Mint Cinnamon is the tits.

Go ahead and get your neighbor to set up printing.

it does seem that way

i was getting an unpleasant pop when I closed or opened programs that used audio. did a bunch of googlin and figured out it is some little auto switch that turns off the audio function when not in use, to save some infinitesimal amount of energy. I don’t remember the commands but they’re out there. try searching for linux mint audio pop.