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The Linux Mint team have another monthly update blog post out, to talk about the state of Linux Mint and it sounds like things are going well. They also announced the small-form-factor MintBox 3 and something about Snaps.

Teaming up with Compulab once again who did the previous MintBox, it's based on their current Airtop3 and will come with Linux Mint installed with their branding. The specifications, while not final, are below:

  • 1. Basic configuration: $1543 with a Core i5 (6 cores), 16 GB RAM, 256 GB EVO 970, Wi-Fi and FM-AT3 FACE Module.
  • 2. High end: $2698 with Core i9, GTX 1660 Ti, 32 GB RAM, 1TB EVO 970, WiFi and FM-AT3 FACE Module.

While a bit on the pricey side, I do have to admit it's a pretty tidy looking unit! I wouldn't mind something like this to replace the ridiculously large PC case I have sitting under my TV:

Additionally, Mint's Clement Lefebvre who wrote the blog post had some interesting words to say about the Snap package format and how it's currently being handled. Touching on topics like being locked into a single store, Ubuntu possibly replacing the Chromium repository package with one that installs the Chromium snap and things like that. However, Lefebvre did say they've been invited to participate by the Snap developers, so hopefully they can all agree on something.

As for the whole 32bit debacle recently with Ubuntu, they said if it becomes an issue they will solve that too. It's good to know they're making plenty of plans no matter what happens, as desktop-focused distribution the Mint team seem to be doing a fair amount of good work.

They also continue to pull in an impressive amount in donations, with June getting $11,825 which is on top of their various Sponsors which was around $7,700. Seems like quite a healthy amount.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Avikarr Jul 3, 2019
To be honest, Snaps are not so bad. It's almost same thing like Flatpak. But, the way Canonical is going about not only Snaps, but overall system usage is kinda odd. It's almost like Windows gone free, and oh, ah (in my opinion). I don't know what happened there, but I'll not install next version of Ubuntu (Xubuntu in my case) for sure. Solus looks like some really good alternative, and very friendly, if you think about gaming.
razing32 Jul 3, 2019
While the box does seem interesting , those prices seem a bit high to me at least.
You could get a failry powerful laptop for that money.
I guess the small form factor pushes the price up.
But at the moment if I had a choice i would probably build a mini-ITX box over buying something like that.
Cool idea though.
sprocket Jul 3, 2019
QuoteTouching on topics like being locked into a single store
Snaps are usable without the Canonical snapcraft.io storefront, I thought. Or is that a Flatpak only thing? Because I remember Alan Pope making a big deal about it.
TheSHEEEP Jul 3, 2019
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Snap only works on Ubuntu?
Didn't even know that... rather weird and seems strangely against the concept.
sprocket Jul 3, 2019
Quoting: TheSHEEEPSnap only works on Ubuntu?
Didn't even know that... rather weird and seems strangely against the concept.
That is definitely not the case, though snaps work best on Ubuntu. I can use them just fine on Debian, and there are instructions to use them on other distros. For example, Linux Mint.

https://docs.snapcraft.io/installing-snap-on-linux-mint
14 Jul 3, 2019
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I haven't played with Mint for a long time. Man, that was my first dual-boot choice when I started migrating my general computing and some gaming to Linux. I found messing between Steam and PlayOnLinux and USB WiFi drivers not to be fun on Mint, and I wasn't a fan of the Ubuntu desktop environment back then. I also wanted to get away from major OS upgrades. Anyway, I'm still somewhat fond of the distro. I'll throw LMDE into a VM and take a peek.
doomiebaby Jul 3, 2019
Quoting: 14I haven't played with Mint for a long time. Man, that was my first dual-boot choice when I started migrating my general computing and some gaming to Linux. I found messing between Steam and PlayOnLinux and USB WiFi drivers not to be fun on Mint, and I wasn't a fan of the Ubuntu desktop environment back then. I also wanted to get away from major OS upgrades. Anyway, I'm still somewhat fond of the distro. I'll throw LMDE into a VM and take a peek.

i read as my vm lmde install finishes, haha ;3 very similar story here
Jahimself Jul 3, 2019
Bravo Clément^^ honestly I quite like this distribution, it has almost everything you need at the first boot, it is user friendly, I also like the design of the interface. It is a dynamic team, which love and works in the good direction for linux in general. I have to say that I haven't encounter a single problem on all the games I have tried on linux. For me this is an important detail when you want to compare with some other distributions (including ubuntu itself), and more importantly with windows which over the time becomes more and more bugy. It is almost the same kernell since... vista with full loads of patch, fixes, spyware, backdoor, annoying softwares...


Last edited by Jahimself on 3 July 2019 at 8:27 am UTC
Zelox Jul 3, 2019
Pretty sure valves nu recommended os will be linux mint, just because its debian based, its got old solid kernel and is LTS.
Its good to see Linux mint devs seems commited now with all the news involving Ubuntu :(.

Linux mint was one of the first Linux destros I tryed, and there was always problems for me, I couldnt use it like a windows machine and it was just frustrating for a beginner.
Now that Iv been more comfortable with linux and how to use it I might check out linux mint again sometime in the future.
But also add the old kernel and the security problems linux mint has hade in its history, Im still a bit sceptical.
But I think its still a good OS for valve to support :).


Last edited by Zelox on 3 July 2019 at 10:04 am UTC
km3k Jul 3, 2019
I used to use Linux Mint and enjoyed it a lot. I wish the best for Clement and it is good to see him still getting support. I mainly use Ubuntu MATE and Arch these days. Linux Mint was really nice to get up and running, but when things went wrong, it was often just different enough from Ubuntu to be difficult. So if I want to deal with difficulty for unusual situations, I'd rather do it in Arch. For the computers where I just want a basic OS and don't want to mess with it, I use Ubuntu MATE.
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