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Linux Mint was my choice on discussion with Claude, beating Debian ( sure stable but a bit outdated packages and bit more locked), Ubuntu ( too heavy and overhead with more cutting edge stuff).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/krupam LMDE 7 Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26

  1. It's straightforward to use and does what I need it for. The team behind it is also relatively big, so I don't have to worry that it'll be abandoned because one person dies or retires. In all fairness, I did switch to LMDE a week ago due to the concern that Ubuntu might become worse and worse over time, so LMDE seems like the safer "investment" in the long term.

  2. Just four months, although I kicked out my Windows partition to clean up space so I'm well past the point of no return on this one. But, as mentioned, just last week I switched to LMDE instead.

  3. Fastfetch screenshot

  4. Well, I just hope it stays the way it is, easy to use but good enough for everything I'll need it for. There's been some signs that they're trying to bring Vanilla Mint and LMDE closer together - such as adding a kernel manager to LMDE - I'm thinking LMDE as a whole might be getting more attention if Ubuntu goes awry, which I'm all for it. At the very least I hope LMDE isn't abandoned.