Hi there, I started using Linux Mint Cinnamon a few days ago and am currently setting up my workspace, that includes software I can’t find through the integrated Software Manager
My biggest issue is that I don’t understand how to determine if software is compatible with Mint. Often devs declare their product to be compatible with ubuntu. Since Linux Mint is based on ubuntu, does that make the software automatically compatible?
Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu so it is compatible with almost everything.
neat :)
Ubuntu is based on debian, so same thing for .deb packages
Mint is based on Ubuntu, which is based on Debian. So anything advertised to work on those will generally work on mint.
One caveat is that Ubuntu also uses Snap to package stuff, but Mint doesn’t have snap by default. But mint has flatpak, which Ubuntu doesn’t have by default.
Since Linux Mint is based on ubuntu, does that make the software automatically compatible?
Yes.
There are multiple versions of Ubuntu though. I believe for Linux Mint 22 you’d want the “Ubuntu Noble” version of the software you want, and for 21, you want Ubuntu Jammy.Just download the Ubuntu version of software.
Debian packages and stand alone Linux binaries should work too.
If it’s available as a .deb package or a flatpak, it should work.
btw there’s an experimental Wayland session, go find a bug.
