between LTS versions is easy and LTS versions are supported for 5 years so you can install it and forgot it then when you do need to upgrade, it's easy to do. Mint's major upgrades are a little trickier. There's also a brand new Linux distro called Vanilla OS. I'm not sure if it's the best for beginners due to lack of support but it really is revolutionary as far as Linux distros go, here's a link https://vanillaos.org/

[ThaCrip]

Ill just be commenting on Mint...

Mint (with Xfce) is one of the safest choices if you ask me when coming from Windows to Linux. I have no desire to switch from since it's been reliable for me so far as I have been on Mint (on my main PC etc exclusively) for 4 years this month (since Jan 2019). but I waited a year after I first used it to make sure I was going to stick with it at which point I then changed over all of my hard drives from NTFS to EXT4.

but if you have really new hardware Mint could be a potential issue since the current version, Mint 21.x series, comes with a 5.15 kernel which was released Nov 2021. so as long as your hardware was release before that point chances are it will work as-is. if it's around that time or newer you may need to switch a newer kernel. 5.17 or 6.0.0 or 6.1.0 kernel which can be done through terminal by issuing 'sudo apt install linux-oem-22.04a' (currently 5.17 kernel from March 2022) or 'sudo apt install linux-oem-22.04b' (currently 6.0.0 kernel from Oct 2022) or, as I just checked, 'sudo apt install linux-oem-22.04c' (6.1.0 kernel from Dec 2022). but generally speaking... the Mint team recommends people stick with the kernel that came with Mint (i.e. 5.15) unless you have a actual need to use something newer. the 5.15 kernel is supported for the life of the Mint 21.x series which is until April 2027.

depending on your GPU between say AMD vs NVIDIA... AMD's driver is already in the Linux Kernel (so you don't have to do anything if you got a AMD GPU generally speaking) where as with NVIDIA you will have to install the NVIDIA proprietary driver to get optimal performance which is done through Mint's 'Driver Manager'  (generally select the 'recommended' driver) since it defaults to the 'nouveau' driver which does not give as good of performance, especially if you play games.

p.s. all of the limited amount of games I play/replay (Mafia series, RDR2 etc) and limited amount of Windows software I use (Foobar2000/ImgBurn etc) all work on Linux.

 

On 15/01/2023 at 13:03, Progetto Prisma said:

how are reliable in the long term use and in term of support?

 

Mint (which is Ubuntu based which is one of the safest Linux choices as it's one of the oldest and is similar to Debian (both can use '.deb' files) which goes back to 1993) has been around since Aug 2006 which probably makes it older than most, which in turn means it's probably not going to disappear anytime soon. I would assume Mint is one of the more used Linux distro's to which is always a good thing.

it's also one of the longest supported OS's at pretty much 5 years of support (technically it's a bit less, roughly a few months shy of a full five years) as it seems many others are in the 2-3 year range. but Mint's support pattern goes like the following for each major release...

Mint 19.x = Support ends April 2023

Mint 20.x = Support ends April 2025

Mint 21.x = Support ends April 2027 (this is their current newest version with Mint 21.1 being released not long before Christmas 2022 and initial version (21.0) released about mid-2022)

basically each major release is typically released about mid-year two years apart. basically we won't see Mint 22.x series until mid-2024 (Mint 21 was released about mid-2022). there is also a total of 4 releases for each version, for example... 20.0, 20.1, 20.2, 20.3 and each of those is about 6 months apart and these are optional updates as you don't have to install them (as any point version is still supported for the life of that Mint series) but I usually do as it's smaller tweaks to the OS.

as a general rule it's considered 'safe' to upgrade to the point releases but in terms of major upgrades (i.e. 20.x to 21.x etc) it's best to clean install (even though technically they do have a official upgrade path there to). but before doing any upgrades it's always best to use 'Timeshift' (which comes with Mint as it's sort of like Windows 'system restore') as it takes a snapshot of the system in case anything gets out of whack with a upgrade it can reverse it. but I generally don't use this since I opt for Clonezilla though which I make roughly one image a month and I always make a image before doing any bigger upgrades as that's a rock solid way to restore the system to good running order if a upgrade screws anything up.

also, Mint offers Cinnamon/MATE/Xfce DE's and while 'Cinnamon' is considered Mint's flagship DE (desktop environment) I prefer 'Xfce' since it tends to be the all-around safest bet since I tend to have the least problems with it as I got it on all three of my PC's (two desktops, one laptop). i5-3550 CPU, Athlon X2 3600+ CPU, and a AMD E-300 CPU(laptop) as in terms of video playback (with Celluloid paired with MPV so I get hardware accelerated video playback), on at least two out of the three computers I have, in short, Xfce works as expected where as there are issues on the other two.

I tend to like Mint's more conservative approach to things, which probably makes it a safer choice for many users because of it, as while it tweaks some stuff as time passes, it's overall core interface/function largely remain the same.

also, updating Mint is easy to as the 'shield' looking icon (i.e. the 'Update Manager') is basically where all updates come through like web browser and general system updates and it automatically checks as there is a little red/orange dot on it when updates are available but it's always on you when you choose to install them. as a bonus, short of kernel updates (or NVIDIA driver updates if you got a NVIDIA GPU), which I would say come roughly once a month (or 2-3 weeks), you generally don't need to reboot for updates to get applied to the system and updates tend to install more quickly vs Windows to. currently I have 25 days and 5 hours of uptime.

Mint comes with Firefox browser by default (which is what I prefer anyways) but you can install Chrome etc if you want. I tend to use the Firefox/Chromium combo (I use Firefox in general but Chromium is a good backup browser). so install chromium on Mint just type 'sudo apt install chromium' from terminal (or you can get it in the 'Software Manager'). I prefer Chromium over Chrome.

[Good Bot, Bad Bot]

On 15/01/2023 at 15:06, Mindovermaster said:

What do you mean by OEM? All Linux distros are run off the Linux kernel. There is no OEM. They can be a company, yes, but their license isn't proprietary.

PopOS is a great distro, but not something that is popular outside System76 systems.

 

On 15/01/2023 at 15:33, Mindovermaster said:

PopOS doesn't sell hardware. They are based off Ubuntu. AND System76 isn't making their own hardware. All they are doing is taking hardware and tweaking the hell out of it.

Pop!_OS is put out by System76 which does sell hardware which is what the OP meant by there is an OEM behind them. While I believe System76 laptops are mostly just re-branded Chinese OEM designs (but that would still make them an OEM) they do sell their own in-house designed Thelio desktop line (even made in the US).  You can add their very own designed mechanical keyboard line and open source software to control it by them. The even offer their own open source firmware and embedded controller software for most of their models.  I would be hard pressed to think of a more ambitious Linux hardware vendor.

What makes you think Pop!_OS is not used much outside of their systems? Causally follow the Pop!_OS Reddit forum you would see most people posting there don't have a System76 machine. Pop!_OS is number #5 on the Distrowatch site.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Good Bot, Bad Bot

[JustGeorge]

Either one is a fine OS. Neither will WOW you, but they're reliable. I personally have reached the age where I don't appreciate my OS greeting me with "Ta Daa!".

Backups are of utmost importance, no matter the OS. 

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

On 11/02/2023 at 19:39, JustGeorge said:

Either one is a fine OS. Neither will WOW you, but they're reliable. I personally have reached the age where I don't appreciate my OS greeting me with "Ta Daa!".

Backups are of utmost importance, no matter the OS. 

😛 

Yeah, backups are most important with any OS. Snapshots do wonders, too.