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I would like to apologize to the community, the media, and the journalists who wrote to us to know more about our upcoming release. We’ve been extremely secretive and 3 weeks past the Ubuntu release it’s still unclear for most people exactly what the next Linux Mint will look like. The reason we’ve been so silent is because we didn’t want to promise something we could not guarantee. Today we’re finally ready to give you an in-depth preview of Linux Mint 12, codename “Lisa”. I hope you’ll enjoy it and I look forward to reading your feedback.

Gnome 2 vs new desktops

In Linux Mint 11 we made the decision to keep Gnome 2.32. The traditional Gnome desktop, although it’s not actively developed by the Gnome development team anymore, is still by far the most popular desktop within the Linux community. As other distributions adopted new desktops such as Unity and Gnome 3, many users felt alienated and consequently migrated to Linux Mint. We recorded a 40% increase in a single month and we’re now quickly catching up with Ubuntu for the number #1 spot within the Linux desktop market.

As much as we’d like to keep Gnome 2.32 a little while longer we need to look forward and embrace new technologies. This doesn’t mean we need to change the way people use their desktops, not at all, it means we need to try and do our best for people to feel at home again, but on top of a brand new base, a new layer of technology, one that is actively supported upstream and that can be maintained properly going forward.

From a technological point of view, Gnome 3 is a fantastic desktop, and it’s getting better with every new release. It will take time for Linux Mint to develop a Gnome 3 desktop that is on-par with what we had with Gnome 2, but eventually we’ll be able to do much more with it than was possible with the traditional desktop.

With this in mind, the future of Linux Mint is Gnome 3, the present of Linux Mint is a simple question: “How do we make people like Gnome 3? And what do we provide as an alternative to those who still do not want to change?”.

Gnome 3 and MGSE

Gnome 3 is shiny, elegant and modern looking. It’s a sleek desktop but it comes with a few problems:

  • It changes the way people use their computer
  • It’s application-centric, not task-centric (you switch between applications, not windows)
  • It doesn’t do multi-tasking well (you can’t see opened windows, system tray icons, etc..)

We’ve been using application menus, window lists and other traditional desktop features for as far as I can remember. It looked different in KDE, Xfce, or even Windows and Mac OS, but it was similar. Gnome 3 is changing all that and is developing a better way for us to interact with our computer. From our point of view here at Linux Mint, we’re not sure they’re right, and we’re not sure they’re wrong either. What we’re sure of, is that if people aren’t given the choice they will be frustrated and our vision of an Operating System is that your computer should work for you and make you feel comfortable. So with this in mind, Gnome 3 in Linux Mint 12 needs to let you interact with your computer in two different ways: the traditional way, and the new way, and it’s up to you to decide which way you want to use.

For this, we developed “MGSE” (Mint Gnome Shell Extensions), which is a desktop layer on top of Gnome 3 that makes it possible for you to use Gnome 3 in a traditional way. You can disable all components within MGSE to get a pure Gnome 3 experience, or you can enable all of them to get a Gnome 3 desktop that is similar to what you’ve been using before. Of course you can also pick and only enable the components you like to design your own desktop.

The main features in MGSE are:

  • The bottom panel
  • The application menu
  • The window list
  • A task-centric desktop (i.e. you switch between windows, not applications)
  • Visible system tray icons

MGSE also includes additional extensions such as a media player indicator, and multiple enhancements to Gnome 3.

Here is what it looks like (click on the screenshot to make it bigger):

As you can see it’s a mix of old and new. It’s a brand new desktop but with traditional components. We’re excited about the new technology but it’s important everyone feels at home. So a Mint desktop looks and behaves like a Mint desktop and this one feels both like Gnome 3 and the traditional Linux Mint desktops that preceded it. You can launch applications from the top left, easily switch between applications and workspaces using the window list or keyboard shortcuts, keep an eye on your notifications at the top and access Gnome 3 features like “activities” from the top-left corner.

The Fallback Mode

Gnome 3 requires video acceleration and that is something most systems have. In Linux Mint 12 we also made sure you could run Gnome 3 within Virtualbox, so if you enable 3D acceleration within your virtual machine, you should be able to enjoy Gnome 3 and MGSE without any additional drivers.

If you’re unlucky though, you’ll land into the “Fallback Mode”.

Do not be mistaken about the “Fallback Mode”, despite its looks, it has nothing to do with Gnome 2! It’s a Gnome 3 component and it’s completely incompatible with technologies such as Bonobo panel applets. It’s named appropriately as the “Fallback Mode” and it’s set to disappear eventually as Gnome 3 will gain more and more hardware compatibility.

MATE

MATE is a fork of Gnome 2.32, it looks and behaves exactly as Gnome 2.

The problem with Gnome 2.32 is that it conflicts with Gnome 3. It creates a lot of problems within the repositories and it would not be possible for users to run both Gnome 2 and Gnome 3. MATE on the other hand is supposed to be compatible with it. So you could have both MATE and Gnome 3 installed on your computer and be able to switch between desktops from the login screen.

In practice, MATE is a brand new project and it does conflict with Gnome 3 in many areas. We’re currently working hard in collaboration with the MATE developers to identify and fix these conflicts so that we can have both Gnome 3 and MATE installed by default on the DVD edition of Linux Mint 12.

Another issue with MATE is that, to be compatible with Gnome (3), it had to rename most of itself, and as a consequence, applications and themes that were developed for Gnome 2 need to be migrated towards MATE to become compatible with it.

Conflicts with Gnome and the migrations of applications and themes are easy to fix. So if MATE makes it to our liveDVD, it’s likely to come with some rough edges but with your feedback we’ll be able to solve most problems very quickly.

Search engines

Going forward, we won’t be using a custom search engine anymore. Linux Mint is the 4th most popular desktop OS in the World, with millions of users, and possibly outgrowing Ubuntu this year. The revenue Mint users generate when they see and click on ads within search engines is quite significant. So far this revenue’s entirely gone towards search engines and browsers. Our goal is to give users a good search experience while funding ourselves by receiving a share of this income. Search engines who do not share the income generated by our users, are removed from Linux Mint and might get their ads blocked.

In Linux Mint 12 and upcoming releases we’re hoping to provide users with the following commercial search engines: Ask.com, Google, Amazon, eBay, and the non-commercial Wikipedia.

It won’t only be down to donations and sponsorships anymore, your activity on the web, every search query you make and product you buy will help fund our project.

ETA

Traditionally, we release at the end of November, usually around the 20th. With that said, quality matters more than the time-frame and so until we’re happy with what we have, we won’t release it. We release “when ready” and so I can’t tell you for sure when that will be. I can tell you however how ready we are at the moment.

Our Gnome 3 desktop is fully ready and fully functional. We identified 10 bugs but they’re all minor and could get fixed either prior or post-RC.

We compiled and installed MATE alongside Gnome 3 on a test Ubuntu 11.10 machine before and were successful in running both desktops. We’re now packaging and building MATE differently and we’re progressing slowly but surely. We’re not 100% sure MATE will make it in time for the RC though and we do expect rough edges with it if it does.

Negotiations with browsers and search engines are still ongoing so the RC might miss a few search engines that could be added later on in the stable release.

At the latest we should have the RC out by the 11th of November. Again, that’s our goal in terms of time-frame, but if quality aspects come into play this date becomes irrelevant.

Feedback and reactions

We’ve been using Gnome 2 since 2006 and regarded by many as the best Gnome desktop available. With Gnome 3, we want to do the same again and let people decide on the experience they want to get, whether they want a pure Gnome 3 desktop, an MGSE one whether they want to stay with MATE. We’re dealing with three brand new technologies, in many ways we’re starting from scratch again. With this post you now have a better idea of Linux Mint 12 will be like, and so now and more than ever, we’d be delighted to know what you think of it, to get your feedback and your reactions.

Thank you for using Linux Mint and I look forward to reading your comments.

by ·132 Comments

Linux Mint is currently negotiating and establishing partnerships with some of the major actors on the search market. Our purpose is to bring the best search experience to you and the technology you enjoy while participating in the income you generate while browsing the Web.

As part of this process, we’re running a test to establish the number of Opera users within the Linux Mint community.

A custom Linux Mint build of Opera 11.52 is now available in the repositories for Linux Mint 11, LMDE, Linux Mint 10 and Linux Mint 9.

If you’re using Opera, please upgrade to version 11.52-1100-1linuxmint using the Update Manager, Synaptic or APT.

Alternatively you can download the package directly:

Note about privacy: This build doesn’t track or share more information than the default Opera build. As part of the browser checking for an update with the Opera servers, it simply indicates that you’re using Linux Mint.

by ·110 Comments

Donations & Sponsorships:

Many thanks to the following donors and sponsors for financially supporting Linux Mint:

Donors:

  • $100 (6th donation), Andreas S. aka “Unforgiving67“
  • $100 (5th donation), Gregor M.
  • $100 (3rd donation), J.-Yves Lortie aka “amadeus128”
  • $100 (3rd donation), Roland Stohler aka “ro@st”
  • $100 (2nd donation), Robert Pilgrim aka “robfuscate”
  • $100, Warren A.
  • $100, Mohee J.
  • $100, David B.
  • $100, Jeff S.
  • $100, Stephan T.
  • $81.8 (8th donation), Laurent P.
  • $75, David G.
  • $70, Martin O.
  • $69.4 (2nd donation), Vincent V.
  • $69.4, Alan H.
  • $68.17, Robert S. aka “Franzisskuss”
  • $55.5 (6th donation), Pasi K.
  • $50 (5th donation), Tsuguo S.
  • $50 (4th donation), Tsuguo S.
  • $50 (3rd donation), Tsuguo S.
  • $50 (3rd donation), Carlos H. G.
  • $50 (3rd donation), G. Sheffield
  • $50 (2nd donation), Lockert P.
  • $50 (2nd donation), Tsuguo S.
  • $50, Arend Rietkerk aka “fliteshare”
  • $50, Robert F. C.
  • $50, Gary B.
  • $40.9, Giuseppe Ficara
  • $40, Rich H.
  • $35 (24th donation), Slavoljub aka “slw”
  • $34.7, Daniel H.
  • $34.7, Andreas S. aka “Schoni”
  • $32.38, Ron D.
  • $30 (2nd donation), Alex Dolhescu aka “alex894”
  • $30, Shaun I.
  • $30, Gregory C.
  • $27.8 (19th donation), Olli K.
  • $27.27, Jean-Yves Z.
  • $26.75, Jeroen F.
  • $26.75, Neil O.
  • $26.51 (24th donation), Manuel F.
  • $26.16, Alfredo V. V.
  • $25.9, Marcus L.
  • $25 (9th donation), John M.
  • $25 (4th donation), Happy Nerds Workshop aka “linuxdevman (scotts)“
  • $25 (3rd donation), Peter T.
  • $25 (3rd donation), Joshua B.
  • $25 (2nd donation), Adam D.
  • $25 (2nd donation), Gene C.
  • $25 (2nd donation), Kent K.
  • $25, Marinko Tarlac
  • $25, Pierre G.
  • $25, rjdsc
  • $25, Daniel S.
  • $25, Axel H. A.
  • $25, Rodney S.
  • $22, Galen T.
  • $21.21 (2nd donation), Tobias A.
  • $20.93 (2nd donation), Ashley S.
  • $20.82, Magnus K.
  • $20.45, Sven A. aka “Sven”
  • $20 (15th donation), Antonio M. aka “Rob Brill’s book-keeper”
  • $20 (6th donation), Anders B.
  • $20 (6th donation), Ian M.
  • $20 (2nd donation), Frank J.
  • $20 (2nd donation), Vincent P.
  • $20, Samue I.
  • $20, Константин Д.
  • $20, Drew Salmons. aka “Geronimo”
  • $20, Guilherme R.
  • $20, John F.
  • $20, Geoffrey G.
  • $20, Perry B. aka “uga_boy”
  • $20, Mitchell C.
  • $20, Mark S.
  • $20, Pedro E.
  • $20, Brian S.
  • $20, Brian B.
  • $20, Jon D.
  • $20, Michael M.
  • $19.62, Detlef K.
  • $17, William C.
  • $16.36, Ashley S.
  • $15 (4th donation), Sinisa Majstorovic
  • $15 (3rd donation), Andras Porga aka “GodmaNZ”
  • $15 (2nd donation), Stefan W. aka “querwurzelt”
  • $15, Laurence G. aka “The_Gooze!”
  • $15, Thomas E.
  • $15, Pat C.
  • $15, Caboodle C.
  • $15, Miki K.
  • $14.7 (3rd donation), D. Manoj Prabhu aka “Munna”
  • $14 (2nd donation), Matt R. aka “kiswa”
  • $13.9, Esben M.
  • $13.9, Eric B. aka “ProudPaw“
  • $13.9, Moritz K.
  • $13.63 (15th donation), Paco C.C. aka “kannabix”
  • $13.63, Patrick S. aka “pAt”
  • $13.63, Bryan T.
  • $13.63, Mario G. B.
  • $13.37, Daniel F.
  • $13.37, LIXC Software
  • $13.37, Are J.
  • $13.37, Michael S.
  • $13.37, Armin K.
  • $13.25, Antonio H. O. aka “Azkanel”
  • $12.95 (4th donation), Peter Portin
  • $12.95, Eneko M. E.
  • $12.95, Daragh Moriarty aka “dazmoriarty@rocketmail.com“
  • $12, Keith W.
  • $11.11, Amy W.
  • $10 (7th donation), Tony C. aka “S. LaRocca”
  • $10 (5th donation), Geschenkideen
  • $10 (4th donation), Astap A.
  • $10 (3rd donation), Jarkko K.
  • $10 (3rd donation), Robert T.
  • $10 (3rd donation), Costas Krallis aka “sv1xv“
  • $10 (2nd donation), Piermario R.
  • $10 (2nd donation), Andrew Simpson
  • $10, Joseph E.
  • $10, Peter Larson
  • $10, Marcin W.
  • $10, Suleyman Y.
  • $10, Tim W.
  • $10, George B.
  • $10, Anze S.
  • $10, Sergey N.
  • $10, HawkinzWeb Designs
  • $10, David E.
  • $10, Ricardo P.
  • $10, Zetay Lee aka “zetay“
  • $10, Milosav P.
  • $10, Sattam Alharbi aka “SattamJH”
  • $10, Robert J. H.
  • $10, Jan P.
  • $10, Paul G.
  • $10, Mehmet B. Y.
  • $10, Nikolas K.
  • $9.68, Martin P.
  • $7.77, Balasi B.
  • $7 (2nd donation), Antonina K. aka “Tonya”
  • $7, Arnold Bechtoldt aka “arnoldB“
  • $6.82 (6th donation), Ronald T.
  • $6.82, Albert J. P.
  • $6.8 (10th donation), Ulf S. aka “MonteDrago”
  • $6.7 (2nd donation), Jurek W.
  • $6.48, Jan V. P.
  • $5 (7th donation), Michael Gstettenbauer
  • $5 (3rd donation), Leon
  • $5 (2nd donation), Ruben C. M.
  • $5, Stephen P. C.
  • $5, Joel P.
  • $5, My Caring Connection
  • $5, Jerry M.
  • $5, Robert K. aka “Hamm“
  • $5, Steven P.
  • $5, Kristian B.
  • $5, Pawan Kumar aka “PK”
  • $5, David E. aka “DubiousAlliance”
  • $5, John F.
  • $5, Andrew K.
  • $4, Edoardo G.
  • $3.88, Csilla F.
  • $3.5 (2nd donation), Ron Panduwana
  • $3.33, Pradini P.
  • $3, David Y.
  • $2.8, Jose M. M. aka “Vacceo”
  • $2 (6th donation), mold test kits
  • $2 (2nd donation), Luca M. B.
  • $2 (2nd donation), Philip Patrick Butkiewicz aka “bagnz0r“
  • $2, Jithin J.
  • $2, Samuel L.
  • $1.94, Ilja Lebedev
  • $1.4, Anton W.
  • $1.34, Christiaan L.
  • $1.11, Rain C.
  • $1 (4th donation), Gonzalo C. aka “gcosta“
  • $1 (3rd donation), Snoring Solutions
  • $1, Justin V.
  • $1, Vladimir D.
  • $1, Kyle Nokes aka “Nokes”
  • $1, Rye Printing Inc.
  • $1, Sam J.
  • $1, Cuneyt Hayrullah aka “Linux Mint Turkey“
  • $1, Jonathan C. C.
  • $0.5, Philip Patrick Butkiewicz aka “bagnz0r“

Sponsors:

Money raised in September:

* Donations: $4185.33 (186 donors)
* Sponsors: $1414.03 (130 sponsors)

http://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php
http://www.linuxmint.com/sponsors.php

Rankings:

  • Distrowatch (popularity ranking): 2079 (2nd)
  • Alexa (website ranking): 11,784th

Events:

News and summary:

  • This is the busiest period of the year, and with no advertising income generated this month we’re relying solely on your donations and sponsorships. With that in mind, I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to the 186 donors and the 130 sponsors who supported us financially. We’ve been lucky and successful since the start of this project, and this is probably the most difficult time since then, but you’ve been here for us, a fantastic community and a great network of partners, which meant we could carry on and afford to continue even without our main sources of income.
  • Although we’re in a difficult situation financially, the future looks extremely bright. Our last recorded growth was a staggering 40%. With millions of Internet users Linux Mint is the 4th most popular operating system in the world, and we’re growing much faster than our competitors. Our business model consists in applying all our focus on the product itself, on distributing it for free and on monetizing the traffic and activity you generate on the Web. It’s the same business model used by TV channels and Radio stations, the wider the audience, the more successful it is. We’re currently in the process of choosing our business partners for the search market. Which browser and search engine will be the default in Linux Mint, how much funding will they generate for us and our partners? What default experience will you get out of it? This is all being decided at the moment. The solution we previously had in place needed to evolve, both from a user and business point of view. Going forward we’ll hopefully provide you with a better experience while generating additional funding in the process.
  • Linux Mint 12 “Lisa” will be released in November this year with continued support for Gnome 2 but also with the introduction of Gnome 3. The radical changes introduced by the Gnome project split the community. At the time of releasing Linux Mint 11 we decided it was too early to adopt Gnome 3. This time around, the decision isn’t as simple. Gnome 3.2 is more mature and we can see the potential of this new desktop and use it to implement something that can look and behave better than anything based on Gnome 2. Of course, we’re starting from scratch and this process will take time and span across multiple releases. Until then, it’s important we continue to support the traditional Gnome 2 desktop. We’re likely to release two separate editions, one for Gnome 2.32 and one for Gnome 3.2. We’re also working in cooperation with the MATE project (which is a fork of Gnome 2) at the moment to see if we can make both desktops compatible in an effort to let you run both Gnome 2 (or MATE) and Gnome 3 on the same system, either in Linux Mint 12, or for the future.