If you're still dealing with rain, snow and cold weather, like many of us in the northern hemisphere are while waiting for warmer days to get out and ride again, (hats off to those in the southern hemisphere this time of year enjoying sunny summer weather!), and you have time to explore a bit in areas you normally don't put a lot of thought into, now is a good time to pull that old computer out of the storage closet and take a look at Linux Mint as an alternate desktop operating system.

Based on the latest version of Ubuntu 18.4x, one of the main differences between Ubuntu and Linux Mint is in the choice of desktop environments that users have to pick from. Ubuntu Linux's main edition offers only the Gnome 3 desktop, while Linux Mint offers users three desktop choices: Cinnamon, Mate' and Xfce, plus a ton of extra Mint only tools and apps that make your workflow easier and more productive.

Each of these three desktop choices comes with its own strengths, but beginning users should definitely consider Mate' over Cinnamon or Xfce, which have somewhat more of a learning curve to deal with to get the most out of them compared to the relative straightforwardness of Mate'.

Beginning Linux users will feel immediately at home with the Mate' desktop. Linux Mint's developers long ago realized that too steep a change isn’t easy for new Linux users, which is why they went their own way when Ubuntu opted for their now discontinued and highly unpopular 'Unity' desktop. Mint uses universally familiar elements on its Mate' desktop - clickable icons, a “Start” button, a system tray, cascading menus - all the common sense desktop items we started with if we've been computing for any time at all.



Those new to Linux, who'd like a desktop environment that immediately feels familiar, will find that Linux Mint 19.1 Mate' is an ideal choice. It's lightweight, needing as little as 512 MB RAM and 9 GB hard disk space to install and run. So you can install it on that older PC you have tucked away somewhere and give it a good test run before deciding to install it on newer hardware, either in place of or running alongside of whatever system you now use.

Introducing new Linux users to Linux Mint 19.1 Mate' is a lot of fun! Mint's solid Ubuntu base, little to no learning curve (even complete novices almost immediately 'get it'!), its comfortable user interface, outstanding selection of default desktop applications, and low hardware requirements allowing users to bring older computers out of storage and give them new life are things you can enjoy which aren't typically associated with these days of Big Brother knows best desktop computing.

Download Linux Mint 19.1 Mate' (no worries, its entirely free!), burn the .iso image you've downloaded to a DVD or a USB stick, set your computer's bios to boot from the media you've created, and in short order you'll be introduced to all the goodness Linux Mint has to offer in its latest and greatest desktop OS release!

Enjoy!..



..I'd rather have questions I can't answer, than answers I can't question.. Dr. Phil