Mint Just As Buggy As Windows

neezer

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I always heard marvelous things about Linux and how wonderful it is and the "you won't have to deal with any more bugs, like Windows". So 2 days ago I made the jump to Linux Mint, it being a great start for newbies like myself.

I installed it as a dual boot and at once thought what a great os! Seems very clean and looks very nice. Almost seems like I'm still in Windows 10. I signed up to linux.org to inform myself. I did everything you all have advised, like promptly update and what not.

All was well up until the second day, when I couldn't log in. It kept looping back to login. Linux.org to the rescue and yes, you helped immensely, Thanks. My bad, low root space. Problem corrected. Back in.
One hour later I was surfing the web and everything froze. Only the mouse worked. Could not even start the Almighty Terminal that so many Linux Gurus say is the power of Linux! (I'm mocking in a deep Godly voice)"When all else fails, the Terminal will be there for you! Just press Ctrl+Alt+F1 or F2, F3...etc".
Oh yeah! Well it didn't work for s**t! Sorry I'm all worked up.

I'm back here at linux.org again and it seems my problem has no solution. In fact, I start noticing all the GB of threads of problems with Linux Mint. Boy! so many issues. Somebody please reassure me why is Linux Mint better than Windows 10 again?! I'm humble to learn but frustrated. Thanks!
 


@neezer
Greetings from an "old" Mint user.
You will get the help you need if you are willing to inform the people here of several items of importance.
1 What is the make and model of your computer.
2 Which Linux Mint did you install. Give the number of the distro - eg - 19.3, 20.1 or what.
3 How did you install Mint. What steps did you take. Be precise and thorough in your descriptions.
4 Where did you get your copy of Linux Mint.
5 How much have you studied Linux Mint.
6 Do you have access to an old computer that you can experiment with.
7 The more details you can give, the more complete the answers will be.

I have been using LM for about 3-4 years now, without any of the difficulties that you have mentioned. I agree that it is the easiest Linux distro to transition to from Windows.

I have tried dual booting (have about 8 different distros on one experimental laptop).
For someone new to Linux, I would not suggest dual booting. Dual booting is a little too complicated for a newbie to contend with. There are better ways to test-drive Linux before you install it.

Just an opinion of someone who has been around the block a time or two.
Old Geezer, Tango Charlie
 
Tango-Charlie, thank you for replying. Sorry for my rant. I've had this computer now almost 3 yrs. Never had an issue with Win 10 except the occasional driver update. Anyways...

System:
Host: Alpha1 Kernel: 5.4.0-65-generic x86_64 bits: 64
Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.6 Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: Dell product: Inspiron 5675 v: 1.3.7

CPU:
Topology: 8-Core model: AMD Ryzen 7 1700X bits: 64 type: MT MCP
L2 cache: 4096 KiB
Speed: 1885 MHz min/max: 2200/3400 MHz Core speeds (MHz)
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480/570/570X/580/580X/590]
driver: amdgpu v: kernel
Audio:
Device-1: AMD Ellesmere HDMI Audio [Radeon RX 470/480 / 570/580/590]
driver: snd_hda_intel
Device-2: AMD Family 17h HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-65-generic
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 22.79 GiB used: 9.86 GiB (43.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb1
ID-2: /home size: 4.52 GiB used: 290.6 MiB (6.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb3
ID-3: swap-1 size: 2.79 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb4

As for install, like I said I did dual boot. I have a secondary HDD 320GB and partitioned 60G off of it as follows...
25GB to / ; 5GB to /home ; 3GB to swap, the rest I left unallocated.
/home is small because I intended to save data to another drive I have with plenty of space.
I got the distro from linuxmint.com
Had no issues installing, done it many times before but with windows. I have a thorough understanding of computer hardware and networking. I'm currently studying Linux Admin through Udemy.com and I'm impressed so far with the way Unix/GNU-Linux handles its file syst. Also learning how to use CLI.

Thanks
neezer
 
I always heard marvelous things about Linux and how wonderful it is and the "you won't have to deal with any more bugs, like Windows".

Oh, hell no... Linux is riddled with bugs - just like any other OS. I'm a tester for Lubuntu and am working my way up to the point where I'll be in charge of doing bug triage. I'll be even busier when that happens.

There are millions of lines of code, written by entirely different groups of people. Of course there are bugs.

The difference is, we (the community) can fix them and aren't beholden to someone else to fix them. The difference is, you can fix the code if you put the effort in - or ask someone else to, or report (real) bugs properly and get them fixed by the appropriate projects.

Anyone telling you that Linux is bug-free is a liar. If it was bug-free, we wouldn't have things like 'point releases' and 'bug fixes' and 'patches'.

Also, many times it's not actually a bug - it's a problem the user created by not knowing what they're doing. This, of course, ends up with people having ego issues where they insist they're innocent. Just remember that Linux ain't Windows, so you'll have to relearn a whole lot of what you thought you knew. It's a learning curve - but you can do it. Every one of us here has done it to one extent or another.
 
Yep Linux ain't perfect. Perhaps it is a matter of finding what works best on your machine.

My point though going back to my original post is it is easy to blame the distro - when in fact it can be your hardware, or your machine just doesn't run well with that version of Linux or for that matter kernel.

I have a machine I stopped using a DV6000 - ran it for a couple years with various distros - many misbehaving with only Puppy behaving - things like wireless not working every boot because of the firmware not loading everytime. After trying so many I retired it to the shed and use a Presario CQ61 instead. Easy to blame Mint etc but they weren't at fault it was the machine.
 
Tango-Charlie, thank you for replying. Sorry for my rant. I've had this computer now almost 3 yrs. Never had an issue with Win 10 except the occasional driver update. Anyways...

System:
Host: Alpha1 Kernel: 5.4.0-65-generic x86_64 bits: 64
Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.6 Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: Dell product: Inspiron 5675 v: 1.3.7

CPU:
Topology: 8-Core model: AMD Ryzen 7 1700X bits: 64 type: MT MCP
L2 cache: 4096 KiB
Speed: 1885 MHz min/max: 2200/3400 MHz Core speeds (MHz)
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480/570/570X/580/580X/590]
driver: amdgpu v: kernel
Audio:
Device-1: AMD Ellesmere HDMI Audio [Radeon RX 470/480 / 570/580/590]
driver: snd_hda_intel
Device-2: AMD Family 17h HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-65-generic
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 22.79 GiB used: 9.86 GiB (43.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb1
ID-2: /home size: 4.52 GiB used: 290.6 MiB (6.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb3
ID-3: swap-1 size: 2.79 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb4

As for install, like I said I did dual boot. I have a secondary HDD 320GB and partitioned 60G off of it as follows...
25GB to / ; 5GB to /home ; 3GB to swap, the rest I left unallocated.
/home is small because I intended to save data to another drive I have with plenty of space.
I got the distro from linuxmint.com
Had no issues installing, done it many times before but with windows. I have a thorough understanding of computer hardware and networking. I'm currently studying Linux Admin through Udemy.com and I'm impressed so far with the way Unix/GNU-Linux handles its file syst. Also learning how to use CLI.

Thanks
neezer
Very good @neezer !
Here's an article that would be profitable for you to read.
Now that you have put many of your facts up for those to read, I am sure someone will be along to help. I don't know enough about how to fix things or I would make suggestions.
One suggestion that I would like to make though is - please don't be impatient.
You will learn a lot from problems that crop up.
The difference is that you will be able to take care of problems that you would not have been able to on a Windows machine. The command line will be your friend, once you get the hang of it.
I have a Dell desktop, an Asus laptop, and a HP Desktop all running Mint on without any major issues.
OG TC
 
Seeing as we've wandered off topic... This is the 'best' bug I've found.

Open every LibreOffice app one by one, starting at the top. If you do it right, the last two won't open and the last one to open fully will be Impress.

Scroll down, and select the Vivid template.


It crashes all the LibreOffice applications and has the wonderful bonus of not writing any errors to any error logs.

Alright, now back to your regularly scheduled thread.
 
Very good @neezer !
Here's an article that would be profitable for you to read.
Now that you have put many of your facts up for those to read, I am sure someone will be along to help. I don't know enough about how to fix things or I would make suggestions.
One suggestion that I would like to make though is - please don't be impatient.
You will learn a lot from problems that crop up.
The difference is that you will be able to take care of problems that you would not have been able to on a Windows machine. The command line will be your friend, once you get the hang of it.
I have a Dell desktop, an Asus laptop, and a HP Desktop all running Mint on without any major issues.
OG TC
Once again I thank you TC! The article you linked...Wow, it humbled me, really!
This Dominic Humphries is quite a writer. His use of illustrations, like cars/motorcycles and Legos, blew me away.

I look forward to learning the ins & outs of this very interesting OS called Linux.

I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction.

thanks.
Evan "neezer" Geralde
 
Have had Mint on an older HP laptop dual with Win8. Ain't booted into 8 in 2 years now. The only and I mean Only error I get with Mint is updating, it searches the repos and says it cannot access it. Noticed it is a Google thingy. Check again and it works second time every time. So as others have said may be a machine issue.
 
@Mike13Foxtrot ...I used to have a similar problem.

Eventually tamed the beast simply by changing the Mirrors I was using.....and also altering the DNA servers played a part.
 
Yes a mirror problem - if you can choose your country as servers or nearby example...
I live in NZ so choose nz as mirrors or Australia.
 
I always heard marvelous things about Linux and how wonderful it is and the "you won't have to deal with any more bugs, like Windows". So 2 days ago I made the jump to Linux Mint, it being a great start for newbies like myself.

I installed it as a dual boot and at once thought what a great os! Seems very clean and looks very nice. Almost seems like I'm still in Windows 10. I signed up to linux.org to inform myself. I did everything you all have advised, like promptly update and what not.

All was well up until the second day, when I couldn't log in. It kept looping back to login. Linux.org to the rescue and yes, you helped immensely, Thanks. My bad, low root space. Problem corrected. Back in.
One hour later I was surfing the web and everything froze. Only the mouse worked. Could not even start the Almighty Terminal that so many Linux Gurus say is the power of Linux! (I'm mocking in a deep Godly voice)"When all else fails, the Terminal will be there for you! Just press Ctrl+Alt+F1 or F2, F3...etc".
Oh yeah! Well it didn't work for s**t! Sorry I'm all worked up.

I'm back here at linux.org again and it seems my problem has no solution. In fact, I start noticing all the GB of threads of problems with Linux Mint. Boy! so many issues. Somebody please reassure me why is Linux Mint better than Windows 10 again?! I'm humble to learn but frustrated. Thanks!
If you can figure a way to run Linux only on your system you will eliminate a lot of problems.The dual boot itself may be the source of your problems.When I first started testing linux,I removed my Windows HD and put it on a shelf,then installed Linux on a new SSD.I was so pleased with the result,the HDD with windows on it stayed on the shelf and eventually got wiped and used for backup.This method is a little more trouble than installing a dual boot,but it gives you a real picture of the performance of whatever Linux distro you choose without potential dual boot issues confusing the results.
 
Once again I thank you TC! The article you linked...Wow, it humbled me, really!
This Dominic Humphries is quite a writer. His use of illustrations, like cars/motorcycles and Legos, blew me away.

I look forward to learning the ins & outs of this very interesting OS called Linux.

I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction.

thanks.
Evan "neezer" Geralde

I installed Mint 3 years ago on my HP win8 laptop dual boot. 250gb each. The ONLY problem I have had is turning on the laptop. HP seems to not like dual boot. Turn on hit esc then boot menu comes up. Once installed I have yet to return to windows. Still got the partition. Too lazy as I am running MX Linux on another HP, and Peppermint on a Dell and an Alienware laptop. Just used the Mint to finish my taxes Sunday. Then updated it charged the battery and shut down. Not one problem so far.
 
Me thinks the point may have been missed. @neezer has fairly clearly stated that his pc ran really well for the best part of its first day.

Then....on the second it would not log in. I do not see any topic on this forum coming to the conclusion that insufficient root space was the problem......but if that fixed it then so be it.

Then... machine froze. What happened in the ‘inbetween time’ to cause this?....an update?....that would be unlikely at best. Perhaps insufficient space allocated for /home etc etc ?...just a wild guess on my part.



You need at least '3' Partitions in order to install any Linux Distro.. It just takes a 100 G.B. of Drive/Partition to install Linux decently.
Partition 1 : Root(/) : For Linux Core Files : 20 G.B. (Minimum 15 G.B.)

Partition 2 : Home(/home) : Drive for User Data : 70 G.B. (Minimum 30 G.B.)

Each time you add something.....an app/program etc etc it takes space.
 
Last edited:
OK Brian, you've got me ... what's Partition 3?

Chris
 

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