The Linux Mint Blog – Page 136 – News from the Mint Team

The MintBox 2 is available!

September 13, 2013 by Clem·60 Comments

The MintBox 2 is now available and can be ordered from CompuLab at http://fit-pc.com/web/products/mintbox/

The MintBox 2 will also soon become available from Amazon.com and Amazon.de for US and European customers.

Overview of the MintBox 2

The MintBox 2 is a mini-computer which connects to TVs or computer monitors via HDMI or DisplayPort. It comes with 8 USB ports as well as in/out audio jacks, eSATA, Ethernet, Wifi and Bluetooth so you can connect it easily to any network or device.

The unit feels very special and very unique. It’s small, about the size of a router, so it fits behind your keyboard, your TV and it’s easy to bring with you anywhere you go.

It’s extremely sturdy and completely silent. There is no plastic, the case is entirely made of solid die-cast aluminum and acts as a heat sink, so there are no fans inside of it.

It boasts 4 times the processing power of the previous generation and comes with a 5 years warranty.

The MintBox 2 shines by its versatility. Its form-factor provides a fantastic compromise between desktop computing and mobility. It’s as if your desktop environment could come with you. A desk, a chair and a large screen is all you need. Connect a full size keyboard to the unit and there you are: operational and fully productive anywhere you go.

The MintBox 2 was previewed in June: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2383 . We’ll soon post a full in-depth review.

Specifications

CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-3337U Processor (dual-core 64 bit, 3M Cache, 1.80 GHz up to 2.70 GHz, 17W TDP)
Integrated GPU: Intel® HD Graphics 4000 with dynamic frequency up to 1.1 GHz
Chipset: Mobile Intel® HM76 Express Chipset
Memory: 4 GB DDR3 upgradable up to 16 GB
Main storage: Internal 500 GB 2.5” hard disk (upgradable)
Operating system: Linux Mint 15 “Olivia” 64 bit

Extra storage: mSATA socket + 2x eSATA ports
Display: HDMI 1.4a 1920 x 1200 + DisplayPort 1.1a 2560 x 1600 dual-head
Audio: S/PDIF 7.1 channels + stereo line-out / mic
Networking: 2x Gbit Ethernet
Wireless networking: 802.11b/g/n dual antenna up to 150 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.0
USB: 2x USB 3.0 + 6x USB 2.0
Serial: RS232 full-UART
Expansion: Full-size mini-PCIe (shared with mSATA) + half-size mini-PCIe (used for WLAN)

Enclosure: Passively cooled fanless die-cast aluminum case
Dimensions: 19 cm (w) x 16 cm (l) x 4 cm (h)
Weight: 1150g
Input voltage: 10V – 15V DC (12V PSU 100V-240V AC included)
Power consumption: 10W – 26W
Operating temperature: 0°C – 50°C
Warranty: 5 years (2 years for the hard disk)

Links

To order the MintBox 2: http://fit-pc.com/web/purchasing/order-mintbox/
Product page: http://fit-pc.com/web/products/mintbox/
Full specifications: http://fit-pc.com/web/products/mintbox/mintbox2-specifications/

Monthly News – August 2013

September 10, 2013 by Clem·35 Comments

Sponsorships:

Linux Mint is proudly sponsored by:

Platinum Sponsors:

Gold Sponsors:

Silver Sponsors:

Bronze Sponsors:

Community Sponsors:

Alyx Biologicals B.V.
Windows VPS Hosting
+++ PDF Reader for Android +++
Anonymous
Anonymous
Caturix
Computer Service Point GmbH
Craig
D M Hamilton
David Salvo
deep64blue
John Bayles Pianos
Kristian S.
Libre-Assistance
Magician Matthew James
Out of Hours IT Help Ltd
Plain ICT
Sascha Reinsch
SEER Interactive
sefcom computers
The Survival Monkey
Unixmen- Linux News & Howtos
VelvetAnt Systems

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 $4052 was raised thanks to the generous contributions of 185 donors:

$256, Samuel Brubaker aka “Worldsday“
$129.93, Mats K.
$129.93, Jean-Philippe Meuret
$100, Jonathan E.
$100, Ib O. J.
$75 (11th donation), Ralph Siegler aka “ziggy“
$64.97, E J. B.
$64.97, Heinz L.
$64.97, Geoff S.
$64.97, @Kode4Food
$51.97 (2nd donation), Emil K.
$51.97, Fabrizio C.
$50 (41th donation), Matthew M.
$50 (3rd donation), Tim B. aka “stripedtomato”
$50 (2nd donation), Christopher B.
$50 (2nd donation), Jason S.
$50, Soren K.
$50, Will C.
$50, David W.
$50, Dave S.
$50, Andrei R.
$50, Jim W.
$50, Edwin B.
$50, Bruce T.
$45, Emilio G. aka “Emiliano Zapata”
$38.98 (42th donation), Olli K.
$38.98, Cristian T. A.
$35, Samuel M.
$32.48 (5th donation), David Vantongerloo
$32.48, David M.
$31, Subramanian V.
$30, Robert T.
$30, Sergey Y.
$30, Mukesh R.
$30, Robert R. T.
$30, Bruce S.
$25.99, Jan M.
$25.99, Joseph G.
$25.99, Klaus G.
$25.99, Salvador C. M. O.
$25.99, Ralph W.
$25.99, Jens H.
$25.99, Jeremie G. aka “AceSlash“
$25 (23rd donation), Ronald W.
$25 (16th donation), John M.
$25 (3rd donation), Andy N.
$25 (2nd donation), Robert O.
$25 (2nd donation), Computer Service Point GmbH
$25 (2nd donation), Jon G.
$25, Rick R.
$25, Mario’s Art Mart
$25, R C.
$25, Jeff S.
$20 (29th donation), Tsuguo S.
$20 (4th donation), Antony P.
$20 (3rd donation), Gary L.
$20 (3rd donation), Computer Service Point GmbH
$20 (2nd donation), Gregg L.
$20 (2nd donation), Vincent B.
$20, PMCDS.com
$20, Daniela K.
$20, Peter L.
$20, Tyler K. M.
$20, Charles A.
$20, David S.
$20, Bob D.
$20, Haukur H.
$20, Jeffrey B.
$20, Marcel S.
$20, Mark P.
$20, Fahad A.
$20, Jason D.
$20, Clive A. S.
$20, wishgranted.com
$20, jce
$20, David S.
$20, Paulo P. F.
$20, Krzysztof S.
$20, Christian K.
$20, Donald S.
$20, Chris R.
$20, Artur P.
$19.99, Raymond M.
$19.49 (21st donation), Jarkko K.
$19.49 (2nd donation), Niklas M.
$19.49, Eduard L.
$19.49, Lars Gersmann aka “Orangevolt Ampere“
$19.49, Josef B.
$19.49, Alexander W.
$19.49, Christian R.
$15.59 (2nd donation), Salvador Coin aka “Johnny”
$15 (7th donation), Robert E.
$15 (2nd donation), Nikolaus S.
$15, Roger P.
$15, Devon B.
$15, Charles K.
$15, Petr B.
$12.99 (7th donation), Mark W.
$12.99, Andrew R.
$12.99, Gerard C.
$12.99, Sergii O.
$12.99, Steven B.
$12.99, Nico K.
$12.99, Hakan E.
$12.99, Data Power Development Limited
$12.99, Martin R.
$12.99, Eric P. K.
$12.99, Linus S.
$12.99, Marcin K.
$12.99, Michael K.
$11.28 (4th donation), Marco Zanatta aka “Reiki75”
$10 (30th donation), Tony C. aka “S. LaRocca”
$10 (6th donation), Charles P.
$10 (5th donation), Tony W.
$10 (3rd donation), Javier Guijarro aka “chejofan“
$10 (2nd donation), Robert L.
$10 (2nd donation), Gerard M. Cormick aka “gmacor2”
$10 (2nd donation), Иван Ф.
$10, Nattasit S.
$10, culturecrazy.com.au
$10, Chirawat C.
$10, Nathan C.
$10, Scott S.
$10, Sergey Pavlov aka “Qiwichupa“
$10, James B.
$10, Samuel O.
$10, Eleusmario M. R.
$10, Matt M.
$10, Daniel B.
$10, James P.
$10, Robert G. C.
$10, Christian D. C. H.
$10, Jason J.
$10, Allan E.
$10, Seth S.
$9.1 (2nd donation), Jack E.
$6.66, Jason S.
$6.5 (19th donation), Marco aka “Dictionary-Maker“
$6.5 (18th donation), Marco aka “Dictionary-Maker“
$6.5 (3rd donation), Paulo N. aka “uLusu”
$6.5, Marcin T.
$6.5, Mark H.
$6.5, Bjoern W. aka “wulfi”
$6.5, Sascha O.
$5.2, Joseph aka “joerack“
$5.09, Andrew C.
$5 (23rd donation), Antonio M. M. aka “zantaz“
$5 (8th donation), Pronto Admin
$5 (7th donation), Jose M. D. A.
$5 (4th donation), L M. aka “LinuxMint”
$5 (4th donation), Marco Zanatta aka “Reiki75”
$5 (4th donation), Jose A. Ruiz
$5 (3rd donation), Carlos W.
$5 (3rd donation), Alexey aka “hellman”
$5 (2nd donation), Artem G. aka “shrewmus”
$5 (2nd donation), tapin13
$5, Randy R.
$5, Sebastian B.
$5, Brian B.
$5, Jesus M. S.
$5, Bryan R.
$5, Jon W.
$5, Alistair G.
$5, Leandro S.
$3.9, Benjamin S.
$3.25, Wolfgang B.
$3 (2nd donation), Muhd Hafiz B. Mastro aka “monarsh”
$3, Ahmad S.
$3, Muhd Hafiz B. Mastro aka “monarsh”
$2.6 (4th donation), Marco Zanatta aka “Reiki75”
$2.6, Patrick S.
$2.6, Jani aka “Sinuhesieda”
$2.6, Rafał K.
$12.07 from 12 smaller donations

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

Rankings:

Distrowatch (popularity ranking): 3417 (1st)
Alexa (website ranking): 7590th

Events:

The development team posted 6 articles on Segfault
mintCast produced 5 podcast episodes

News and summary:

First of all, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all the people who are funding us. August is our last month in partnership with Blue Systems and with Opera moving to a new engine and new versions of their browser not yet being available to Linux, we might lose our two biggest sponsors next months. The financial help we get from the community is helping us a lot and it’s also a huge motivation considering how supportive you are. Looking at other Free and Open Source projects and at how hard it is to sustain such activity without corporate funding, we feel really privileged and extremely grateful. Many thanks to all the donors and all the sponsors for their support.
In partnership with CompuLab, the MintBox 2 should be announced in the coming days. At roughly the same price as its predecessor the new unit will boast 4 times the processing power.
We’re planning to include 2 new search engines in Linux Mint 16. Details will be given and announcements made when agreements are finalized.
LMDE’s Update Pack 7 landed in ‘incoming’. The team noted a couple of important issues and is currently working on solving them.
Development continues in preparation for Mint 16 (note that these improvements will also land in LMDE and Mint 13):
- Improvements were made to the USB Image Writer and a new tool was developed to format USB Sticks. The tool supports FAT32, EXT4 and NTFS.

Cinnamon sound events are now configurable (so you can set your own sounds for desktop login, maximizing windows, switching workspace etc..). The design was shared with the MATE team so we might see this get into MATE 1.8 as well.

There’s good news for people with multiple monitors: The Cinnamon display module was improved and the team is currently considering a redesign of the panels which would make it possible to move panels, create multiple panels on the screen, and assign different panels to different monitors.

Between now and November, the development team will focus on the following projects: architectural improvements and redesigns for MDM and mintUpdate, UI improvements in mintInstall and mintWelcome, additional features in nemo and Cinnamon.

Monthly News – July 2013

August 30, 2013 by Clem·21 Comments