In connection with the tightening of anti-piracy legislation, there is an increased interest in open source software products. Linux Mint is one of the most beginner-friendly operating systems around. Installation and configuration takes only a few minutes!
The Linux Mint operating system is based on Ubuntu and is fully compatible with it. The user can choose a distribution kit with the most pleasant and convenient graphical shell for him: Mate is the simplest option, it is recommended to all novice PC users, KDE or Cinnamon with beautiful effects or XFCE for maximum performance.
First of all, you need to download a suitable Linux Mint distribution from the official developer site. If you do not consider yourself an advanced user, choose the latest current LTS-version (with long-term technical support): as a rule, this is the most stable release of the operating system, which eliminates all the shortcomings inherent in new versions.
Next, you need to burn Linux Mint to the media from which you prefer to install the system. To mount the installer on a flash drive, use the UNetbootin program or a more familiar analogue. When the computer restarts, enter BIOS and select boot from flash card. The installer will launch on the desktop.
Linux Mint installation steps
The installer will check if the computer meets the system requirements and if there is enough hard disk space. After that, you will be able to select the installation language. If your internet connection works, you can immediately download the language packs, but you can install them at the very end, when setting up the system.
Next, you need to select the type of Linux Mint installation. In principle, you can format the hard disk, but if you want to keep both systems, select the “Other option” option and partition the disk manually.
How to partition hard disk partitions yourself? Set values for the following partitions: root, home, swap and old system:
- for / you need to allocate 15-20 GB;
- for / swap - two sizes of RAM or 3GB;
- for / windows - at least 20 GB;
- for / home - the rest of the disk space.
At the next stage, the system will prompt you to specify the location and layout languages, then enter your username and password and select the login method: with or without a password.
Once you are done with these operations, you just have to wait for the system to install. Upon completion, you can get acquainted with its features or get to work.
Additional Linux Mint setup
After installing Linux Mint, it's worth checking to see if all of the language packs installed properly. If you notice that the menu is not fully translated into Russian, you should set up the Internet and install the missing packages. To confirm the operation, you need to enter a password.
If you have any questions, you can always contact the official website of the developers or the Russian-speaking community of Linux Mint users.
