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In its monthly news roundup for March 2025, Linux Mint announced a series of features under development that are coming to future Mint releases (the last release was in January, which saw the launch of Mint 22.1 Xia). To kick things off, file regular expressions (regex) search is making its way to Nemo, Mint's default file manager. Regular expressions are insanely powerful, with a bit of a learning curve, but once you get used to them, you'd find yourself using them anywhere that supports it. Future versions of Nemo will have a regex toggle beside the search box, allowing you to enable regex mode. You can check out the specific commit that makes this possible here. At the moment, Nemo only supports wildcards in the search box. Other improvements in Nemo include expression validation for filename and content patterns, which allows the file manager to notify you when an expression is invalid. Next up, Cinnamon in Wayland is getting improved support for keyboard layouts and input methods. The Linux Mint team hopes this feature is finished in time for the next Linux Mint release, as it's not ready yet. At the moment, there are issues to be resolved with input methods for Asian languages and more. The Mint team also says that LMDE 7 will finally come with "full support" for OEM installations, which will allow Linux Mint to be pre-installed on computers that are sold to consumers. After purchasing a system with LMDE 7 installed, the user can fill in their details via a first-run wizard when they turn on the new computer. Finally, Cinnamon JavaScript (CJS), Mint's JavaScript interpreter used in the Cinnamon desktop environment, will now be versioned according to the Mozilla SpiderMonkey engine it uses. Previously, CJS shared the same version number as the Cinnamon desktop environment and was only updated when Cinnamon itself was updated. The new changes to how CJS versioning is handled should allow for more frequent updates, faster integration of JavaScript engine improvements, and support for multiple engine versions without waiting for a full Cinnamon release. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of March): 1,357 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Over the weekend, it was reported that the Linux Mint 22.1 "Xia" ISOs were undergoing their final check before their release. According to the Linux Mint website, these ISOs have now all been approved for stable release, which means they'll now propagate to third-party mirrors before an official announcement is put out. For anyone who wants to grab this latest version before the official announcement is released, head over to this LayerOnline directory and select the version of Linux Mint 22.1 that you wish to; most people pick Cinnamon as it's the most modern but still fast. LayerOnline is one of Linux Mint's worldwide mirror partners, so the download should go fast wherever you are in the world. Despite the fact that it's only a point release in the Mint 22 series, it is still a substantial update. It comes with new power modes, Night Light integrated into the settings, Cinnamon 6.4, new artwork, and other improvements. For those not familiar with Linux Mint, versions 22, 22.1, 22.2, and 22.3 will all be based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and receive updates until 2029. Unlike other operating systems, it's not necessary to stay on the latest point release. If you're happy with version 22, you can stay on that until 2029 with no issues or nagging. If you're wondering when we will get an official announcement from the Mint team, it'll probably be sometime this week or next week. For people on older versions of Mint, we will likely hear more about upgrading as part of the announcement, too. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Linux Mint 22.1 “Xia”, which got a beta release in December, is now undergoing final testing of its ISO before the stable version is made available for everyone. According to the Linux Mint website, the Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce editions are all undergoing testing right now and if they pass, they will start to filter out to the Linux Mint mirrors before an official announcement is made a couple of days later. Despite the fact that it's only a point release in the Mint 22 series, it is still a substantial update. It comes with new power modes, Night Light integrated into the settings, Cinnamon 6.4, new artworks, and other improvements. For those not familiar with Linux Mint, versions 22, 22.1, 22.2, and 22.3 will all be based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and receive updates until 2029. Unlike other operating systems, it's not necessary to stay on the latest point release, if you're happy with version 22, you can stay on that until 2029 with no issues or nagging. Linux Mint adopts a very conservative ethos where new changes come incrementally, giving you time to get used to the changes. Given this fact, it's particularly popular among people who are more bothered about getting work done, rather than tinkering with their system. The Cinnamon edition, with its taskbar, isn't that different from Windows, making it popular with people who move from Windows to Linux Mint. If you want Linux Mint 22.1 quickly after it passes the ISO testing, the best place to check will be on third-party mirrors, as it tends to arrive there first so they can be linked to in the official announcement a few days later. If you already run Mint 22, you'll eventually be able to upgrade via the Update Manager and if you are running the 22.1 beta, you'll also be able to upgrade just by applying available updates. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

The Linux Mint team is testing the disc images of the upcoming version, which means it's not far away now. These will likely be Beta versions which will be released to the public for two weeks of testing before the Stable version is released. Linux Mint 22.1, like preceding versions, will feature Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce editions so that users have a decent amount of choice. The Cinnamon edition will get a notable upgrade this time around because it ships with the new Cinnamon 6.4. Cinnamon 6.4 includes an improved dark theme with better contrast and new dialog boxes. If you want to take a look at some of the screenshots, please check our previous coverage of Cinnamon 6.4. As a point release of the 22.x series, it will still be supported until 2029, and upgrading to this version is not mandatory if you already have Linux Mint 22, though, you will be offered it and the upgrade is usually seamless. Linux Mint 22 was codenamed Wilma, if the team sticks to tradition, 22.1 will also carry a female name beginning with W. Some possible codenames that we could see are Winifred, Winter, or Whitney. Once the Beta has been released, we will get an official statement from the Linux Mint team who will call on its community to help test it. About two weeks later (but it could be longer), the Linux Mint team will release the Stable version and open up the upgrade path for existing users. If you're still on Linux Mint 21 or older, this would be a good time to finally upgrade. Source: Linux Mint Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of November): 5,298 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Linux Mint has announced that it is working on adding Night Light support natively in the Cinnamon desktop environment, years after Ubuntu and GNOME-based distributions added it. Until now, Mint has been using Redshift as a crutch to deliver blue light reduction. If you've ever tried to set up Redshift on Linux before, you'll know it's not the most reliable software with the geolocation component frequently breaking depending on your Linux distribution of choice. By baking this feature direct into Cinnamon, it will make the experience much more reliable. Another drawback of Redshift is that it is not integrated into Cinnamon's settings and it doesn't work on the new Wayland, which Linux Mint will transition to in the future. For anyone not familiar, Night Light is a feature that reduce the blue light emitted by your display, usually after sunset. This allegedly helps you get to sleep at night as the blue light isn't tricking your brain into thinking it's daylight. In other Mint news, an OEM called Framework is working with the Mint team so that its laptops have full compatibility with Linux Mint and the Cinnamon desktop. Apparently, these laptops also feature components and technologies the Mint team hasn't focused on supporting yet so it said this will "boost new areas of development for us." The Mint team has not set out which release it plans to have Night Light available in just yet, the next update will be out around December, this release could bring the change or maybe it'll arrive later, it's all up in the air. For those not familiar with Linux Mint, it's based on Ubuntu but designed to be even easier to use, especially for people coming from Windows. One of the notable aspects about it is that it's a conservative operating system as not many changes get made to the layout. This is good if you want to get work done and don't want to keep learning a new interface. Source: Linux Mint Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

The Linux Mint project head, Clem Lefebvre, has shared what the community has been up to over the last month and it's quite interesting what he has to share. This month, the flagship desktop environment, Cinnamon, has been receiving an overhaul to make it look more up-to-date, the new theme has even landed in the Cinnamon master branch which means people can use it soon. As a bit of background, Lefebvre said last month that while Linux Mint ships with the Mint-Y default theme, other distributions of Linux that use Cinnamon tend to stick to the default theme which has grown comparatively ugly over time. Lefebvre said the ideal situation is for each distro to use its own Cinnamon theme to spruce things up a bit but as that is not happening in some cases, Cinnamon 6.4 will include a "much-improved default theme." The new theme that has been created is described as being much darker and contrasted than before with objects being rounded and a gap being introduced between applets in the panel to make things more spacious. Here's what the notification area and calendar applet will look like with the new theme: Another area that got updated is the dialog boxes. They have rounded edges and rounded buttons with the most dangerous button being marked in red to alert the user. Here's what that looks like: The creator of the theme also reworked the Force Quit dialog box. It used to be a Gtk window but was rewritten in Clutter to match the rest of Cinnamon, here's what it looks like now (it's a bit inconsistent how the red button has now moved to the left side compared to the image above): The media-buttons on-screen display (OSD) has been updated to look more modern: Here's how the Workspace OSD looks: This new theme is not fully complete yet, the developer working on it is also working on improving the appearance of notifications, animations, the main menu, pkexec/logout dialogs, and a new status applet. As each of these features is completed, it will be shared in the Linux Mint monthly news. There was also an announcement regarding the backend of Linux Mint, that the transition towards Aptkit and Captain is now finished. Beginning with Linux Mint 22.1, due in December, none of the Mint projects will depend on aptdaemon, synaptic, gdebi, or apturl. The benefits of this, according to Lefebvre will be that there won't be any more translation issues, there will be no more bugs or papercuts as it won't depend on unmaintained components that are upstream, and the new setup has a redefined scope with anything the Mint project didn't like being removed (or added if needed). For anyone out there looking at the default Cinnamon theme and thinking they don't like it, Linux Mint itself will probably not use it by default, instead staying on the Mint-Y theme which has been designed to fit the Mint vision of how a desktop should look. If Linux Mint did switch to it, then it would be a matter of going and choosing the old theme from the settings, it's quite straightforward in Mint to do that. Source: Linux Mint Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of September): 4,292 news posts

Earlier this month, the team behind Linux Mint released Linux Mint 21.3 for download after about one month of beta testing. Unfortunately, it included an older Long Term Support kernel which doesn’t support some newer hardware; the new Edge ISO should overcome this problem. The main Mint release includes Linux 5.15 but the new Edge edition includes Linux 6.5. Linux 5.15 has been available since October 2021, while it has received security patches since, added hardware support has not been added, therefore, people with newer hardware need to run a newer kernel like the one offered in Edge. One caveat that the team mentioned in the Linux Mint user guide is that the Edge edition may not be as stable as the other ISOs and may not support as many proprietary drivers. It recommends that you should only use the Edge ISO if you can’t boot or install Mint with the other ISOs. Linux Mint 21.3 was first released on January 12 after more than a month of beta testing. Due to the long testing period, upgrades were opened up on launch day too. The Edge ISOs that have just been released have been undergoing testing for quite a while now and the first ISO that was tested even failed the tests causing the team to run a second round of tests which subsequently passed. Unlike the Debian-based LMDE, this Edge version of Mint is still based on Ubuntu - it’s actually comparable to the hardware enablement releases Canonical pushes for Ubuntu. As it’s based on Ubuntu, it will receive updates until 2027 just like the other Mint 21.x versions. Linux Mint 21.3 includes various upgrades including full support for secure boot and better compatibility with more BIOS and EFI implementations, Hypnotic improvements, and Cinnamon 6.0 which is packed with new features. To get Linux Mint 21.3 Edge or any other versions, just head to the Linux Mint website and browse the downloads. Source: Linux Mint Source

The Linux Mint team has been testing Linux Mint 21.3 for most of December and people are probably wondering when the stable version will land. According to the Mint team, which shared several plans it has, we will see the release sometime from next week. Clem Lefebvre who heads the project said that it had received 50 bug reports during the beta and that 35 have since been closed. It plans to resolved the other 15 this week before making preparations for the stable version and an upgrade path. Lefebvre also said that a 21.3 EDGE ISO is also going to be released with Linux kernel 6.2 rather than 5.15 so that newer hardware can be used. Problematic hardware included AMD graphics cards, wireless chipsets, and SSD controllers used in Acer laptops. For anyone out there running LMDE 6, you will receive new updates just before Linux Mint 21.3 is released containing all the new Linux Mint features - the Debian base will still remain the same though. This release cycle has been a bit atypical because the beta period only lasts about two weeks, even if Christmas and New Year are coming up. The team did not share why there has been such a delay this time, but it could be due to them receiving a greater quantity of bugs, it’s also possible they want to release the upgrade path at the same time. Linux MInt 21.3 is codenamed Virginia, continuing the female naming system. It includes Hypnotix TV streaming improvements, improved ISO images that have full support for SecureBoot, Cinnamon 6.0 with plenty of improvements, and improvements to Warpinator. Some of the Cinnamon improvements are: If you downloaded the beta and want to use the stable version, just keep applying the latest updates and once the stable is out, you’ll be on the stable too. If you were thinking of trying the beta, at this point it’s just best to wait for the final release as it should be ready soon. Source: Linux Mint Source

Yesterday, Neowin reported that the Linux Mint 21.2 Beta ISOs had passed testing, now it appears that you can download the ISOs from official mirrors. It’s important to note that we are still awaiting an official announcement of the Beta availability from the project. As usual, Linux Mint 21.2 is released in three editions: Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce. The Cinnamon version is the “flagship” edition and gets the most attention, but all are supported equally and given attention by the Mint team. Below, you can find links to different mirrors hosting the Beta ISOs. Use the one nearest your location for the best results (let's try not to take any servers offline!). Torrents: Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce LayerOnline (World) Clarkson University (USA) Harvard School of Engineering (USA) Advancedhosters.com (USA) AARNet (Australia) C3SL (Brazil) Dimension Data (South Africa) Bytemark Hosting (UK) NetCologne () Powernet ISP (Russia) NxtGen DataCenter (India) PicoNets-WebWerks (India) The Linux Mint team usually runs beta phases for about two weeks before pushing the final release. It allows users to try out the upcoming release in the real world and uncover bugs that would have been hard for the developers to find. Linux Mint 21.2 brings some theming improvements to the Cinnamon desktop through styles. Styles allow you to combine different accent colours and select dark, light, or mixed themes. The upcoming release also adds the Yaru theme which is used in Ubuntu, so that’s good news if you like the look of Ubuntu. The upcoming release will be supported until 2027, just like the other releases in this series. If you decide to install the Beta, just keep installing the new updates when they are made available and by the time of the official release, you’ll automatically be off the Beta. Please keep in mind, at the time of writing the Linux Mint project has not yet announced the Beta. It has passed the checks so there shouldn't be too much issues, but the team might have some important release notes to go along with the release so be sure to only use this Beta on testing machines. Source

If you are waiting to try out the Linux Mint 21.2 Beta, your wait will soon be over. Last week the Linux Mint project announced that the development cycle for the release had closed and Neowin predicted that the Beta ISOs should be available soon. Before every new ISO release of Linux Mint, the project publishes on its Community website that ISOs have been approved, are being tested, or have been rejected. This is an indicator that the release of the ISOs is just a few days out and right now we can see that testing has begun on Linux Mint 21.2 Beta ISOs. Actually, there’s nothing in the ISO name that indicates that it’s a beta at all but we can take an educated guess that it will be marked as a Beta ISO on release because all Linux Mint versions are preceded by a Beta release to allow for about two weeks of last-minute testing. While the Beta ISOs that get approved should be pretty stable, it’s still not recommended that you install them on production machines in case of any data-destroying bugs that could exist. If anything is found in the way of bugs, the team has a few weeks to fix the issues before the new version is pushed out for public consumption. If you are already running Linux Mint 21.0 or 21.1, you are best off waiting until the upgrade path opens up to Linux Mint 21.2. You should get notified about the update through the update manager. All three of the Linux Mint versions are based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and will be supported until 2027 so if you don’t like some of the changes in the upcoming version, you can opt not to upgrade your system. Linux Mint 21.2 promises to be a big upgrade for end users because it will introduce Cinnamon styles that let you combine hint colours and mixed, dark, or light themes allowing for greater customizability. Linux Mint 21.2 Beta ISOs are now undergoing testing

If you’ve been eagerly awaiting Linux Mint 21.2, the wait is now over. The Linux Mint Community website is reporting that the ISO files have passed the last-minute checks and they are now available on official mirrors here. On the download page, you can find the Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce editions of the operating system plus the sha256sum txt and gpg files to ensure the ISOs are indeed legitimate. If you previously installed the Beta a few weeks ago, you just need to install available updates to upgrade to the final version, there’s no need to do a fresh install. Linux Mint 21.2 brings some theme improvements to the Cinnamon desktop through styles. Styles allow you to combine different accent colours and select dark, light, or mixed themes. The upcoming release also adds the Yaru theme which is used in Ubuntu, so that’s good news if you like the look of Ubuntu. Linux Mint 21.2, just like 21.0 and 21.1, is supported until 2027 and it’s based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS like those other two versions. When Linux Mint 21.3 is released later this year or early next year, you will be able to upgrade to that or remain on 21.2 if you’re happy. Aside from the new styles feature, this update has also given the Software Manager a refreshed UI, Linux Mint has better gesture support, full support for HEIF and AVIF image files, new artwork, and much more. If you have any cutting-edge hardware you might be disappointed with this release because it still includes Linux 5.15 - it’s still relatively recent and should be fine for most people but just keep this in mind and ensure your hardware works in the live environment before installing Mint. Have you been waiting for Linux Mint 21.2? Did you try out the beta? What did you think? Let us know in the comments! Source

The Linux Mint Community website shows that the final ISOs for Linux Mint 21.2 are now undergoing testing. There are three versions being prepared, Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce. The testing of the final ISOs comes just over two weeks since the beta was released to the public. On July 1, the head of the Linux Mint project wrote that the team had already gathered 60 bug reports and many issues were fixed thanks to user feedback. One of the biggest changes that will be available in Linux Mint 21.2 is the introduction of styles in the Cinnamon edition. They let you combine different accent colours and select dark, light, or mixed themes - you can even use the Yaru colours from Ubuntu in this version. Those users who downloaded the beta will be able to keep applying the latest updates and they will be considered as being on the final version. Linux Mint 21.1 users will be able to upgrade quite easily through the menu in the update manager, but it’s not mandatory. Linux Mint 21, 21.1, and 21.2 are all based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and will therefore get updates until 2027. The benefit of upgrading is that you get the improvements that the Linux Mint team has been working on, such as styles for Cinnamon. There’s no telling how long it’ll take for the ISOs to be publicly released, usually, it’s just a few days. It’s not uncommon for ISOs to fail the tests, this can delay the release as new ISOs undergo testing. After the tests have passed, we’ll then need to wait for the team to write up blog posts for the releases but if you’re eager to get the new software, you can sometimes find it on official mirrors before the announcement. Let us know in the comments if you're tried the beta of Linux Mint 21.2, do you like it? Did you run into any problems? Source

Every month, the head of the Linux Mint project, Clement Lefebvre, writes up a blog post detailing what work has been going on behind the scenes. This month he states that the next iteration of Cinnamon, the main desktop environment for Linux Mint, will feature something called styles which allow you to choose between mixed, dark, or light themes and combine colours that work well together. The new styles will be located in theme settings and will give you the choice to pick a desktop style such as Adwaita, Mint-X, Mint-Y, and so on. You can also pick a mixed, dark, or light appearance, and then from the advanced settings, you can pick colours and combinations to change the tint used for the close button, icons, and more. Users should see a “new” theme in the style drop-down called Mint-L, which stands for Mint-Legacy; this is just the Mint-Y-Legacy theme which has been renamed. With the last release of Linux Mint, stripes were attached to folders that reflected the theme colour you picked. These received criticism from the community, though, because they were predominantly yellow and didn’t reflect the theme colour the user picked well enough. In the next version of Cinnamon (and by extension, Linux Mint), the stripes will be replaced by two-tone icons that fully reflect the user’s choice of theme colour. For all of you out there who like the Yaru theme from Ubuntu which mixes purple, orange, and dark grey, you’ll be glad to hear that Yaru will be a theme option in the next version of Cinnamon. With the Yaru theme, the icons will still be in the same shape as the Papirus icons but they use the colours found in the Yaru theme on Ubuntu. Linux Mint 21.2 should be available around May or June and will be easy to upgrade to from Linux Mint 21.1. Like other 21.x releases, this version will still be based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, rather than Ubuntu 23.04 which is coming later this month. Linux Mint team adds styles to Cinnamon desktop

There has been an interesting development in this month’s Linux Mint news segment regarding the future of the backup utility Timeshift which has become a core part of the distro in recent years. It turns out that Tony George, the developer behind the project doesn’t have time to work on Timeshift any longer and has agreed for the Mint team to take over. As part of the plans, Timeshift will now become a XApp, a suite of apps developed by the Mint team. A core principle of Linux Mint is that things just work. To ensure things keep working after updates and upgrades, the Mint team started pushing, quite aggressively, for people to begin making system backups so they could restore their computers to an earlier state if anything went wrong. The tool of choice for backups in Mint was Timeshift and that utility has been bundled with the distro for quite a while now. Unfortunately, the developer of Timeshift, Tony George, said he no longer has time to work on Timeshift and after reaching out to him, the Mint team says both parties agreed that the latter will adopt the project and make it into a XApp. This will allow the Mint team to better adapt Timeshift to the Linux Mint environment and integrate it more deeply into the operating system should they decide to go down this route. We should not have to wait for any new Linux Mint releases to come out before we see the fruits of this news. The team will make whatever changes they want and start pushing them out to users through the update manager whenever they are deemed to be ready. Linux Mint project takes over development of Timeshift backup tool and makes it a XApp

The Linux Mint team has announced the general availability of the new Upgrade Tool which allows users of Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) 4 to upgrade to LMDE 5 more simply. While this is currently only available for LMDE, the Linux Mint team is working to allow upgrades from Linux Mint 20.3 to 21.0 after that version has been released. While the graphical tool does simplify things, you will still have to get your hands dirty in the terminal for the time being while you install Upgrade Tool. To install it, run the following commands separately (sudo may be required but the commands below are those given directly from the Mint team): apt update apt install mintupgrade You’ll probably be asked to type your password to execute those commands but once they’ve finished you will have Upgrade Tool installed on your machine. Next, you will want to launch it from the command line, do this with the following command: sudo mintupgrade Now you can shift your focus to the graphical tool and follow the instructions to perform the upgrade. When it’s done, you need to uninstall the upgrade tool and reboot your computer, you can do that with the following commands: apt remove mintupgrade sudo reboot During the upgrade process, you will be asked to ensure you’ve installed all available updates and backed up with system snapshots if anything goes wrong. As this is a major upgrade, the Mint team stresses that you take your time and do everything to the letter. While it’s good to have the graphical Upgrade Tool, it’d be better if it was baked into the operating system. Given that it’s new, it’s understandable that it’s not a part of LMDE 4 but in future versions, it’d be nice to see it as a standard program that ships with the distro so users can avoid the terminal altogether, after all, Linux Mint is aimed squarely at people who are new to Linux. Linux Mint Debian Edition 5 upgrades are now possible with the graphical Upgrade Tool

Linux Mint 20.2 beta ISOs are now ready for download Earlier this week, Neowin reported that the Linux Mint 20.2 beta ISOs were undergoing final testing before being made available. Today, you can now download Linux Mint 20.2 beta from a choice of the Cinnamon, MATE, or Xfce editions. One of the main updates in Linux Mint 20.2 is to the Update Manager and the way it handles and alerts users to updates. On Linux Mint systems, all of the installed software, including apps, are updated centrally in the Update Manager. To bring more centralisation to the system, Cinnamon spices (add-ons in Cinnamon) are now visible in the Update Manager whenever there’s an update for them. Another issue with the Update Manager is that, by default, the user needs to apply updates manually but not everybody does. To remedy this, infrequent notifications will be displayed to users to let them know that there are available updates. The people that see these notifications will likely not be the type of people who keep their system up to date so they are offered the option to enable automatic updates so they’re never bothered by them again. Doing things this way gives users a choice over whether updates should be forced on users. There are a few new app additions in this update. The first is a new XApp called Buiky which allows you to bulk rename files on your system. Bulky is not included in the Xfce edition because the Thunar file manager already has this feature baked in. The other new app is Sticky Notes which replaces GNote as the default app for taking notes. Sticky Notes is built using GTK3, supports HiDPI, and integrates well with the desktop environment so it should be nice to use. Included in the release notes is also a mention of an unofficial Warpinator app for Android. Warpinator is a tool that Linux Mint developed a little while ago that allows you to send files between Linux Mint machines on your local network. With the Warpinator Android app, you’ll be able to easily send files to and from your mobile devices. Finally, the Cinnamon edition ships with Cinnamon 5.0 which includes a new content search feature. It also comes with fixes for several memory leaks which should improve its performance. A slightly unusual change coming with Cinnamon 5.0 is the ability to limit the total amount of RAM Cinnamon can use. If the limit is reached, Cinnamon will restart itself but you won’t lose your session or windows. When the limit is reached, Cinnamon becomes unresponsive for a second while performing an internal reboot. In the Linux Mint world, beta testing usually runs for a couple of weeks before the stable release is made available. Upgrading from Linux Mint 20 and 21 will be made available a little bit after the stable release is made available. The upgrade should be available via the Update Manager and should be painless. Linux Mint 20.2 beta ISOs are now ready for download

Linux Mint 20.2 arrives, upgrade path made available too The Linux Mint team has announced the release of Linux Mint 20.2 ‘Uma’. Surprisingly, the upgrade path has also been opened up today. In the past, users normally had to wait a week or two before upgrades were allowed from older Mint versions but it looks like the team was confident enough to allow upgrades right away. We already gave a rundown of the features new to Linux Mint 20.2 in June when the beta was made available so head over to that article to see what’s new. Here, we will look at how you can upgrade your Linux Mint 20 or 20.1 system to 20.2. The upgrade to Mint 20.2 is quite minor so the likelihood that something will go wrong is really small but there is still the possibility, therefore, you should launch Timeshift from the application menu and follow the instructions to create a system snapshot that you can use to restore your system to an earlier state if it breaks. You also need to disable your screensaver and upgrade any Cinnamon spices you have installed from the System Settings. With those pre-requisite tasks out of the way, head over to the Update Manager and press the refresh button. You’ll then need to install the new version of mintupdate or mint-upgrade-info if you’ve not already done so. After those updates are installed, press Edit in the Update Manager menu bar and press ‘Upgrade to Linux Mint 20.2 Uma’, you will be presented with the release notes, new features, system requirements and a summary before the upgrade proceeds. Although not necessary, the Mint team recommends that you convert your system with usrmerge. This is already done on a clean install of Linux Mint 20.1 and Linux Mint 20.2 but if you need to do it you can convert your system with the following command: apt install usrmerge. You can learn more about usrmerge from the freedesktop.org website. Once the upgrade is complete, you should restart your computer. If you’d like to perform a clean install of Linux Mint 20.2, head over to the Mint downloads page and select the Cinnamon, MATE, or Xfce version. You can refer to the multilingual documentation to learn about writing Linux Mint to a USB stick or burning it to a DVD and installing it on your computer. Linux Mint 20.2 arrives, upgrade path made available too Frontpaged: Linux Mint 20.2

Linux Mint 20.2 'Uma' to get beta release by mid-June Clement Lefebvre, head of the Linux Mint project, has published a blog post revealing that Linux Mint 20.2 is codenamed 'Uma' and is set for a beta release by the middle of June. The new release will still be based upon Ubuntu 20.04 LTS but comes with an upgrade to the Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce desktops and comes with newer hardware enablement stacks that ship with Ubuntu LTS point releases. Linux Mint 20.2 will feature a new XApp (apps made by the Mint team) called Bulky that allows the users to rename files in bulk on both the Cinnamon and MATE versions of Mint. On Xfce, the Thunar file manager already comes with an embedded bulk renamer so Bulky won’t need to be shipped with the Xfce edition of Mint. Another change in Linux Mint 20.2 is the inclusion of Nemo 5.0, the file manager on the Cinnamon edition of Linux Mint. With Nemo 5.0, users can now perform a content search in addition to a file’s name. The new content search will look for search terms within documents and return the document to the user if the search finds anything relevant. The local file-sharing program Warpinator, which was released with Linux Mint 20, has also been updated. Now, users can select which network interface they want to share files on if they have several available. Additionally, a new option to compress files that are sent has been added, this should reduce the amount of time it takes to send large files. Finally, the NVIDIA Prime applet has been updated to fix an issue where the applet would disappear from the tray. It also contains support for computers with AMD/NVIDIA hybrids. Linux Mint 20.2, just like the rest of the 20.x series, will be supported until around April or May of 2025. At that time, it will stop receiving software updates and users will need to upgrade if they want their system to stay secure. Linux Mint 20.2 'Uma' to get beta release by mid-June

If you were reading Neowin at the weekend, you may have seen that the Linux Mint 21.1 Beta ISOs were undergoing testing before release. For those eager to try out the Beta, the wait is now over. The Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce editions are now available for download. While they should all be pretty stable, they are Betas, so you may encounter bugs, which you should report. The main change in this update is the theming used. In this update, the Mint team has opted to make colours more vibrant but reduced where they are used, making sure they’re not too distracting. In this update, accent colours have been removed from the panel and in menus and folders are now yellow. Controversially, the Mint team has also opted to use the blue Aqua theme by default, taking away the familiar mint colour. While this is a big change, one of the core philosophies of the operating system is that users are in control. For that reason, when you see the Welcome screen after installation, one of the first things you’ll be able to do is choose the accent colour and whether you’ll use the light or dark theme. If you want the old theme back in its entirety, select the “Mint-Y-Legacy” theme, it’s installed by default. Another change users will immediately notice is the icons that are shown on the desktop. The home folder has been removed from the desktop because it’s easy to get to from the main menu and the panel or by pressing Super + E on the keyboard (Super is the Windows key). The only things on the desktop now are the installation icon, items you drop on the desktop, files placed in ~/Desktop, and mounted devices. Bibata-Modern-Classic is the new default Other notable changes include a new default cursor and several new alternatives, as well as new sounds that are “modern and reassuring”. Additionally, there are different icon themes to select including Mint-X, Mint-Y, Mint Legacy, Breeze, Papirus, Numix, and Yaro. For a point release, this update is certainly a big one. Linux Mint is normally known for its slow, gradual changes, so users aren’t too shocked, but this update gets away from that a little bit. If you’d prefer to revert to the old look, you can do so easily by selecting the old theme and cursor. The Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce Betas are available to download now. If you don’t like what you’ve read about the new changes and want to stay on Linux Mint 21, that’s fine. It will continue to receive updates until 2027. Linux Mint 21.1 ‘Vera' Beta arrives with new theme and cursors

Testing has begun of the Linux Mint 21.1 Beta ISO images, according to the Linux Mint website. The list shows that the Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce editions are being tested at the time of writing, and they will either be approved for Beta release or rejected. If they fail the tests and get rejected, new images will have to be tested instead, delaying the release of the Beta by an extra day or two. In September, Clem Lefebvre, head of the Linux Mint project, stated that Linux Mint 21.1 codenamed Vera, will launch around Christmas. The project usually has a two-week period before this where it asks the community to try out a Beta release so that any last minute issues can be sorted out before the final release comes out. Once the next version of Linux Mint does arrive around Christmas, people on Linux Mint 21 will be able to easily upgrade their system through the update manager, but it’s not required if you’re happy with Linux Mint 21. Over its lifetime, Linux Mint 21 will receive three point releases, taking it to Linux Mint 21.3. Each of these versions will be supported until the first half of 2027, by which time, Linux Mint 23 should be available, so you’ll probably have upgraded by then anyway. At the time of writing, the Linux Mint project has not taken to its blog to announce the beta release, but an announcement is expected soon, once the ISO images pass the tests. For most people, it’s not worth using the Beta release unless you’re desperate to try it out. It should reflect what will be available in the final release, but there could be bugs. Linux Mint is one of the first Linux distributions that new users try out. Graphically, it's a lot more like Windows 10, so it's a bit easier for new users to pick up. Linux Mint 21 and subsequent releases are based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. The Linux Mint 21.1 Beta ISOs are now going through final checks

The Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce editions of Linux Mint 21 beta have been approved for release by the Linux Mint project according to its community website. In an announcement last week, the Linux Mint project leader said that the beta was due last week, but there were issues with the beta ISOs which meant they received a “Rejected” status during the tests. Now that they have been approved, their release should be imminent. Typically, the beta period lasts about two weeks for any last minute issues to be tested by a wider audience. Following the beta, the final ISOs are made available to the public. In-place upgrades are sometimes enabled soon after the release and other times they are delayed to give more time for testing to be done of the new operating system version. In our recent coverage, we mentioned that Linux Mint 21 would not ship with the systemd-oom package that aims to kill tasks in very low memory environments to keep the computer running quickly. The team said they received negative feedback about the software and chose not to include it. Linux Mint 21 will be based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS which came out in April. Similarly to Ubuntu, Linux Mint 21 will receive updates until 2027 before you have to upgrade. This makes Linux Mint an ideal solution for production machines that will hold lots of data that you don’t want to constantly be transferring or backing up. Linux Mint 21 beta ISOs pass tests meaning their release is imminent

A few months ago, developers of the Linux Mint team announced that they would release an Upgrade Tool soon to improve major Linux Mint version upgrades. The graphical user interface tool would add an option to the upgrade process to make it more comfortable and easier for many of the operating system's users. Instead of having to run commands from Terminal windows, most Linux Mint upgrades could be completed using just the tool. Linux Mint point release updates are simpler, as they don't require the use of the command line. In fact, the entire process is not that different from updating other applications or operating systems. A device that is updated from Linux Mint 20.2 to 20.3 is ready in no time, provided that no issues are encountered during the process. Updates from Linux Mint 20.3, the latest stable version of the Linux distribution, to Linux Mint 21, the next stable version, are not that easily performed. To address this, and improve the process, development of the Upgrade Tool began. In early April 2022, Linux Mint's Upgrade Tool was available as an alpha version. Now, the developers have released the first beta version of the Upgrade Tool. The particular version of the Upgrade Tool is designed to upgrade Linux Mint Debian Edition 4 to Linux Mint Debian Edition 5. The Upgrade Tool for upgrading Linux Mint 20.3 to Linux Mint 21 will follow in the future. Since it is a beta tool, it is advised to create backups of the system and important data before using it. While there is Timeshift, which can be used to revert changes, it may be better to have another option to restore the previous system state. The beta release is available for testing, and users may want to report bugs and issues to the Linux Mint development team. The following commands need to be run to install and run the Linux Mint Upgrade Tool on the LMDE 4 system: apt update apt install mintupgrade sudo mintupgrade The last command runs the Upgrade Tool on the device. The application's user interface launches on the screen. All it takes is to follow the instructions to upgrade to the new major LMDE 5 release. The following two commands may be run to remove the Upgrade Tool and restart the system after the process completes: apt remove mintupgrade sudo reboot Closing Words Linux Mint's Upgrade Tool improves the process of upgrading to major Linux Mint releases, especially for users who don't feel too comfortable using the command line. Experienced users may still upgrade using the command line, as the Upgrade Tool adds an option to the process without taking anything away. Now You: will you use the Upgrade Tool? Linux Mint's Upgrade Tool is now available for beta testing

Clem Lefebvre, head of the Linux Mint project, has announced that the team has been working on Upgrade Tool, a new bit of kit that finally makes it easy to upgrade to new major versions of Linux Mint. Previously, you could upgrade via the terminal but it certainly wasn’t very friendly and users were just advised to perform a clean install to ensure that nothing went wonky during the upgrade process. With the new Upgrade Tool, users will interact with a fully graphical program that checks everything is ready for the upgrade to begin such as having enough storage space and that you’re connected to AC power. Further, it preserves your update mirrors and custom repos where possible so that you don’t have to mess about. If there are any orphaned packages or issues with your repos, you’ll be notified and be given Fix buttons to address the issues. The Upgrade Tool will first be available for LMDE 4 users looking to move to LMDE 5 before August when LMDE 4 reaches end of life. It will also be available for those on Linux Mint 20.3 to upgrade to Linux Mint 21 "Vanessa". The plan is to release the tool as fast as possible but it’s still considered an alpha product. It will undergo a short beta phase before being graduated to general availability. Not being able to upgrade easily between major Linux Mint versions was the only thing really the matter with Linux Mint but with this tool, the problem is gone and puts it on a more equal footing with the other user-friendly Linux distribution, Ubuntu. Linux Mint will allow you to perform easy upgrades between major versions with Upgrade Tool

A number of years ago, the Linux Mint website was hacked and fake ISOs were uploaded. Since then, the team has put more emphasis on verifying ISOs you download to ensure they’ve not been tampered with. In the upcoming Linux Mint 21.1 ‘Vera’ release, users will have access to the new ISO Verification Tool, which will do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to verifying ISOs. Right-clicking on an ISO file will give you the option to verify its integrity. The verification tool will pop up and if it’s a Linux Mint or Ubuntu file, the URLs to the SHA256sum and GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) files will automatically be filled in to be checked against – all you’ve to do is hit the Verify button. Provided the ISO is OK, you will see a message pop-up in the program saying that everything looks good, and that the ISO is an official image. Aside from verifying ISOs, the team has also been working on the USB Image Writer tool. It now features a Verify button which opens the verification tool and if you’re trying to write a Windows ISO, it detects this and provides a link to writing a Windows image as more steps are needed. The Linux Mint team also announced that the upcoming version, and versions after that, would start shipping with the Computer, Home, Trash, and Network desktop icons hidden by default. They’re being hidden because they’re easy to get to by other means and will provide a cleaner desktop. While these shortcuts are being hidden, you will still be able to place items on the desktop and access your mounted drives from here. If you want to restore any of the hidden icons, you will be able to do so. The Linux Mint team confirmed that it's aiming to get Linux Mint 21.1 'Vera' out to the public by Christmas, it will likely be preceded with a beta release. Linux Mint 21.1 ‘Vera' will drastically improve ISO verification

The Linux Mint team has just shared what it has been working on through October. There are quite a few improvements it has been making, but one notable one is the corner bar, which is very similar to the ‘show the desktop’ button on Windows that lives in the bottom right of the taskbar. Other changes include fewer password prompts, Flatpak support in Update Manager, and some visual refinements. The new corner bar coming to Mint is less noticeable than the show the desktop button on Windows, however, it can be configured to be more powerful than the Windows implementation. Using customizable settings, you can choose the click action, the middle click action, and enable or disable peek at the desktop on hover. As the corner bar is in the lower right, you don’t even have to think about where to move the cursor. Password requests have also been worked on, so they’re less intrusive. They’re no longer needed when using Synaptic and Update Manager, nor when removing a Flatpak. These programs will instead ask pkexec to remember your password, so you don’t need to enter it more than once. This should make things a little more convenient. Finally, there are a few visual tweaks that should improve the overall experience. The Nemo file manager has been update so that in icon view, the icon will not be highlighted when you press an item, this makes it more consistent with the file manager’s list view. When you select files now, only the file names will be highlighted. In addition, the desktop icon in the file manager had the task bar at the top but in Mint it’s usually at the bottom, so this icon has been flipped. Display Settings has also been added as a menu item when accessing the desktop’s context menu. The latest announcement didn’t say when these features were going to ship, they could either land as an update in the current version or ship with the next release, which is due around Christmas – the latter case is probably more likely. Source: Linux Mint Linux Mint is getting a ‘show the desktop' button just like Windows