Long time Windows user here. I’ve been a M$ sysadmin at a large healthcare conglomerate for 20+ years. It’s all M$ products that I work with.

Anyway…I’ve dabbled here and there with Linux, ran it in VM’s or dual booted, but I’ve always gone back to my comfort zone of Windows.

I’ve “recently” (last 6 months") tied Kubuntu and I did like it, but really hated Snap, so about 3 weeks ago I jumped to Mint. Now I know that both distros are Linux training wheels, but I have to say that I’m really impressed! I forget how fast and responsive Linux is without all the bloat that you get with Windows. The main detractor of sticking with Linux before was gaming, but with Lutris now filling in that gap, there’s nothing holding me back.

For the first time, I would really recommend Linux to friends and (selective) family.

Long story short, after 25+ years of using Windows almost exclusively, I’ve finally made the jump and just blew away my entire M$ partition and I don’t feel bad in the least.

I’m sure I’ll be hanging around this sub for a long time, and I’ll make a jump to a more traditional distro like Debian or Suse. but for now, I’m really impressed with how far Linux has come.

<p>

Edit- Wow, thank you for all the love and support! I’m very happy to hear that I"m in good company with Mint. <p>

I love all the great suggestions too for Vbox alts and game launcher. Gotta love this community. <3

    • neidu2@feddit.nl
      12·
      10 months ago

      What this guy/gal said. Linux user for 25 years here, 10ish of which have been exclusive. And I run Mint on my main PC.

      Because when I can finally wind down after the kids are in bed and I can hear myself think, I just want shit that works, without having to dick around with manual kernel modules and other custom stuff to get basic things working … I get paid to do the latter at work, and I get enough of it there.

  • atzanteol
    25·
    10 months ago

    Now I know that both distros are Linux training wheels

    They’re both good distros with a lot of functionality. No need to denigrate them because they’re easy to use.

    • kylian0087@lemmy.world
      4·
      10 months ago

      Honnestly. I find LFS more of a training wheel.

      Mint is one of the easiest distros that just works imo. No reason to not use it.

  • dingus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    10 months ago

    They are intro distros, sure, but don’t ever think that you have to move to anything else if you don’t want to. Mint is probably the best Linux distro there is if your goal is ease of use, support, and “it just works”. I’d say that’s more than enough for what people want in an OS. I recommend it to anyone looking to hop into Linux, be it temporarily or permanently. People jump into other distros for specific use cases or because they feel like fucking around with something…but that’s absolutely not required or necessary to be a Linux user or advocate.

  • h3ndrik@feddit.de
    9·
    10 months ago

    👍

    I think you’re fine with choosing Mint or whatever distribution you like.

  • absGeekNZ@lemmy.nzEnglish
    8·
    10 months ago

    I have been using various distros since 2008; I use Mint as my daily driver.

    Stability is the biggest factor for me, I want a OS to get out of my way and let me get on with what I’m doing.

  • Steve@lemmy.todayEnglish
    6·
    10 months ago

    Welcome, friend! Glad you decided to try out and stick with Mint. That’s the distro I used as my daily driver for at least 1.5 years. When you have a chance, do try out some of the other Linux distros, especially Arch!

    • cakeistheanswer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      3·
      10 months ago

      +1 here for the arch recommendation as an ex ms sys op. Browsing their repos was outstanding for retooling, most of the config problems you hit are a great way into the ecosystem.

  • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
    5·
    10 months ago

    Linux mint is amazing. I’ve used Linux for many years and it’s still nice. I do wish Linux mint had a more free software install option but that’s a minor complaint.

    • agr8lemon@lemmy.zipOP
      1·
      10 months ago

      And that always makes me laugh. I’ve made a good living for myself trying to keep his servers functional lol.

  • Dariusmiles2123
    5·
    10 months ago

    I’m happy for you as it’s always nice to make that first big jump.

    You won’t regret it. At least, I haven’t!