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Linux Mint's Clement Lefebvre wrote another of their monthly progress reports on how Linux Mint and their Cinnamon desktop are doing and it's all great news.

In regards to their funding, they've managed to smash another record. From donations made by users, the previous record in a single month was April last year at $24,170 but in December 2019 they managed to pull in $25,352 showing that plenty of people appreciate their work.

They're now working on LMDE 4 (Linux Mint Debian Edition), their own special brand of Debian that's a testing area for if "Ubuntu was ever to disappear" using Debian as a base just like Ubuntu. LMDE 4 will ship with all the improvements the last main release of Linux Mint had including the addition of boot-repair, their system reports feature, better language settings, HiDPI and artwork improvements, new boot menus and tons more. Additionally, they're going to be adding a new boot menu option for NVIDIA users which install the NVIDIA driver "on the fly, so both the live session and the installed OS work out of the box" which is great.

Also mentioned is the Cinnamon desktop environment version 4.6, which is set to get some big display improvements. You can finally set the frequency of your monitors, fractional scaling for much better HiDPI support and each monitor can be set differently.

I'm quite a fan of Cinnamon, a nice no-frills environment that mostly just works and stays out of your way and it just keeps getting better. Linux Mint continues to be a great beginner-friendly Linux distribution.

Lastly, they mentioned the MintBox 3, a compact mini-PC is now shipping with two different models with the Pro at $2,499 and the Basic at $1,399. Both very pricey but also quite powerful with the Basic model having an Intel i5-9500 and the Pro having an i9-9900K + GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB. So while it may seems expensive, it's not a bad price for such a compact unit and it must sell since this is the third generation.

You can see the official post here.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Distro News
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23 comments
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TheSHEEEP Feb 3, 2020
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Before switching to Manjaro with KDE Plasma, I was also using Cinnamon (though I just installed it on top of a normal Ubuntu).
It is indeed fairly nice and I think one of the easiest interfaces for people switching from Windows (or just testing the waters in general).
TheLinuxPleb Feb 3, 2020
They finally got that menu scroll to work fast. That must have had something to about it. It used to be really laggy.

Really nice job from them. :)


Last edited by TheLinuxPleb on 3 February 2020 at 10:22 am UTC
damarrin Feb 3, 2020
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If anyone can make fractional scaling work well it's these guys. KDE's solution barely works, Gnome's creates more problems than it solves and the best comment from a foss developer on the issue I'd read went along the lines of "it's not our fault hw manufacturers put out badly designed computers (badly designed in this case meaning e.g. 1080p on a 13" screen), won't fix" - do you want people to use the system you make or not?

Anyway, I had to give up using Cinnamon on a computer I own for this specific reason and move to KDE which, as far as I can tell, deals best with this, but which unfortunately is too cluttered and messy for me. Looking forward to going back to Mint when this is implemented! :-)
Dorrit Feb 3, 2020
Mint and Cinnamon, stability, consistency and ease of use, the way Linux should be.
ageres Feb 3, 2020
with the Basic model having an Intel i9-9500
i5-9500.
De1m0s Feb 3, 2020
I love mint cinnamon; use it on 3 PCs.
Botonoski Feb 3, 2020
Beginner-friendly also means it's lazy-friendly. I'm certainly an experienced enough Linux user to setup and use even the most mystifying distros, but I'm lazy, and Mint works on most systems I've thrown at it without any issues and has a great out-of-the-box experience.
Nevertheless Feb 3, 2020
"a nice no-frills environment that mostly just works and stays out of your way and it just keeps getting better."

That goes for the whole distro as well!
In all those years I use Mint (constantly also trying different distros on other partitions to keep informed), it never "just fell apart" after a system update, like other distros I used (often rolling release).
It might not be "sexy" to use a distro that others call a "beginners distro" and that has seasoned software in someones opinion, but it almost always, like you say about Cinnamon, just works and never stands in my way.
Nvidia integration in LMDE 4 is really great and is also exactly what I missed!
GustyGhost Feb 3, 2020
While it is nice that they are building a specialty, out-of-box nvidia solution, they also shouldn't have to. If only nvidia would just follow established standards.
Nanobang Feb 3, 2020
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Congratulations to the Mint crew! Although I've not used Mint in years and years, it was the go-to distro I'd hop to in my early Linux years, when Ubuntu befuddled my new-Linux-user mind. Skol!
Scattershot Feb 3, 2020
Before switching to Manjaro with KDE Plasma, I was also using Cinnamon (though I just installed it on top of a normal Ubuntu).

I made the same move, although from Mint Cinnamon itself. I've just managed to convince my boss to let me run a Linux desktop and I chose Mint. While I now prefer Manjaro with KDE, a rolling distro didn't seem like a good idea for a work machine. Not that I've had any problems with it yet, but the risk is there. Mint is stable as you like.
Liam Dawe Feb 3, 2020
with the Basic model having an Intel i9-9500
i5-9500.
Next time, use the tips button - to ensure we pick up corrections - I don't always read comments ;)

That's Amazon's fault, they're listing the Basic model CPU incorrectly <_<
BielFPs Feb 3, 2020
I love Linux Mint and Cinnamon is my main DE in Manjaro.

My only complaint about Cinnamon is the lack of Wayland support, which I assume it's because their Mint Boxes with shipped Nvidia Cards.
Egonaut Feb 3, 2020
My only complaint about Cinnamon is the lack of Wayland support, which I assume it's because their Mint Boxes with shipped Nvidia Cards.

I think it's a waste of time and effort to jump on Wayland now. Not only is Wayland not feature complete yet, most of the used hardware doesn't support it anyway (Nvidia). Especially as a gamer I don't see why anyone would want to use Wayland when the performance will suffer badly because of xWayland.


Last edited by Egonaut on 3 February 2020 at 1:47 pm UTC
ageres Feb 3, 2020
Next time, use the tips button - to ensure we pick up corrections
Where is this button?
Liam Dawe Feb 3, 2020
Next time, use the tips button - to ensure we pick up corrections
Where is this button?
"Send Correction Report", it's next the the Preview Comment button.
Purple Library Guy Feb 3, 2020
I love Mint; very glad things are going well. I only like Cinnamon . . . I keep trying it out but always go back to Mate, which works well for a couple of particular things I like doing with taskbars. I tried Ubuntu Mate on my new desktop machine and it's fine I guess but I like Mint better and next time I upgrade I'm just going to upgrade back to Mint.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 3 February 2020 at 10:32 pm UTC
14 Feb 3, 2020
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This reminds me that I installed Mint to a 64GB USB stick for my dad long ago. I wonder if he ever used it. Time to ask and get that thing back if he never used it! :P Now that Windows 7 is beyond support, perhaps he will give Linux a try. *shrug*
Cool Hero Feb 4, 2020
Im using Linux Mint XFCE works very well for gaming <3
DefaultX-od Feb 4, 2020
My only complaint about Cinnamon is the lack of Wayland support, which I assume it's because their Mint Boxes with shipped Nvidia Cards.

I think it's a waste of time and effort to jump on Wayland now. Not only is Wayland not feature complete yet, most of the used hardware doesn't support it anyway (Nvidia). Especially as a gamer I don't see why anyone would want to use Wayland when the performance will suffer badly because of xWayland.

For me wayland is the way to go, at least on a laptop. Because touchpad gestures in Ubuntu with an extension (extended gestures) are working (only pinch isn't), and LibreOffice Impress 3d transitions between slide are working too.


Last edited by DefaultX-od on 4 February 2020 at 5:28 am UTC
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