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Linux Mint 21.2 gets a Beta release

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Linux Mint 21.2 is getting close to release now with a Beta available for testing across their Cinnamon, MATE and Xfce desktop environments. Probably one of my favourite Linux distributions, because they've been going a long time now and have a real focus on the normal desktop user experience. 

Linux Mint 21.2 comes with Cinnamon 5.8 / MATE 1.26 / Xfce 4.18, a Linux kernel 5.15 and an Ubuntu 22.04 package base with a plan to receive security updates until 2027. Until 2024 they will continue to use the same Ubuntu package base, so upgrades will be "trivial" to do.

Some of what's new includes the login screen supporting multiple keyboard layouts, touchpad support on the login screen, keyboard navigation improvements for the login screen, support for Wayland sessions and more general improvements to their login greeter.

Elsewhere you'll see a UI refresh for the Software Manager, along with it now able to feature Flatpaks. Their Pix photo viewer got a big upgrade based on a newer version of gThumb giving better performance, improved zoom controls, it supports more image formats, improved video playback and much more.

There's a few visual differences too with slight tweaks to their styling like new colour variants, two-tone icons, improved tooltips that look more consistent, titlebar buttons were realigned and changes to icons in icons in various apps.

Some other changes include the addition of XDG Desktop Portal support to XApp to provide better compatibility with Flatpaks and GNOME apps, a global Dark Mode setting, Cinnamon desktop got a new "styles" concept to let you better adjust the look and feel of the desktop, gesture support for window management / workspace management / tiling etc supported on touchpads, touchscreens and tablets, upgrades to their Warpinator file-sharing tool and various upgrades to all the included software.

You can read the full details for each here:

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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7 comments

hardpenguin Jun 22, 2023
Happy upgrades!

Me seeing this screenshot in 2023: oh no, not Skype 💀
Solarwing Jun 22, 2023
I wish my dream of Linux taking over the world with this would come true
PoliticsOfStarving Jun 22, 2023
Is there any word of Wayland Cinnamon being developed?
damarrin Jun 22, 2023
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I’m glad the silly stripes on folders are gone. A small thing for sure, but it was a very weird decision.

Mint is a very solid distro, I enjoy using it for my non-gaming needs.
Ponda Jun 22, 2023
Quoting: PoliticsOfStarvingIs there any word of Wayland Cinnamon being developed?
The newest information I have is a one-year-old post from one of the devs. He says that even though they are closer to supporting Wayland with Muffin rebase, there are no specific plans and he doesn't expect it near future. Their main concerns include:
  • Wayland doesn't run in a separate process, so Cinnamon crash or restart kills the session and closes apps
  • subpar Nvidia support (which notably improved over past year)
  • some utilities, like redshift and screen recording not working OotB

I've heard that KDE is working on the first point, so maybe it's time to bother Cinnamon's team about Wayland once again.
Geppeto35 Jun 23, 2023
I need to install a new linux. I should give it a try, see how does it compare to Linux Voyager, I probably choose between one these two
Purple Library Guy Jun 23, 2023
Quoting: Geppeto35I need to install a new linux. I should give it a try, see how does it compare to Linux Voyager, I probably choose between one these two
Well, I don't know if you'll like it (I do, but tastes and use cases differ), but I think you can be fairly confident that trying it will be pretty painless. Not a lot of mucking around to get Mint up and running.
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