I didn’t have this blog yet, so you probably missed it — but back in January, I made the switch from Windows 11 to Linux Mint 22. It’s been almost six months since the transition. So what do I like about Linux so far, and are there still a few minor annoyances?
Time for an update!
TL;DR
Let’s start with the TL;DR of this article. Do I want to go back to Windows?
Short answer: no.
I really like Linux. It’s a lot faster, way less bloated, and it runs smoothly — with a few hacks here and there.
Linux?
Linux? Isn’t that the OS that runs 90% of the internet? I thought it wasn’t really suitable for home use…
Well, that might have been true 10 — or even 20 — years ago, but Linux has aged very well over the past decade.
It’s almost bulletproof, comes with a solid GUI, and has become a lot more user-friendly. I’d even say that anyone who can install Windows 10 or 11 can install Linux Mint 22 without help.
This is my home screen. Looks familiar, doesn’t it?
It has a task tray in the bottom right corner, a start button in the bottom left, and a taskbar showing all the running apps.
And all the usual shortcuts still work too:
- Windows key + E opens my file explorer (Double Commander)
- Windows key + D minimizes all windows and shows the desktop
- Windows key opens the start menu
And I can customize everything — backgrounds, themes, multiple monitors, you name it.
Updates
Updates are smaller and more frequent than on Windows. And best of all: no command line knowledge required.
The update manager has your back.
I’ve had my share of problems with Windows Update. From updates that wouldn’t install, to updates that wrecked my system, to updates that were forcefully installed without my consent.
That last one is what pushed me toward Linux in the first place. Within just two weeks, Windows Update force-upgraded my server to Windows 11 — and broke it.
Then it updated my laptop, breaking it partially in the process.
Hello, Blue Screen of Death…
I’ve yet to encounter my first update problem on Linux. Both my laptop at home and my workstation at the office update just fine.
And more importantly… they update when I tell them to.
Office work
No Microsoft Office on Linux — unless you start fiddling with Wine (no, not the alcoholic beverage :P) or set up a virtual machine.
But luckily, there’s a solid replacement for most office tasks: LibreOffice.
It’s free, has a familiar interface, and can easily open and save .docx and .xlsx files.
Gaming
Works perfectly too. Steam runs just fine on Linux, and with a little help from Proton I can play just about any Steam game out there. Even big titles like Far Cry 5 and 6 run smoothly using a tool called Lutris.
I did run into one small glitch, though. I had set my screen scaling to 125% to make everything a bit more readable on my laptop — hey, I’m getting old and need glasses 😛 But games don’t really like that 125% setting and refused to launch.
Switching it back to 100% fixed everything.
And no — Nvidia driver support is not a problem either.
Coding
Visual Studio Code is available for Linux and works perfectly. JDeveloper and Eclipse run fine too.
Working with XML? No problem. While XMLSpy isn’t available on Linux (yet), Oxygen XML Editor is — and it works just fine.
The only real issue I’ve run into is that Notepad++ isn’t available for Linux. There is a clone called NotepadQQ, which looks very similar — but let me tell you, the last release was in 2018, and it’s buggy as hell. It crashes. A lot.
The only usable alternative I’ve found so far is Geany.
It works — but it’s nowhere near as polished as Notepad++, unfortunately.
And a specific tool I use — PL/SQL Developer — doesn’t work natively on Linux either.
Which is really, really annoying.
Dear Allround Automations: please port it to Linux.
Pretty please.
Did I say please yet?
Music and video
Playing music and video? No problem under Linux. There are plenty of audio players available, and VLC runs perfectly fine.
The first real issue shows up when you want to make music with a DAW. Renoise is available natively for Linux — but most plugins (VSTs) are not.
And getting audio playback to work smoothly? That’s a hassle. I don’t remember all the gritty details, but I do remember this: you have to jump through quite a few hoops to get it working properly.
Latency issues, slow playback… and more.
Graphical editing
Simple: there’s still no tool that comes close to the Adobe suite. And no — while GIMP is cool and can do a lot, it’s nowhere near.
Not even close.
Video editing
Again — no Adobe suite here.
But there are alternatives.
Tools like Kdenlive (and others that also exist on Windows) are available for Linux too.
Performance
In my opinion, Linux is a clear winner. It boots faster, feels lighter — and it’s a lot less bloated.
And I mean a lot.
Right now, I’m running Firefox, a terminal window, LibreOffice, and Thunderbird — and the system is using just 8 GB of memory.
Well… only 4 GB, actually. The other 4 is just buffered.
(Buffered here means Linux just reserves that memory to speed things up — but it can release it instantly when something really needs it.)
Windows 10
Is your computer stuck on Windows 10 because it “doesn’t meet the requirements” for Windows 11?
Yeah — I’m deliberately putting requirements in quotes, because in my humble opinion, this is just planned obsolescence.
Microsoft wants you to buy a new CPU, even though your current i3, i5 or i7 runs just fine — but happens to lack TPM 2.0?
Shame on you, Microsoft.
If your computer still works fine with Windows 10 and you don’t want to upgrade to 11 — please consider giving Linux Mint 22 a try.
I don’t think it will disappoint you.
Video
Here’s a short list of nice videos to check out:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyq7PtFKzzs
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUC9RbrS0q0&list=PLrW4kXWyzgoKKLkdHTH8E5v_JboLeAITi
- Installation guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd_fvye3ZCA
And if you have any questions — feel free to reach out to me. 🙂
Six months in and no regrets whatsoever.
Brain — on the Penguin — OUT. 🧠🐧