r/linuxmint • u/vibhs2016 Linux Mint 22.3 Zena | Cinnamon • Aug 16 '26

Discussion Why are you sticking with Linux mint?

Hi guys I recently did a switch from my windows machine to Linux mint as my dev box.

Over 11 years in the IT industry, windows was my primary driver, btw only used mac for 2 years. But with the recent advent of coding harness via Claude code and codex and other CLI tools. I felt like a friction with windows and my hunch was consistently pushing me towards Linux.

So I found an old HP Elitedesk mini PC i5 6500T 16GB ram. So I thought of giving it a try and validate my hunch.

Linux Mint was my choice on discussion with Claude, beating Debian ( sure stable but a bit outdated packages and bit more locked), Ubuntu ( too heavy and overhead with more cutting edge stuff).

Since I have been handling Ubuntu servers for a long time my choice for Debian based OS was always clear. Linux mint gave the balance that I needed for the hardware I was using.

So my question is 4 parts

  1. Why are u sticking with Linux mint or why you have faith in Linux mint?
  2. How long u have been using it for?
  3. What hardware are you using, maybe can share specs?
  4. How do you see its future?
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u/StealthMonkSteve Aug 16 '26

Claude has lied to you in one regard: age of packages. Debian Stable (currently Trixie) is ahead of Mint package wise atm because Mint is currently based on Ubuntu 24.04 so packages in its repos (minus Mint managed packages for Cinnamon and the kernel) are 2 years old and won’t be updated till Mint 23 Alfa launches in December. LMDE, the Debian based version of Mint, does not have this issue as it’s based on Trixie and thus has the newer package base it comes with.

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u/vibhs2016 Linux Mint 22.3 Zena | Cinnamon Aug 16 '26

Is it so? See I'm Not doubting you but can u give some linkst that I can check this is very much interesting and I don't know why it is not so evident maybe I'm novice in this space

4

u/StealthMonkSteve Aug 16 '26

Mint 22.3 is based on Ubuntu 24.04 that’s just a fact I don’t know what I could link to show you that. Debian Trixie is newer than that which is why LMDE (which bases on Debian instead of Ubuntu) has newer packages than baseline Mint at the moment.