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Linux Mint 21 Beta now available

By - | Views: 21,930

The Linux Mint team are gearing up for another major release with Linux Mint 21 now available in Beta to download.

This is their next long-term support release, so you'll be able to continue running it until 2027 thanks to it being based upon Ubuntu 22.04. You will get Linux Kernel 5.15 and depending on which edition you go for Cinnamon 5.4, MATE 1.26 or Xfce 4.16.

Quite a lot is new with this release, especially with the Cinnamon desktop environment which had a huge change to the window manager to be based on a much more modern version of Mutter. Their last fork was 11 years ago, so a lot has changed in that time. Their priority has been to make them as close as possible, which should enable them to do more upgrades earlier in future.

They've also ported over the display settings from Gnome, plus plenty of theme tweaks to make applications match with the GTK theme.

Some of the other major changes includes:

  • A switch from Blueberry to Blueman for Bluetooth
  • New Xapp project called xapp-thumbnailers, providing thumbnails for many more file types
  • Upgrades to the Sticky Notes application
  • A process monitor to inform you when automated tasks are happening that might slow your PC down
  • Webp support was added to xviewer and thumbnailers.
  • The WebApp manager supports additional browsers and custom browser parameters.
  • In Software Sources, the repository list, PPA list and key list support multiple selection. This allows several items to be removed at a time.
  • Mint now uses IPP (Driverless Printing and Scanning)

Plus lots more.

See more on the Linux Mint website.

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 came back to check 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. Find me on Mastodon.
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9 comments

Purple Library Guy Jul 21, 2022
Sounds pretty good!
Um,
QuoteMint now uses IPP (Driverless Printing and Scanning)
Anyone know what the implications of that are? Is it good news? Bad?
tuubi Jul 21, 2022
View PC info
  • Supporter
Quoting: Purple Library GuySounds pretty good!
Um,
QuoteMint now uses IPP (Driverless Printing and Scanning)
Anyone know what the implications of that are? Is it good news? Bad?

If you've got a relatively modern USB printer or a network printer from the last couple of decades, it should be detected automatically and Just Work™. If it doesn't, you can restore the old behaviour by simply removing a couple of packages.
MiZoG Jul 21, 2022
Driverless printing actually works with my aging Lexmark network printer already with Mint 20.3 as well as in Debian stable systems.
Purple Library Guy Jul 22, 2022
Quoting: GuestLooking to jump to Mint 21 Cinnamon once it's out of beta.
Say, do you happen to know if Cinnamon supports a toolbar on the bottom and one on the side these days? I'm using Mate because last couple of times I tried Cinnamon it wouldn't do that. I like using the bottom one mostly for window list and the side one for launchers.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 22 July 2022 at 6:36 am UTC
Avikarr Jul 22, 2022
Can't wait for this new version :) I used many distros, but in the end found myself always coming back to Mint. It just works!


Last edited by Avikarr on 22 July 2022 at 9:01 am UTC
Schattenspiegel Jul 22, 2022
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: GuestLooking to jump to Mint 21 Cinnamon once it's out of beta.
Say, do you happen to know if Cinnamon supports a toolbar on the bottom and one on the side these days? I'm using Mate because last couple of times I tried Cinnamon it wouldn't do that. I like using the bottom one mostly for window list and the side one for launchers.
Unless I completely misunderstood you - this has been working for quite a while.
Purple Library Guy Jul 22, 2022
Quoting: Schattenspiegel
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: GuestLooking to jump to Mint 21 Cinnamon once it's out of beta.
Say, do you happen to know if Cinnamon supports a toolbar on the bottom and one on the side these days? I'm using Mate because last couple of times I tried Cinnamon it wouldn't do that. I like using the bottom one mostly for window list and the side one for launchers.
Unless I completely misunderstood you - this has been working for quite a while.
It might be a while since I last tried it. Mate's been pretty comfy.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 22 July 2022 at 2:55 pm UTC
Schattenspiegel Jul 22, 2022
Quoting: Purple Library GuyIt might be a while since I last tried it. Mate's been pretty comfy.
Yeah, got similar feelings towards Cinnamon, though Mate and Xfce are also quite nice. Anyway, if that was your hurdle feel free to have a look again - you will not be disappointed. ;-)
marcosfs93 Jul 22, 2022
The home page of Linux Mint no have information about the bate release of Vanessa version.
The correct link is here https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4344
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