this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2026
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Ubuntu stopped being the lightweight Linux distro, and Linux Mint filled the gap it left behind (www.xda-developers.com)
submitted 1 day ago by Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

but rather simply because it was ‘new’ and ‘easier’, and everybody was jumping on that bandwagon. that’s it.

No, for 15-20 years, it was pushed as the "Linux on the desktop" option. It was the primary distro people were pushing as a replacement for Windows. In fact, there wasn't a lot of options for a desktop-focused Linux. There were just a bunch of Linux distros that happened to have all of the packages for X11/KDE/GNOME. Maybe RedHat was slightly more desktop-focused, but it was still very much a server-heavy distro.

Although, I don't remember anybody claiming it was the "lightweight" option. For a time, it was the only "desktop-focused" option.

linuxmint has been going strong longer than ‘3-4 years’. a lot longer.

Maybe, but it only had a resurgence as the new de facto option from the mass exodus from all of the Windows 11 bullshit. Mint has a strange history with the desktop distro wars. Even now, there's a lot more desktop options, so you can't really call Mint the de facto one. But, I think it's one of the straightforward options for a first-time conversion from Windows.

[–] f4f4f4f4f4f4f4f4@sopuli.xyz 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

In fact, there wasn't a lot of options for a desktop-focused Linux.

You got it right, here. I used Ubuntu 20 years ago because it was the only Linux distro I found that gave a GUI at all out-of-the-box on an average consumer video card. I still dual-booted for games, OFC.