I went ahead and installed the newest version of mint.
I then reinstalled bitcoin-core through the ubuntu ppa.
Now when I'm trying to run armory it is asking for an installation directory..
does anyone one know where it gets installed through a PPA install?
or am I gonna have to download and install the linux zipped file?
Use the Secure Downloader within Armory. It was designed to make this easy. And it's especially easy on Linux: two ways to get to it:
(1) Announcements tab at the bottom
(2) Help->Update Software
Select Ubuntu and 32/64 as appropriate. Click on Bitcoin Core 0.9.3. When it's done downloading, it will automatically check the digital signatures on it and then adjust your settings to use it. Just restart Armory.