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Linux

What's New in Linux Mint 21 Cinnamon (linuxmint.com) 48

Posted by EditorDavid from the refreshing-Mint dept.
Today saw the release of Linux Mint 21 "Vanessa" Cinnamon Edition, a long term support release (supported until 2027).

Release notes at LinuxMint.com promise that it comes with "refinements and many new features to make your desktop experience more comfortable." Among the highlights: its Bluetooth manager is now Blueman (instead of Blueberry). Blueberry depended on gnome-bluetooth, which was developed exclusively for GNOME. In contrast, Blueman relies on the standard Bluez stack which works everywhere and can even be used or queried from the command line. The Blueman manager and tray icon provide many features that weren't available in Blueberry and a lot more information which can be used to monitor your connection or troubleshoot Bluetooth issues.

Out of the box Blueman features better connectivity, especially when it comes to headsets and audio profiles. In preparation for Linux Mint 21 the Blueman user interface was improved and received support for symbolic icons. Upstream, Blueman and Bluez are actively developed and used in many environments.

The lack of thumbnails for some common file types was identified as a usability issue. To address it a new Xapp project called xapp-thumbnailers was started and is now featured in Linux Mint 21. The project brings support for the following mimetypes:

- AppImage
- ePub
- MP3 (album cover)
- RAW pictures (most formats)
- Webp

Automated tasks are great to keep your computer safe but they can sometimes affect the system's performance while you're working on it. A little process monitor was added to Linux Mint to detect automated updates and automated system snapshots running in the background. Whenever an automated task is running the monitor places an icon in your system tray. Your computer might still become slow momentarily during an update or a snapshot, but with a quick look on the tray you'll immediately know what's going on....

Linux Mint 21 uses IPP, also known as Driverless Printing and Scanning (i.e. a standard protocol which communicates with printers/scanners without using drivers). For most printers and scanners no drivers are needed, and the device is detected automatically.
And there's also a fabulous collection of new backgrounds.
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What's New in Linux Mint 21 Cinnamon More

What's New in Linux Mint 21 Cinnamon

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  • Just asking.

  • Bluetooth (Score:3)

    by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Sunday July 31, 2022 @02:36PM (#62749882)

    Integrated with gnome. That means it’s now part of systemd. At least now I get a helpful icon that the apt db is locked by background processes I didn’t personally enable.

    • Leonart Poettering: "How are you gentlemen!!"

    • I haven't bothered to learn how to do most of this systemd stuff because I just C&P my way to solutions on my one Linux box, but I presume you can just kill off the apt updates. I wonder if you can just rm /etc/systemd/system/timers/apt* or if it takes more than that. I guess for each .timer file there is a .service file, might have to remove that too, might not

      • Systemd is currently fucking me with a simple shell script. It's a single board computer and I wrote a systemd service file to call a bash script that occasionally polls a gpio pin and executes a program when the pin changes states. Systemd gives me an exit code 2 saying the script is calling something not allowed (like echo) but it's not. Manually starting the service after it fails works fine. Will it start on boot? Fuck no it won't. Systemd is great until you hit bullshit like this.

        • Yeah, I'd definitely rather just install cron and use that. systemd is a problem looking for another problem to have children with

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • No complaints (Score:5, Interesting)

    by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Sunday July 31, 2022 @03:10PM (#62749962)

    As I've said before, I've been using Mint for over a year now (two years?) and have zero complaints other than that weird sleep issue which is less frequent. For me, Mint is what an OS should be. It stays out of my way and let's me do what I want without harassing me. It's neat, simple, and clean. Couldn't ask for anything more.

    Don't know that I need to update to 21 at the moment, but I'll probably get around to it at some point.

    • Re:No complaints (Score:5, Interesting)

      by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Sunday July 31, 2022 @04:13PM (#62750098) Journal

      Bingo. Simple, clean, uncluttered. For me, Mint just works.

      I've been able to use everything I need without having to do any real digging into the system.

      The most trouble I've had is getting was in getting a Huion drawing tablet to work, but after a little fiddling around and installing a driver, it's fully usable.

      Whenever a new distro comes out I often ask, in all seriousness, "what does this have that would be a compelling reason to switch?"

      And the answer is almost always, "nothing".

      There's never anything really amazing or new or spiffy or whatever enough to give me reason to switch. So I kinda expect to be using Mint for the foreseeable future.

    • I have installed Mint on an ancient Asus Eee PC (1005HA). Everything works. No fiddling or drivers needed. Honestly, I was impressed.
      It's also installed in a VM on my main PC, and I am using it infrequently for various small testing, learning and stuff like that. Same thing: it just works.

    • For me, Mint is what an OS should be. It stays out of my way and let's me do what I want without harassing me. It's neat, simple, and clean. Couldn't ask for anything more.

      Mint *does* give you more though - it doesn't enable Snap by default! https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=... [linuxmint.com]
      Snap sucks.

  • Every time I read something like this, X depends on Y so we had to ditch it, I wonder why there is no common standard for Linux desktops.

    Seems like if there was an API for core functions that any DE could implement, it would fix a lot of this stuff. Why isn't that the case?

    • Seems like if there was an API for core functions that any DE could implement, it would fix a lot of this stuff. Why isn't that the case?

      What do you mean by core functions?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Well what functions did Blueberry need from GNOME? Notifications, pop-ups, screen menu integration?

      • you should know, core functions like bluetooth config app, wi-fi config app, clock adjustment app, screen resolution, software configs that make the hardware do what you want

        • Re: Dependencies (Score:4, Interesting)

          by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Sunday July 31, 2022 @04:20PM (#62750118) Homepage Journal

          Well, there is "an" official bluetooth stack for Linux, it's called BlueZ. But GNOME decided they needed their own version of the interface written between GNOME and BlueZ, which is called gnome-bluetooth [gnome.org]. Blueman (which has been around for some time) talks to BlueZ directly, while Blueberry instead works through gnome-bluetooth. So in fact there is a standard API for doing Bluetooth on Linux, but GNOME decided that we needed another one on top of it.

          I don't understand how GNOME is relevant any more. The last thing that KDE couldn't do well was touch, and that's been addressed in the latest Plasma. GNOME was the reason why Debian adopted systemd, too. The first thing I do on a new Debian install is remove systemd, and Debian works fine without it... as long as you don't use GNOME. Even then, you can just install Devuan, which has libraries which stand in for the pieces of systemd that GNOME depends on. But then, why? GNOME is terrible now anyway.

          • i am sticking with Slackware, but i do enjoy seeing what the other distros are doing, sometimes i will put my $00.02 in

            • Slackware was my first Linux install back in 2000. It came on a cd slid into the back of a linux networking book. I hated how shitty windows was for a server and how striped down the home versions were especially. I wanted to tinker with running my own web and mail servers for my local LAN. You know, for fun.

              I spent a ton of time learning to configure things by editing the configuration files, getting X running, sound, etc. I never liked gnome and Slackware always seemed more KDE-ish then the others. To get

              • Slackware was my first Linux, too. In August of '94 (based on the kernel version at the time — 1.1.47) I installed it on a 386DX25 with 8MB RAM, 120MB ATA, and a 1MB TVGA9000. After loading 20-30 1.44MB floppies I had enough system to compile software, and run X and Netscape.

                Today I run Kubuntu without snap on my desktop, and Debian without systemd on appliances. Slackware was a great way to get to the nuts and bolts and learn how things worked initially, but its package management leaves something to

            • I give Slackware $1 every month because it's the last sane distro left.

    • A fight of egos. There is so much effort being wasted on doing the same thing in just a slightly different way...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dwedit ( 232252 )

      You know it's really sad when the best way to develop a long-term-binary-compatible GUI program for Linux is to write it for Windows, then use Wine.

    • I thought a common desktop standard was the goal of freedesktop.org. Are they not around anymore?

  • As a happy Mint user, I'm looking forward to this.

  • Mint without snap. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by slack_justyb ( 862874 ) on Sunday July 31, 2022 @04:19PM (#62750116)

    From the release notes

    The Snap Store is disabled

    So this is a reminder, much like the one from Mint 20, that if you were using snaps, move to flatpak or you can

    sudo rm /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap.pref
    sudo apt update
    sudo apt install snapd

    But I would recommend not installing snap since Canonical broke its promise to not make debs depend on snapd and started sneaking snapd dependencies in on some of their packages without notifying anyone. As if nobody would have eventually found out. On top of that other reasons cited by the Mint team.

    Anyone can create APT repositories and distribute software freely. . . Flatpak isn’t as flexible. Still, anyone can distribute their own Flatpaks. . . Although it is open-source, Snap on the other hand, only works with the Ubuntu Store. Nobody knows how to make a Snap Store and nobody can. The Snap client is designed to work with only one source, following a protocol which isn’t open, and using only one authentication system. Snapd is nothing on its own, it can only work with the Ubuntu Store.

    I don't really care if people are team deb/rpm or flatpak/appimage, but team snap can go take their closed source crap elsewhere. Just my two cents.

    • Removing snap is a big favor. It's just shit that doesn't work anyway. After my install of jammy I did an update and it broke half my snaps. The fix is to "refresh" them which means downloading them all over again. A better fix is to purge snapd and just install firefox in the system, where it works better anyway. Even if it weren't proprietary, I'd have removed it.

    • Flatpak is better than Snap but then you are just going with the RedHat attempt to control app packaging rather than the Canonical method. The problem with those two camps is that both have been fighting to lock users into their ecosystem, which is antithetical to everything Linux was originally supposed to be.

      However, given a choice between the two, Flatpak is far superior for both technical and philosophical reasons.

      • Re: Mint without snap. (Score:4, Interesting)

        by slack_justyb ( 862874 ) on Sunday July 31, 2022 @06:35PM (#62750422)

        RedHat attempt to control app packaging rather than the Canonical method

        You can setup your own flatpak store if you want. Don't confuse flathub.org, which is the de facto location for flatpak, with the Snap Store which is the only place snaps will work. Distros can absolutely implement their own flatpak store and mix and match if they like with flathub.org or anyone else. Case in point AppCenter [github.com] is Elementary OS' store front. Pop Shop [github.com] is Pop!_OS' store that's based on AppCenter, but with flathub as first source and a APT fallback.

        Just because one is popular, doesn't mean you cannot start your own. Snap only allows for a single location, there is no means by which you can start another store, that's explicitly part of snap. Don't confuse de facto with de jure.

        • I completely agree that flatpak is superior to Snap for all the reasons you listed and more. However, I still think it falls in line with Red Hat's strategy of attempting to make Red Hat the standard-bearer for Linux.

          I also think that AppImage is a better solution than either and flatpak/Snap only exist because of not invented here syndrome by Red Hat and Canonical. I'll concede that I'm willing to use flatpak, but absolutely refuse to use Snaps.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • What advantages does Mint have that might entice me to switch over from Debian?

  • NVIDIA support (Score:4, Interesting)

    by NewtonsLaw ( 409638 ) on Sunday July 31, 2022 @08:23PM (#62750618)

    What's the story now with support for NVIDIA GPUs?

    I tried to use a GT1030 GPU with Linux Mint a couple of years ago and it wouldn't get past a black screen at login once the NVIDIA drivers were activated (I tried several versions). It would work with the open-source NVIDIA drivers but was so slow as to be useless when playing video etc.

    Now I have an old system here and a spare GTX1060 so I might try again but I'd love to know what experience others have had.

    • I daily drive and run games on my 1070. No problems.

      Earlier on I was sticking with the 470 driver, but have since upgraded to latest without any issues.

  • Mint with Cinnamon Saved the Linux Desktop (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BrendaEM ( 871664 ) on Sunday July 31, 2022 @09:28PM (#62750748) Homepage
    After Gnome and (sic) Unity worked to destroy it.

  • Year of Linux on the desktop? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by pchasco ( 651819 ) on Sunday July 31, 2022 @10:12PM (#62750816)
    I am an avid user of Linux, but the fact that it is 2022 and we are still boasting about improved Bluetooth connectivity in a major distro release is a perfect illustration of just how far Linux has to go before it is a serious competitor to Windows and OSX on the desktop.
    • pchasco [slashdot.org]

      > I am an avid user of Linux ..

      Yea, I believe you /s

      > but the fact that it is 2022 and ..

      We're still posting 20 year old FUD on slashdot /s

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by pchasco ( 651819 )

        I use Linux on the server, where it excels. I have numerous software applications running on hosted Linux servers, applications running in Azure cloud running on Linux ASE's, and a couple applications running in a Kubernetes cluster that I manage. In addition, I have a homelab composed of several Proxmox hosts running a number of Ubuntu Server VM's. I do not use Linux for the desktop because every time I have tried, it has always been a more painful experience than using Windows for my primary use cases: .N

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by CRB9000 ( 647092 )
      Apparently you've ignored Windows BT connectivity issues.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by pchasco ( 651819 )

        It works well for keyboard and mouse. Audio is flaky, I'll grant you. I use a wireless headset with a 2.4ghz transmitter that is not bluetooth to avoid BT latency and other issues.

        The point is not that Windows or Mac OSX has better bluetooth functionality. The point is that a major release of a desktop OS whose above-the-fold sales pitch is improved bluetooth functionality is clearly not competing with Windows or Mac OS. Those OS's bring bring major UX improvements and new first-party software with major re

  • When talking about a new Windows OS, Linux, etc. the least useful statements are things like it has new backgrounds, rounded corners, themes, you can change the color of x, etc. Why do writers, especially those on technical topics always point to the least important part of new OSes?

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