WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.720 Are you sick of paying for Windows just so you can remove that annoying watermark and 00:00:04.720 --> 00:00:09.440 set your own wallpaper? Or maybe you just don't want Microsoft tracking you or you represent them 00:00:09.440 --> 00:00:15.200 for constantly trying to force you to use Bing? Linux Mint might just be the operating system for 00:00:15.200 --> 00:00:19.920 you. And unlike other Linux distributions that can have a fairly steep learning curve, 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:25.360 Mint bills itself on being very easy to migrate to, even if you've only ever used Windows. 00:00:25.360 --> 00:00:30.160 But is it right for you? And what should you know before taking the plunge? 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:34.880 The first most important thing to know is that Mint comes in three different variations that 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:40.240 are officially called flavors, which, I mean, makes sense for an OS called Mint, right? You've 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:45.680 got Cinnamon, which is a full-featured operating system and looks the nicest. Mate or Mate, 00:00:45.680 --> 00:00:50.080 which I think is what it's really pronounced, which has fewer features but is faster and more 00:00:50.080 --> 00:00:56.160 stable, and XFCE, which is even lighter than Mate. I was kind of hoping that there'd actually be 00:00:56.160 --> 00:01:00.000 flavors, you know? Like, we've got cinnamon. Why couldn't we have had like, I don't know, 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:06.480 cherry or blueberry or like chocolate? Oh well. Anyway, for most people, cinnamon will be the 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:12.240 way to go. With the other two flavors, more for users needing extra stability for some specialized 00:01:12.240 --> 00:01:16.960 applications or for folks who are running very low-spec hardware or, I mean, just plain prefer 00:01:16.960 --> 00:01:23.520 the older style interfaces. In fact, Mint actually recommends just four gigabytes of RAM 00:01:23.520 --> 00:01:29.040 and 100 gigabytes of free disk space for optimal performance. So, yeah, even Mint Cinnamon is 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:33.760 not at all hard to run on any reasonably modern computer. And it can be a great way to breathe 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:39.040 new life into an older PC that you just have lying around. Setup is also pretty similar to Windows. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:44.000 You just create a bootable USB and insert it into your PC and start it up. And then you follow the 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:48.880 instructions and you're done. Although we're not saying that Windows is a bad operating system, 00:01:48.880 --> 00:01:54.080 I mean, I would, Mint does actually have the advantage of being generally more stable than 00:01:54.080 --> 00:01:58.640 Windows. For starters, there just aren't as many pieces of malware written for Linux out there in 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:04.480 the wild. And Linux doesn't just give programs run by the user the same permissions to go meddling 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:09.920 around in the file system that Windows can, at least not by default. But Mint specifically has 00:02:09.920 --> 00:02:14.400 another trick up its sleeve to make it more stable. Mint's update cycle tends to be rather 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:19.840 conservative. So the odds of an update wreaking havoc on your system are quite low, especially 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:25.280 if you use the Mate or XFCE flavors. The tradeoff is that some of the very newest hardware or software 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:30.160 may not work as intended if you're an early adopter. But for most casual users, it shouldn't 00:02:30.160 --> 00:02:36.240 be an issue, especially if you use flat packs. But it's not just about stability. It's also about 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:42.240 usability. Mint has support for all the major modern audio and video formats. Just make sure you 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:46.080 check the box to install the relevant codecs automatically during installation. As far as 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:51.040 doing things outside of a web browser, Mint comes with a well regarded software manager that lets you 00:02:51.040 --> 00:02:56.240 download tens of thousands of programs for repository, kind of like the App Store or Play Store, 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:02.000 or I guess even the Microsoft Store for Windows, except you'll actually use this one. These aren't 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:06.720 just Linux substitutes for well known programs either. There's Steam, Blender, and Skype, 00:03:06.720 --> 00:03:12.000 all available on Linux as well. And as in Windows, there are quite a few user friendly customization 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:16.960 options to make the OS look and feel the way you want. But even if you change nothing, 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:22.800 Mint does have a similar feel to Windows out of the box with a taskbar and start menu. So you'll 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:28.640 probably won't be left scratching your head as to how to accomplish most basic tasks. Even gaming 00:03:28.640 --> 00:03:33.520 is surprisingly doable on Mint, as Steam has thousands of titles compatible with Linux and 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:38.480 Mint's driver manager will also keep your graphics card drivers up to date. To top it all off, 00:03:38.480 --> 00:03:42.560 Mint functions without collecting your data like Microsoft's face criticism for doing 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:47.840 in recent versions of Windows. But remember that as popular as Mint is, we're not necessarily 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:52.720 saying to go out and immediately ditch Windows. I mean, remember that Mint is still a fundamentally 00:03:52.720 --> 00:03:57.520 different operating system. And there are some Windows programs that just do not have Linux 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:02.160 equivalents, unfortunately. So if you really do need to run one of those applications, 00:04:02.160 --> 00:04:06.080 you'll need to use some kind of compatibility layer or emulator even and performance with 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:09.680 those can be hit or miss, although Wine has gotten pretty good in recent years. 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:14.800 Similarly, although Steam now has an impressive library of Linux compatible games, many others 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:19.280 do not play nicely with Mint, especially if you're trying to use a different installer such as 00:04:19.280 --> 00:04:24.320 Origin. So if there's a title that you really want to play, check to ensure it's supported 00:04:24.320 --> 00:04:29.520 before taking the minty plunge. Anti-cheat is still a big problem. There are even some games 00:04:29.520 --> 00:04:35.040 that have Linux versions that are actually fairly buggy and Linux users who know their stuff will 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:40.560 want to use the Windows version in Wine or Proton to get around this. But what about Ubuntu, 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:45.440 another free Linux distro that many have also lauded as being friendly for beginners? 00:04:45.440 --> 00:04:49.520 Like Mint, it's also quite popular and is what Mint is actually originally based on. 00:04:49.520 --> 00:04:53.360 But it has a few quirks that are leading us to recommend Mint instead if we were picking between 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:57.680 the two for, you know, the beginner type of user. Ubuntu's user interface is much less 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:02.400 similar to Windows than Mint, so it might take a little longer to get used to. And it also collects 00:05:02.400 --> 00:05:07.600 telemetry data that might make it less appealing to folks concerned about privacy. Ubuntu also has 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:11.600 a walled garden of sorts in their software distribution platform called Snap. Downloads 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:15.440 from Snap often take a little longer to run as they contain extra files that should allow them to 00:05:15.440 --> 00:05:20.480 run on any Linux distro. It's not a bad idea, but this means that you get less control over 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:25.120 exactly what is downloaded to your PC. Snap is also controlled by Canonical, the company that 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:29.760 develops Ubuntu, which has made lots of Linux enthusiasts concerned that Ubuntu might become a 00:05:29.760 --> 00:05:36.080 walled garden of sorts. So if all of this has made you decide to hop on the Mint train, I wish you luck. 00:05:36.080 --> 00:05:41.120 But don't expect it to make your computer smell better. Only RGB can do that. Thanks for watching 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:45.040 guys, like, dislike, check out some of our other videos, comment with video suggestions down below, 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:46.640 and don't forget to subscribe and follow.