Ubuntu is great but uses snaps and adds other canonical bits. Linux Mint is essentially perfect but does not come with gnome desktop. Is there a ubuntu based distro that is essentially like linux mint but offers gnome as a desktop?
I don’t know of one, but why not install gnome on Mint (or Debian)?
sudo apt install gnome
I have three possible solutions for you:
- Switch to Fedora Workstation
- Install Gnome on Mint
- Use Pop! OS
Option 1 is probably the best one. Fedora is as easy to use as Ubuntu but without Snaps or the rest of Canonical stuff. The downside is that it’s RPM based instead of DEB, but that’s not as big an issue as you might think, since Flatpaks cover a lot of ground, and between the Fedora and RPM Fusion repositories, most software is still available.
Option 2 is another way to go. It gives you exactly what you’re looking for in a way. Unfortunately, you’re going to end up with some Cinnamon remnants in your Gnome set up. That’s not too big of a deal, though, just some extra cleanup work removing the Cinnamon desktop stuff.
Option 3 is my least favorite. Pop! OS is great, and almost what you’re after once you disable some extensions. The only issue I have here is that Pop! will probably be shifting to their in house desktop environment COSMIC soon. Well, fairly soon anyway. I’m sure they’ll keep the Gnome version going, but it’s very clearly not going to be their focus. Still, Pop! OS might be exactly what you’re looking for!
it’s just a desktop environment. install it on whatever distro you’re using.
Debian if you want to stay with deb packages otherwise there is Fedora or OpenSUSE
Fedora)
You could use Debian, the distro on which Ubuntu is based or Fedora. Debian is more similar to Ubuntu but it’s packages are quite old. Fedora is a rolling release distro and thus gives you access to the newest packages.
Pop_OS! is your choice.
I suggest you to try the Mint diffrent DEs. In the live stick, or in a VM if you know these stuff. Maybe you will find them suitable.
In the end it barely matters what distro you installed. You can always modify your current installation
I mean if buy like Linux mint you mean it’s awesome in every way you could give nixos a try :D