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I took Linux Mint for a spin

7 points by Kalanos ↗ HN
Enticed by the prospect of Flatpak/Flathub as the primary package management system/ app store, and the compatibility with .deb files -- I gave Linux Mint a go.

I tried installing LDME first (debian based), but couldn't get it to work with my old Dell hardware.

So I switched to Cinnamon (Ubuntu based). The codec and driver installation worked great.

Most of the Flatpak apps worked out-of-the-box. There were flatpaks for VScode, slack, chrome, sublime, spotify, etc. However, the Zoom one would not launch, so I had to install from their .deb file.

I could not get Docker's apt repo working though because it was looking for Ubuntu release names or something. So sadly I can't use it as my dev OS.

I opened issues with Zoom and Docker: https://github.com/docker/desktop-linux/issues/190

https://community.zoom.com/t5/Meetings/2024-Linux-Bugs/td-p/159912

12 comments

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chrsw
As a user, I understand the benefit of Flatpak/Flathub or Snaps. I like doing 'apt install whatever' or 'apt remove whatever'.
Kalanos
flatpak has a cli.

i like apt for command line tools. i also put a request in for conda to add support for apt

https://github.com/Anaconda-Platform/anaconda-client/issues/...

chrsw
Oops, I mean't I DON'T understand the benfits of Flatpacks. Why do I need multiple ways to do the same thing? Do I have to worry about conflicts between Flatpaks and distro packages?
Kalanos
from what i understand, each flatpak installs all of its own dependencies in isolation. so it won't conflict with anything. and you can delete it easily.
sharmi
As a mint user myself, welcome to the land of peace :) , after the pesky issues of Ubuntu.

I would like to share how I handle mint-unaware software systems.

As a kind of workaround, to get Docker to work, you would find the equivalent of Ubuntu for your Mint Version. Mint itself is based on Ubuntu LTS versions.

For ex: Linux Mint 21 is based on Ubuntu 22.04. So packages for Jammy Jellyfish work pretty well for Linux Mint 21. You can add the apt repo for Jammy Jellyfish in Mint.

Considering Mint has had a significant mindshare in Linux for quite sometime, it would be great if the major software providers make it easy to install on Mint.

But it would be too much of a stretch for minor players or open source providers to support so many flavours. The above workaround is a win-win all around.

skydhash
Fo docker, the ubuntu codename is stored under a different name. They give you a warning on the installation page. Check the script to se where the file is and you can get the proper codename.
KomoD
I use Mint but don't use Flatpak at all, never liked it and actually find sandboxing to be annoying

> I could not get Docker's apt repo working though because it was looking for Ubuntu release names or something. So sadly I can't use it as my dev OS.

add "jammy" instead of "victoria"

Kalanos
So if I understand correctly, you are saying to hardcode "jammy" in place of this: ``` . /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME" ```

As mentioned here: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/#install-using...

kingkongjaffa
So with the various comments about workarounds for mint, which distribution does hn recommend for “working out of the box?”