&gt; So, functionally, is there any real difference between using Mint&#x27;s ISO to install-from-scratch versus using you&#x27;re preferred distro of choice (Ubuntu&#x2F;Fedora&#x2F;FreeBSD, etc.) and installing the Cinnamon Mint desktop on top of it?<p>No. Switch to another DE. Cinnamon is developed by the same gung-ho cowboys that develop Mint so that&#x27;s a poor indication that it&#x27;s managed any better than Mint itself.