Hmmm. I see Mint 18.2 has recently been released, which is a Long Term Support version… So do I hose my Ubuntu Mate 17.04 install, and go with Mint 18.2?.. I have tried Manjaro, but found it hard going.
Mint 18.2 is older than Ubuntu 17.04 by a year. Mint 18.2 is based on Ubuntu 16.04.
In that case I’ll stick with Ubuntu 17.04! Then do an upgrade to 17.10, then 18.04 LTS 
OpenSuse for over 15 years. Not sure how many over. Could be 5. First install was Suse bought in a box from PcWorld. Always KDE too. The box included support 
I used the phone number and was asked some questions. I ran an intel motherboard at the time and 2 hard drives. Both were no no’s for support but I did get a few ideas about installing - disabling fearsome power saving features for instance.
I run opensuse and kde because most things can be done via the desktop so even after all this time I know very little about what can be done in the console - just the odd bits I may do at times. Anything more complicated I use google and forget it once it’s been done with or ask on the forum.
Also opensuse because their kde often recovers from it’s frequent illnesses more quickly. I am beginning to feel some of those are chronic and may prove fatal but no doubt will change on V6.
There install is also good. Lots I want are on the DVD and I can set drives up etc quickly and graphically. Apt get etc - no way. I use the one click from their software search and at times assemble. The need for that doesn’t happen often now.
My helpful votes on their forum is a bit odd. It’s red so no one can now indicate that I have been helpful. All down to mentioning ways of doing things without the console. The mods on there mostly use nothing else. Odd really a YAST for instance is one of Opensuse’s main advantages - it can even do things at times that the mods aren’t sure about also sometimes a lot more quickly.
John
openSUSE Tumbleweed, but my server is running openSUSE Leap 42.2
btw, it is not “OpenSUSE”
Since the day I found out that there is such a thing as a free OS I’ve been using Ubuntu, always the newest version!
I don’t have a clue as far as programming or coding etc. is concerned; please consider me the “dumbest possible user”… (g). So far all problems I have encountered could be solved with help of the Ubuntu - community.
Other: Windows 7 until the end of extended support after which I plan to migrate back to linux again.
From 2003 up until 2 years ago PCLinuxOS (yes, I’ve been on Linux thàt long - my last full Windows install was 98SE !! - although I do remember XP as well). I made the switch to Arch because of the AUR repository and the really fast packaging crew.
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Linux Mint 18.0 at the moment, time to upgrade to the new LTS during summer. I have used Linux as my main OS since 2005, first Ubuntu and then turned to Mint at some point. Started out with Mandrake just for fun and curiosity back in 2003.
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Oh, yes! Mandrake, almost forgot that that is where I truly started. I only got to PCLinuxOS because Texstar who was packaging KDE for Mandrake set up his own distro.
Oww, memories, memories…
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Currently I have Ubuntu Mate 18.04, following from Ubuntu Mate 17.10 and 17.04.
I’m actually contemplating going for Linux Mint 19 when it gets released - I’d rather have a distro that goes from LTS to LTS, rather than every 6 months from Ubuntu 18.04, 18.10, 19.04 etc. I’m sure I had a good experience when I was running Mint 18.
So wipe Ubuntu Mate 18.04 and replace with Mint 19? Good idea, or bad idea? I do like the idea of a nice stable distribution, although that may mean an issue with running the latest & greatest versions of gimp etc. Although that is what ppa’s / appimages are for!
For Ubuntu, you can go from LTS → LTS and generally you can upgrade in place (with some caveats). You don’t need to run the non-LTS versions of ubuntu if you don’t want to.
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Good point about only installing LTS ubuntus. However I’m having a few issues with Ubuntu Mate (indicator applet crashing, general sluggishness). so perhaps a fresh install of mint 19 when it is released (cinnamon edition) may be an idea.
I’ve got 6 workstations in my lab with Ubuntu 16.04, a mild supercomputer with a custom kernel and Xubuntu desktop, my office computer is at Xubuntu 18.04, and my laptop is GalliumOS 16.04 with the custom kernel and firmware for Chromebook support. I guess I like *buntu based distros, lol!
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Well, it only has 48 cores, lol! 
@Brian_Innes Depends on how old your computer is. If it is sluggish on an older version, chances are that installing a new fuller featured distro won’t speed things up.
@Isaac Expectation v reality. 
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The “mild supercomputer”(*) I managed in the 80s was nicknamed “Hot Mips” (**)
(*) Bi-processor and floating-point accelerator
(**) Its main users were a gang that was itself nicknamed “Mathématiques, Algorithmes, Statistiques, et Hasard”.
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As an experiment, I’ve installed Cinnamon 3.8 on top of Ubuntu Mate 18.04. Found this even more sluggish! Must admit I prefer the plain simplicity of the Mate DE rather than the flashyness of Cinnamon… 
My desktop is an AMD a86600K quad core cpu, 8gb ddr3 ram, and an Nvidia GT1030 gpu. Seems to be firefox which is causing all the sluggishness. I may have a look at Xubuntu desktop…