Setting up Linux Mint
Some notes to my future self, for the next time I set up Linux Mint.
Install . . .
- Vivaldi
- VS Code
- git
- Python:
- Mint 22.1 came with Python 3.12.3 pre-installed 🎉
- In Software Manager, install Python-is-python3.
- Install virtualenv seperately:
- In Software Manager, get the following:
- Slack:
- Download the
.rpm sudo alien <FILEPATH>/<PACKAGE_NAME>.rpmsudo dpkg -i <PACKAGE_NAME>.deb
- Download the
- Discord
- PowerShell (fine to use the easy method, once done launch with
pwsh) - Signal
- Spotify
Set up . . .
Troubleshooting
Problem: no GRUB boot menu
You're dual booting, but you're not getting shown the GRUB boot menu. Instead, your system is booting straight into Linux Mint.
Last time, you found the solution in How to Show and Hide GRUB Menu on Ubuntu 18.04
Key points:
To display hidden GRUB, we need to edit the script from the grub file in the /etc/default/grub directory.
...
To display GRUB automatically, you can edit the menu in GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE="hidden" and replace it with GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE ="menu".
...
sudo update-grub
Problem: Can't install Material Insiders theme
The usual method of installing Material Insiders with pip failed: it keps asking for a GitHub password but still failing when I provided it.
The workaround was to clone the Insiders repo separately, then install with:
Annoyingly unsure what caused this:
- Clearly still have access as I can clone the repo.
- My PAT is working to install it for deployment on Cloudflare Pages.
- I am able to clone and push to other repos (no general problem with GitHub authentication).
Archive
To my future self (2025)
- This guide continues a tradition of setup notes to myself started back in 2022 with Setting up a new Windows PC.
- You didn't drink nearly enough tea while doing this. That's probably why you ended up on Reddit arguing with Linux fans. Less Reddit and more tea will make this a less annoying experience in future.
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