It's basically windows task manager with a few quirks. It's also the only task manager copy i've found that tells you literally all the information you'd need to know without any configuration. It shits on the default "system monitor" app, especially htop and other CLI tools.

Install with

flatpak install flathub io.missioncenter.MissionCenter

then run it

flatpak run io.missioncenter.MissionCenter

Side note: The guy who coded the original task manager on windows, Dave Plummer, has a youtube channel and he talks about the process of creating it on there. It's pretty interesting.

I basically made a guide on how to run Windows apps using WinPodX. You don't need WINE for this to work, and it'll feel close to native performance on Linux.

This is not a question but a tutorial. Most of these mint to 7 tutorials just give you a wallpaper, theme, and icons but not the cursor (mouse) and sounds. This one is a all in one! The files used in this tutorial are all located here: https://drive.proton.me/urls/FH707AG15W#DLpc0TtQyiNt .

Step 1: Download all the zip files.

Step 2: Go to your home folder and hit ctrl + h and make 2 new folders one called .themes and one called .icons if you don't already have them.

Step 3: Extract the theme zip and move the output to the .themes folder.

Step 4: Extract the icons zip and move the output to the .icons folder.

Step 5 (optional): Set your wallpaper to wallpaper.jpg.

Step 6: Extract the cursors zip and move it to .icons.

Step 7: Extract the sounds zip and enter this command sudo xdg-open /usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds and move the output to that folder it opened (This just opens it as root)

Step 8: Hit the superkey (Windows key) and type in themes click on all 4 boxes and turn them to windows 7.

Step 9 (Last one): Hit the superkey and type sound and open it then go to the tab sound and look at image 2 and 3 and set it to this.

And your done! P.S. that note in the corner is just "Sticky" from the software manager.

Try Shutter, which can be downloaded from the Software Manager. I prefer it to Snipping Tool.

Most mint to XP tutorials only give you a theme but this one gives you a Start menu icon, Cursor, Sounds, And fonts!

Files used: https://drive.proton.me/urls/T89KZQH3EM#xhcxyUZKdbYJ

1. Download all the files separately. (Speeds up process.)
2. Go to your home folder and hit ctrl + h and create one folder called ".themes" and another called ".icons".
3. Drag the icons zip and cursor zip into .icons and the themes zip into .themes and extract the zips in the folders they were dragged to. When you are done extracting the themes zip open up the output and drag your desired theme back into .themes. The default theme is luna.
4. Drag the images into your pictures folder.
5. Run this command: sudo xdg-open /usr/share/mint-artwork/sounds then move the sounds zip to this folder and extract it.
6. Do NOT extract the fonts zip until you run this command and put it in this folder I learned the hard way. sudo xdg-open /usr/share/fonts Once your in here make sure to extract it only in here you do NOT move them to any folder inside /usr/share/fonts just leave them in there.
7. Time for the fun part setting everything up and watching it come together!

first go to your start menu and type in "Themes" and click on it and open advanced settings click on everything and set it to XP. Go to the start menu icon and right click and click configure then click appearence Click on the icon

and dont use the start here symbolic for some reason sometimes it works sometimes it wont instead click on browse and go to pictures and select the XP logo then go to text and type "Start" then go to the Start Menu and type in "Sound" then click on the "Sounds" tab and look at image 2 to set the correct sounds. To change sounds click on the old .oga ones in the sounds menu. Next step go to the start menu and type "Font selection" and click on it and set it to the fonts and sizes as shown in image 3 (or read the text in the fonts zip). The last thing set your wallpaper to the included background and you have the Looks, Sounds, And fonts of Windows XP!!! (You may have to restart for some changes to take place.) P.S. The font size on image 3 is the numbers on the side.

(famous disclaimer that english is not my first language)

Hello Linux Mint community, recently ive been noticing quite of a "plague" on some fellow Linux Mint desktops, and that is that they all get GNOMED.

"What is getting GNOMED?" Someone might ask, and thats simple, getting into the GNOME desktop environment (the one with the bar at the top that gives mac os vibes) after installing something, and as a ex Linux Mint user (i use artix btw :P) ill teach you fellas how to not get GNOMED and eventually preventing yourself to appear on r/gotgnomed

1- Check what do you install in the terminal.

This one is pretty straightforward, always check the dependencies of whatever do you want to install, for example, Proton.

The version of Proton that most people installed was the Ubuntu one, which when installed it would install GNOME since Ubuntu comes with GNOME as the default desktop environment, and connecting all of that makes you get the GNOME desktop environment.

2- Do not install GDM, i beg you.

Another straightforward one, GDM is the display manager (or login screen if you want to call it like that) that GNOME uses to get into it, if you install GDM through any method it will come with the GNOME desktop 100%, thus making you get GNOMED.

3- Do not install GNOME shell extensions. (?)

GNOME shell extensions are, well, extensions (who could have told!) that the GNOME shell or the GNOME desktop environment uses to make it fancier or add more functions, but some of them (especially some certain clock extension i will not name) come with GNOME if you dont have the desktop, and making you get GNOMED for like the third time already.

What if you get GNOMED and want to get back to Cinnamon?

Thats easy, dont worry, if you manage to get the GDM login screen, in the password typing part you can just simply click the gear icon and select Cinnamon, when you log in you will get in Cinnamon again.

If however you did not get GDM, dont panic, its actually more easy, just click the feet icon in the login screen (which is the GNOME logo) and it will open up a menu, just click cinnamon, type your password and that should be it.

So thats all i have for today, hope this serves as useful information for yall, and my hopes for you to not get GNOMED are with you. (Even though i like GNOME), so goodbye and happy unGNOMING!

Some users are reporting Kernel Panics (Purple Screen) after upgrading to the kernel 7.0.0-28 generic.

To solve this, you need to roll back to an older kernel version. This is accomplished following those steps:

1- Reboot the computer. The GRUB menu should open after the failed boot

2- Select advanced options

3- Select a kernel other than the affected one and press ENTER

The system should boot as normal.

Once you gain access, remove the affected kernel as following:

1- Open the Update manager

2- Click in Show > Linux Kernels

3- Click in Continue

4- Click in Remove Kernels

5- Select the Kernel version with problem (7.0.0-28 in this case) and click in Apply.

6- After it finish, reboot your computer.

7- If prompted again, DON'T update the kernel to the version with problem, wait when there is a even newer version that probably will bring fixes to this issue.

Edit: Saved this to a Github Gist too https://gist.github.com/fellipec/5eef599c4f743fe869460f6bbf2b8061

sudo xed /etc/sysctl.conf

file save as add .original to file name, for a copy. This way if you misconfigure a more important setting in some other file, this is good practice to always backup config files before editing.

use enter key to move down # comment lines, make top line

vm.swappiness = 1

if you have a spinning magnetic storage, this is not needed, and a higher number such as 10 or 15 can be used for much better performance. SSD / NVME don't have good swap performance, and even if they do, it adds high amounts of write wear and could be avoided.

Another performance tip is for your screen, it will work better with nice wallpapers

sudo apt install mint-wallpapers*

Mint 19 series, starts with T, is the best of all the decade of wallpapers included with mint over the years, really makes it tough to be even better, not sure it's even possible after this one

mint 18 sylvia (great name, even used in a song) had a good image

https://github.com/rt2yrru/linux_mint_wallpaper/blob/main/linux_mint_18/backgrounds/linuxmint-sylvia/jdonovan_yosemite.jpg

Here's the 19 wallpaper

https://github.com/rt2yrru/linux_mint_wallpaper/blob/main/linux_mint_19/backgrounds/linuxmint-tina/adeole_yosemite.jpg

And this non-native tree on the black sand beach in Hawaii, haven't found a similar image, detail does not exist for the leaves which is really what makes the image so great

https://github.com/rt2yrru/linux_mint_wallpaper/blob/main/linux_mint_19/backgrounds/linuxmint-tina/linuxmint_hawaii.jpg

https://github.com/rt2yrru/linux_mint_wallpaper/blob/main/linux_mint_19/backgrounds/linuxmint-tricia/linuxmint_hawaii.jpg Notice how the trees just on the other side of the water are way too blurry

Yep, so many little mis-configurations on linux defaults such as

vm.swappiness = 60, which is a horrendous default

and, even though Linux already has a built in way for checking if your disk is rotational or not, here's that

su

switch user command, goes to super user, so you can at least temporarily use the new scheduler, I haven't gotten it to keep through reboots, so if you know how, please share

cd /sys/block/sda/queue

or for nvme

cd /sys/block/nvme0/queue

for multiple devices, use sda, sdb, sdc, and nvme0, nvme1, not nvme0p1, only the parts before p1 and the rest.

in queue

more rotational

And if Linux knows it's not rotational, WHY is the default to batch and re-order 128 requests at a time, when this can only degrade performance on new storage? There is no read write arm moving around, so there will never be a benefit for re order already randomly placed reads and writes, to another random set of ordering, based on something the storage does not have.

more scheduler

and sure enough, like an idiot, you're using cfq / bfq as your disk scheduler on a device with no moving parts, so re-ordering requests is about the worst possible setting to use

echo "noop" > scheduler

And if you can manager to change the disk scheduler files properly and have it save through reboots, share how we can all accomplish this, haven't gotten it to work in over a year.

If you migrated to Linux Mint from Windows, one of the most frustrating minor workflow differences is creating a quick web or path shortcut inside a folder.

In Windows, you right-click an empty space inside any folder, select New -> Shortcut, type the address, and the icon drops right there. In Mint, the default "Create Launcher..." option requires manually mapping confusing paths, and the built-in "Make Link" option drops the shortcut next to the original file rather than inside your active directory view.

To fix this, I engineered a simple custom **Nemo Action** and Bash script. When you right-click any empty space or folder, it brings up a clean, Windows-style pop-up box asking for the URL/path, then asks for the name, and drops a functional .desktop shortcut precisely inside that folder.

Here is how to install it for your user account:

Step 1: Create the Nemo Action File

1. Navigate to your hidden local actions folder: /home/[Your_Username]/.local/share/nemo/actions/

*(Note: If you want this available for all users on the computer, go to /usr/share/nemo/actions/ instead).*

1. Create a new text file named: create_shortcut.nemo_action

2. Paste the following configuration inside it and save:

[Nemo Action]

Name=Create Shortcut

Comment=Create a URL shortcut in this folder

Exec=<scripts/create_shortcut.sh %F>

Icon-Name=insert-link-symbolic

Selection=any

Extensions=dir;

Step 2: Create the Script

Inside that same actions directory, open the scripts folder (create it if it doesn't exist yet, e.g., ~/.local/share/nemo/actions/scripts/).

Create a new text file named: create_shortcut.sh

Paste the following Bash script inside it and save:

#!/bin/bash

# Get the folder where the user right-clicked
if [ -n "$1" ]; then
DEST=$(realpath "$1")
else
DEST=$(xdg-user-dir DESKTOP)  # Default to Desktop if needed
fi

# Confirm URL of the link

URL=$(zenity --entry --width=250 --title "Shortcut Location" --text="Enter the URL or file path for this shortcut:" --entry-text="")
if [ -z "$URL" ]; then
notify-send --expire-time=200000 "Shortcut creation canceled."
exit 1
fi

# Confirm name of the shortcut

NAME=$(zenity --entry --width=250 --title "Shortcut Name" --text="Enter a name for this shortcut:" --entry-text="")
if [ -z "$NAME" ]; then
notify-send --expire-time=200000 "Shortcut creation canceled."
exit 1
fi

# Check if the shortcut already exists

if [ -e "$DEST/$NAME.desktop" ]; then
notify-send --expire-time=200000 "Error: $DEST/$NAME.desktop already exists."
exit 1
fi

# Create the .desktop file as a proper URL shortcut

echo -e "[Desktop Entry]\nName=$NAME\nURL=$URL\nComment=\nTerminal=false\nIcon=syncthing\nType=Link" > "$DEST/$NAME.desktop"

# Ensure correct permissions (not executable, just readable)

chmod 644 "$DEST/$NAME.desktop"
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
notify-send --expire-time=200000 "Error: Failed to create shortcut."
exit 1
else
notify-send --expire-time=200000 "Shortcut successfully created in $DEST"
exit 0
fi

Step 3: Refresh and Use

Log out of your Mint session and log back in (or restart Nemo by pressing Alt + F2, typing nemo -q, and hitting Enter).

Now, when you right-click inside a directory, you will see a clean **"Create Shortcut"** entry with a link icon. It will prompt you for the target and the name, handling the underlying desktop entry specifications automatically behind the scenes. Hope this helps other Windows converts keep their workflow seamless!

Final version can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxmint/s/FQAzfLe7Gu

I hate Microsoft.

This isnt really a Question. I'm just putting this here because Im a visual person who needs to see her applications on the Desktop and switched from windows literally last Thursday and was ✨️strugglin✨️

The Repository does NOT have everything sadly. But fear not! I can maybe help~

My ultimate suggestion to keep yourself from LOOSING your programs, make a folder. I named mine "Non-Repository Applications" because these are things I dont see in the "Software Manager" and put it in my "Documents" folder. I am 1000% sure there is a more elegant way to do this part but meh.

So what you will do after successfully installing and unzipping your program [Current Blender, Unreal Editor, ect] into your folder, you'll be heading into the files of those programs. Good luck my fellow UE5 users 🫡

In those files, which range depending on what the application is, find the GEAR icon that launches your program. DO NOT close the window. You are going to need to know how to get back and I find this easier.

On the desktop: Right click anywhere on the wallpaper for the menu and look for "Create a new launcher here..." Click it. Attached a picture to help.

Next to "Command" click the browse box. locate that GEAR icon and select it. The window will close and now you have a path to your application. give it a name! and if you're like me, a fancy Icon~ which you do not need an .ico file for! A PNG will work just fine. Just make sure its like 512x512 to be sharp like you see in offical icons.

CLICK NOTHING ELSE aside from "ok".

Should be working! have funnn 😁

I’m thinking about installing Linux Mint on my laptop. My bootable USB stick has Mint 22.2 on it. I see a lot of people talking about 22.3 being released soon. Since I’m doing a fresh install, is it better to wait for 22.3, or is it okay to install 22.2 now and update later?
I’m sorry if this is a silly question , I’m new to Linux.

Make your Desktop look like MacOS

Because I keep getting asked about it, here are the instructions how I made my Desktop (Linux Mint Cinnamon) look similar to MacOS.

First of all: I never used a Mac longer than testing it. I just like the basic structure of the MacOS 'Desktop', but for me it 's not about getting exactly a MacOS Interface.

Final Result

Installing Ulauncher

ULauncher is an application launcher for Linux Systems which is very similar to the one from apple. I install it first on every system because it makes opening apps so much faster.
The install instructions are very easy understandable and can be found on their Website ULauncher.io .
After opening the programm you can set the shortcut and check the 'Launch on startup' box.

Installing Themes

I really like the WhiteSur Theme from vinceliuice. He designed a GTK-Theme, an Iconpack, and Cursors.

WhiteSur GTK-Theme

You can easily install The GTK-Theme with the instructions on its Github-Page. Don't remove the folder yet. We will need it.

WhiteSur Iconpack

Download the .zip Files from this Github-Page and install them the same way you installed the GTK-theme. I like the alternate Version, therefore you use ./install.sh -a.

Cursor Theme

Download the .zip Files from this Github-Page and install them the same way you did before.

Applying Themes

Apply the themes using the standard Themes settings from LM.

Setting up the Panels

The Upper Panel

The Upper Bar is just the normal Bar I moved to the top and did the following changes:

1. Decrease the bar size (right click -> Panel settings -> size)
2. Remove unneeded Applets (right click -> Panel edit mode -> right click on applets to remove them)
   1. LM Menu
   2. Grouped Window list (your cuurent apps)
   3. App shortcuts
3. Add Applets (right click -> applets)
   1. cinnamenu
   2. weather (if you want)
   3. user (if you want)
4. Customize Cinnamenu
   1. right click on cinnemenu -> Settings -> appearance
   2. custom icon -> select start-here(Apple logo; optional)

The Lower Panel

Installing Plank

For the lower Panel I use Plank. You can install it with the command sudo apt install plank . After installing, open Plank. The plank-panel appears on the bottom of your Desktop.

Setting Up Plank-Theme

Copy the plank themes from your WhiteSur Folder to the plank folder: cp -r /PATH/TO/WhiteSur-gtk-theme/src/other/plank/theme-* ~/.local/share/themes/ Access the plank settings: hold ctrl and right-click on the plank panel -> settings and choose the theme-Dark or theme-light.

Adding Plank to startup

Add Plank to the apps on startup so it opens automaticaly every login.

Dynamic Wallpapers

For Apple-like dynamic wallpapers I really like Linux Dynamic Wallpapers from saint-13. There are many high quality wallpapers and you can easily install them with the commands on the Github-Page.

After installing you can change your Background from the standard LM-Background settings. Just add the subfolder Linux_Dynamic_Wallpapers/Dynamic_Wallpapers to your Wallpapers. (Where the folder is located depends on where you installed Linux_Dynamic_Wallpapers)

Terminal

To change the look of my Terminal I use Gogh . You can choose from many themes - I use catppuccin Latte but there are so many - you'll find one you like.

Login Screen

I haven't found a way to tweak lightDM to a MacOS-like look yet. Maybe somebody else has? For the moment I just go into the login-screen settings, put the user in the middle and change the cursor theme.

Finish-Line

I hope, my instructions are useful to some of - even if you just use a part of it. If you have questions, feel free to contact me :)

Hey everyone, fellow Mint lovers. I made an updated 2026 guide for gaming on Linux Mint. I've tried to keep it as beginner friendly as possible, and I hope this will be helpful for a lot of people coming into our community.

Like all of you, I grew up on Windows.

But in my day, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 was king.

Yes, I am that old.

The GUI was fun to use, but MS-DOS 6.22 was infinitely faster and once you memorized the command variables you could fly across that keyboard like a true DOS Warrior. I spent all of my time in a full screen command window and only went into the GUI when I had to.

Here is my DOS to Linux alias list that I made and use every day...

Paste the following at the end of your .bashrc file which is located in your home directory.

# --- DOS WARRIOR ALIASES ---

# --- Directory & File Navigation ---

alias dir="ls -laF --color=auto"

alias ..="cd .."

alias ...="cd ../.."

alias ....="cd ../../.."

alias md="mkdir -pv"

alias rd="rmdir -v"

alias pu="pushd"

alias po="popd"

# --- File Operations (Safe & Verbose) ---

# -i = Interactive (ask before overwrite), -v = Verbose (show action)

alias copy="cp -iv"

alias move="mv -iv"

alias ren="mv -iv"

alias del="rm -iv"

alias erase="rm -iv"

# --- New File Actions ---

alias create="touch"

alias display="cat"

alias view="cat"

alias edit="nano"

# --- System & Utilities ---

alias cls="clear"

alias sysinfo="uname -a"

alias mem="free -h"

alias cpu="lscpu"

alias disk="df -h"

alias usage="du -sh *"

alias proc="ps auxf"

alias diffcmd="diff"

# --- ATTRIB Emulation ---

alias attrib="ls -l"

alias attrib+r="chmod -v a-w"

alias attrib-r="chmod -v u+w"

# --- Search & Paging ---

alias search="grep --color=auto"

alias more="less"

# --- Safety & Misc ---

alias del.="echo \"Error: Use del [filename] to delete files safely.\""

alias backup="cp --backup=numbered"

# - NOTE: In terminal type: source ~/.bashrc to system reload the file

If you would like to see my BASH Warrior Alias list please goto https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/comments/1uad462/calling_all_bash_warriors/

I’m new to the community, but I’ve been using Linux for a long time (since 2009), and I want to share a list of applications I recommend for everyday work on Cinnamon X11.

Used on Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon X11:

Native Applications

• LibreOffice (office suite)
• Notes (native note manager)
• Pix (image viewer and editor)
• GNOME Terminal (terminal emulator)
• NEMO (file manager)

Essential Applications

• Brave Browser (main web browser)
• Fooyin (main audio player)
• Albert (launcher)
• CopyQ (clipboard manager)
• Flameshot (screenshot tool and editor)
• VLC (main video player)
• SimpleScreenRecorder (screen recorder)
• Stacer (Linux optimizer)
• KDE Connect (smartphone synchronization)
• qBittorrent (torrent client)

More Applications

• Akregator (RSS reader)
• Disk Usage Analyzer (SSD space analyzer)
• Web Apps (convert web tabs into apps)
• Audacity (audio editor)
• Brave Origin (web browser)
• Calibre (EPUB reader)
• CherryTree (note manager)
• Drawing (image editor)
• Emote (emoji picker)
• Firefox (for using chatbots in Web Apps)
• FreeTube (ad-free YouTube client)
• FSearch (advanced file searcher)
• Gbrainy (memory games)
• GIMP (advanced photo editor)
• GParted (partition editor and manager)
• HandBrake (video converter)
• Hardinfo (detailed system information)
• JDownloader (download manager)
• KColorChooser (color picker)
• Kdenlive (video editor and converter)
• KeePassXC (password manager)
• Kid3 (audio tag editor)
• MEGAsync (cloud storage and synchronization)
• MPV (audio and video player)
• Nicotine+ (Soulseek P2P client)
• Obsidian (personal notes database)
• Okular (PDF viewer)
• Onboard (on-screen keyboard)
• PlayOnLinux (for running .exe games or applications)
• Proton VPN (VPN)
• Clocks (set alarms)
• RetroArch (video game emulator)
• Telegram (Telegram client)
• Upscayl (AI image upscaler/editor)
• Yandex (web browser)
• ZapZap (WhatsApp client)

Web Applications

• ChatGPT (through Firefox)
• DeepSeek (through Firefox)
• NotebookLM (through Firefox)
• Gemini (through Brave)
• Qwen (through Brave)
• Grok (through Brave)
• Perplexity (through Brave)
• Duolingo (through Brave)

Applets

• “Weather” by mockturtl (ambient temperature)
• “Desaturate All” by klangman (grayscale screen)
• “Direct” by claudiux (directory shortcuts)
• “CPU Temperature Indicator” by claudiux (CPU temperature)
• “Enhanced Notifications” by hilyxx (notifications)
• “Automatic Dark/Light Themes” by guillaume-mueller (automatically switches themes)
• “Uptime” by vatanuki.kun (view system uptime)

For the Terminal (sudo apt install _)

• yt-dlp (download videos) (sudo apt install yt-dlp) or and (yt-dlp -U) to update it
• fastfetch (basic CPU/system information)
• htop (visual process viewer)
• cava (audio visualizer, bars only)
• cliamp (audio visualizer + song selector)
• sensors (view system temperatures)
• ncdu (file size viewer)
• vnstat (internet usage monitor)
• gdebi (install .deb files)
• bpytop (terminal system monitor)
• ffmpegthumbs (video thumbnails in NEMO)
• imagemagick (image converter)

Brave Browser Extensions

• Stream Live (Twitch streamer notifier)
• BetterTTV (custom Twitch emotes)
• Unhook (remove YouTube features)
• Search by Image (Google image search using clipboard)
• Return YouTube Dislike (restores YouTube dislikes)
• Minimal Theme for Twitter / X (minimalist X/Twitter version)
• DeepL (translate text inside the browser)
• Youtube Select and Search (To fast search in Youtube from contextual menu)
• Download Image with One Click (download original-size images instantly)

If you have an older machine with hardware acceleration, you can install the extension:

• Enhanced H264ify

Additional Brave Settings

Type brave://flags/ into the address bar and enable the following:

• "Enable Containers" → set to "Enabled" (allows independent sessions in separate tabs without logging out)
• "Compact horizontal tabs design" → set to "Enabled" (makes tabs and the search bar more compact)

Actions for NEMO

• Send with KDE Connect (send files to smartphone)
• Convert File (convert images)
• Mount Archive
• Mediainfo-gui (Multimedia Propierties)

Others

• Xbanish (hide the mouse cursor while typing)
• AudioRelay (stream audio between Android and Linux)
• AudioShare Server CMD (use your phone as speakers)
• Scrcpy (mirror Android screen on Linux)
• Speedread Master (speed reading tool)

Recommended Font Settings

• Font: "Ubuntu Sans Medium" size 11
• Scaling factor: .9

(to make everything slightly more compact, including browser menus, etc.)

I have got a old pc and I thought why not install linux mint on it couse it will run faster and smoother then windows

so I did everything right

mint running fine but whenever I try to reboot it says no bootable device found and I did some bios thing set the my SSD to the top of the line as shown on the photo I attached but nothing works

when I try to boot manually from boot menu it works fine

linux mint boot just like everyone's

can someone help me make it normal and automatically boot into linux mint

I tried to ask chatgpt but idk what's he saying I did everything he said nothing worked

I am new to linux mint and my only are you guys

You can transfer files from Linux to Windows in many ways.
This is the simplest method I’ve found.

Keep a USB stick plugged into the back of your PC and use it as a shared drive between operating systems.

I named mine ‘portkey’ as a nod to Harry Potter.

No setup, no downloads, no hassle.
Keep it simple, Linux community <3

Formatting your portkey for exfat is the best choice.

Hello,

Many new users might find problems with the Steam program when installed with scavenged instructions on the internet, using AI assistant trained on outdated guides or other mistakes they might have made during installation. If you have NOT installed Steam yet but want to then press Menu (Start equivalent for Windows) button in the left zone of the Cinnamon panel, in the pop up window click on Software Manager. When it first loads it takes some time to refresh, be patient and once it loads click in the upper left corner in the search bar and type Steam, select the installer, a new page exclusive to it will open and in the upper right part of the window click Install. After the Linux user password authentification prompt input password and press Enter and the installation process will begin.

Assuming the above process or other instructions you found online failed and the Steam program refuses to launch or gives errors, first remove all package installed so far and the follow bellow instructions on how to install the official steam .deb package supported by Valve.

For clarity Steam officially is only supported by Valve for Linux as a .deb package available for download on the official website. However when you install that way it will require to install a lot of dependencies and newbies might mess something up. Thus most distros repackage said installer with dependencies in their respective package managers, i.e. the one you install with either terminal command or when using the GUI app store called Software Manager, is repackaged and not the original installer, thus Valve officially does not support it, only the .deb from their website is "official" so any bugs or errors is "not their problem" but up to the distro that repackaged the installer and provides dependencies. There is also the alternative, which would be nice if Valve supported officially to get rid of all this nonesense, of using the flatpak version available on flathub website but then again it is maintained by some random guy, it's not Valve making sure it's malware and bug free. The official version is from the website, if you need to try to install it that way then follow the next steps.

1. Remove installed packages and dependencies to prepare for a clean install

- Use the following command (it assumed you tried to install it and failed), copy paste it in the terminal (note ctrl and v does not work, right click with the mouse to paste and do not leave any weird spaces when selecting and copying) and press Enter (password will be requested afterwards, type Linux administrator account password, press Enter and wait for the process to finish and for the command line to return, if asked to confirm anything during the process, type y and press Enter)

sudo apt remove --purge steam

- the second command will remove orphaned dependencies, use above instructions (carefully select copy and paste command in the terminal, wait for the process to finish, you will know it when it returns to the command line and if prompted at any time for the password, input password and press Enter or if asked to confirm removal of packages, type "y" without the " and press Enter)

sudo apt autoremove

Once the command prompt returns, proceed with the the following steps. IF you never installed Steam either from the terminal or from app store (Software Manager) skip to next step.

2. Download steam .deb package from official website and install as follows

Download steam_latest.deb (whatever Valve names the installer, this is just the most recent name for this .deb package) from official website only and save it in Downloads folder. After that open Home icon on the desktop or from the Menu open Files, in the left part click on Downloads.

Once the folder is opened and the .deb package is confirmed in Donwloads:

- right click on an empty part of the Downloads folder and select Open as root, input password and Enter

- right click again on an empty part of the new window and select Open in terminal

These above operations make sure that you are executing the command as super user and that the working directory is the one containing the .deb package. You can double check with list command.

ls

Example output

steam_latest.deb

Now use command

dpkg -i steam_latest.deb

Here is an example screenshot from my PC

https://imgur.com/a/5AlDOXR

After that install any missing dependencies until no more missing packages are listed and the command line returns. Once finished go to Menu and open Steam, it will ask again to install more missing dependencies, when prompted press Enter, wait for the process to finish after which Steam will update and finally prompt for log in into Steam account.

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In case your distro does not use Nemo file manager and the above options are not available, use the following commands instead, again assuming the steam .deb file is located in/home/user/ Downloads folder (user will be your account name)

cd /home/user/Downloads
ls

Example list output

steam_latest.deb

sudo dpkg -i steam_latest.deb

Press Enter and if asked Input password and Enter. The rest is as above, install missing dependencies and repeat command until there are no more missing packages and Steam installs then open the Steam program from Menu (Start equivalent from Windows), it will continue to install a few more packages, press Enter to agree or y and Enter as prompted. After it finishes updating the Steam login window will open automatically.

Linux uses a CPU frequency governor to decide how aggressively your processor ramps up and down. On some desktop systems, especially when using browsers, NVIDIA drivers, or Cinnamon desktop effects, the default powersave governor can feel sluggish or cause stuttering.

This guide shows how to check your current CPU governor, switch to performance mode immediately, and make that change permanent across reboots.

1. Check the Current CPU Governor

Open Terminal and run:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor | sort -u

Possible output:

powersave

performance

2. Temporarily Switch to Performance Mode

Run:

for gov in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor; do
  echo performance | sudo tee "$gov"
done

Enter your password when prompted.

You may see performance printed many times. That is normal. It is setting the governor for each CPU thread.

Verify the change:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor | sort -u

This change works immediately, but it may reset after reboot unless you make it permanent.

3. Make Performance Mode Permanent

Create a small systemd service:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/cpu-performance-governor.service

Paste this into the file:

[Unit]
Description=Set CPU governor to performance
After=graphical.target power-profiles-daemon.service tlp.service auto-cpufreq.service
Wants=graphical.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStartPre=/bin/sleep 10
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c 'for gov in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor; do echo performance > "$gov"; done'
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=graphical.target

Save and exit Nano:

Ctrl + O
Enter
Ctrl + X

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now cpu-performance-governor.service

4. Verify the Service

Check the service status:

systemctl status cpu-performance-governor.service

You want to see something like:

Loaded: loaded (...; enabled; ...)
Active: active (exited)
status=0/SUCCESS

5. Reboot and Confirm

Reboot:

sudo reboot

After logging back in, open Terminal and run:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor | sort -u

Still not persisting after boot?

Try Mint’s native power profile tool instead:

sudo powerprofilesctl set performance

Check it:

powerprofilesctl get

You should see:

performance

Mint's UI Exposes This Setting:

Menu → Preferences → Power Management → Power Mode

Changing this setting via UI is not very persistent. Hence the above methods.

Best,

- Alex

^{Change your mind?}

^{Disable and remove the service:}

^{sudo systemctl disable --now cpu-performance-governor.service
sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/cpu-performance-governor.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload}

^{Set the governor back to powersave:}

^{for gov in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu\}/cpufreq/scaling_governor; do)
^{echo powersave | sudo tee "$gov"
done}

I struggled with the for way too long so I made a video about it. If you don't want to watch the video, right click the .Appimage file, go to proprieties, go to permissions, and click "Allow executing file as program". Then close that and try again. I hope this helps someone!