I got my start with Linux Mint Cinnamon 18.3 about 4 years ago. I installed it next to my Win 7 on the same machine. Within a month I realized I would never need my Win 7 again for anything at all. So I reloaded it strictly Linux. Since I have loaded many different versions. The Mint Cinnamon package is the best yet. The 18.3 and the newest 20.x versions are rock solid. Stay clear of the 19.x series, you will not be happy with the hardware bugs.The 18.3 I actually prefer and they also have a 32 bit version for older machines. The 20.x is strictly 64 bit for newer machines.
I understand your concern with wanting to take a look at it before you do it. But I can tell you that you will be pleasantly surprised with the Mint Cinnamon 18.3 or the 20.x. Right off the bat I realized it functions just like Windows 7. Everything in Linux can be customized to how you like it. And with just a couple clicks in “themes” you can even make it look like Win XP if you want. :)
https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/themes/view/Mint-XP
That Cinnamon “spices” site has tons of themes you can customize your desktop with. And they can all be auto-installed right though your default system settings and options panel with a few clicks. I just dug into my available games and Frozen Bubble is available directly from the repository for auto-install, There are about 20 different Tetris games. “MariO” is a Super Mario clone that can be downloaded and installed from Github, and with “Wine” and “Play on linux” installed you can play your Deus Ex and Wolfenstein on a Linux system if you have the installation disks for windows. The wine is the base, and the POL is the graphical interface that makes wine easier to use.
The key is getting the full Mint Cinnamon package. fully loaded it is still only 2 gigs compared to Win 10 at 18 gigs. It comes with two different software “auto-installers” included. You can search and find what you are looking for and with just a few clicks it not only installs the program, but in the same operation it will self check to see if you need any additional dependencies for that program and go grab them and install them at the same time for you also. Pretty slick... :)
I downloaded Mint full version a few days ago. Not able to do much right now, still recovering from ice storm. Think I have an extra hard drive I can use in 2nd laptop, not hard to swap, if not I can get one with little trouble.
For now it’s on hold till everything else is back to semi normal. I’m still flushing toilet with a 2 gallon jug and it’s too wet today to work on outside pump shed. Have water, but it’s in jugs. Made a 50 mile roundtrip for parts yesterday, under 2 bucks. But not available closer, still a 20 mile round trip. Got back it was raining, still drizzling till an hour ago.
Did take a few minutes to re-zero my 22 rifle, it fell a few days ago, scope was an inch high, 3/4 to the right. Just put 15 shots inside a 2 inch circle, 30 yards, including 1st 2 an inch off each way (one high, one low). I overdid it 1st adjustment. Other 13 shots you can cover with a nickel. Not sure how it happened, butt plate just slid across the floor and it fell, must have bumped it.
Anyway I digress.
I’ll take some time later to tinker with Mint on 2nd laptop, win 7 is screwed anyway, once I get it operational I might just do a full install. atill yhen, I still have the working Puppy cd, might delete the save file and let it “forget” yhe games I installed and start over.
Damn...raindrops gotta scoot