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Latest Comments by Caldathras
Linux Mint 22.3 "Zena" is out now and supported until 2029
16 Jan 2026 at 3:31 am UTC

Quoting: Penguin
Quoting: Caldathras
Quoting: PenguinFor reference: the Mint team updated their Xfce flavor (from 4.16 to 4.18) in Mint 21.2.

Uhm... I have Mint 21.3 XFCE currently. It ships with Xfce 4.16. The update actually happened with Mint 22.0. We likely won't see Xfce 4.20 until Mint 23 comes out.

As @AsciiWolf pointed out, it has to do with the base version of Ubuntu they rely on. The only exception is Cinnamon, which the Mint Team manages themselves.
Well, I was eagerly waiting for the (back then) new Xfce clock plugin, which was delivered in Mint 21.2 with Xfce 4.18, and I remember it well. Just to be sure I'm not crazy, I did some research, and you can read more about the Mint 21.2 release here:

https://9to5linux.com/linux-mint-21-2-victoria-is-slated-for-release-on-june-2023-heres-what-to-expect [External Link]

In the article it says:

"Most notably here, the Xfce edition will be based on the latest Xfce 4.18 desktop environment."

😮

Well, I'll be ... I could have sworn that Mint 21.3 was on Xfce 4.16! But, here I am on that very laptop, and sure enough ... neofetch says it is running on Xfce 4.18. I had the ISO for Mint 21.2, so I checked that too -- you are absolutely right!

I knew that Mint 22.0 was on Xfce 4.18 and one of the reasons I rolled back was because of some formatting bugs in the system tray that strangely do not appear in Mint 21.3. I just assumed it was because of a version upgrade on Xfce and never bothered to check once I was back on Mint 21.3.

I apologize for contradicting you. Now that I know, I share your sentiments ... but it looks like we will have to wait until a version of Mint based on Ubuntu 25.04 or later (or use the Xubuntu Experimental PPA -- I'll wait).

Dev of Steam game 'Hardest' will delete it after new girlfriend made them realise AI is bad
14 Jan 2026 at 9:24 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Caldathras
Quoting: Purple Library GuyThe US was a better place to live when it had more "nanny state" and that's no co-incidence. So was Canada, so was Britain.

If anyone thinks that there is less "nanny state" now than there was before, they are deluding themselves.
I suppose it depends on your definition. Most people who use the term generally use it to mean "Government doing anything useful". So, building housing, "nanny state"; providing health care, "nanny state"; social safety net, "nanny state"; regulations saying your food can't be poisoned, "nanny state". And, there is a lot less of all that stuff than there used to be in, say, the 70s. If you use it differently from that you're very much in the minority and can't be surprised if people misunderstand you.
Hmm... I thought the use of the phrase would be obvious but your definition is definitely different than mine. However, I can see how your definition could overlap and eventually evolve into mine -- government interference and hand-holding, as if their citizens are all children that need constant guidance (as one would expect from a nanny to her/his underage charges). In recent years, that has been very prevalent.

EDIT: By the way, search the phrase in DuckDuckGo and you will see that my use of the term is not the definition in the minority.

Spoiler, click me
For example: A "nanny state" refers to a government that is perceived as overprotective or excessively involved in the personal choices of its citizens, similar to how a nanny might care for children. This term often carries a negative connotation, suggesting that such government interference limits individual freedom and responsibility.

Linux Mint 22.3 "Zena" is out now and supported until 2029
14 Jan 2026 at 9:09 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: PenguinFor reference: the Mint team updated their Xfce flavor (from 4.16 to 4.18) in Mint 21.2.

Uhm... I have Mint 21.3 XFCE currently. It ships with Xfce 4.16. The update actually happened with Mint 22.0. We likely won't see Xfce 4.20 until Mint 23 comes out.

As @AsciiWolf pointed out, it has to do with the base version of Ubuntu they rely on. The only exception is Cinnamon, which the Mint Team manages themselves.

Dev of Steam game 'Hardest' will delete it after new girlfriend made them realise AI is bad
14 Jan 2026 at 8:31 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Purple Library GuyThe US was a better place to live when it had more "nanny state" and that's no co-incidence. So was Canada, so was Britain.

If anyone thinks that there is less "nanny state" now than there was before, they are deluding themselves.

Personally, I am a fully adult citizen. I don't need the government holding my hand and warning me about the dangers of things that are more than obvious. I am capable of assessing my own risks and moving forward as I deem appropriate.

I'll concede to your point about laws governing unethical behavior, however.

Windows compatibility layer Wine 11 arrives bringing masses of improvements to Linux
14 Jan 2026 at 8:16 pm UTC

Quoting: mr-victoryThe installed version of Office is made sometime in 2022 for Windows 7 and is 32 bit. It doesn't receive updates.

Uhm... a 64-bit version of MS Office has been available alongside the 32-bit version since Office 2010. The version you appear to be referring to is Office 2021, which is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit and would have been made for Windows 10. Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 7 in 2015, after all. Office 2021 is still supported.

FYI, the latest offline version is Office 2024.

GOG plan to look a bit closer at Linux through 2026
14 Jan 2026 at 7:58 pm UTC Likes: 7

Personally, I'm all in on the idea of working with existing open source game management tools. It would be the wiser approach for them to take.

While I've gotten used to their DRM-free script-based Linux installers, I would love it if they moved the Linux offline installers to AppImage, with all of the dependencies incorporated.

Offering up something like the Steam Linux Runtime libraries for the open source tools to use would be great too. Lutris has one of their own and Heroic taps Steam somehow (not sure which one they use but it's not Runtime 4) but neither are as comprehensive as Steam themselves. That would really help, I think.

GOG plan to look a bit closer at Linux through 2026
14 Jan 2026 at 7:48 pm UTC Likes: 9

Quoting: suchValve is the funding/driving force behind mainstream Linux gaming, GOG can - at best - reach remora status to Valve's shark... ness here. Not that I'd mind solid, actual competition.

Why can't GOG work with Valve on this? Why do they need to compete? Perhaps I'm suggesting too radical a change in mentality for contemporary business thinking...

Canonical call for testing their Steam gaming Snap for Arm Linux
13 Jan 2026 at 8:54 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Boldos
Quoting: sarmad
Quoting: rustynail
Quoting: sarmadThe snap file format and client side tools are completely open source. What's proprietary is the backend, i.e snapcraft.io, which is fine.
Doesn't that kinda mean that snap being open source is pointless to a large extent? It's like an open source client for a proprietary messaging service
Almost. Technically you can fork the snap front end to make it point to other backends, and I think someone has already done that, but practically such a fork won't be popular since the upstream is locked to a single backend and Canonical won't accept such a change to be upstreamed. I think if we didn't already have Flatpaks and AppImages such a fork would've been popular, but at this point Snap is a dying format outside of IoT.
Dying? Oh....
So why is it being installed by users on literally dozens of distros...? 🤔
You're right. I suspect this is a case of wishful thinking...

Hytale has arrived in Early Access with Linux support
13 Jan 2026 at 8:50 pm UTC Likes: 1

I wonder, is this the first example of a commercial flatpak?

(I don't do flatpak, so I don't know...)