Linux Mint

I finally got around to this. I used Balena and it's just finishing the creation of the bootable stick. Next will be pulling an old MacBook out of the cupboard to test it with (I have two old white ones both upgraded to 8Gb ram (I think)
 
lindsay said:
I finally got around to this. I used Balena and it's just finishing the creation of the bootable stick. Next will be pulling an old MacBook out of the cupboard to test it with (I have two old white ones both upgraded to 8Gb ram (I think)
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Which distro are you planning to try Lindsay? IIRC those white Macs were core-2-duo jobs at best, and not even particularly brisk even when new. You might need a lightweight version to make it an enjoyable experience.
 
Noted Toni. I downloaded the Cinnamon release. They are indeed Core 2, and the RAM is 6Gb not 8. At present I'm stalled because the MacBook can't read the USB stick - maybe I formatted it wrong, on reflection, so I'll re-do the stick on a Mac rather than my Win11 laptop. I don't have any spare Windoze machines, only the old MacBooks.
 
lindsay said:
Noted Toni. I downloaded the Cinnamon release. They are indeed Core 2, and the RAM is 6Gb not 8. At present I'm stalled because the MacBook can't read the USB stick - maybe I formatted it wrong, on reflection, so I'll re-do the stick on a Mac rather than my Win11 laptop. I don't have any spare Windoze machines, only the old MacBooks.
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You may find, as I often did, that an old Mac can't read a non-apple USB connector.
 
Not directly related to this Mint thread, but I came across this blog, which might be useful for photographers using Linux (or others, as it has a lot on RawTherapee, which runs on Mac and Windows as well as Linux)


marcrphoto.wordpress.com

Open Source Photography

This site documents a modern RAW photography workflow built on open standards, file-based metadata and open-source tools - and the tech that makes them possible.
marcrphoto.wordpress.com marcrphoto.wordpress.com

And yes, I currently have Mint running on my Thinkpad. Booted from a USB, but later today my Thinkpad says good bye to Windows.

As an aside, the site's author uses Kubuntu KDE Linux, he has a 2026 review of different distros here:

marcrphoto.wordpress.com

The Best Linux Distro for Photography in 2026? The Boring One.

Linux for Photography in 2026: Skip the Hype, Choose Boring There’s a question that realy keeps coming back: which Linux distribution is actually best for photography and long-term everyday u…
marcrphoto.wordpress.com marcrphoto.wordpress.com
 
OK, I've tried and tried but I just can't get on with Linux, perhaps I'm too old to change now.

I can't get Nordpass to autofill. Whenever I download a new program, like NordVPN for example, it won't just run, I have to use a command line to connect to it and for some reason, my battery doesn't last as long in sleep mode, and other trivial, but irritating things. I am currently downloading a new install for Windows and will try putting that back on. Maybe I'll try a dual boot system again sometime, but for now, Linux is just too much trouble. I'll just let Microsoft track me and suck it up.
 
Worth separating the OS (Linux) from the desktop environment (mate, KDE, gnome etc) and the flavour of distro. There are lots of factors that affect how the OS works as a whole, and if one combination seems poor, another may be good.
 
myotis said:
Not directly related to this Mint thread, but I came across this blog, which might be useful for photographers using Linux (or others, as it has a lot on RawTherapee, which runs on Mac and Windows as well as Linux)


marcrphoto.wordpress.com

Open Source Photography

This site documents a modern RAW photography workflow built on open standards, file-based metadata and open-source tools - and the tech that makes them possible.
marcrphoto.wordpress.com marcrphoto.wordpress.com

And yes, I currently have Mint running on my Thinkpad. Booted from a USB, but later today my Thinkpad says good bye to Windows.

As an aside, the site's author uses Kubuntu KDE Linux, he has a 2026 review of different distros here:

marcrphoto.wordpress.com

The Best Linux Distro for Photography in 2026? The Boring One.

Linux for Photography in 2026: Skip the Hype, Choose Boring There’s a question that realy keeps coming back: which Linux distribution is actually best for photography and long-term everyday u…
marcrphoto.wordpress.com marcrphoto.wordpress.com
Click to expand...

I must say, I had tried Raw Therapee in the past and was put off by the clunky interface. But, I've persevered with it on Mint and find my way around it quite easily now. It does far more than I'm likely to need.
 
I might add that I also find Pix, inbuilt in Mint, quite useful too.
 
Plain Nev said:
I must say, I had tried Raw Therapee in the past and was put off by the clunky interface. But, I've persevered with it on Mint and find my way around it quite easily now. It does far more than I'm likely to need.
Click to expand...
I have used both Raw Therapee and Darktable; only occasionally. I have found them both very good, once you get past the rather overpowering interface. In fact I think in many ways I actually prefer using them to my usual Capture One, but there are multiple reasons why C1 (plus PS and DXO) remains my everyday choice.
 
I ended up with LR (Cloud) because I found that the DAM was really good AND it had pretty intuitive tools. I dislike the subscription model but have not yet found an alternative that provides quite as good a DAM AND is easy to use.

That said, I haven;t looked into the free trials of ON1 RAw or capture 1. I've kind of just watched videos. Maybe I need to download a free trial

Darktable is powerful but it is less intuitive to me than LR
 
inquisitive_chap said:
I ended up with LR (Cloud) because I found that the DAM was really good AND it had pretty intuitive tools. I dislike the subscription model but have not yet found an alternative that provides quite as good a DAM AND is easy to use.

That said, I haven;t looked into the free trials of ON1 RAw or capture 1. I've kind of just watched videos. Maybe I need to download a free trial

Darktable is powerful but it is less intuitive to me than LR
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I don't know anything about LR (cloud) but does this mean you are using LR in a browser on Linux, or has the thread wandered from its Linux origins.
 
inquisitive_chap said:
Apologies. I wandered. I will stay on topic

[I just meant I was using the non-classic version of LR]
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All threads go off topic :-)

I think it's inevitable because of the nature of discussion. My comment wasn't a complaint, just seeking clarity. Much as I personally dislike using LR, I still think it’s a pretty solid choice in terms of balancing features, quality and cost.
 
I'm now firmly a Cachyos daily driver but keeping W11 dual boot for photo editing, CAD and gaming.

Lightroom classic has firmly gone for me, I've gone fully over to DxO photolab with the added bonus that my backup sizes now reduced as I can backup the original RAW file rather than DNG, a significant file space saving (this is because the DxO denoise on export is excellent, and for LrC I would have to do DxO denoise and import into LrC). DxO and JPEGmini both require windows though :(.
 
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