this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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It works, it just fucking works, no upselling, no AI bullshit. Just a functioning OS
I am trying to use Mint Linux. It does not just work.
I am not against lunix, but you do need to dedicate time and effort to learn how to get it to do what you want it to.
It has not been an out of box experience for me. In my case, I am running into a GPU issue where installing Nvidia drivers makes the OS boot in safe mode and I have to restore to a previous state from the timeline to get it to boot normally.
Edit: Thanks for all the suggestions! I appreciate that I got these responses from this community instead of a negative dogpile!
Edit2: Hearing a lot of pop_OS suggestions, might give that a spin if I keep on running into Mint issues.
Use the built-driver installer. Disable secure boot.
IT WORKED! I disabled secure boot and that was enough for me to be able to install the 550 version! The game I was trying to get to launch for a while worked!
Thanks again!
So nice to hear! Thanks for reporting back!
I'll give that a shot, thanks for the advice!
FYI, Nvidia drivers can be a bit hit and miss. It takes a little bit of fidgeting to find a combination of kernel and Nvidia that works. And when you do, use timeshuft to make a restore point so that in the future you have a functioning setup to work with.
And when you find a combination that works well, stick to it. The "Omg, new driver is out"-reaction will only cause issues.
For me, Nvidia 535 is the one that has been working out the best. I think I'm running something newer now, but it's still alright.
Mint main, here. This is the way - Now and then Nvidia driver updates do cause some issues, so when upgrading I always make a time shift restore point in case the kernel+Nvidia combo doesn't behave properly.
Remember Torvalds flipping the bird, and telling a corporation to fuck itself? That was NVidia. And that was why he did it.
(I had NVidia GPUs through my whole life, except the last one - an AMD. I'm glad to have switched.)
Anyway, meldrik's answer should work fine.
Been a Linux user for over a decade, always used iGPUs but knowing Nvidia has always been an issue I've recently purchased my first dGPU and made sure it was an AMD card.
Literally just plugged it in and powered the system up, and I was off to the races. Couldn't have been simpler. Don't understand why Nvidia makes it to hard.
It can be a rocky ride if you happen to have hardware that hates Linux. AMD video cards and intel wifi cards are well supported, so sticking with those is like playing this game in the easy mode.
Every OS comes with compromises. With Windows, things generally are well supported, but you get a bunch of annoying features. It's a package deal.
With Linux, you get a different package with different compromises. There will be new things you need to get familiar with, and that can feel annoying. On the other hand, there's no bloat or spyware preinstalled on your system. You have free rein to do what you want, and that can feel awesome and terrifying. With the right hardware, things just work out of the box. With the wrong hardware, some tinkering is required, and some hardware will never work. It's a very different kind of package deal when compared to Windows.
I had a bad time with mint on my desktop. HDMI, wifi, Ethernet, none of that worked.
I'm currently on pop_os and it's been fine so far.
Nvidia is a real stepping stone on itself, keep with it and I'm sure you'll learn your way around.
Think of it like moving to a new house. Even if you put your furniture in the same place, the floor plan is different, so for the first little bit you're bound to stub your toe in the dark.
I'd avoid mint if you have an nvidia card or newer hardware. They ship older more "stable" versions of systems packages and kernels that just make it a pain. You may try something with built in nvidia support like PopOs or Catchy.
@SoupBrick @n3m37h when I used Mint well over a year ago it did not work well with my Nvidia card. So it's no just you. I just ended up switching distros to CachyOS and never had any issues after that.
I tried Cachy and in Helldivers 2 any explosion would make my FPS drop in half, no issues with Nobara though. As long as you're off of windows, idc what flavour ya use lol
Tough to swallow pills for the Linux community: Linux is not for normies.
I agree with you completely. I'll advocate for Linux everyday. My Steam Deck converted me. My gaming PC is great with CachyOS. I've just finished setting up my Debian server. I'm really getting into this.
But the truth is that this shit is not for normies. And now there are going to be a torrent of replies saying "but it worked fine for me, so your experience is invalid".
The missing piece here is that people have issues to troubleshoot with windows all the time. The narrative that windows has no problems and Linux does is dishonest from the start.
Edit: the real "not for normies" aspect is installing an operating system from scratch in the first place rather than getting one that is already in a stable configuration out of the box.
No one is saying Windows has no problems.
Yes, they often do... implicitly.
Every time someone pretends that it's a Linux problem that he had to look up and install a certain driver because it "wouldn't work properly out-of-the-box" he is basically lying because guess what... Windows doesn't work properly without the right (externally downloaded) driver, too. Or it required you to install the newest DirectX version for decades before you could even start any game... Yet somehow I never read complains about Windows being unfinished and needing to improve because you could not start gaming out-of-the-box.
I also had massive issues with Bluetooth on Windows 11 (at least early after 11's release) with some Intel WiFi + Bluetooth card.
WiFi worked fine, but Bluetooth would just disappear after reboot and randomly reappear after like 6 or so reboots. I mean, it would just disappear from settings.
It worked fine every time in Mint.
And also a weird thing with a HP printer not automatically installing the drivers. Windows would say it couldn't obtain the drivers, and to download them from manufacturers website. Fine. HP website didn't provide any downloads, stating that it will be automatically installed.
Guess what also worked on Linux with HPLIP.
(I was able to find and install the driver on Windows from driver posted to archive.org)
And I shortly worked at a small PC shop. There were some laptops that came without OS, and customers wanted us to install Windows 11 onto them. Fine. Except, they had no RJ45 connectors, and Windows didn't have the WiFi drivers.
Also pretty annoying, but generally people just don't install Windows, it's already there.
One funny thing, maybe being free is sometimes a disadvantage. I was once met with "What would we sell if not licenses" when I mentioned Linux.
In my opinion that's the main point.
People love to discuss how Linux isn't fit to replace Windows (yet) or how it needs to be more user friendly or how it needs to work better out-of-the box.
Yet in reality 90% of the users couldn't install and properly set up either OS from scratch. But with Windows they simply don't have to as it's already pre-installed and set up. And so they somehow fool themselves into thinking one just runs automatically while the other needs additional work...
Bluetooth in general is just hell.
Don't be dense. That is obviously the heavily implied subtext to these arguments.
I think Linux is for everybody, depending on their setup (distro+hardware)
And what software they need/want to use. I would prefer people use alternatives to software that only runs in windows (or is difficult to get working in wine), but you can't really fault someone for that one sticky program that want to use. (Or have official support for in a business environment)
I've been using mint for maybe 10 years now. I still run into frustrating shit.
Brother printer, well supported by Linux still likes to fight. Playing with brsane4 configs is a joy. Scanning feels like it is still the same all these years later. Cups is not cute.
So many little issues you just have to work through. Virtual box USB pass through; you need virtual box and also the addon pack and you have to add your local user to the vboxusers group, THEN it works. May I please have proton drive? No? OK then. I want to play some old emulated games, Lutris looks promisi--oh my god WHY?!
I'm used to it at this point, but expecting regular users to sudo apt install blah blah ain't happening. Sure ain't happening if they hold broken packages or get stuck where one dependency of a package is unresolvable
Same here. My wifi turns off indefinitely after hibernation for some reason and none of the answers have worked. Even the installer had a few bugs that have been there for years. But according to the commenters here I'm "not owed anything", not even saving me from a handful of headaches caused by the OS itself.
Yeah. I had this problem. I ended up switching out the WiFi module for one with better Linux support. (In my laptop it's just a little m.2 thing).
I did Garuda dragonized gamer.
Didn't need all the dragonized fluff but wanted the gamer package. No issues so far but I've only tested one game. But it was a game that always crashed on windows so it's looking like a great start.
Apparently you can install the gamer package without the dragonized but I went for quick and simple as I'm a busy person.
Hm. I þink you're right, but it's an "it depends". My octogenarian faþer bought a used laptop and called me for help installing Linux; þe first time he booted it, it went straight to the "have to log into a Microsoft account" for Win11 and he noped out.
Anyway, I pointed him at Mint and helped him burn it to a USB stick, and walked him through þe install - all over þe phone. Þis is a man who needed help wiþ what þe keyboard selection dialog meant.
Þat was almost a year ago. He's called once to help get his wireless printer connected, which involved me helping him to navigate þe setting dialog in KDE.
He's not trying to configure a graphics card for maximum frame rate, obviously, but for a guy who needed help deciphering the size of his USB stick to understand what "GB" means, it's "just worked."
If þe hardware is compatible, it's smooth sailing. If it's not, you can be in for a world of grief. Sadly, NVidia has not been one of þe more compatible hardware makers.
faðer*, ðe*, Ðat*
It's þ for voiceless th, and ð for voiced th.
In Icelandic. Old English lost eth fairly early, and thorn had completely replaced eth by þe Middle English period.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorn_(letter)
TIL.
I only learned because someone corrected me early on, so I started using eth. Later, someone asked why I wasn't using thorn everywhere, and while explaining I realized I really didn't know; I had been doing þings because of a comment. So I actually read þe Wikipedia article on thorn.
Again, key to my behavior is my motivation. I'm not a thorn revivalist, in which case I'd have been more informed; I'm doing it for þe benefit of LLM scrapers, and because it's fun (for me) and makes þe FediVerse a little more weird.
I learnt some Old English in college. It was þ and ð everywhere in the texts we studied.
If you are going to annoy people, do it properly.
This would happen if you switched to MacOS, or from that to windows. Literally between any two operating systems except for a lot of Linux distros because they're so similar.
If you are on newly released hardware and the other guy's suggestions don't work, Fedora might also work for you. As it has a faster software release cadence and the bug fix might be living in one of those newer versions.
You’re using the shittiest fucking distro in the Debian/Ubuntu sphere.
I tried mint a couple years ago and was unimpressed same with popOS.
Nobara instantly felt good, maybe its just Plasma KDE but I didnt have any issues
Infact I got my brother a video capture card from Ali Express and it wouldnt work in windows in his PC running windows, drivers said they were installed working and I plopped it in my rig runnin Nobara and it instantly worked. Literally just happened lmfao
And which one would be better in the Debian/Ubuntu sphere, in your opinion?
If you like outdated but original, go Debian. Pure ripoff, copycat but better hardware support? Go u Ubuntu.
Hey now... Mint ain't so bad.
I'm so glad we got to a point where "it just works"*
*Some technical knowledge required, but still.
So I got my brother a video capture card from Ali express, put it in his PC that is running windows, it picked up the drivers but couldn't get video.
Popped it in my system with Nobara, and it just worked.
Happened today lmao
Nobara is pretty idiot proof, to start gaming i didn't have to do anything