New to Mint and initial problems.

I have to say there are very limited resources to issues that arise. Normally I get a problem, search engine it, find some decent resource and move on with it but Linux is limited versus Windows. Far less people, far fewer answers.
Another problem you usually find a lot of outdated/old forum topics from back from 2015 or before. Once you get the basics down and know what type of things to search for it will get easier to find the things you need with a search engine. Although back in Windows 7 days when I was still using Windows, Windows error messages weren't any kind of useful either.

And Windows 11 message still can be cryptic also.
 
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I have to say there are very limited resources to issues that arise. Normally I get a problem, search engine it, find some decent resource and move on with it but Linux is limited versus Windows. Far less people, far fewer answers.
Linux has plenty of resources, compared to Windows however those resources are not centralized.

I was long time Windows user, my main documentation for issues was MS docs which has plenty of information, all in 1 place.

But there is no such docs for Linux, reason for that is simply that Linux consists of several components each of which is controlled by different group of people.

While MS owns everything that you get packed with Windows, individual components that you get in Linux is not owned by a single company or group.
Every group maintains their own documentation, and each component of a GNU/Linux OS also has it's own documentation.

For instance:
  • every distro has its own wiki
  • every desktop environment (DE) has its own docs.
  • Linux kernel has its own docs.
  • GNU software has its own web page with docs.

And so on, documentation is scattered.
So first step is to find the docs of components you use and bookmark them.

Docs aren't the only source, there are also wikies and man pages.
Wikies are more user friendly than docs, and man pages are used on local computer (there are also online man pages though).

This are 3 main sources, the rest belongs to tutorials, blogs, videos and various other types of learning material.
Not everything is good and not everything is easy to understand.
What you pick will depend on circumstances.

Blogs and YT videos are btw. mostly the worst type of learning material for various reasons, such as not covering enough, not answering questions you have etc.
You'll see that on your own with time.
 
Linux has plenty of resources, compared to Windows however those resources are not centralized.

I was long time Windows user, my main documentation for issues was MS docs which has plenty of information, all in 1 place.

But there is no such docs for Linux, reason for that is simply that Linux consists of several components each of which is controlled by different group of people.

While MS owns everything that you get packed with Windows, individual components that you get in Linux is not owned by a single company or group.
Every group maintains their own documentation, and each component of a GNU/Linux OS also has it's own documentation.

For instance:
  • every distro has its own wiki
  • every desktop environment (DE) has its own docs.
  • Linux kernel has its own docs.
  • GNU software has its own web page with docs.

And so on, documentation is scattered.
So first step is to find the docs of components you use and bookmark them.

Docs aren't the only source, there are also wikies and man pages.
Wikies are more user friendly than docs, and man pages are used on local computer (there are also online man pages though).

This are 3 main sources, the rest belongs to tutorials, blogs, videos and various other types of learning material.
Not everything is good and not everything is easy to understand.
What you pick will depend on circumstances.

Blogs and YT videos are btw. mostly the worst type of learning material for various reasons, such as not covering enough, not answering questions you have etc.
You'll see that on your own with time.
Also make sure to make your own documentation. I have two or three "Word"/text files. One for terminal commands I've used. Another for programs I installed. Another for my setup preferences. Actually the latter two I've combined into one file.

You will forget what you did and may end up searching again for something you already searched for.
 
Also make sure to make your own documentation. I have two or three "Word"/text files. One for terminal commands I've used. Another for programs I installed. Another for my setup preferences. Actually the latter two I've combined into one file.

You will forget what you did and may end up searching again for something you already searched for.
Absolutely, this is must have, I have a git repo with plenty of tutorials and notices, and use it quite often.

It's far easier to forget things than remember everything.
 
Linux Mint isn't hard to install, and internal storage Drives Auto-Mount...

Maybe you missed these on youtube.
1767228221609.gif
 
Linux Mint isn't hard to install, and internal storage Drives Auto-Mount...

Maybe you missed these on youtube. View attachment 29605
And when they don't work. And a few people try to help you and that doesn't work, what do you do next? You live in a "Linux World" where very few people live. Think of it like a small village where everyone has the same surname, I knew you'd get that. Try this Youtube video

And she is really good, imagine what the average person feels like.
 
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@Gareth , a Happy New year to you and yours. :)

Linux has 5% of the market, that is 100,000,000 of an estimated over 2 billion PCs worldwide.

Hardly a small village, rather a very good-sized nation.

If you are here for more than 3 days, I would suggest one year at least, I would invite you to comment on how knowledgeable and how friendly this Forum is, as you might find.

One good reason you may have experienced problems with Mint is that
  • many PCs are as individual as two sets of fingerprints, there are thousands of brands and configurations, AND
  • too many computer manufacturers and resellers are locked into cozy deals with a certain OS, such that their configurations of the computers they supply have impediments in place that provide obstacles to another OS being installed.
You have since found success with Zorin, and so I carved off from here those posts which related to that, for your chronicling of your Linux Journey to continue without confusing readers and Helpers.

I am 68. I went totally Linux in September 2014, after being with the other OS for nearly 25 years, (started with 2.0), never regretted it. See 5. link in my signature, and currently I run around 82 distros from 4 "families" Debian, RPM, Arch and Gentoo.

These I have used with a Compaq Presario, an HP, Toshiba Satellite, Acer All-in-one, and Dells.

I said I am 68 but we have members here in their 70s, 80s, and one at 91 who took to Linux like a duck to water and is acquainted with the Terminal.

You can use GUI for nearly everything, but if you change a file called /etc/default/grub , you can save it, but for it to work on boot or reboot, you first have to go into Terminal and type and enter sudo update-grubor equivalent.

Make friends with Terminal and it will be your friend.

As for the "Year of the Linux desktop", it will not occur until/unless a lot of those impediments listed above change for the better.

Linux users own their software, they are not subject to paid licences.

Cheers

Wizard
 


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