Linux Mint

Setup instructions for my Mint setups, and miscellaneous notes.

• Desktop environment
  • Cinnamon edition if at all possible. Taskbar app pinning just works
  • In lower-power or virtual environments, can consider MATE or XFCE, but setting up persistent toolbar items is more cumbersome
• Version to install
  • Non-Apple hardware: latest version, Cinnamon edition
  • Apple hardware: 22.1, Cinnamon edition. This is to start not on the Linux 6.8 kernel, which as of this writing is required to build Broadcom WiFi drivers
    • After installing, can update Mint version without changing kernel version in Update Manager under Edit > Upgrade to Linux Mint (version)
• Drivers
  • Apple hardware: Broadcom WiFi drivers. Install in Driver Manager
• Kernel
  • Updates managed in Update Manager under View > Linux Kernels
  • Apple hardware: do NOT update past 6.8. Update to 6.8 latest
  • Non-Apple hardware: update to latest
• Installing my key apps
  • 1Password: .deb from their web site
  • Browsers
    • On high-RAM systems: Zen
    • On lower-RAM systems: Waterfox
  • Obsidian: via store
  • Visual Studio Code: .deb from their web site
  • Gimp: via store
  • Development tools
    • Oh My ZSH: install script
    • Git: apt
    • Node: via nvm
    • Ruby: via rbenv
    • Postgres: apt