Linux Mint 20 has today been officially released across multiple official desktop environments and it's all sounding great. The Cinnamon desktop edition sounding especially good.
This is the first Linux Mint release to be based upon Ubuntu 20.04, the latest Long-Term Support release so you can keep on using Linux Mint 20 happily until around 2025. If you're looking for a good starting point with Linux, Mint is often a good choice.
Pictured: Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon
Linux Mint 20 will likely see 2-3 point releases, all supported until 2025 and all made from the same base Mint 20. They no longer chase all the interim Ubuntu releases so they can focus on keeping things stable, this should mean upgrades to Mint 20.1 and 20.2 should be quite easy.
With this latest release, there's lots of fun new features included. For the Cinnamon edition, the biggest is the inclusion of fractional scaling for the UI along with each monitor being able to be scaled differently. Another big improvement is better support for NVIDIA Optimus out of the box, as their included applet easily allows you to pick your GPU from its menu. It also now support the NVIDIA "On-Demand" profile too. For gamers, the Optimus improvements are a big plus.
Some other nice fluff improvements came with it, like the Welcome app letting you pick a colour scheme easily.
More improvements can be found elsewhere like the improved system tray icon system, a new application named Warpinator to easily share files across networks, Nemo file manager performance improvements and the Gdebi tool used to manually install .deb files was given a fresh look.
The most controversial change in Linux Mint 20 is their disabling of Snap packages by default. Snap is the Canonical-backed next-gen Linux packaging format, which Mint's Clément Lefèbvre is not currently a fan of for various reasons like the Chromium package on Ubuntu actually being empty and just sets up a Snap instead. Their reasoning goes a lot deeper than that though, including Snaps being from one centralized store. If you want to read more on Mint's stance on Snaps, see here.
Additionally, the is the first time the Mint team have gone 64bit only as they've retired the 32bit downloads.
The currently released editions are:
Are you a Linux Mint or Cinnamon fan? Let us know what you think of the latest releases in the comments.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Schattenspiegel Jun 27, 2020
Comandante Ñoñardo Jun 28, 2020
slaapliedje Jun 28, 2020
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoThe Mint 20 Cinnamon is ideal for former Windows 7 users... Specially if They use the right tweakI know it's all personal preferences, but I think overall the best looking Windows release of all time was Windows 2000.
Everything after that has just been too... colorful I guess is the word for it? Too much distraction, I hate flat icons of modern operating systems too. Granted, I still think the Amiga Workbench is the most adjustable visually and usability wise operating system out there.
Anyhow, congrats to the Mint team! I do like this trend to push back on things that Ubuntu try to force us to use. Seems they always get in this position where they try to force us to use things, but no one else seems to bite. Though it's also funny how many new things Redhat create for Linux that tend to get adopted in distributions. They really are the leader as far as pushing new things forward, it seems!
Ari El Uno Jun 28, 2020
QuoteAre you a Linux Mint or Cinnamon fan?No.
The Mint team is good at listening to feedback from the community. They often make last minute changes because of community feedback. With most other distros, I got the vibe that changes are rolled out without the community really not having any say on the matter.
If there was one thing I would like to change about Mint, that would be to make a new icon theme. I'm thinking of something similar to the current Moka based one, but one that is designed to be scalable (so that there is not need to make one icon in lots of sizes, GNOME is moving towards that direction. However, the style they are going is not to my liking. I generally prefer icons that have templates and gradients).
Last edited by awesam on 28 June 2020 at 11:07 am UTC
Quoting: Ari El UnoQuoteAre you a Linux Mint or Cinnamon fan?No.
Is there some particular gripe you have with Mint that you would like to see fixed?
Quoting: AwesamLinuxIf there was one thing I would like to change about Mint, that would be to make a new icon theme. I'm thinking of something similar to the current Moka based one, but one that is designed to be scalable (so that there is not need to make one icon in lots of sizes, GNOME is moving towards that direction. However, the style they are going is not to my liking. I generally prefer icons that have templates and gradients).Good thing you can install any icon theme you like. :)
You can never please everyone when it comes to matters of taste like the look of the default icon theme. Personally I like the Mint-Y theme though. It's clean, consistent and legible. Colour variants for the folder icons are a nice bonus.
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