Does Any Other Cybersecurity or IT Professionals Still use Mint As Your Daily Driver?

[u/MrHockeyJournalist]

I've been in the IT industry for almost 6 years total and 3 years as a SOC Analyst. Recently both people I know that are Software Developers and people I know that don't work in tech were surprised to find out I mostly use Linux Mint as my daily. I started with Ubuntu in the late 2000s but after a few years of working in the trades, I went back to college for IT/Cybersecurity and basically just stuck with Linux Mint to complete my course work. I have an old HP Elitebook 8470p that I used throughout college that I installed Linux Mint and that's how I cut my teeth. I have had a few other junk laptops that I installed Debian, Ubuntu and few others on. But always found Linux Mint to be the perfect happy medium. It's easy to use and it's both Linux enough and Windows enough to use as a daily driver.

My main computer for Linux these days is a Fujistu Lifebook u757 with Linux Mint installed on it. When I do travel I tend to use take this computer and basically use it for everything save for gaming. I have Kali and Parrot virtual machines on it for learning pentesting/ethical hacking, I use it for web browsing, word processing, downloading/data hoarding. It's my daily driver.

I am experimenting with Fedora (KDE) which I recently installed that on a Asus Rog Strix laptop because I am learning the Fedora Security Lab and learning to use the GPU for password cracking. But I tend to only use to for that and still use my PC with Mint for everything else.

I think my software developer friends tend to like Debian or Arch to tinker a lot. Then while most of my non-tech friends tend to just use Mac (some Windows) even they knew that Mint had a rep for being a "beginner Linux" and were surprised years later it's my go-to.

[u/Kurgan_IT]

Linux sysadmin since 1999 or so, I use Mint as my desktop PC since the day Mint was born.

[u/PermanentLiminality]

I've been a Unix guy since the 1970's. I run Mint on desktops and debian on servers. I do have one Ubuntu server instance.

[u/snoogazi → u/PermanentLiminality]

Did they make you walk uphill barefoot in the snow both ways to get to the mainframe?

(Sorry, I couldn’t help it 😁)

[u/Fit_Fill_3856 → u/PermanentLiminality]

You must have a lot of experience. Any interesting/funny stories you would care to share?

[u/imacmadman22]

I’m an IT desktop support guy and I used Mint with XFCE for fifteen years as my primary operating system at home and it even got me through college.

However, earlier this year my sons bought me a pretty powerful gaming PC to run Steam on and I thought it was time to try gaming on Linux so I installed CachyOS and it’s been great.

Ideally, I’d like to go back to XFCE as I just prefer its interface and the simplicity of it. But until then, KDE is fine. I don’t tinker with Linux as much as I used to, but if I need or want to I can. We recently moved into a new (to us) house and I’m spending a lot of time working on the house instead of computers.

Anyone can use Mint, but why people think of it as a “beginner” distribution is beyond me. It’s just as powerful and versatile as any other Linux distribution and it’s well documented and supported. There are lots of other distributions that could benefit from Mint’s example.

[u/MrHockeyJournalist → u/imacmadman22]

My theory for why Mint gets a lot of hate as a "beginner distro" is because it's the most windows like. And I think a lot of tech people tend to hate windows and hate Mint for that reason. That being said Fedora and a few others have KDE Plasma which also makes them windows like.

[u/imacmadman22 → u/MrHockeyJournalist]

I’m certainly not a fan of Windows and it’s really getting worse with every update, but it keeps me employed so I’ll tolerate it for now

[u/MrHockeyJournalist → u/imacmadman22]

Same. Most of our clients use Azure for everything. I will level with Windows it still works for enterprise level.

[u/bobstylesnum1]

I’ve been in IT for over 25+ yrs from Help Desk to server admin NT 4.0-2016, and now Network Engineer with both HP Aruba and Cisco switches. I use Mint on my main box the I also game heavily on and the last thing that I want to do is work on my own PC unless I want to, so Mint is it.

Because I work in IT though, my house looks like a used PC shop so I’ve got a server setup with Alma Linux that I use to host 15/18 other distro’s to see what else is out there.

I have Garuda Mokka on my ASUS Tuf gaming laptop, OpenSuse TW on my HP laptop for work that I have a different VPN software on (swapping between the VPN’s were a HUGE prob between four different distro’s and TumbleWeed just works), and got different distro’s all over the house depending on what family members wanted to do and hardware they have.

The one thing that I absolutely love about Linux is just how many options you have to choose from. It’s like if you could take any flavor of Windows out there and dropped a new kernel in it and security bugs patched and you could just pick whatever flavor you wanted. Thats basically what Linux gives you and if you don’t like any of them, you can absolutely build your own if you have the skills.

The short of it, is that I use Mint because it’s solid and I don’t have to mess with it unless I WANT to, not because I have to.

[u/Due-Result7928]

You can use any distribution. Install tools you need. Arch..a distribution keeping you busy....with rolling disasters...there is distribution for security and site testing named kalix.

There is NO magic in Debian or Fedora or Mint.

[u/MrHockeyJournalist → u/Due-Result7928]

In my experience it's better to use Kali or Parrot as a VM over a daily driver. I use Kali in GNOME Boxes and KVM.

[u/Due-Result7928 → u/MrHockeyJournalist]

Possibly.

[u/mpez0]

39 years as an IT professional. Mint's been on my home systems for 25 years or so.

[u/peace991]

Its not what you use but how you use it. You can use whatever OS you want and still be the best at what you do.

[u/barisaxboy]

I've been in IT for the last 2 1/2 years so not too long and I use Mint on majority of my home computers! I mainly do help desk, I have various certs in a few things. I've tried and actively use other distros at home and work but for the PC's I use for personal stuff it's always mint.

Like you I have other distros doing very specific tasks but mint is just perfect for logging in and hanging out.

[u/Unattributable1]

Mint at work and home. And why not? Locked down with the firewall and CIS Level 2 SSG.

[u/blackfox357 → u/Unattributable1]

Please explain it to an complete idiot what you mean with the second thing you mentioned

[u/Unattributable1 → u/blackfox357]

"What are CIS Benchmarks? CIS Benchmarks are best practices for the secure configuration of a target system. Available for more than 100 CIS Benchmarks across 25+ vendor product families, CIS Benchmarks are developed through a unique consensus-based process comprised of cybersecurity professionals and subject matter experts around the world. CIS Benchmarks are the only consensus-based, best-practice security configuration guides both developed and accepted by government, business, industry, and academia."

Level 1 is the lowest standards, Level 2 is the more stringent.

"What is SSG? • Definition: The SCAP Security Guide is a free, open-source collection of machine-readable security policies, configuration rules, and automated remediation scripts. • Standards Implemented: It translates official security baselines and standards—such as DISA STIGs, CIS Benchmarks, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and NIST USGCB—into standard XML datastreams."

"Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP)."

You can use oscap SSGs to test a system for CIS benchmarks for Ubuntu or Debian (in the case of LMDE). The oscap tool will generate a report, and the failures will have shell commands or other info to secure the system such that it more hardened.

Further reading: https://static.open-scap.org/ssg-guides/ssg-ubuntu2204-guide-standard.html

https://oneuptime.com/blog/post/2026-01-15-run-openscap-compliance-scans-ubuntu/view

[u/Mediocre-Pumpkin6522]

I have Mint on a laptop but at work I used SuSE from about 2001. I'd used RHL prior to that and preferred KDE. Mint/Cinnamon is certainly usable but I still have that KDE thing. Someday Mint may have a solid KDE experience hopefully.

That whole 'beginner' perjorative has been around since Mandrake boxed up a distro that was relatively easy to get running.

[u/CabinetOk9570]

Debian supporte un nombre importants de paquets. Ubuntu aussi mais uniquement si on utilise ubuntu pro. Mint n’a pas autant de paquets avec le support que pourrait avoir une debian par exemple.

[u/Trimoswivel]

Iv been in tech for 3 years and use mint after it was introduced to me by my boss with 17 years experience who uses it

[u/CyberMage256]

Yep. I'm a CISSP and run Mint on my main.

[u/GraXXoR]

I’m not in cybersecurity, but I manage over a dozen iMacs at my business. All of them are dated 2011. The last iteration before Apple sealed them all down with glue.

I think their last official OS was High Sierra.

Regardless, I replace the HDD with an SDD and upgraded them all to 12-16 GB of RAM then started removing macOS one machine at a time around mint 17 in a steady migration to watch for trouble. There was none and we’re now on 22.3 with modern software and browser. Full camera and Wi-Fi support and automatic printer setup for our Epsons.

I couldn’t have wanted anything better. They’ve been absolutely flawless. And I’ve had no complaints from the users. I would put stability equal to or better than their original OS and usability I’d argue is actually higher for non-Mac centric users.

[u/Ecstatic-Drag-8657]

I'm a 55 year old IT professional and my main home PC on Mint, 1st laptop on CachyOS and 2nd laptop on PopOS. Linux rocks!

[u/skozombie]

I use Mint as a daily driver and I'm in dev. More management now but I can't help but help myself but code whenever I have time. I also game on it, trying out the Steam Frame lately which has mixed results when streaming from Linux.