Following instructions; avoiding assumptions (part 1): downloading the ISO

For the sake of this exercise, I'm going to ask you to do something simple. In this particular case, the downloading of an .iso of the latest Linux Mint to your computer's hard disk.  

There are quite a few assumptions here: that you know what's meant by download; that you know what Linux MInt is and that you know what an .iso image is. 

Often, it helps to have a statement of what we want to achieve and why we're doing it. So...

Linux Mint is a popular Ubuntu-based distribution that we're going to download as an .iso file; we're then going to write the .iso to a USB thumb drive and boot into the live environment. This will allow you to explore Linux without making any changes to your computer. If we're happy with the live environment, we're going to take the next step and install it on our computer. 

Well, okay, you're reading my channel, so I'm entitled to a few assumptions. For example, you know how to open a browser and navigate the world wide web. If given an URL, I'm assuming you'll be able to get there. So please go here:

https://linuxmint.com/  -- you will be taken to the Linux Mint home page. 

The Download button is right there on the front page, so click on it. You might expect the download to start here, but it doesn't because there are choices to make, always a complicating factor. When you click on the Download button, you're taken here: https://linuxmint.com/download.php ... 

... where you have to decide what version of Linux Mint you want to download. We're going to download the flagship Cinnamon edition. 

Click the Download button. Again, the download doesn't start. You have to make more decisions and more choices. We're on a page where we have to choose a mirror (download location) from a list. Most will work, but there's no point downloading from a UK download mirror if you're in Australia. Also, there's this scary message, which most of us ignore, including almost every tutorial on downloading and installing Linux Mint (but it's about checking you have a genuine .iso): 

Scroll through the list of mirrors until you find one that takes your fancy. I'm in the UK, but there's nothing to stop me going German or Danish (adding a cup of coffee as it downloads).

                                                      

Click on the link and the download will either start or your file manager will open inviting you to save it somewhere. The file name will look like this:

If the latter, navigate to where you want to save the file and click Save. The download will begin and all you have to do is wait. 

After all of the above -- avoiding assumptions isn't easy -- all we've done is download the file. We haven't done anything with it. The more complicated bit is still to come. 

I think I'll add "(part 1)" to the title, and pick it up in "(part 2)"