Is linux mint stable

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Features

What is Linux Mint?

Linux Mint is an operating system for desktop and laptop computers. It is designed to work ‘out of the box’ and comes fully equipped with the apps most people need.

Graphic Design

Work in 3D with Blender, draw or edit pictures in Gimp, use Inkscape for vector graphics.

Productivity

With LibreOffice’s complete office suite, use the word processor, make presentations, drawings, spreadsheets or even databases. Easily import from or export to PDF or Microsoft Office documents.

Multimedia

Enjoy your music, watch TV and movies, listen to podcasts, Spotify and online radio.

Browse the Web, watch Youtube and Netflix with Firefox. Turn any website into a desktop app for immediate access.

Gaming

Access more than 7,800 games with Steam. Install GOG to get even more.

Give it a try. You’ll Love it!

Most of our users come from Windows and they never look back.

Easy to use, fast and comfortable.

Give your hardware the operating system it deserves and feel right at home.

Everything just works «Out Of The Box», without the need to configure anything or to install extra applications. It’s ready to go. Although it’s very configurable, everything is set and tuned nicely by default and no unecessary questions are asked.

It’s very easy to use. It features an intuitive desktop and adopts KISS principles. Anyone can rapidly feel at home and use Linux Mint. User experience, workflow and comfort is key.

Home rule

It’s your computer, your rules. This is a key principle at Linux Mint. We don’t collect data, we don’t work against you. You’re the boss. Your operating system is designed to do what you want without getting in your way.

Rock solid

With centralized software updates, system snapshots, a unique Update Manager and the robustness of its Linux architecture, Linux Mint requires very little maintenance. It works, it’s safe and it doesn’t break.

Free and Open Source

It is completely free of cost and almost all of its components are Open Source. Linux Mint stands on the shoulder of giants, it is based on Debian and Ubuntu.

Community-centric

There is a tight bond and a great relationship between the development team and the community. We communicate with our users and constantly use their feedback to improve Linux Mint.

Fun, helpful and passionate.

If you’re making your first steps with Linux don’t hesitate to join the forums. Linux users are often welcoming, helpful and eager to share their experience.

Is it free?

Yes, Linux Mint is completely free of charge. Almost everything in Linux Mint is also open-source.

Will it work on my computer?

Yes, Linux Mint works on most computers. It can also be run from a live USB stick to make sure everything works fine without having to install anything.

Can I keep Windows?

Yes, you can have both Windows and Linux Mint. A menu asks you which one to use when you start the computer.

Will it suit my needs?

Hopefully. Linux Mint comes with what most people need out of the box as well as easy access to more than 60,000 software packages and 7,800 games.

The years go by, and I keep trying one Linux desktop distro after the other. But for more than a decade now, I come back to Linux Mint. Why? It’s simple: Year in and year out, Mint remains the best, easiest-to-use Linux desktop.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

ZDNet

Mint has become the very best example of what a Linux desktop should be: fast, easy, pleasing to the eye, useful and productive. Others, still, see Mint as the ideal desktop for Windows refugees, or those who are trying out Linux for the first time, and want an operating system that essentially works ‘out of the box’.

David Hayward

Linux Format

Linux Mint’s latest release will have an exceptionally wide appeal. Anyone looking for an incredibly stable, robust, fast, clean, and user-friendly desktop operating system could do a whole lot worse. [. ] Every Linux desktop distribution should strive to do exactly what Linux Mint 20.1 has accomplished—create a desktop that is the perfect balance of speed, features, and user-friendliness.

Jack Wallen

TechRepublic

There’s a good reason for that popularity: Linux Mint just works. It isn’t «changing the desktop computer paradigm,» or «innovating» in «groundbreaking» ways. The team behind Mint is just building a desktop operating system that looks and functions a lot like every other desktop operating system you’ve used, which is to say you’ll be immediately comfortable and stop thinking about your desktop and start using it to do actual work.

Scott Gilbertson

ars technica

Exploring the bevy of Linux distributions out there is a fun part of the hobby, but for your first installation, you will likely want something popular and beginner-friendly, so it’s easy to get help when you need it. That’s why I recommend starting with Linux Mint.

Whitson Gordon

PCMag

Linux Mint has again shown why it deserves to stay among the best Linux distribution for beginners. If you’re thinking to migrate from Windows to Linux, you should definitely get your hand on Linux Mint.

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Linux Mint 20.2 «Uma»

Ready to download?

Linux Mint is available in 3 different flavors. Choose an edition below.

For more information read the installation instructions.

Cinnamon Edition

The most popular version of Linux Mint is the Cinnamon edition. Cinnamon is primarily developed for and by Linux Mint. It is slick, beautiful, and full of new features.

MATE Edition

Linux Mint is also involved in the development of MATE, a classic desktop environment which is the continuation of GNOME 2, Linux Mint’s default desktop between 2006 and 2011. Although it misses a few features and its development is slower than Cinnamon’s, MATE runs faster, uses fewer resources and is more stable than Cinnamon.

Xfce Edition

Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment. It doesn’t support as many features as Cinnamon or MATE, but it’s extremely stable and very light on resource usage.

Thanks to your donations and advertising Linux Mint is completely free of charge. We hope you’ll enjoy using it as much as we enjoy working on it.

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Release notes

This is Linux Mint 20.2, codename Uma.

Linux Mint 20.2 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2025. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop experience more comfortable.

Known issues

Snap Store

The Snap Store is disabled in Linux Mint 20. For more information on this or to re-enable it read https://linuxmint-user-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/snap.html.

Virtualbox

If the screen is black when launching Linux Mint in Virtualbox, change the VirtualBox graphics controller to «VMSVGA». Do this by opening up the settings for your VM and select Display -> Graphics Controller.

If the screen is garbled when launching Linux Mint in Virtualbox, switch to console with HOST+F1 (e.g. the RIGHT Ctrl key, no ALT) and back to tty7 with HOST+F7.

Another workaround is to disable «nested paging» (in the System -> Acceleration settings) and to increase the video memory to 128MB (in the Display settings).

Note: This issue only affects the live session. You don’t need these workarounds post-installation.

To add support for shared folders, drag and drop, proper acceleration and display resolution in Virtualbox, click on the «Devices» menu of Virtualbox and choose «Insert Guest Additions CD Image». Choose «download» when asked and follow the instructions.

Home directory encryption

Benchmarks have demonstrated that, in most cases, home directory encryption is slower than full disk encryption.

The move to systemd caused a regression in ecrypts which is responsible for mounting/unmounting encrypted home directories when you login and logout. Because of this issue, please be aware that in Mint 20 and newer releases, your encrypted home directory is no longer unmounted on logout: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-session/+bug/1734541.

Guest sessions

You can still enable guest sessions in the «Login Window» utility, but this option is now disabled by default.

Touchpad drivers

The default touchpad driver in this edition is «libinput» (provided by the xserver-xorg-input-libinput package).

If you experience problems with it, you can switch to another driver called «synaptics» (provided by the xserver-xorg-input-synaptics package).

To know which driver is used by your input devices, run the following command:

grep -i «Using input driver» /var/log/Xorg.0.log

When both drivers are installed, «synaptics» takes priority.

To switch to the «synaptics» driver, install it with the command:

apt install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

Then log out and log back in.

To go back to using «libinput», simply remove the «synaptics» driver:

apt remove xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

Then log out and log back in.

Note: You can also try installing the «evdev» driver (provided by the xserver-xorg-input-evdev).

To install the complete version of WINE, open a terminal and type:

apt install wine-installer

Among other things, this will install wine-desktop-files, which adds menu entries for regedit, your C:\ drive and other items which are missing from upstream WINE.

Sound and microphone issues

If you’re facing issues with your microphone or your sound output, please install «pavucontrol».

This will add «PulseAudio Volume Control» to your menu. This application has more configuration options than the default volume control.

DVD Playback with VLC

If VLC does not find your DVD player, click on Media->Open Disc, and specify ‘/dev/sr0’ as the disc device.

Other issues

Linux Mint 20 is based on Ubuntu 20.04. Make sure to read the Ubuntu release notes.

Username and password in the live session

In the live session, the username is «mint» and the password is empty (i.e. just press Enter if asked for a password).

Moving windows which don’t fit in the screen

If your screen resolution is too low, some windows might not fit in the screen.

While pressing the ALT key, you can grab any part of a window with the mouse and move it across the screen.

Installing multimedia codecs offline

To download the multimedia codecs into an installable archive:

Boot from the Linux Mint ISO on a computer which is connected to the Internet
Open a terminal and type «apt download mint-meta-codecs» (without the quotes)
This creates a «mint-meta-codecs.tgz» archive

On computers which do not have an Internet access, you can decompress this archive and run ./install.sh (or alternatively «sudo dpkg -i *.deb») to install the multimedia codecs.

Solving freezes during the boot sequence

Some graphics cards don’t work well with the open-source driver present in Linux Mint.

If Linux Mint freezes during boot time, use the «Compatibility Mode» boot option.

In this mode you should be able to boot Linux Mint and install it on your computer.

After the installation, reboot the computer and wait for the boot menu to appear.

Add the «nomodeset» option as illustrated below:

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If your graphics card is from NVIDIA, once in Linux Mint, perform the following steps to install the NVIDIA drivers:

Run the Driver Manager
Choose the NVIDIA drivers and wait for them to be installed
Reboot the computer

With these drivers the system should now be stable and you no longer need to use «nomodeset».

Note: If you’re using an Optimus card, you’ve nothing more to do. Upon reboot, a system tray icon should show up indicating which GPU is currently active. Click on it to switch GPUs.

Note: If you still cannot boot try one of the following solutions:

Try with «nouveau.noaccel=1» instead of «nomodeset».
Try with «noapic noacpi nosplash irqpoll» instead of «quiet splash».
After the installation, use «Advanced Options» -> «Recovery mode» from the boot menu and choose «resume».

Choosing the right version of Linux Mint

Each new version comes with a new kernel and a newer set of drivers. Most of the time, this means newer versions are compatible with a larger variety of hardware components, but sometimes it might also introduce regressions. If you are facing hardware issues with the latest version of Linux Mint and you are unable to solve them, you can always try an earlier release. If that one works better for you, you can stick to it, or you can use it to install Linux Mint and then upgrade to the newer release.

Thanks to your donations and advertising Linux Mint is completely free of charge. We hope you’ll enjoy using it as much as we enjoy working on it.

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Linux Mint Forums

Welcome to the Linux Mint forums!

Which version is stable ??

Post by Torque14 » Tue Jul 11, 2017 6:03 pm

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by JerryF » Tue Jul 11, 2017 6:10 pm

All of these are stable:

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by majpooper » Tue Jul 11, 2017 6:53 pm

I will get flamed but will give my opinion anyway.

Yes, they are all stable.

17.3 is probably the most stable only because it has been around the longest and has had the bugs worked out. It always takes a little time for any new OS to get wrung out once it has been released.

I have installed Linux Mint for several noobs and folks with limited computer skills. I have been installing 17.3 because there are few issues — actually no issues on my installs so far. On the other hand based on threads on this forum 18.x still has some things like wifi, just to name one, to be worked out.

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Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by Mattyboy » Tue Jul 11, 2017 6:56 pm

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by JeremyB » Tue Jul 11, 2017 7:11 pm

majpooper wrote: I will get flamed but will give my opinion anyway.

Yes, they are all stable.

17.3 is probably the most stable only because it has been around the longest and has had the bugs worked out. It always takes a little time for any new OS to get wrung out once it has been released.

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by Torque14 » Tue Jul 11, 2017 7:37 pm

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by mr_raider » Tue Jul 11, 2017 8:02 pm

Can you post the exact specs?

Cinnamon is very finicky about graphics. The mate, KDE and xfce versions are far more stable IMHO.

I use mint 18.2 and can run steam games like Torchlight 2, pillars of eternity, and divinity original sin.

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by JerryF » Tue Jul 11, 2017 8:18 pm

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by Torque14 » Tue Jul 11, 2017 8:22 pm

mr_raider wrote: Can you post the exact specs?

Cinnamon is very finicky about graphics. The mate, KDE and xfce versions are far more stable IMHO.

I use mint 18.2 and can run steam games like Torchlight 2, pillars of eternity, and divinity original sin.

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by mr_raider » Tue Jul 11, 2017 8:34 pm

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by Torque14 » Tue Jul 11, 2017 8:46 pm

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by Schultz » Tue Jul 11, 2017 10:20 pm

Thanks for the reminder. I didn’t realize that it was already that close to the end. Updated to the 4.10 series.
[/offtopic]

But to get back on the OP’s topic: I see you’re running Mate. If you want to go with a Mint 17 version, I agree with majpooper, go with 17.3. If you want to run an 18 version, I suggest 18.1. I’m running 18.2 (Mate) and there is one buggy thing about it, occasionally it changes the icon theme even though it is still set on the theme I originally chose. Rebooting fixes the problem. I’m assuming this is a Mate problem and not a Mint problem (Mate was updated in Mint version 18.2).

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by mr_raider » Tue Jul 11, 2017 10:23 pm

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by majpooper » Wed Jul 12, 2017 3:07 pm

I run a Lonovo T430 as well — same spec as yours. I do no gaming so I cannot speak to that but everything else runs with no problems .
I run it with LM 17.3 Cinnamon and it is rock solid — I even found a python utility to sync my fitbit via bluetooth.

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by Spearmint2 » Wed Jul 12, 2017 3:19 pm

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by altair4 » Wed Jul 12, 2017 3:23 pm

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by Spearmint2 » Wed Jul 12, 2017 3:35 pm

Re: Which version is stable ??

Post by I2k4 » Thu Jul 13, 2017 8:30 am

My experience has been that versions released as stable improve through point releases. M17.x has been great and I’m running it until the third party repository dries out (out of date software may be «stable» but isn’t optimal. So far no reason to upgrade (fresh install) and spend hours configuring the OS and third party software.

That said, as we know, Linux nearly always chases the hardware (unlike Windows where the OEMs chase Microsoft and designs hardware and drivers for it) and nobody can be confident on the basis of anybody’s «say so» that a distro will work on their particular hardware configuration. I always recommend creating a persistent Live USB and running that for several weeks , testing all the machine’s components and peripheral devices, before installing to the hard drive or relying on it for production. I found various problems with M18.0 on my machines that have been resolved in the point releases — I’d be comfortable installing M18.2 now.

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