I Switched to Linux Mint even It is Not My Favourite
Discover my Linux journey switching from Ubuntu to Linux Mint, detailing the challenges with Firefox snap packages, browser compatibility…
Discover my Linux journey switching from Ubuntu to Linux Mint, detailing the challenges with Firefox snap packages, browser compatibility issues, and the search for digital freedom
I have been a very long-time Ubuntu user as a second operating system (not dual boot but different machines), and I decided to dedicate my workflow fully to Linux in my private life. I have never done it before, and my family is very Apple-oriented, so it has started with hard challenges. I shared all the challenges that I faced and solved in my previous articles. Of course, nothing is ended, change is continuous and I am still sharing my journey.
Using Linux Fully without Any Additional System
I changed my distro again… When writing, it seems like it is very easy process to do so but believe me, it is not. Aside from all installations etc., you are also changing your habits, keyboard shortcuts (this is so challenging if you are using keyboard shortcuts in maniac level like me), visual elements, command line commands in specific cases etc.
Why did I switch from Fedora to Ubuntu after 2 years?
But why? Why did I do this change, again?
It’s all started with Firefox
I am using Firefox, no secret. I have also tried several browsers as privacy oriented but I have found several glitches all the time. The closest one that I like aside from Firefox is Brave Web Browser but their translation is also very challenging. Basically it doesn’t translate at all if you don’t wait for seconds if it is not minutes. I am living a country that my mother tongues are not the primary language so although I am OK with the language, I am not the expert. Sometimes, I need translation and sometimes I am too lazy to understand simple things so I would like to use the translation. Unfortunately, it is not happening in Brave and it seems that it is not only my problem: https://community.brave.com/t/brave-translate-doesnt-work/493272 . I found that TWP Translate extension is working fine for Brave with a hacky way: https://community.brave.com/t/brave-translate-doesnt-work/493272 . You need to enable “developer mode” in extensions page in Brave and drag and drop the archive file here. You will have the extension but you will not have auto update. I believe that the developer is not ready for the volume of Chromium-based browsers users because it is a free extension in the end but API calls for translation are not. I don’t like this hacky way but Brave is my second browser.
As you can imagine, my main use of my laptop is a web browser, together with a coding environment. Sometimes, I even use web-based coding environments, so I need to be very comfortable with a web browser. Although not all websites support Firefox properly because of the huge drop in the market share, it is still OK, and I am still happy.
But I couldn’t use Firefox properly in Ubuntu! Firefox comes as snap package by default in Firefox which causes several issues in my usage. The biggest issue is access rights; snap packages don’t have access to system applications so if you would like to stay in snap environment, you need to install everything as snap which communicates with web browser properly. In my case, it is password manager, coding environment and some specific codecs. If I install password manager and coding environment as snap, then I am losing the functionalities of system-wide applications. So for me, snap package for a web browser is no-go. It is still OK because we can install Firefox without snap: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/04/how-to-install-firefox-deb-apt-ubuntu-22-04 . I did this actually and it was fine. After a while, Firefox got updated and my pins and pages have begun not to stick, i.e. I cannot use “open previous windows and tabs” feature and pinned pages. When I start Firefox, it is clean as an empty page. I didn’t care so much at the beginning but my frustration has started. I did the steps again, re-install without snap etc. and problem solved! Then as you can imagine, Firefox got another update and broken again. I spent good amount of time and found several sources: https://superuser.com/questions/1825979/firefox-loses-pinned-tabs . It was not my problem so I skipped. I found this article from an old time: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1170547 . It seems like my problem because I am unnaturally disabling snap Firefox and voila, it worked! Until the Firefox’s update. It was broken again and then I had the same conversation with me when I switched to Fedora because of Ubuntu…
Should I accept enforcement using Linux?
Why do we use Linux? Or why do we want to use Linux? Because we don’t like the enforcement of the other companies or brands. I don’t want to pay 5x more money while my needs can be covered in cheaper way. I don’t want a company to take a screenshot my screen to enable an AI feature. So the solution is Linux because it should give a freedom, right? I should be able to select what I want to use or not. I should be able to trust my operating system that it doesn’t do weird things (weird things are subjective in some parts so I don’t reveal all of them :)).
Is this a case when I am using Ubuntu? No… So why do I use it? There are several reasons. The most prominent one is my habits. The second one text rendering coming by default. The third one is modified GNOME desktop environment. I don’t like vanilla GNOME from the version 3 because they are also taking many controversial design decisions and I don’t need to adapt my workflow because they think it is a good feature (for example, no desktop shortcuts). Ubuntu provides a good balance of GNOME that I like. That’s it! the rest of my requirements can be fulfilled with any other Linux distribution.
So I have started to check the Linux distros. I don’t want to go with Arch because I don’t want to spend time to build operating system. Yes, it is getting better but not enough yet. There are distros like Manjaro but I am hesitant to use them because of their continuity is very doubtful: https://youtu.be/oVlD17OjFAc?si=gFDsTlT9NrzOeMJ7 . The other one is EndeavourOS which I tried before. I am not saying anything bad about any of them. They are just not for me.
I Tried Fedora 40, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Linux Mint 21.3, Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS, and EndeavourOS Galileo
After all the considerations and thoughts, I decided that none of the Linux distro or provider can force me for something that I don’t want. Especially, when I spend good amount of time to setup the things in Linux. If I really want to be enforced, then I can purchase 1200 euro Apple Macbook Air.
Welcome Linux Mint
I have a challenging relationship with Linux Mint because I have never liked it fully. Specifically, I don’t want to use Cinnamon as it is promoted like closer to Microsoft Windows experience. Of course, you can install whatever desktop environment you like but there are certain integrations with specific desktop environment for every Linux distros except the very specific ones like Debian.
Their conservative approach to update software as well as being late in Wayland support have never been welcomed on my end but based on my expectations from a Linux distro, Linux Mint is one of the closest one.
Currently, I am still setting it up and will share my experience when I can make it my daily driver. Stay tuned!