| STARTING OUT WITH LINUX MINT Getting Away from the Corporate Operating System Bullshit Brigade |
 NOTE: The author of this page is not affiliated nor paid by Linux Mint. I am writing this 100% out of my own experiences with the Operating System, on my own, and provide no warranty, guarantee, or responsibility for your computer(s) or the data contained within. You do this AT YOUR OWN RISK. I hold no responsibility, legal or otherwise, for your own actions!
As we know, I'm what some nerds would call me "hyper-critical" about operating systems. I hate Microsoft Windows for their authoritarian moves and choice to change settings on a system I own. I hate Apple for their planned obsolescence and basically taking an open-source O/S (MacOS is a *nix variant like Linux is) and making it even harder to work with as a techie type, and I'm going to confess, Linux ain't perfect either. So here's how I setup my Linux Mint setups so it does not drive me insane. First off, the Hardware Most "hardware" peeps, especially geeks and nerds, and guys like myself (techie types who don't make it our whole life), will tell you that you will need some kind of Ryzen Threadripper with 100 cores, 128GB of RAM, and 9TB of Hard Disk space for most OSes to be "happy". I feel that it's time we move above and beyond all that nerd/geek speak shit and start getting realistic and honest about what a computer requires in your use case. I typically try to use a computer that's 10 years or younger, and has at least 8GB of RAM, and an SSD of 256GB or more if it comes to daily use. That applies to a LOT of orphaned machines out there that are more than capable of the job. I'm writing this right now on a 10 year old iMac 21.5" from late 2015. That is one of the nice things about Linux, it'll run on darn near everything, and be pretty much usable somewhat comfortably. I even have this on a 15 year old Mac Mini as well. But honestly, all you need is hardware based on the PC architecture - or close enough to it, to run Linux Mint, and built within the last 10-15 years. And I have a feeling with all of Trump's tariffs on China (where most computer components and parts are built) and whatnot, not to be political, but I think things are going to get a hell of a lot worse, and people are going to be keeping their current machines for longer. Basically, almost any "garbage" PC will do the job. For me, I usually wind up with people just giving me old crap, and I end up fixing it up. Usually I try to max out the RAM if possible (in some cases, such as this iMAC, I'm stuck at 8GB), and throw in at least a 256GB SSD, or faster, in the computer's format (m2, mSATA, or SATA 2.5" usually) to allow me to use it. This is one reason I'm so spiteful of Manufacturers moving towards what I call "disposeable hardware", because I like to be able to fix, and upgrade my stuff, and use it until it's truly "garbabge" and not just someone's poor abused Wintel or Mac that probably never got tweaked, tuned, optimized, or upgraded. Yeah, I'm one of those "right to repair" guys, get over it. I don't need a "right to repair" either, I'll fix it myself and mod it if I can with a soldering iron, and have done so in the past. I'm not an easy guy to thwart. Other than that, the hardware isn't a big deal. One of the more irritating things I deal with has more to do with the design of modern hardwar e- ie - Not Enough USB ports for all my crap. Most people just look at lolcat videos and watch YouTubes on their computers, or maybe play A game at best. I play multiple games, write this website, write other things, e-mail, pay bills, run errands, make videos, program, artwork, music....a computer get's a full lifetime with me. That's why I'm open to having multiples, because sometimes I really run my systems into the ground. Preliminary Things - My Use-Case Philosophies Like I said, your average consumer just uses their PC to pay bills, look at stuff on the internet, and maybe play a game. Me, I use mine like what a Sports Utility Vehicle based on a truck is actually intended for, like an old Jeep, 1st Gen Explorer (assuming a Soccer Mom isn't driving it), or a 60's Land Rover or Bronco - I push these things to their utter limits, and even moreso since I'm using OLDER machines. I don't think this iMac came even close to the level of hard work until it met me, now it's doing things I think would make Tim Cook cringe, even on it's native O/S....let's talk about that... What's the deal with the Macs - So during the 2000's, the iPod came out, became the world's most popular MP3 player, then the iPhone came out, so people of course, started flocking to Apple's computers to escape the Microsoft Empire. When they did, it increased the pile of used Mac computers. Especially since Macs have a pretty fininite lifecycle - this one, a late 2015 iMac 21.5" - is pretty much there. It's 10 years old, it's stuck on MacOS Monterey I believe, and thusly soon-to-be-useless as a "mac" due to recent events. Once software support ends, there's no point in doing what I've done with this - dual booting MacOS and Linux Mint. I do it because I feel more secure with Linux Mint, but there's some cool things about MacOS - with the most important to me being GarageBand. But once I install MacOS and can't install GarageBand, it's useless to me as a "mac" - then it's time to install Ardour on Linux and use that. An example of an "outdated" mac that's "useless" as a MacOS machine would be my Mac Mini. It's a 2010 model, seems the flat-cut-off for Apple products is 15 years. While this is over the general, a 15 year old Mac is still good enough for basic tasks, or things that don't take a lot of horsepower. That's why I wiped it and made it full time Linux Mint. It works great now, though a little slow if I try to run anything heavy-handed. When it comes to PC's, I'm far more flexiable. |
