New user for Mint here. So new, I have not even
installed it. I spent about an hour trying to
figure out how to install. Just could not get
it done.

I looked at several webpages giving me instructions,
but nothing worked.

Is there some instructions somewhere that work?

There is always RTFM
https://linuxmint-installation-guide....io/en/latest/

I saw that page. It tells me nothing.
It only gives me questions.

on this page --> https://www.balena.io/etcher/
I downloaded etcher, I think.
It is balena-etcher-electron-1.7.3-linux-x64.zip

scrolled down the page, and there were more targets to download.
Okay, 1 time would have been plenty.


So now I have been told the best way to install is with
thumb drive.

It has let me Download a zip file.

So, where are the instructions?

If I write instructions for something like this,
I would write something like this.
(1) download filenumber1.zip
(2) unzip filenumber1 and put it somewhere
(3) find whatever and run that program by whatever.
(4) whatever will write bootable thumb drive

Something like that with the somewheres and whatevers replaced
with actual directions would be instructions for installing it.

I find nothing like that.
I only found that there is a file to download and then
tells me nothing about what I should do with it, other
than I should make a thumb drive or boot disc. Well,
no kidding. That is what I am looking for. I know
I got to download something and make the boot disc.
So they give a bunch of directions that say download
a file and make a boot disk.


They have a hundred distractors going on with that webpage.
flashing pictures, select image, select drive, flash!

They went to a lot of trouble to make the page do all
that crap, and it would have been easy to say in English,
something like
(1) choose the correct download file for your system.
(2) run something or other which lets you select the target to install to.
(3) write the files to target drive with blah,blah,blah.

If the instructions were something like the 3 steps above
I could figure it out. But I am not clairvoyant, and
it does not come to me just how to do all that by seeing
some pictures being flashed with vague words that really
don't even describe with accuracy what is being said.

I have about 30 years experience with linux, installed many
versions of slackware, redhat, suse, ubuntu. I also
worked as programmer analyst, for 25 years, have a Bachelors
degree in computer science. I have programmed in 20 different
languages, have written numerous, webpages, using various
things like cgi, java, C-sharp.

So I am pretty computer literate. If it is not apparent to
me from those instructions, I wonder just who their target
audience is for installing Mint linux.

Linux Mint installs using a live version either from DVD or USB.

Mint is a derivative of Ubuntu and installs basically in the same manner.

Most ISO files are hybrids now days including Mint so writing to flash drive for me is simpler using the dd command as is one of the many utilities.

Basically...

Once writing to the flash drive is complete boot the system and when the desktop is up and running you can click on the install Mint Icon.

Follow the on screen instructions, you can manually partition the drive as desired or allow the installer to do it for you.

Once all the files are written including the boot loader a message will be displayed to either continuing testing Mint or reboot. (or something similar)

If you select reboot, once the system is shutdown you will see a message to pull the flash drive and press enter. The system will now boot from the hard drive.

Done.

You have to download the iso file from the official Minte Page. Click on the newest Download and save.
The use a tool like Balena (I never used it) or Unebootin, open and select your iso file you downloaded. Follow the instructions of the program.
When finished. Reboot your PC and access the boot menu (press either ESC, F2, F10, for example when your pc is starting to boot).
Chenge the setting "Boot priority" or something similar, to external (usb stick). Save and exit. It will reboot and start your live Mint System. Try it out or install it.
Follow instructions of the installer

1 members found this post helpful.

Did you not see, at the very top of that page, the download button that attempts to guess your OS?? Where you could have clicked the '1 time'?? And do you actually know what etcher is?? You downloaded a .ZIP file....did you UNZIP IT? Contains an AppImage of Etcher, which you can run easily. First hit in Google for "how do I run an appimage in linux":
https://codeburst.io/how-to-install-...s-f031ec6a85ce
Not sure what you're looking at that has 'a hundred distractors', with flashing pictures. The Mint page that michaelk gave you has exactly ZERO things flashing. First step is "Choose the right edition", with a link at the top that says very clearly "You can download Linux Mint from the Linux Mint website.", which takes you to a page that contains all of the ISO images, all with very clear DOWNLOAD buttons....not sure how much clearer or easier it could be.
They did; did you not read that page? Very clear steps...first step is download (your step 1). When you get Etcher, that is what you use to WRITE THE IMAGE (your step 2 and 3).
Sorry, no...nothing you're claiming matches what's in the instructions or even on the Etcher page....they have a slow animation, and ignoring that, their entire page is very clear.
Pretty much anyone; Mint is one of the easiest distros to install, and most new users can get it loaded in a few minutes. None describe anything close to what you're claiming. And if you have that much experience, it's hard to believe you have problems understanding what an ISO image is, or what utilities you have available to you (since you claim to use Red Hat, Suse, Ubuntu, and even Slackware), to write an ISO image to a thumbdrive.

Etcher is one utilitie; SuSE has imagewriter. There are MANY for Windows, Mac, and Linux (including the built-in dd command on Linux), that can create a bootable ISO image.

1 members found this post helpful.

Personally, I create a ventoy USB device and copy the install ISO onto it, then boot form that. Takes care of all that "burn to device" crud without any other software.

1 members found this post helpful.

Okay, I found a site that gave me real instructions, got the boot drive made now.
Should be no problem from here.

Not sure anyone mentioned:
1. You need to verify the ISO you downloaded is complete and uncorrupted, by checking the sha256sum value on the Mint install website against what you get at home.
2. Are you sure your USB drive is in good shape?
3. Did you make sure to allow your computer to boot from external (USB) devices? This would be done in BIOS/UEFI.

1 members found this post helpful.

You don't need to do that. Especially if you used https to download it. Sure, you can if you want, but it is completely wrong to suggest that is required and this guy is obviously struggling to understand so don't confuse him more.

2 members found this post helpful.

That is one of the problems on almost everything anymore.
Everyone does too much. You ask what time it is and you
get instructions on how to build a watch, with a bunch
of videos comparing how large Madonna's breasts are compared
to Peewee Herman.


Less is more. When I want instructions I don't want a damned
encyclopedia, I want the basic steps.
(1) download the necessary files.
(2) what to do with them.

If I get a page that has a hundred things there and
none of them are explained, it is not what I want.

I have worked in this field forever. I was the lead
systems analyst on the worlds largest construction
project, and I was in charge of keeping all the software
up to date and usable for all our employees.

The company that supplied the first system to do that
had a bunch of instructions for all the things needed
to be done on computer. None of them worked. I had
to rewrite them, in order for our people to understand
them.

I am intimately familiar with doing computers and
instructions for them, have been doing it for
about 40 years. Nothing today in software works
properly. Nothing. I think things went to hell
with the gui. After the gui, no one ever gave
good instructions.

I got it installed finally. It did not go
easy. It was pretty much like pulling teeth.

I found a site that had the real instructions.
The only problem was finding them in there.
They were hidden in plain site behind a ton
of worthless info, but at least it was there.


Instructions that say "asdf88.ttt.www.xys" is used
to make the disk is really half assed. They don't
even tell you it is a program, hell it could be
more instructions, how are we to know?

Here is how it should have said so a real computer
expert knows exactly what is being said.

Down load the program "asdf88.ttt.www.xys"
run that program with this command --> ./asdf88.ttt.www.xys
That program will ask for blah,blah...
It will write the output to blah,blah...

That explanation is simple, 4 lines long, instead
you get an entire webpage that tells me nothing in
many cases.

I did find the webpage, that had the instructions.
That was the entire key, a page that had them and
I could read them, not keep hunting for them.

And you got simple, step-by-step directions which you couldn't apparently read/understand/follow. With claims about 'vague text' and 'a hundred distractions' with 'flashing things'. You asked how you load Mint...got a page of step by step instructions. And that was 'too much'???
You got it, and still complained, because apparently you couldn't follow those steps or think about what you were doing. Hard to believe:
...any of this, since if you DID have any sort of experience, you'd know how much simpler things are now. How did you manage to load Ubuntu?? Same steps as Mint...download an ISO; burn to install media. How much simpler do you need it???

Sorry, no...you had clear instructions on Mint's website, and they were given to you by michealk again. Not anyones fault that you can't read/understand them besides yours.

1 members found this post helpful.

The last problem I ran into was this.

I finally got the boot disk built after reading
several webpages. Instructions for this actually
take about 4 lines. I went through at least 4
webpages.

Anyway, success, I got the boot disk built.

My next problem was I could not boot from it.

This took me about 20 minutes at minimum.
Of course, I had to change the boot settings on the
computer I was trying to install on.

Changing the boot settings using the bios settings
went pretty well, I tried to get the usb thumb drive
as number 1 in the boot order. Everyone knows that.
But it did not work. No, I could not get it to boot
from that thumb drive. It kept booting from the
main hard disk which had ubuntu linux on it.

I finally got it to use the thumb drive. What I had to
do was put the thumb drive in a different usb slot
of the computer. Apparently it could only boot from one
of those slots and would not use the one I previously
had it installed.

Anyway, it is all installed, and it replaces ubuntu
linux which was on there.


Before I installed I copied all my data files from
home directory and all its subordinate directories
to thumb drive.

Next I have to copy all those files to the new home
directory and their subordinate directories.

I can probably use a similar command of "cp -r" like
I did when I saved all of them.

From there on I can compare Mint with Ubuntu.

Yea, I got simple step by step directions, and I did not understand them.
That was the problem. They were simple instructions.

I wanted to know what to download and what to do with them.

The instructions essentially told me, download them and install it. It still
did not tell me what to download and what to do with them.

There are many ways to install,
(1)run some file of procedures that automate it,
(2)compile a program and install the compiled program,
(3)use some procedure that runs a utility of your distribution to get it and install it.

What I got from reading those instructions was idiotic.
For example it showed me the results of running etcher.
That was absolutely useless. I had no idea in the world
what they were saying.

If they had just said, run the program etcher, then I
would have seen that display of what they were showing me
in instructions. It was completely idiotic to show me
the output of a program. My problem was to know to run
the damn program. And they could have told me that simply
by saying --> run the program etcher.
You can download the program here blah,blah.

Instead the morons show me a screen shot of what the
program etcher produces. They are three steps ahead
of what happens at that point. I still had to know
to download the program and run it, yet they were showing
me the output of that program.

The instructions would have been simple,
Get the program etcher and run it.

One sentence I can understand, instead these morons
show me a picture of the display that etcher produces
if you run it.

This is the world of computer instruction today.
The blind being lead by idiots.