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The Linux Mint team have now released the latest Linux Mint 20.2 which comes with either Cinnamon, MATE or Xfce. If you're a current Linux Mint user, the upgrade path is now open too from Linux Mint 20 and 20.1.

With this fresh release out now you should be good to stick with it, since it's a long-term support release and will see updates until 2025 thanks to it using Ubuntu 20.04 as a base for the packages. There's a lot that's new and specific to Linux Mint, as the Mint team have a bunch of their own software for the distribution on top of Linux kernel 5.4 and the assorted main software updates that come with the new base.

Pictured - Linux Mint 20.2 Cinnamon

One of the nice additions is an improvement to the update flow, specifically for the Cinnamon desktop as the upgrade manager will now also update the Cinnamon "Spices" (applets, desklets, themes and extensions). A needed improvement, making everything less if a hassle for users to customize and keep up to date. Updates should also be more noticeable, as clearly the Linux Mint team are taking it more seriously in getting users to run upgrades. On top of that, their upgrade application will also now handle Flatpak updates.

More improvements include:

  • New Application - Bulky, which handles bulk renaming of files
  • Sticky Notes replaces GNote as the default application for taking notes.
  • Warpinator file transfer application now supports mobiles
  • The image viewer now supports .svgz images and its slideshow mode can be paused/resumed with the space bar.
  • In PDF files annotations now appear below the text and the document can be scrolled down using the space bar.
  • The text editor features new highlighting options for a variety of white spaces.
  • The NVIDIA Prime applet was added allowing easy GPU switching
  • The Nemo file manager got an improved search feature
  • Cinnamon 5 should perform better with some memory leaks solved
  • + much more (with each version of Linux Mint having desktop upgrades)

If you're a Linux Mint user, be sure to let us know in the comments what you think to the new release.

See more on the Linux Mint website.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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9 comments

junibegood Jul 9, 2021
I installed Mint for the first time today. I had no idea the version I was installing was so fresh.

Really happy with it so far, but I'm not sure if it's related to anything new (except maybe the Sticky Notes app, since I use it)
vipor29 Jul 9, 2021
liking this so far.i upgraded the kernel to 5.11 thru its updater tool because 5.4 is a bit old for me seeing my ethernet adapter would not even work but wifi did lol.5.11 fixes those issues.
I upgraded both of my systems yesterday. No technical difficulties upgrading. Cinnamon 5 doesn't have any obvious visual changes from its predecessor (unlike the Cinnamon 3->4 update), which is fine because the desktop is functional as it is. Of the new features, the enhanced search in Nemo is nice, but I have yet to try any of the others. Overall, this is a good incremental upgrade.
Pendragon Jul 10, 2021
I still need to upgrade from 19.3 .. Glad to hear they squared away the 20.x update path
Guppy Jul 12, 2021
fingers crossed that they solved the pluseaudio - hdmi issue, "pulseaudio -k" is by a very wide margin the most run command on my 20.1 system these days >_>
Purple Library Guy Jul 12, 2021
Quoting: Guppyfingers crossed that they solved the pluseaudio - hdmi issue, "pulseaudio -k" is by a very wide margin the most run command on my 20.1 system these days >_>
What does that issue do? (wondering if this might be relevant to a problem I've been having)
Guppy Jul 13, 2021
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Guppyfingers crossed that they solved the pluseaudio - hdmi issue, "pulseaudio -k" is by a very wide margin the most run command on my 20.1 system these days >_>
What does that issue do? (wondering if this might be relevant to a problem I've been having)

It drops the HDMI output - usually on boot or after some time with no sound output on the device.
You have to restart pulseaudio to get it back - which ofc messed with any programs using sound input/output - chrome and teams gets so lost you have to restart those aswell.
rafagars Jul 14, 2021
It isn't a big upgrade, it looks almost the same but it is fine. I haven't found any problem so far
Guppy Jul 21, 2021
Summer vaction finally gave some time to upgrade, it was quite smooth - sadly the pulse audio HDMI bug persists.
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