Before we start with the news, I’d like to say a big thank you to our donors and sponsors. Many thanks for your support!
Package repositories
Work continues on the repositories.
We’re now using Datadog to monitor the bandwidth, connections and response time during high load.
This allows us to understand the nature and length of the bottlenecks better. It also provides us with long-term volume stats which are important when we look at pricing with Fastly and cloud solutions.
Software Manager
The mintinstall Software Manager received some welcome changes.
It loads faster than before and the main window appears instantly.
Unverified Flatpaks are disabled by default.
A warning explains the security risks associated with them in the newly added preferences window.
When enabled, these Flatpaks are clearly marked as unverified.
Note that unverified Flatpaks also do not feature any reviews and do not have a score.
Matrix
We’ve been using Matrix for more than a month now and we’re really happy with it.
The integration in the upcoming Linux Mint 22 is fully ready.
There are more than 600 members in the Linux Mint space already, and more than 2400 in the main channel.
Other than providing support to users the Matrix channels also allowed us to communicate with other projects and to form a team of artists who focus on the Linux Mint artwork.
GTK, libAdwaita, Adwaita, Xapp
The concerns voiced last month about GTK, Adwaita and libAdwaita were heard.
They were heard by many projects, including upstream apps, desktop environments and distributions.
They led to many discussions with a huge number of developers involved.
I want to stress the fact that some of these discussions involve GNOME developers and are very constructive.
Although no big decisions or solutions emerged yet there is a general consensus on the issues of cross-DE compatibility and independence from the GNOME project. There’s also consensus on the idea of working together on common technologies.
Sponsorships:
Linux Mint is proudly sponsored by:
Gold Sponsors: Silver Sponsors:    |
Bronze Sponsors:         |
Donations in April:
A total of $10,500 were raised thanks to the generous contributions of 351 donors:
$539, Andreas B.
$500, Michael L.
$314 (2nd donation), Darwin H.
$300, Clark H.
$200 (3rd donation), Gregory F.
$200 (2nd donation), Charles K.
$200 (2nd donation), Larry F.
$200, James Fallin aka “Jimmy Fallin”
$108 (2nd donation), aka “EAS”
$108, Gregor F.
$108, Marin L.
$108, Viktoria N.
$105, Myke C. (Minty since Bea)
$100 (12th donation), Mihail S.
$100 (11th donation), Mountain Computers, Inc aka “MTNCOMP aka GGPCTU”
$100 (6th donation), David T.
$100, Caitlin M.
$100, Donald E.
$100, Goran L.
$74, Andy Frank S.
$65 (6th donation), Glen P.
$54 (22nd donation), Naoise G. aka “Gaff”
$54 (17th donation), Bernard H.
$54 (11th donation), Roland H.
$54 (8th donation), David M. D.
$54 (4th donation), John A.
$54 (4th donation), Jyrki A.
$54 (2nd donation), Mark L.
$54 (2nd donation), Roger B.
$54 (2nd donation), Ronan B.
$54 (2nd donation), Ulrich D.
$54, Andrew H.
$54, Andrey M.
$54, Christine S.
$54, Holger B.
$54, Jacek B.
$54, Lukas C.
$54, Mike D.
$54, Patricia T.
$54, Slawomir B.
$54, Steven W.
$54, Sylvain B.
$54, Thomas B.
$54, Thomas E.
$54, Thomas K.
$54, Thomas L.
$54, Tony A.
$54, Udo L.
$53 (8th donation), John Mc
$50 (83th donation), Anthony C. aka “ciak”
$50 (23rd donation), George H.
$50 (10th donation), Robert K. aka “usmc_bob”
$50 (6th donation), Colin B.
$50 (5th donation), Far West Computer Consulting
$50 (5th donation), Frank F.
$50 (5th donation), Keith M.
$50 (5th donation), Martin Ch.
$50 (4th donation), Clifford N.
$50 (4th donation), Robert S.
$50 (2nd donation), Brenda C.
$50 (2nd donation), Christopher Y.
$50 (2nd donation), Eugene D.
$50 (2nd donation), Harry M.
$50, Charles P.
$50, Daryl F.
$50, Donald A.
$50, Donald C.
$50, Kaiden S.
$50, Richard S.
$50, Ryan Y.
$50, Shane R.
$50, Visaggio & Co., LLC
$43, Ignacio A.
$40 (7th donation), Kenneth R.
$40, Eric W.
$35 (2nd donation), Michael F.
$30 (9th donation), John Eady
$30 (5th donation), Kevin H.
$30 (4th donation), John W.
$30, pasu
$30, Raymond R.
$27 (4th donation), Kiaran Smyth.
$27 (2nd donation), William L. aka “Hilyxx”
$25 (38th donation), Linux Mint Sverige
$25 (10th donation), Timothy C.
$25 (8th donation), Stephen W.
$25 (3rd donation), Rashed D.
$25, Gary B.
$25, Patrick L.
$25, Paul C.
$24 (53th donation), Francois-R L.
$22 (47th donation), Peter E.
$22 (12th donation), H ScottB
$22 (12th donation), Stefan W.
$22 (11th donation), Nicklas L.
$22 (10th donation), Marek S. [LMDE SUPPORTER]
$22 (9th donation), Benjamin W.
$22 (9th donation), L. Mikkel
$22 (7th donation), Vittorio F.
$22 (6th donation), Antonio C.
$22 (6th donation), Davide P. aka “Dragone2”
$22 (6th donation), Iain S.
$22 (5th donation), Manuel R.
$22 (4th donation), Alexandre Gambier
$22 (3rd donation), Christoph F.
$22 (3rd donation), Friedrich W. J.
$22 (3rd donation), Geurt S.
$22 (3rd donation), Jadran D.
$22 (3rd donation), Mr Christopher J W.
$22 (2nd donation), Alain M.
$22 (2nd donation), Charles A.
$22 (2nd donation), Florian H.
$22 (2nd donation), Frits M.
$22 (2nd donation), Heiko K.
$22 (2nd donation), Helgi J.
$22 (2nd donation), Herman Franciscus B.
$22 (2nd donation), Rolf S.
$22 (2nd donation), Ronnie B.
$22 (2nd donation), Stefan E.
$22, Albert P.
$22, Alwin K.
$22, Andrea Bonvicini aka “bonvi83”
$22, Christian W.
$22, Daniel T.
$22, David A.
$22, Enrico D.
$22, Hermann H.
$22, Jaime R.
$22, Jonathan B.
$22, Karl-heinz L.
$22, Kevin R.
$22, Laurent D.
$22, Manfred B.
$22, Marcel P.
$22, Mario P.
$22, Martin Huettemann aka “dr-huetti”
$22, Nicholas A.
$22, Ortwin F.
$22, Patrick D.
$22, Peter L.
$22, Sebastian H.
$22, Stefan D.
$22, Stefan F.
$22, Thomas K.
$21 (22nd donation), aka “AsciiWolf”
$20 (41th donation), John D.
$20 (23rd donation), Aimee W.
$20 (15th donation), Dana S.
$20 (12th donation), RexAlan
$20 (11th donation), Robert D. aka “MacDhai”
$20 (10th donation), Lamont C.
$20 (9th donation), Nate P. aka “cog_nate”
$20 (9th donation), Peter L. aka “Pedro”
$20 (6th donation), Kendall G.
$20 (5th donation), Denis C.
$20 (4th donation), Chris B.
$20 (4th donation), Everett F.
$20 (4th donation), Mark S.
$20 (4th donation), Michael B.
$20 (3rd donation), Randolph M.
$20 (3rd donation), Sam B.
$20 (2nd donation), Duryea E.
$20 (2nd donation), Gordon L.
$20 (2nd donation), Ian J.
$20 (2nd donation), John B.
$20 (2nd donation), Steve S.
$20, Chad M.
$20, Charles M.
$20, Chris S.
$20, Damir T.
$20, Darrin B.
$20, Edward P W.
$20, Esteban Balmore C.
$20, Ethan T.
$20, Gustavo L.
$20, Jack B.
$20, John H N.
$20, Manuel G.
$20, Marcus J.
$20, Martin M.
$20, Michael C.
$20, Michael S.
$20, Raymond T.
$20, Regis G.
$20, Richard L K.
$20, Robert M S.
$20, Robert T.
$20, Steven T.
$20, Thomas K.
$20, Timothy H.
$20, Tyler Jones
$20, Wladyslaw T.
$20, Working Solutions
$18 (8th donation), ineuw
$16 (94th donation), Johann J.
$16 (75th donation), Andreas S.
$16, Joaquin P.
$15 (11th donation), Stephen F.
$15 (10th donation), Corey J.
$14 (12th donation), Francois B. aka “Makoto”
$14 (7th donation), Heston
$11 (48th donation), Daniel S.
$11 (41th donation), Thomas R.
$11 (25th donation), Tugaleres.com
$11 (22nd donation), Denys G.
$11 (22nd donation), Raymond M. (retired)
$11 (19th donation), Arvis Lācis aka “arvislacis”
$11 (9th donation), Axel R.
$11 (9th donation), Bengt Falke aka “Falke”
$11 (9th donation), Dimitar S.
$11 (9th donation), Hans-Dieter S. aka “hadisch”
$11 (8th donation), Antoni Aloy Torrens
$11 (8th donation), Enrico C.
$11 (8th donation), Ronald S.
$11 (6th donation), Donatas Dainys
$11 (6th donation), Joel E.
$11 (6th donation), Paolo C.
$11 (5th donation), Peter C.
$11 (4th donation), Claudio A.
$11 (4th donation), Jouko Tiilikainen aka “JT65”
$11 (3rd donation), Attila C.
$11 (3rd donation), Francois S.
$11 (3rd donation), Henry B.
$11 (3rd donation), John K.
$11 (2nd donation), Can G.
$11 (2nd donation), Emanuele S.
$11 (2nd donation), Francis B.
$11 (2nd donation), Guillaume M.
$11 (2nd donation), Heiko L.
$11 (2nd donation), Jose J.
$11 (2nd donation), Julio Cesar S.
$11 (2nd donation), Krzysztof M.
$11 (2nd donation), Robert H.
$11, Alexander R.
$11, Alistair W.
$11, Amedeo A.
$11, Anon
$11, Attila M.
$11, Daniel D.
$11, Daniel M.
$11, Daniele V.
$11, David K.
$11, Fabien S.
$11, Fabrizio C.
$11, Giancarlo T.
$11, Gianfranco C.
$11, Gita M.
$11, Hannes S.
$11, Hristo B.
$11, Ingo K.
$11, Jörg K.
$11, Josef H.
$11, Lukasz M.
$11, Martin G.
$11, Mick B.
$11, Noe Zhana A.
$11, Peter B.
$11, Peter O.
$11, Peter S.
$11, Raffaele S.
$11, Ralph O.
$11, Silvano C.
$11, Thomas S.
$11, Timothy W.
$11, Tobias H.
$11, Wojciech S.
$10 (97th donation), Thomas C.
$10 (34th donation), Carpet Cleaning Winnipeg
$10 (29th donation), Hemant Patel
$10 (22nd donation), Pawel M.
$10 (21st donation), Bruce M.
$10 (17th donation), Minneapolis Towing and Roadside Assistance
$10 (13th donation), Dave S.
$10 (10th donation), platypus products
$10 (9th donation), Allyn G.
$10 (5th donation), Chamnong N.
$10 (3rd donation), Alessandro M.
$10 (3rd donation), Michael S.
$10 (3rd donation), Timothy M.
$10 (3rd donation), TONY aka “STRUZZIN ELECTRONICS”
$10 (2nd donation), Axel P.
$10 (2nd donation), Garry H.
$10 (2nd donation), Óscar R.
$10 (2nd donation), Robert N.
$10 (2nd donation), Santiago G.
$10 (2nd donation), Thomas A.
$10, 8 Hobbies, LLC
$10, Alessio Ligabue aka “Consulenza Cloud e Supporto Linux”
$10, Anibal C.
$10, Arnold P.
$10, Benjamin B.
$10, COMERCIALIZADORA ANGEL DE ORIENTE
$10, Dave C.
$10, Denise D.
$10, Eli D.
$10, Frank K.
$10, Gaetan T.
$10, Gerardo F.
$10, Jaiden H.
$10, James W.
$10, Jonathan G.
$10, Marcus F.
$10, Matheus S.
$10, Michael K.
$10, Miguel B.
$10, Rowan C.
$163 from 43 smaller donations
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Linux Mint is proudly supported by 1,115 patrons, for a sum of $3,311 per month.
To become a Linux Mint patron, please visit https://www.patreon.com/linux_mint
Wonderful news! Great work as always.
“Although no big decisions or solutions emerged yet there is a general consensus on the issues of cross-DE compatibility and independence from the GNOME project. There’s also consensus on the idea of working together on common technologies.”
Can we PLEASE do something about the horribly unintuitive GTK file chooser dialog? By my count there are 30+ forum posts that complained about it within the last year. A common issue is the line where we type the file name to save. This causes a dropdown list with folders which a lot of people hate and find confusing. It gets in the way. Choosing one of the folders in the dropdown list does not navigate into that folder, which a lot of people find confusing too. There are many other issues with it (no option to open in the same / a default folder, having to re-navigate over and over), it needs a complete overhaul. We should gather feedback from the community.
I totally agree with your comments about the GTK file chooser dialog and hope a more logical dialog can be provided.
+1 Definitely agree about that. A feature that I never use and, instead, always gets in my way!
A long time bug in the GTK 3 file chooser is, the search button is hidden when the file chooser is in no-csd form, which is what the file chooser display in Linux Mint. For most of time, it is just causing the feature hidden from access, but when someone type text after certain element in the file chooser has been clicked, the hidden search feature will be triggered and no obvious way to turn it back off.
The file chooser isn’t something I’ve had a lot of issues with, but the similar file save box has some really annoying properties.
The arrow key navigation only works when it feels like it. You can use the arrow keys to choose a subfolder, but if you hit Enter, there’s a decent chance it’ll instead save the file in the current folder with letters you typed of the subfolder in front of it.
Also, if you want to go up a few levels in the directory tree, it usually highlights the folder you came from, so the Save button changes to an Open button and if you click it then you’re going into the next level down where you just came from. Since there’s no way to unselect something in that window, if you get this problem you have to go up one level ABOVE where you want to be, then go back into the level you ACTUALLY want to be at, and THEN you can save your file in the directory you want it to be in.
Another problem I find with this GTK file chooser dialog is this:
1 – In any common application, click “Save”.
2 – Double-click to open some sub-directory (not using the shortcuts in the left column).
3 – “Unsaved Document” is still highlighted, so you’d think you can just start typing to change that name… But no, when you start typing, this search box pop-ups…
…I find it confusing that you can’t change the name for the document you want to save, despite the fact that name is highlighted.
Also:
* once I highlight a folder I have to do a dance to not save in that one
* no grid view
* popovers instead of menus
* no path bar
I agree totally with SebastJava’s comment, it is very confusing that the highlighted file is not the focus
Perhaps a bit wild idea, but could the mint menu have some kind of alternate full screen mode? I don’t mean just making the existing menu bigger, but something that would utilize the whole screen with some sensible layout and offer a good overall view of everything that is installed.
I like the idea
Thanks to everyone in the MINT development team for all your on going work on improving Linux Mint and making it such a wonderful OS.
I was hoping for an announcement of the Mint 22 beta, but it looks like I’ll have to wait a little longer. Looking forward to it!
Just waiting impatiently for Mint 22.
Please be patient. Maybe Linux Mint 22 will be released on this summer (around June – July 2024 AFAIK).
As always, I appreciate the update.
I am in the minority of users who thinks libadwaita apps look great on Cinnamon, and I have replaced xed on my system with Gnome Text Editor. Nonetheless I am quite interested to see how you handle cross-DE compatibility going forward. I am looking forward to Mint 22.
Try Geany.
Another big issue that keeps coming up on the Forums is the Cinnamon Menu Editor.
It’s very buggy. Many users run into issues where Cut / Copy / Paste don’t work, or they can’t create new categories, or put items into those categories.
I’ve lost count of how many complaints there have been. It really needs an overhaul.
I agree
I agree.
We appreciate the constant effort to continue improving LM and listening to the community!! . I recently proposed to a family member to try this distro, he agreed and is totally satisfied (he is still learning). I wish they could add a couple of things that would make the experience easier, I mean the possibility of using tabs in Xreader and being able to apply an alphabetical/rating/reviews filter when searching for apps in Mintinstall.
One question, will LM 22 be able to use Mate 1.28?
Kind regards
I totally agree xreader should have tabs and the ability to add text and shapes
To SEBA: I’m wondering the same thing: will Linux Mint 22 ship Mate Desktop 1.28? any news about that?
Thank you Clem for taking the time every month to present news about Linux Mint. I wish more people would read it and keep up on the latest instead of spreading misinformation.
Linux Mint is fantastic, it is what an operating system should be, intuitive and easy to use, it would be great if a button was added to Nemo to divide the panel like Dolphin has
Go to view – extra pane in the menubar. Is that what you mean?
There is a button, right on your keyborad. It’s F3.
Nemo has a bug that no one has noticed, when you download several files from Outlook email, they are downloaded compressed. When you unzip them, Nemo does not show the thumbnails. I was able to reproduce the error on several computers. I invite you to do it and report it. I don’t know how to do it.
When I say I don’t know how to do it, I mean that I don’t know how to report it on gibhub. I hope someone from the Linux Mint team reads this and can give you a solution. As additional information, the mini strips of the decompressed files that were downloaded from Outlook recently can be viewed later. 3 hours or so, this problem does not exist in Linux Mint cinnamon 20.3
When I say I don’t know how to do it, I mean that I don’t know how to report it on Gibhub. I hope someone from the Linux Mint team reads this and can give you a solution. As additional information, the mini strips of the decompressed files that were downloaded from Outlook They can be displayed after 3 hours or so, this problem does not exist in Linux Mint cinnamon 20.3
Try https://github.com/linuxmint/nemo/issues?page=1&q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen – this will show open issues and allow you to report a new issue.
Why my two other comments are not published? IS there a filtering system on blog?
Hi Clem,
To avoid confusion, when you’re posting a blog about changes that will appear in an upcoming release, please make that clear at the *beginning* of the blog. Otherwise, readers, especially new users, might think you’re speaking of changes that have been made to the current release.
Many thanks to you and your team for all the improvements we can look forward to in Linux Mint 22! An already great OS just keeps getting better and better!
l have tried other distros and l found that mint and lmde are the only distros that allow me to to make extra short cuts in the way l like to make them with ease. when l set up the distro l add my own short cuts and script’s
I understand the logic of disabling unverified apps by default, but I don’t think it’s helpful for users to prevent learning from other users’ experiences. If the app doesn’t work for certain hardware, if it lacks certain features, if it needs special permissions, etc. It would be good to know.
I think it would be appropriate to have access to user reviews of the app.
Kind regards