Linux Mint 19 Tara
It’s been over 200 days since this site was updated. I think that’s more an indicator if the reliability of Linux than anything else.
Last Friday week I downloaded Mint 19 Cinnamon Beta. It hadn’t been officially announced but the ISOs were up on the server so I downloaded a copy.
Initially I thought of testing it in a VirtualBox but then decided I would grab some space on my hard disk and do a triple boot (Windows, Mint 18.3 and Mint 19). I expected some minor problems, considering this was an early Beta, but there were none.
The first thing I noticed was the artwork. There is a lot more of it! But then I started messing around with it and found quite a few differences. Some little niggly faults have been ironed out, Google Earth runs without any tweaks (I tend to use GE as a benchmark as it is usually quite problematic) and there were some additions. Also I got the distinct impression that 19 is a lot faster than its predecessor, but not having any benchmark tests I don’t have any figures on that.
Possibly the most noticeable addition is Timeshift. I would describe this as a cross between Windows Restore and Backup. It takes a copy of everything on its list, whether that is the root software, the Home partition or whatever you fancy and does this on a predetermined regularity.
Frankly I was so impressed with 19 that I decided that it was more than good enough to become my primary OS. This did lead to some problems as my test partition I had created was considerably smaller that the old working one so I decided to do a ton of resizing and moving of partitions. (I wrote a light-hearted account of that process on my other site). Apart from the moving and resizing I also created a small partition specifically for Timeshift, to keep the backup files is a separate area in case of disaster.
So far I cannot find a single fault with 19.
I’m a happy camper.
With some help from this site’s author, after his article in that other place, I installed Mint 19 64bit Xfce in a dual boot with Win7 on my ancient Dell and I can’t fault it- well except it won’t talk to my printer (GGGRRRRRH! Really Guys? That might have been excusable back when I was using Red Hat 4 but nowadays?!). Infact I only seem to boot into Windows now for one programme which i haven’t yet wine’d . Compared to Win7 Mint 19 seems incredibly fast -especially at reading my drive- and yet my laptop runs quieter, cooler and smoother.
Just saying. If anyone passing has been considering switching or dual booting, its worth a try. However if you’re a total linux newbie (and the chances are if you’re reading here that you aren’t) then do get someone to help, especially if you want to keep windows in a dual boot. Preferably a ‘someone’ who knows what they are talking about. Playing with your partition table is something that requires some knowledge and I was a little disappointed to find that Mint hadn’t simplified/automated the process (again, *really* guys? Gparted? Why not go full on retro and cfdisk?). Would not a 1-click ‘keep windows’ or ‘nuke everything’ install option not make the thing more appealing to Windows refugees ?
Actually, the installation options panel does offer the option to nuke Windows, though they don’t use that precise turn of phrase (“Erase disk and install Linux Mint”).
I wrote a rough and ready guide to installing Mint alongside Windows some time ago. My advice to anyone using Gparted (the tool used in Mint installation) is to firstly BACK UP EVERYTHING. Then if you can’t get someone to help, read a few guides first. It is simple enough, BUT it is easy to screw up your hard disk with a mistake, so double/triple check each step before you press any buttons. Go slowly and carefully and you’ll be fine. But did I mention to BACK UP EVERYTHING first?