Archive for the 'Main Topics' Category

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

Linux Mint Debian 201303 released!

Written by Clem on Friday, March 22nd, 2013

The team is proud to announce the release of LMDE 201303.

Screenshots

LMDE 201303 Cinnamon Edition


LMDE 201303 MATE Edition

Highlights

  • Update Pack 6
  • MATE 1.4
  • Cinnamon 1.6
  • Installer improvements (graphical timezone and keyboard selection, support for installation on multiple HDD, slideshow, webcam and face picture support)
  • Device Driver Manager
  • Plymouth splash screen

If you’re new to LMDE, welcome to Linux Mint Debian!

Important links

LMDE in brief

  • Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) is a semi-rolling distribution based on Debian Testing.
  • It’s available in both 32 and 64-bit as a live DVD with MATE or Cinnamon.
  • The purpose of LMDE is to look identical to the main edition and to provide the same functionality while using Debian as a base.

FAQ

1. Is LMDE compatible with Ubuntu-based Linux Mint editions?

No, it is not. LMDE is compatible with Debian, which isn’t compatible with Ubuntu.

2. Is LMDE fully compatible with Debian?

Yes, 100%. LMDE is compatible with repositories designed for Debian Testing.

3. What is a semi-rolling distribution?

Updates are constantly fed to Debian Testing, where users experience frequent regressions but also frequent bug fixes and improvements. LMDE receives “Update Packs” which are tested snapshots of Debian Testing. Users can experience a more stable system thanks to update packs, or switch their sources to follow Testing, or even Unstable, directly to get more frequent updates.

4. How does LMDE compare to the Ubuntu-based editions?

Pros:

  • You don’t need to ever re-install the system. New versions of software and updates are continuously brought to you.
  • It’s faster and more responsive than Ubuntu-based editions.

Cons:

  • LMDE requires a deeper knowledge and experience with Linux, dpkg and APT.
  • Debian is a less user-friendly/desktop-ready base than Ubuntu. Expect some rough edges.
  • No EFI, GPT or secureBoot support.

Additional notes:

  • About the installer: The live installer is developed from scratch with Debian in mind. It’s configurable and it can be re-used by other Debian-based distributions. We noticed a lack in live technologies and in live Debian installers, so we’re happy to take the lead on this. If you’re a developer and you’re interested in using it, have a look at its source repository and don’t hesitate to contact us so we can help you fork it and merge upcoming changes between our two projects.
  • About bugs: Please use this blog to report bugs.
  • Dedicated chat room: #linuxmint-debian is open to LMDE users on irc.spotchat.org.

Download links:

Torrents:

MD5 sums:

  • Cinnamon 32-bit: b82ad03d022c7ad56ef8195642494f41
  • Cinnamon 64-bit: 559d2f78c8f209eff56300d92d86458f
  • MATE 32-bit: 06ae51a79afb8cf71ebc21e78fb630b0
  • MATE 64-bit: 6f35b278e027ce6c26456f41346faf76

Cinnamon 32-bit:

Cinnamon 64-bit:

MATE 32-bit:

MATE 64-bit:

Enjoy!

We look forward to receiving your feedback. Thank you for using Linux Mint and have a lot of fun with this new release!

Posted in Main Topics | 155 Comments »

Monthly Stats – February 2013

Written by Clem on Thursday, March 21st, 2013

Sponsorships:

Linux Mint is proudly sponsored by:

Platinum Sponsors:
Blue Systems - Netrunner
Gold Sponsors:
Opera
VMware Cloud Hosting
Silver Sponsors:
Idera (formerly R1Soft)
Nothing in Particular Blog
ThinkPenguin.com
Bronze Sponsors:
Vault Networks *
AYKsolutions Server & Cloud Hosting
7L Networks Toronto Colocation *		 Community Sponsors:

To become a sponsor or to see the full list of Linux Mint sponsors, please visit: http://www.linuxmint.com/sponsors.php

Donations:

A total of $5,460 was raised thanks to the generous contributions of 213 donors:

  • $570 (9th donation), Mohammed A.
  • $321.92 (2nd donation), Richard G.
  • $257.53, Per S.
  • $100, Bob M.
  • $100, Magne L.
  • $100, Roland H.
  • $100, Shawn H.
  • $100, Jeffrey C. Drywater
  • $70, Christian G.
  • $64.38, Torben C.
  • $64.38, R L.
  • $64.38, Miguel A. A. L.
  • $64.38, Xaver G.
  • $51.51, Peter W.
  • $50 (41th donation), Slavoljub aka “slw”
  • $50 (35th donation), Matthew M.
  • $50 (4th donation), Engadine Cycles & Scooters aka “ECS“
  • $50 (2nd donation), Marcus M.
  • $50, ausmuso
  • $50, Massimo G.
  • $50, Leland O.
  • $50, Mike M.
  • $50, Konrad P.
  • $50, Federico R.
  • $50, Anthony L.
  • $50, Brett N.
  • $50, David K.
  • $50, Bruce P.
  • $40 (4th donation), Henk van C.
  • $40, xenoph
  • $40, Keith K.
  • $40, Jens M.
  • $40, C D. S. J.
  • $38.63 (36th donation), Olli K.
  • $38.63, Guillaume P.
  • $32.19 (3rd donation), Lars H.
  • $32.19 (2nd donation), Mark E.
  • $32.19 (2nd donation), Gerard V.
  • $32.19, Frank M.
  • $32.19, Bauke J. D.
  • $32.19, Aldo B.
  • $30 (3rd donation), Knut E. E. aka “Animoy”
  • $30, Philip E.
  • $25.75 (2nd donation), Oliver Anhuth
  • $25.75 (2nd donation), Iván B.
  • $25.75 (2nd donation), Ole P.
  • $25.75, Nicolas M.
  • $25.75, Niklas M.
  • $25.75, José R. L. B.
  • $25.75, Kirk J.
  • $25.75, Ikhwan H.
  • $25.75, Sergio C.
  • $25 (17th donation), Ronald W.
  • $25 (15th donation), John M.
  • $25 (3rd donation), Michael W.
  • $25 (2nd donation), Clyde D. aka “Lugh”
  • $25, Jon G.
  • $25, Lawrence Y.
  • $25, Brian M.
  • $25, Mark M.
  • $25, William E.
  • $25, Lorin Ricker
  • $25, Blake C.
  • $25, Joseph M.
  • $25, Steven S.
  • $25, Scott Anderson aka “lwarranty“
  • $25, Bryan F.
  • $25, Robert R.
  • $20 (24th donation), Tsuguo S.
  • $20 (3rd donation), Steven Campbell
  • $20 (2nd donation), Matt M.
  • $20, Christian D.
  • $20, John Bayles Pianos
  • $20, Hemant Karandikar aka “Hemant“
  • $20, Andrew I.
  • $20, Ken B.
  • $20, Frank M.
  • $20, Alan M.
  • $20, Billy M.
  • $20, Jamie L.
  • $20, KilUma
  • $20, James W.
  • $20, Tommy W.
  • $20, Jon G.
  • $20, Kurtis D.
  • $20, Antony P.
  • $20, Bryan P.
  • $19.31 (2nd donation), John Scott aka “‘Whitefort’”
  • $19.31, Daniel W.
  • $19, Istvan Sz.
  • $16.1, Maarten O.
  • $15.45, Jordi H.
  • $15 (6th donation), Geoff Perry
  • $15 (3rd donation), Zonic System General Trading – F.Z.E
  • $15, Brandon J.
  • $15, Gerald G.
  • $15, Max P.
  • $15, Mathew W.
  • $15, Dan R.
  • $15, J. H.
  • $15, Indarien’s G. T.
  • $15, iPhone & iPad apps
  • $12.88 (16th donation), Jarkko K.
  • $12.88 (2nd donation), Rene S.
  • $12.88 (2nd donation), Damien G.
  • $12.88 (2nd donation), Attila S.
  • $12.88, OH2GBA
  • $12.88, David A.
  • $12.88, Andrea L.
  • $12.88, Florival J.
  • $12.88, Jörn C. R.
  • $12.88, Richard M.
  • $12.88, Daniele P.
  • $12.88, Craig C. aka “NotoriousPyro“
  • $12.88, Raminder R.
  • $12.88, Nicolas B.
  • $12.88, Pavel S.
  • $12.88, Robert F.
  • $12.88, Bolko S.
  • $12.88, Robin K.
  • $12.88, Dominik K. aka “DrSky“
  • $12.88, Nick B.
  • $12.88, David E.
  • $12.88, Andreas L.
  • $12.88, Michael M.
  • $12.88, Dmytro K.
  • $12.88, Robert K.
  • $11.59, Tamas H.
  • $10.3, Mariusz K.
  • $10 (24th donation), Tony C. aka “S. LaRocca”
  • $10 (5th donation), Michelle and Daniel Grady aka “Pug Masters”
  • $10 (4th donation), Tony W.
  • $10 (2nd donation), Kazuyoshi K.
  • $10 (2nd donation), Silvio Rainoldi aka “ianaz”
  • $10, GoToGiftBaskets
  • $10, José R. F.
  • $10, Anisurahiman M.
  • $10, Christopher S.
  • $10, Akmal F.
  • $10, Alexandre A.
  • $10, Nikke J.
  • $10, Carl B.
  • $10, Купалов К.
  • $10, Andrzej W.
  • $10, Theis Hinz
  • $10, Dominik M.
  • $10, Peter T.
  • $10, Juan R.
  • $10, Daniel E.
  • $10, Robert E.
  • $10, Cody S.
  • $10, Chien C. H.
  • $10, Davide R.
  • $10, Colleen T.
  • $10, Enzo R.
  • $10, Ewnix.net IRC Network aka “phlux“
  • $10, Thomas Z.
  • $10, Scott P.
  • $10, Wired For Sound, Inc.n
  • $10, David D.
  • $10, Stefan H.
  • $10, Dan P.
  • $10, Иван Ф.
  • $10, Christopher B.
  • $10, Sivavinan S.
  • $10, William B.
  • $10, Клюшнев И.
  • $10, Dadykin A.
  • $10, Manpreet S. Dhillon
  • $10, Robert B.
  • $9.14 (4th donation), Librestickers.com
  • $7.73 (5th donation), Kevin D.
  • $6.44 (13th donation), Marco aka “Dictionary-Maker“
  • $6.44, Josef K.
  • $6.44, Daniel N.
  • $6.44, Patrick R.
  • $6.44, John T.
  • $6.44, Julio P.
  • $6.44, Armand O.
  • $6.44, Power M. aka “Batterie“
  • $6.44, Soutarson P.
  • $6.44, Marco A.
  • $5.15, Madis Veskimeister
  • $5 (5th donation), Dan Jackson
  • $5 (4th donation), Leon
  • $5 (3rd donation), L M.
  • $5, Vladimír V.
  • $5, Tri M.
  • $5, John S.
  • $5, Reborn Dolls
  • $5, Kinyua W.
  • $5, Irmantas R.
  • $5, Duta I. P. P.
  • $5, Ryan B.
  • $5, Jason G.
  • $5, Coupon Code Swap
  • $5, Aquarius Musical Enterprises
  • $5, William G.
  • $5, IT Whizz aka “kateh273“
  • $5, Jose M. D. A.
  • $5, Stefano G.
  • $3.03 (4th donation), Louis Pilfold
  • $3 (10th donation), Web Design Company
  • $2.58 (2nd donation), Thomas S.
  • $11.78 from 9 smaller donations

If you want to help Linux Mint with a donation, please visit http://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php

Rankings:

  • Distrowatch (popularity ranking): 3801 (1st)
  • Alexa (website ranking): 6,268th

Events:

Latest development:

Development is a lot of fun and it doesn’t take much to get started. If you’re tempted to join the team, don’t hesitate to follow our development on http://github.com/linuxmint and come and chat with the developers at #linuxmint-dev (irc.spotchat.org).

This month we’re giving you a preview of one of the new tools we developed for Linux Mint 15. It’s a new Mint tool and this one is called “mintSources”.

Until now Linux Mint used the upstream “Software Properties” tool developed by Ubuntu. Although it was working fine it wasn’t adapted to Linux Mint and it was heavily patched to work with our distribution. This created “technical debt” for our project and it prevented us from implementing solutions that were needed by Linux Mint (for instance, the ability to select mirrors for both the Ubuntu base and Mint repositories).

So a new tool was developed from scratch and was designed with derivatives in mind (primarily Linux Mint, but also LMDE, and our friends at Netrunner and Snow Linux).

From the main screen you can easily enable or disable optional components and gain access to backports, unstable packages and source code:

You can also switch to a faster mirror with one click of the mouse. The tool performs a speed-test of all available mirrors for you:

MintSources also lets you manage access to PPAs, which you can add easily by simply entering the name of the PPA.

You can of course manage additional repositories…

And manage your authentication keys (that’s only there for troubleshooting, since system repositories and keys are handled automatically and PPA keys are downloaded for you when you add a new PPA)

MintSources also has a “Maintenance” section which we use to place solutions to common problems.

The tool is now fully ready it will be included in Linux Mint 15. Of course there’s still one missing piece in the puzzle if we want to completely remove software-properties and that’s drivers management. LMDE already ships with DDM, the Ubuntu Software Properties tool can be reduced and repackaged into a standalone Drivers Manager, Jockey can raise from the grave or we can look into writing our own solution from scratch. It’s too soon to say which solution will be the best yet, but whatever happens we’ll pick the best one and we’ll get it all sorted in time for Linux Mint 15.

News and summary:

  • LMDE 201303 was approved. The stable release will be out this Friday.
  • MATE 1.5 and Cinnamon 1.7 were tested in QA conditions within Linux Mint 15 ALPHA ISOs. Both environments work well and are very close to feature completion. The team is working on fixing the bugs and finding all the little things that can be improved prior to their respective 1.6 and 1.8 releases.
  • mintMenu is being ported to MATE 1.6 and gsettings. These changes are required since MATE is getting lighter and deprecated some of its components (matecomponent, matecorba, mateconf..etc). The new mintMenu will  look exactly the same as before and it might be slightly faster to load. The team also took the opportunity to give mintMenu its own keybinding handling, which means key combinations such as Control + Super_L are no longer necessary and the menu can simply be open by pressing the Super_L (Windows) key.
  • Many thanks to our sponsors, partners, donors and all the people who supported us this month and who allowed us to work on Linux Mint.

Posted in Main Topics | 24 Comments »

HTML5 Login Screens with MDM

Written by Clem on Wednesday, February 27th, 2013

In brief

MDM now supports HTML5 themes. This allows artists to design beautiful login screens with animations, dynamism and all the technologies which are already available to web designers!

Introduction and background info about MDM

In Linux Mint, MDM is the default display manager. It is the software which is responsible for the login screen, and which coordinates the authentication and the launching of the desktop sessions.

MDM features 3 different login screens, also known as “greeters”.

The “GTK” greeter is a simple login screen made of a GTK dialog. It looks like that:

The GTK greeter, clean and simple

The “GDM” greeter is a login screen which uses a canvas and is compatible with XML themes known as “GDM themes”. It’s probably the one you’re using right now, and it can look very different depending on which theme you’re using. Here’s an example of the GDM greeter running the Arc-Brave-Userlist theme:

The GDM greeter, good looking and themeable

The “HTML” greeter is a new login screen which uses webkit and is compatible with themes written in HTML. Here’s an example of a theme designed by the development team:

The HTML greeter, good looking, interactive and easy to theme

It might not look great like that, but keep in mind that this was designed by the MDM/Mint developers.. not by Web artists. This particular theme was made using HTML, CSS, Javascript, Bootstrap and JQuery.

Even though it’s only a screenshot, you can see the transparency used on the login dialog and see how the user picture rotated when we placed the mouse over it.

Some of the possibilities provided by Web technologies

Using web technologies within Linux Mint means we can not only create beautiful themes but also dynamic ones and use one of the biggest resources available: web content.

Here are a few examples of what can be done using Web technologies today:

Using these technologies, MDM HTML themes can define the way the login screen looks, but also the way the navigation works, how the user interaction works, the conditions to enable log in etc etc…

Your HTML login screen can make the user jump, play a minigame and even finish a level before he can log in…. but please don’t do that…

It goes without saying that including Flash or Java content in the login screen, asking the user to wait for something to load, or to play a minigame to be able to log in would cause some frustrating experience. But these technologies can be used to implement subtle effects appreciated by users and without efforts from the artist, for instance:

  • Giving the theme an animated background by using an animated gif or playing an HTML5 video in the background
  • Making snow flakes fall on top of the login dialog
  • Placing sessions and languages in side-widgets which expand when the user hovers them
  • Using a javascript carousel for user selection… etc etc..

A good example of this is unity-greeter, the LightDM greeter implemented by Ubuntu:

unity-greeter is a good mix or subtle effects and animations and is easy to implement as an HTML theme

Although this greeter is non-configurable and certainly non-themeable, the end result is a good example of how animations and effects can be used to improve the user experience. Using web technologies, a unity-greeter looking theme can be made easily.

A simple concept (credits to http://mysteryweb.deviantart.com)

MDM 1.2 in Linux Mint 15

MDM 1.2 will be available in Linux Mint 15 and will feature this new Webkit greeter and a selection of HTML themes.

MDM 1.1.x available as BETA for theme artists

On github.com, the development branch of MDM (1.1.x) already features a functional Webkit greeter.

We’re calling all interested artists and web designers to participate in this. We’d like to design good looking themes for it. We want to help artists make the most of the greeter we developed, guide them through and listen to their feedback to improve it and provide additional features themes might need.

If you’re interested in designing an HTML login screen:

Then:

  • Launch the MDM setup tool by clicking on Menu->Administration->Login Window (or from a terminal with “sudo mdmsetup”)
  • In the “local” tab, set the “Style” to “HTML”.
  • Make a copy of /usr/share/mdm/html-themes/mdm and modify it to create your own theme
  • Place your theme in /usr/share/mdm/html-themes or drop an tar.gz archive of it on the setup dialog to install it

To test your theme easily, we made an emulator!

  • Open a terminal and type “mdm-theme-emulator”
  • Click “open” and select your index.html file
  • Click “Add dummies” to add random users and sessions to your theme

Use the emulator to test your HTML theme

Note the various javascript functions present in index.html and read their comments. Some of them are called by MDM.

Let us know about your theme or any question you might have. The development team is available on IRC at irc.spotchat.org on #linuxmint-dev

  • From Linux Mint, launch Menu->Internet->Xchat IRC, then type “/join #linuxmint-dev”

Posted in Main Topics | 50 Comments »

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »