--- title: Technically Competent: Installing Linux | daily.dev description: A casual, beginner-friendly walkthrough for installing Linux Mint on an old computer to give it new life. Covers choosing Linux Mint (Cinnamon edition) as the... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/technically-competent-installing-linux-ddyfmjfhh twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Technically Competent: Installing Linux | daily.dev og:description: A casual, beginner-friendly walkthrough for installing Linux Mint on an old computer to give it new life. Covers choosing Linux Mint (Cinnamon edition) as the... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/technically-competent-installing-linux-ddyfmjfhh og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ddyFmJFHh.png og:image:alt: Technically Competent: Installing Linux og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Technically Competent: Installing Linux **[YouTube](https://daily.dev/sources/youtube)** · 19 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A casual, beginner-friendly walkthrough for installing Linux Mint on an old computer to give it new life. Covers choosing Linux Mint (Cinnamon edition) as the recommended distro for beginners, downloading the ISO, using Rufus to create a bootable USB drive, accessing the BIOS boot menu, handling Secure Boot, and completing the installation. Also touches on dual-booting, running Linux from a live USB without installing, and using Linux's software manager as an App Store alternative. Motivated by Windows 10 end-of-life and planned obsolescence concerns. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Which Linux distribution should a beginner install on an old computer? Linux Mint is recommended as the default choice for almost everyone new to Linux. Among its desktop editions, Cinnamon is suggested for most users, while Xfce suits weaker hardware and MATE offers a lighter, GNOME 2-style continuation. Even users who never explore other distributions will be well served by sticking with Linux Mint long term. _Comparing beginner-friendly Linux distros before a fresh install is easier with guidance saved on daily.dev._ ### What tool do I use to create a bootable Linux Mint USB drive? Rufus is a free, frequently updated Windows program that writes a downloaded Linux Mint ISO onto a USB thumb drive, turning it into bootable installation media. An eight or 128 gigabyte drive is enough. BalenaEtcher is a comparable alternative with a nicer interface. Note that the whole thumb drive gets erased during the process, so back up anything on it first. _Developers setting up dual-boot or test machines can track tool comparisons like this on daily.dev._ ### How do I boot from a USB drive to install Linux if Secure Boot blocks it? Interrupt startup with the BIOS key for the specific motherboard, often F7, F12, or Delete, then enter the boot menu and select the USB drive. If the drive is not recognized because Secure Boot is enabled, disable it in the BIOS security or privacy settings, since Secure Boot exists to block unsigned bootable media by default. _Troubleshooting BIOS boot quirks gets easier with practical fixes surfaced on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How to help someone switch to Linux \(and make it stick\)](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-help-someone-switch-to-linux-and-make-it-stick--1fki83czq) · All Things Open · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Windows abandoned my 12-year-old PC, so I revived it with Linux Mint](https://daily.dev/posts/windows-abandoned-my-12-year-old-pc-so-i-revived-it-with-linux-mint-y8akjpauw) · XDA Developers · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Reasons To Love Linux Mint](https://daily.dev/posts/reasons-to-love-linux-mint-vejpm3eus) · The New Stack · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/technically-competent-installing-linux-ddyfmjfhh) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Technically Competent: Installing Linux","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/technically-competent-installing-linux-ddyfmjfhh","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/technically-competent-installing-linux-ddyfmjfhh"},"datePublished":"2026-07-27T21:50:33.131Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T18:53:12.716Z","description":"A casual, beginner-friendly walkthrough for installing Linux Mint on an old computer to give it new life. 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