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.
Quoting: DefaultX-odflatpak install flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOfficeAre you saying that because the command line for installing a snap package is shorter, it's a better system?
snap install libreoffice
who would win?
If you are then I guess "apt install libreoffice" is still the winner by one whole character.
DefaultX-od Jun 29, 2020
Quoting: tuubiQuoting: DefaultX-odflatpak install flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOfficeAre you saying that because the command line for installing a snap package is shorter, it's a better system?
snap install libreoffice
who would win?
If you are then I guess "apt install libreoffice" is still the winner by one whole character.
it's not just that it's shorter it's simple to remember and it's only 3d word that changes, so you have to remember only snap install/uninstall
DefaultX-od Jun 29, 2020
Quoting: tuubiQuoting: DefaultX-odflatpak install flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOfficeAre you saying that because the command line for installing a snap package is shorter, it's a better system?
snap install libreoffice
who would win?
If you are then I guess "apt install libreoffice" is still the winner by one whole character.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you will not have fully functional LO when installing like this "apt install libreoffice"
Quoting: DefaultX-odIt's a metapackage that brings in all the base components of LibreOffice and recommends a bunch of additional packages as well. So yeah, you do get a fully functional LibreOffice with that command.Quoting: tuubiQuoting: DefaultX-odflatpak install flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOfficeAre you saying that because the command line for installing a snap package is shorter, it's a better system?
snap install libreoffice
who would win?
If you are then I guess "apt install libreoffice" is still the winner by one whole character.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you will not have fully functional LO when installing like this "apt install libreoffice"
But that wasn't my point. I was trying to underline how trivial I thought the whole argument was. It's not like I'll be installing flatpaks/snaps all day long.
Quoting: DefaultX-odflatpak install flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOfficeI use GUIs. If I wanted to fiddle with command lines, instead of Mint I'd use Debian or Arch or, I dunno, does Slackware still exist?
snap install libreoffice
who would win?
Not that there's anything wrong with the command line. It's powerful, useful for those it's useful for, and I'm glad it's there. But probably anyone for whom the length of the command is the main feature shouldn't actually be using it.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 29 June 2020 at 10:41 pm UTC
DefaultX-od Jun 29, 2020
Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: DefaultX-odflatpak install flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOfficeI use GUIs. If I wanted to fiddle with command lines, instead of Mint I'd use Debian or Arch or, I dunno, does Slackware still exist?
snap install libreoffice
who would win?
Not that there's anything wrong with the command line. It's powerful, useful for those it's useful for, and I'm glad it's there. But probably anyone for whom the length of the command is the main feature shouldn't actually be using it.
Ok, if you use GUI, how on earth you'll add flatpak repository without terminal(because it's same as PPA, but sandboxed)?
And again it's not length, it's simplicity (flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOffice what is that, why)
Last edited by DefaultX-od on 29 June 2020 at 11:28 pm UTC
slaapliedje Jun 29, 2020
Quoting: DefaultX-odYou are aware that you can click on a web link with flatpak, right?Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: DefaultX-odflatpak install flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOfficeI use GUIs. If I wanted to fiddle with command lines, instead of Mint I'd use Debian or Arch or, I dunno, does Slackware still exist?
snap install libreoffice
who would win?
Not that there's anything wrong with the command line. It's powerful, useful for those it's useful for, and I'm glad it's there. But probably anyone for whom the length of the command is the main feature shouldn't actually be using it.
Ok, if you use GUI, how on earth you'll add flatpak repository without terminal(because it's same as apt, but sandboxed)?
And again it's not length, it's simplicity (flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOffice what is that, why)
Anyhow, the disk space thing does matter, I mean sure it may not have before Steam came to Linux, but I have enough games that I keep running out of disk space.
DefaultX-od Jun 29, 2020
Ari El Uno Jun 30, 2020
No? Double standard!
Schattenspiegel Jun 30, 2020
Quoting: Ari El UnoFor anyone complaining Snap with their proprietary reasoning, don't use Steam.Call it what you want, but there is a difference between essential parts of an operating system and an application for launching games. Just because you work with someone does not automatically mean you want the same person to show up at your home, does it?
No? Double standard!
Quoting: DefaultX-odJust watch:As much as I enjoy most of Alan Pope's interviews here he is speaking as 'Developer Advocate, Canonical', so we should probably take it with a grain of salt, don't you think? The funny thing about statistics is you can usaually interpret them one way, in the completely opposite direction or as the colour green, if you set your mind to it.
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