That’s just my guess: Linux mint may be easier to get into and more popular, however it doesn’t come with pre installed proprietary drivers. Pop OS is based on the same distro so should be similar enough, but it comes with pre packaged drivers
The difference with Pop OS in particular is that they offer installation ISOs with the proprietary NVIDIA drivers preinstalled, meaning you don’t have to fuss with installing them at all.
Yea I get that. But installing them is far from the troublesome experience it used to be, isn’t it? It’s just a one-click installer that generally “just works” these days?
Just works, sometimes. Other times you’ll be left with a blank screen and the need for a second device to search the mint forums. It all depends on the age and support for your hardware.
however it doesn’t come with pre installed proprietary drivers
It prompts you on boot (until turned off) with a list of things to do, including “driver manager” which will get those Nvidia (and any others like USB wifi adapters) drivers for you ezpz
Why the recommendation of different distros for different GPU?
That’s just my guess: Linux mint may be easier to get into and more popular, however it doesn’t come with pre installed proprietary drivers. Pop OS is based on the same distro so should be similar enough, but it comes with pre packaged drivers
Nailed it. The transition to Linux should be as smooth as possible for newcomers.
Bit of a weird reason to recommend a distro for me though? Isn’t installing drivers (even Nvidia) basically just the same as Windows these days?
The difference with Pop OS in particular is that they offer installation ISOs with the proprietary NVIDIA drivers preinstalled, meaning you don’t have to fuss with installing them at all.
Yea I get that. But installing them is far from the troublesome experience it used to be, isn’t it? It’s just a one-click installer that generally “just works” these days?
Depends. On Ubuntu? Sure. On Wayland Arch? Good luck.
Just works, sometimes. Other times you’ll be left with a blank screen and the need for a second device to search the mint forums. It all depends on the age and support for your hardware.
It prompts you on boot (until turned off) with a list of things to do, including “driver manager” which will get those Nvidia (and any others like USB wifi adapters) drivers for you ezpz
Honestly easier than windows, even
Mint is super old and the nvidia drivers on mint are terrible.