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Linux Mint 22 released: An attractive option for migrating away from Windows | Windows 11 system requirements block millions of PCs from upgrading, while Linux Mint continues to work on older hardware

The Linux Mint team has just released Linux Mint 22, a new major version of the free Linux distribution. With Windows 10’s end of support coming up quickly next year, at least some users may consider making the switch to Linux.

While there are other options, paying Microsoft for extended support or upgrading to Windows 11, these options are not available for all users or desirable.

Linux Mint 22 is a long-term service release. Means, it is supported until 2029. Unlike Microsoft, which made drastic changes to the system requirements of Windows 11 to lock out millions of devices from upgrading to the new version, Linux Mint will continue to work on older hardware, even after 2029.

Here are the core changes in Linux Mint 22:

  • Based on the new Ubuntu 24.04 package base.
  • Kernel version is 6.8.
  • Software Manager loads faster and has improved multi-threading.
  • Unverified Flatpaks are disabled by default.
  • Preinstalled Matrix Web App for using chat networks.
  • Improved language support removes any language not selected by the user after installation to save disk space.
  • Several under-the-hood changes that update libraries or software.
skulblaka ,
@skulblaka@sh.itjust.works avatar

Oh, neat, I installed Mint on my home machine literally 3 days ago without knowing Mint 22 was coming. Time to upgrade lmao

Rampsquatch ,

I made the switch to mint a few months ago. Its astounding to me just how slowly windows boots and I never noticed until I made the switch.

You got me, Lemmy. I caught the Linux from you and I can’t go back.

Buelldozer ,
@Buelldozer@lemmy.today avatar

Mint boots SHOCKINGLY fast, like sub 2 seconds, on a couple of systems I have. Its basically as fast as “booting” one of my old Commodore computers!

amanda ,
@amanda@aggregatet.org avatar

Did not see “faster than Commodore 64!” coming!

Buelldozer ,
@Buelldozer@lemmy.today avatar

Did not see “faster than Commodore 64!” coming!

As an American I am required by our Constitution to use bizarre units of measure. 😊

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Last I checked, one desktop computer with Mint installed = seventeen TRS-80s.

skulblaka ,
@skulblaka@sh.itjust.works avatar

That’s equal to 68 TI-84s!

brbposting ,

<2 seconds from powered off to being able to start to open e.g. a web browser?

If so that is indeed truly shocking. Curious what your stopwatch says from powered off to a homepage loaded ready to use.

Buelldozer ,
@Buelldozer@lemmy.today avatar

<2 seconds from powered off to being able to start to open e.g. a web browser?

So that’s time on a reboot as measured from when the UEFI splash goes away to being presented with the logon screen. That feels roughly the same as Commodore’s “Ready” prompt, at least to me. Although the case can be made that the desktop should be up and loaded too. I’d have to enable “auto logon” to get that one.

Curious what your stopwatch says from powered off to a homepage loaded ready to use.

As I said to @Liz I’m starting to wonder just how fast I can make it with a bit of work. The hardware is nothing special but after the UEFI screen goes away GRUB comes and goes so fast it’s unreadable and then…you’re just looking at the logon screen.

Right now that PC is tied up running TestDisk and it’ll likely take another 2-3 days to finish. Once it’s done and I can reboot I’ll do some measuring and tweaking.

brbposting ,

Heck yeah LMK!!

Liz ,

Booting from a full power off state?

Buelldozer ,
@Buelldozer@lemmy.today avatar

Reboot but a cold start isn’t exactly fair because the Commodore doesn’t have a BIOS / UEFI splash screen. Although now that you bring it up I’m slightly interested in timing it and seeing exactly how fast I can make the cold start process.

HC4L ,

Just switched after seeing how much of my Steam library I could play on my Deck. Just have to switch back for BF5 sometimes and I don’t miss Windows at all. Very nice experience.

ABCDE ,

How much does it play and what about a GPU in terms of compatibility?

gamermanh ,
@gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

If it runs on proton it runs on mint

The only issues I’ve had are the companies who refuse to enable the Linux versions of their Anti-Cheat, everything else has run and run better than Windows

I use a 2080ti and even with that negative it only took about 15 minutes of fiddling to get my GPU working just fine in everything

conciselyverbose ,

Nvidia is less consistent, but there are distros that do the work to make it work reasonably. You do want to check for how well a distro supports nvidia before choosing it if that’s you card, but my experience has been fine.

The biggest limitation game wise is multiplayer games with invasive anticheat, but you can check specific titles on protonDB to see how well they work. Non steam games (again, excluding anticheat) also mostly work, but other launchers can involve more setup compared to just using steam’s built in translation.

HC4L ,

Short answer because I’m drunk but I have to admit I’m somewhat older so I play a lot of indie titles. And one of the few triple A games that I play (BF5) forces me to boot into Windows but that is a fraction of what I play.

I use Discord, Steam and Firefox mainly and don’t do much productivity wise so probably a biased experience.

My 6750XT was automatically installed and had no work from it whatsoever.

ABCDE ,

That’s quite similar to me. I have an Xbox for Game Pass (Fortnite with the missus and whatever goes on there that looks interesting); a Mac for work/studies/games which are compatible and not intensive; and a Deck for other stuff, so I can see how much is compatible. Every time I think ohh, I’d like to play that (properly), the thought of going back to Windows makes me baulk. What mid-to-lower-range GPU should I be looking at, AMD also?

radivojevic ,

Tbf, most distros work on older hardware.

n2burns ,

Eh, depends how much older. My daily is a Thinkpad x201, and while I love Linux Mint, every once in a while I get curious about other distros. However, as many times as I’ve tried, there’s a bunch of distros whose LiveUSBs just won’t boot (for example Pop! OS).

GnuLinuxDude ,
@GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml avatar

I wish I could get an x201 with an identical form factor and keyboard, indicator lights, etc, but otherwise upgraded components (cpu/ram/display/ports). That is my dream.

I also have an x201, but it runs too warm and too noisy for me to keep up with it. I now have an M1 Macbook which I use Asahi Linux and macOS on with about a 50/50 split. But the x201 feels better in the hand and on the desk.

n2burns , (edited )

100%. I know this computer is getting to the end of it’s life. I’ve upgraded it as much as possible (SSD, 8GB of RAM, new battery) and it still lives almost completely on it’s dock.

I’ve previously looked into converting it to a USB or bluetooth keyboard, and now I’m curious if I could convert it to a KVM console for a SteamDeck. I’m not quite sure yet if this idea is brilliant or brain-dead (probably both).

EDIT: Instead of KVM console, I think the more modern term would be a Lapdock.

radivojevic ,

I think, realistically, anything up to 10 years ago can run most distros. Some better than others, of course, because of the DE load.

I’ve got kde neon on a 2013 MacBook Air and it’s great. I also have put Ubuntu budgie and SDesk on an old HP Chromebook with 4gb of ram. And, obviously the 16gb disk is crippling, but it runs better than expected haha.

BigDaddySlim ,
@BigDaddySlim@lemmy.world avatar

Not entirely true in my case, I’ve got an old Inspiron 530 that I have been trying to figure out what to do with. Well it ran Vista from the factory so that’s worthless now, so I figured I’d try putting Linux on it. Every single distro I tried installing just wouldn’t get past the splash screen. Mint, Ubuntu, Arch (GUI and manual installer), Pop_OS, ChimeraOS, nothing. Trying different USB media writing methods did nothing or made it not even show as a bootable device. Finally got Xunbuntu to work on it and even that took 3 attempts to install.

I’ve got a more recent HP that was originally Win 7 that did have a much higher success rate and an old Acer laptop that straight up will not boot Linux without a high amount of errors or just completely borked graphics even with multiple distros.

But I’m also an idiot so it’s probably me.

c0smokram3r ,
@c0smokram3r@midwest.social avatar

I use mint btw 🌿

DaddleDew ,

I revived a 15 year old laptop by installing Linux Mint on it (and replacing the hard drive for an old SSD I had kicking around). It does everything a modern laptop would do except play new games now.

Rooki ,
@Rooki@lemmy.world avatar

Linux Mint is just great :)

NateNate60 ,

Agreed. I managed to get my grandpa onto Linux using Mint on his old computer. He said the interface resembled classic Windows and was up and running in less than five minutes. I just had to show him how to use the software manager and that’s it.

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

I got my aunt’s laptop on Mint. Was unusable with Win 10, like click the start button, wait 4 minutes and then the start menu opens. Took right to it, especially since she’s been using an Android tablet for just about everything so she knew what an app store was. “Linux calls it a software manager” was all the training required.

FlashMobOfOne ,
@FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world avatar

It’s also got so many features that just make sense, like extending to separate monitors being automated, or when you download multiple files they’re automatically zipped to conserve space.

I did love Mint.

Xeroxchasechase ,

Linux Mint was my gateway drug to linux. It’s simple and powerful! Now I’m a happy KDE user, but you never forget the first love

radivojevic ,

Plasma is quite nice now.

ripcord ,
@ripcord@lemmy.world avatar

It really is. I don’t get the love for the tabletish gnome interface everyone is using.

I get why some people like it, for sure. I’m just surprised so many “power users” seem to.

Nachorella ,

Power users probably just use hotkeys and type, Gnome is attractive and stays out of your way. That said - I like Plasma, too. That’s the fun of Linux, it’s so customisable to each person’s needs.

TrickDacy ,
@TrickDacy@lemmy.world avatar

KDE has continually felt less solid to me when I’ve used it, and the reviews I’ve seen of it seem to note that is still the case.

Cincinnatus ,

Less solid how? I use it everyday and don’t really notice any problems

AIhasUse ,

Yeah, it’s fantastic. I don’t know how I spent so much time in gnome before finding KDE, I can’t imagine going back. I guess there could be something better out there, I’d love to know about it if there is.

TrickDacy ,
@TrickDacy@lemmy.world avatar

Just as in general bugginess and less smooth compatibility with random apps and theming. The whole DE system dying and auto restarting itself, stuff like that. General “feeling” of solidness. I’m glad you don’t have those issues.

superkret , (edited )

Gnome is just perfect for laptops and convertibles. I can quickly navigate it using the touchpad and super key. It also has better touch screen support, and with one extension (hide top bar), literally all of the screen real estate is available for your work. Hit the super key or 3-finger-swipe up and the UI appears. Do it again to show all your applications and desktops. Or just start typing to search. 3-finger-swipe sideways to switch to another virtual desktop. All my programs are full-screen and on their own desktop. The animations are so smooth, it’s a joy to use.
And the Gnome apps are just simple and reduced to what you actually need.

On a desktop PC I prefer Plasma for its customizability and smaller UI elements. It’s better for navigating with a mouse (although you can also turn it into a Gnome-clone or a tiling WM just with built-in options). And the KDE apps feel more “professional”, with lots of additional functionality, options and settings.

I’m glad both exist.

Sparky ,
@Sparky@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

What distro are you running with plasma? I’ve had issues with instability on KDE neon, so I’m planning to switch to a different distro. Plasma is still nice, so I’m looking for inspiration for what to mix and match.

superkret ,

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.

Sparky ,
@Sparky@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Nice. I’ll look into OpenSUSE!

Cincinnatus ,

Kubuntu is what I use

thearch ,
@thearch@sh.itjust.works avatar

It has a unique workflow which clicks for people like me, even if they’re on a desktop. It encourages workspaces by making creating and switching between them instant and seamless, and i like seeing all of my windows at once by just pressing the super key.

https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/ff46354d-f6b9-4222-b51a-9662d03018c1.png

ThePinkUnicorn ,

Oh I love your wallpaper, do you have a link to somewhere I can download it?

thearch ,
@thearch@sh.itjust.works avatar

Sure, I use an extension to get daily wallpapers, but here’s the image for that day:

High quality link

https://files.catbox.moe/nx2sk1.jpg

Blisterexe ,

Is it a bing image of the day?

ThePinkUnicorn ,

Thank you!

uzay ,

With Overview you can get something very similar in Plasma, though you’d need to change the default shortcut to open it by just pressing the super key.

thearch ,
@thearch@sh.itjust.works avatar

However it’s not as quick, and it’s not considered the main method of navigating your windows. AFAIK you can’t switch workspaces by scrolling there or have your apps list visible.

Blisterexe ,

It got updated in plasma 6 and now its the same as the gnome version except theres no dock

FlashMobOfOne ,
@FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world avatar

I ran a dual-boot for a month and a half when news about Windows Recall broke, but unfortunately, my Nvidia setup experienced a lot of bugs and proved to just be too incompatible.

So, when I upgrade to a new computer later this year, I’m going to make this machine a Linux-only machine with a different distro, and then have my other PC for all my gaming needs.

Cincinnatus ,

You probably needed to download some drivers for your gpu

FlashMobOfOne ,
@FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world avatar

I tried several.

None of them functioned well, and over that period of time it became clear it was a system issue. But, I know there are other distros that are more Nvidia-friendly, and when the time comes, I’ll use one of those.

Thankfully there’s O&O ShutUp to turn off Windows tracking for now.

gnygnygny ,

That’s probably the main issue with Linux. Drivers. If you own many peripherals the switch is quiet impossible. Most of them are not addressed and when it is it is far to be plug and play. And wasting hours to setup one periphecal can be very frustrating.

QuantumSparkles ,

I’m really inexperienced with Linux but I’ve become interested since getting a steamdeck which uses KDE for its desktop, which I’ve enjoyed—so how do KDE and mint compare?

ECB ,

KDE: traditional desktop environment with focus on lots of customization, options, and features. Often aimed more towards enthusiasts or everyday users who want the latest features.

GNOME: non-traditional desktop focusing on simplicity. Designed to be used a very specific way to maximize productivity. Often aimed more towards corporate or professional users.

Mint uses their own desktop environment (cinnamon) which is somewhere between the two.

All of these are nice in their own way, you just need to find which one you like best!

Xeroxchasechase ,

I’ve found that kde is much more powerful, in the sense that you can do whatever you want with it, in terms of desktop experience, but maybe it’s not needed at first. Mint gives great experience out of the box, but not much you can change.

SaharaMaleikuhm ,

I use Plasma on Mint. Love my setup

Xeroxchasechase ,

Did you match the theme to look like cinnamon?

Beloti ,

deleted_by_moderator

    •
    MushuChupacabra ,
    @MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world avatar

    Can you recommend a bot that will contact that number incessantly?

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