I switched my main/gaming pc over from M$ to Linux Mint today. There's still a few kinks to work out, but I am happy and proud that I finally managed it/took this step!
this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2025
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Congratulations and if you ever buy a new printer, go for HP (best Linux compatibility) or Brother (similarly good compatibility, and less hostile to third-party ink).
Go with brother since HP is evil.
But congrats, and welcome
And, unless you print a bunch of color stuff, get a laser printer. I've switched out my cartridge once in 10 years of owning my brother laser printer. The extra cost is definitely worth it. If you are just printing occasionally, ink dries out and makes you buy a new cartridge on every printing event.
I have two color Brother laser printers (well, print/scan/copy/fax multifunction devices) that I got off Craigslist for $50 each. Even though they complain about being due for new fusers or whatever, it was still a great deal and I recommend being patient to find something similar.
Also, when buying ink or toner, one should always look if there are offers on Craigslist/Kleinanzeigen/Leboncoin etc.: They can be very cheap, since the situation is usually that a printer has broken down and folks have no use at all anymore for that ink.
Here we go again... The massive group discussion about printers and I'm like, "Who the fuck uses printers post-2014?!"
Always twists my brain so hard. I see none of you in the wild; you're like rare Pokemon. But dangle a morsel of printer discourse and suddenly half the internet is printer bros .
It's so perplexing. It's one of the universes many strange phenomena.
Well, I do things, so I need a printer. I don't have time to wait to get somewhere to print.
I still do print things like job applications, train tickets (I refuse to use most phone apps, thanks for the spying), recovery keys, important documents i need to proof-read, street plans and so on. I find it far easier to spot typos in high-quality print.
Some applications could be done with a label printer, but there are many areas where a b/w laser printer is the best option.
I haven't needed to print anything since 2012. Why are we still talking about printers?!!?
Because other people do have different ways of work, needs and preferences from you?
Also, there is no general replacement for having a signature on paper for many processes. Using emails without strong signatures is just going to cause significant problems.
I sometimes feel like the only option left with HP is to buy used.
There's a great (but admittedly narrow) window in which they are a safe option; the cut-off is approximately that if it has a colour LCD, it's too new. You need to look for one that has the good old 2x16 character LCD with green backlight.
The trick is you then have to find one where toner and parts are still readily available, with some of the older models it is becoming difficult.
The CP5225dn (2012 designed, but 2017 built) I rescued from the e-waste at work is doing me nicely, and it looks like I should have no trouble getting the parts for a few years to come.
We just recently bought an epson printer, that has been working with my mint laptop pretty well :)
Ah very cool, then that potential issue is already settled :)
I like mint a lot. I found the transition from windows to be pretty straightforward. I've been giving Debian a shot on a separate computer, with a few different desktop environments. For me, mint with cinnamon has really been the more trouble-free, more familiar experience.
I threw linux on an old laptop. Lemme tell you, the thing really just flies now. Under windows the fan was constantly kicking on because of all the bloat and extra garbage running. Now, the fan only kicks on when I kick the laptop into high performance mode (keeping the clock speed maxed out).
The boot speed is also insane. There's like a 2 second boot delay from off.
It's great to know I now have a laptop that will be supported for the next 40 years. Everything works perfectly.
Actually managed to convince my boss to run the Windows computers on Mint with a Windows 10 VM just for the compatibility stuff. All of the computers are now so much easier to maintain and teach users on. Nothing randomly jumps at you or changes locations with an update. Nothing asking for random permissions or requiring an update when opening. Pure bliss from an admin standpoint.
Are you using WinBoat for the compatibility stuff? If not - might be worth looking into. (It's still a Windows VM but with a different abstraction layer).
Just using VirtualBox at the moment and it does the job well enough. It has its quirks, but since there are only 3 people that need to use that software, it’s plenty manageable.
I'll be joining y'all around the end of the year when I build a new desktop.
Tired laptop is still on W10 and I haven't touched Linux before. I have lots of data on it though and it's still part of my regular workflow, so I want to just play it safe for now rather than switch OS.
... but if I can get Mint up and running and be comfortable with it on a new desktop I'll do the same on the lappy.
I just shut down a Win 7 box last summer - I refused to use any newer OS at home until 10 (used the server OS's).
I still say it's the best OS MS ever made.
Nah, that’s just Microsoft. Linux didn’t have to do anything.